Doing Work on the Land of Our Ancestors: Reserved Treaty Rights Lands Collaborations in the American Southwest

Gregory Russell,David Flores,Paul Clarke,Michael Martinez,Alan M Hatch,Esther Morgan,Joseph G Champ

doi:10.3390/fire4010007

Abstract

The intent of this article is to raise awareness about an underutilized funding mechanism that possesses the capacity to help tribal and federal land management agencies meet their goal of restoring fire-adapted ecosystems to historic conditions in the American Southwest. We attempt to achieve this through an exploration of the Reserved Treaty Rights Lands (RTRL) program and how it has been used to implement collaborative fuel management projects on National Forest lands. RTRL is a funding program administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) that is designed to protect natural and cultural resources important to tribes on non-tribal lands that are at high risk from wildfire. Over the last year, our research team has studied the RTRL program in the Southwest by conducting in-depth, face-to-face interviews with tribal land managers as well as U.S. Forest Service tribal liaisons and other personnel who work with tribes. Our interviews revealed enthusiasm and support for RTRL but also concern about the fairness of the program as well as insufficient outreach efforts by the U.S. Forest Service. In response, we propose a policy alteration that (we contend) would incentivize the BIA to increase funding allocations to the RTRL program without losing the support of partnering agencies. The aim is to strengthen and expand shared stewardship efforts between tribes and federal land management agencies. We situate these implications against the backdrop of the Pacheco Canyon Prescribed Burn, an RTRL funded project that was instrumental in containing the Medio Fire that broke out in the Santa Fe National Forest in the summer of 2020.

Highlights

As wildfires increase in size and intensity throughout the Southwest region of the United States [1], scientists and land managers are searching for ways to fund fuel-treatment projects to responsibly address the accumulation of fuel loads that have amassed on forest floors [2]
We consider the Reserved Treaty Rights Lands (RTRL) program—a funding mechanism administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)—and how it is being utilized in the American Southwest to mitigate the risk of high intensity wildfires
With the success of the Pacheco Canyon Burn, it is clear that the RTRL program possesses the collaborative and financial capacity to assist tribal and federal land management agencies with addressing the glut of fuel loads that have accumulated on the forest floors of the Southwest

Summary

Introduction

As wildfires increase in size and intensity throughout the Southwest region of the United States [1], scientists and land managers are searching for ways to fund fuel-treatment projects to responsibly address the accumulation of fuel loads that have amassed on forest floors [2]. Despite widespread agreement about the benefits of prescribed burning to mitigate the scale and intensity of wildfire, the current rate of treatments does not adequately address previous decades of wildfire suppression [3], including the high hazard areas of the American West and Southwest [4]. We consider the Reserved Treaty Rights Lands (RTRL) program—a funding mechanism administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)—and how it is being utilized in the American Southwest to mitigate the risk of high intensity wildfires. Our intent is to bring awareness of an underutilized funding mechanism that possesses the capacity to help federal and tribal land-management agencies meet their goal of restoring fire adapted ecosystems to historic conditions and to strengthen shared stewardship efforts between tribes and federal land management agencies

Background and Methods

Case Study

Some Limitations and a Policy Alteration

Findings

Final Thoughts