Indigenous Governance Database
Environment and Natural Resources
The Peoples' Forest: Emerging Strategies on the Mescalero Apache Forest Reserves
This case raises questions about how American Indian Tribes reshape the care of forests on Indian lands by coordinating science-based forestry methodology and traditional ecological knowledge to meet their goals. Working the case, students are challenged to look for ways that the Mescalero Apache…
Why Treaties Matter: Relations: Dakota & Ojibwe Treaties
Ojibwe and Dakota people in what is now Minnesota signed dozens of treaties with the United States. Among these treaties are famous land cession agreements in which sovereign American Indian groups retained ownership or use of natural resources — land, water, timber, minerals — or transferred these…
Asatiwisipe Aki Management Plan
The Asatiwisipe Aki Management Plan arises from several earlier initiatives by Poplar River First Nation. Poplar River has completed a variety of studies for the planning area, including traditional knowledge and community history interviews with Elders, traditional land use studies, archaeological…
Securing Our Futures
NCAI is releasing a Securing Our Futures report in conjunction with the 2013 State of Indian Nations. This report shows areas where tribes are exercising their sovereignty right now, diversifying their revenue base, and bringing economic success to their nations and surrounding communities. The…
Best Practices Case Study (Respect the Spirit in the Land): Champagne and Aishihik First Nations
Located in far north-western British Columbia, Tatshenshini-Alsek Park was one of the last areas of B.C. to be mapped. The area's earliest residents were the Tlingit and Tuchone First Nations. Today, with the park in the traditional territory of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations (CAFN),…
Best Practices Case Study (Respect the Spirit in the Land): Haisla First Nation
The primary residence of the Haisla people is Kitamaat Village, found at the head of the Douglas Channel on British Columbia's north coast. In 1990, elders of the Haisla First Nation found a logging road flagged into the Kitlope Valley -- the largest unlogged coastal temperate rainforest watershed…
Native American Lands and Natural Resource Development
The rules that govern oil, gas and mining on American Indian tribal lands are complex, and the tribes that seek economic development through natural resources face a range of challenges. In this report, Revenue Watch gives an overview of the issues and describes current approaches to natural…