Incorporating Indigenous Knowledges into Federal Research and Management: Tribal Policies around Indigenous Knowledges

In November 2022, the White House Office of Science and Policy released guidance on how Federal agencies can ethically acknowledge and incorporate Indigenous Knowledges (IK) into science, management, and decision making. This first-of-its-kind document recognizes IK as an important body of knowledge contributing to a more complete understanding of the natural world. It also acknowledges the U.S. government's past history of marginalization of and resource extraction from Indigenous peoples and the impact this left on building trusting relationships.

In this webinar series, speakers will explore what it means to ethically engage with Indigenous Knowledges in resource management and conservation spaces. We will learn from Tribal and Indigenous communities about the frameworks they use to protect and share their knowledges, and from Federal agencies about how they navigate their responsibility to foster respectful, mutually beneficial relationships with knowledge holders.

We hope these sessions are of particular value to Federal employees seeking to build partnerships with Indigenous peoples and to Tribal citizens and Indigenous peoples seeking to understand resources and opportunities for collaborating with Federal partners.

For up-to-date information and to access webinar recordings and transcripts, please go to www.usgs.gov/casc/ikwebinars.

This webinar series is hosted by the National CASC in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center, the USGS Office of Tribal Relations, and the CASC’s Tribal Climate Resilience Liaisons. Special thanks to Coral Avery (Bureau of Indian Affairs; Northwest CASC) for designing the graphics used in promotional materials for this series.