Natural Resource Agencies Research Articles

Effects of Ultrasonic Frequencies on Schooling Behavior of American Shad (Alosa sapidissima)

The behavioral responses of the American shad (Alosa sapidissima) to ultrasonic frequencies are of interest to the scientific community and the natural resource agencies that manage diadromous fish stocks. American shad have been reported to respond with changes in schooling behavior to different frequencies of sound. Their two regions of auditory sensitivity are from 200-800Hz and 25-150 kHz. These are relatively high frequencies for hearing in most fishes. Frequencies within this range are also used in fish population assessments. Researchers and resource managers have used 120 kHz and 200 kHz echo-sounders to visualize the number, position, and timing of fish in aquatic and marine environments. Changes in behavior, e.g. avoidance, due to these acoustic beams could bias counts used in fisheries management. In spring 2010, schooling A. sapidissima were subjected to different frequencies and power levels of acoustics while their behavior was recorded using a Dual Frequency Identification Sonar (DIDSON), operating at 1.8MHz, outside the hearing range of American shad. The number of fish within a school decreased when exposed to 120 kHz. The median number of fish per school during the control periods before and after treatment, was 23(13.5-61.5) and 36(21-64), respectively, and 9(6.25-15.25) during treatment period 5. The time schools were present in the DIDSON image was also affected by this treatment. The average time schools were present during time period 5 was 9.83s ± 1.02s, and after treatment rose to 24.6s ± 5.16s. No fish were detected while a treatment of 120 kHz was present during treatment period 8. These data are preliminary but indicate an affect of 120 kHz on American shad behavior.

The Potential Impacts of Saltcedar Eradication (Tamarix sp.) on the Birds of the Cimarron National Grassland

Saltcedar (Tamarix sp.) is a non-native woody invasive species that reduces groundwater supplies. Natural resource agencies and private landowners are seeking to eradicate this exotic species from watersheds in western Kansas, including from along the Cimarron River on the Cimarron National Grasslands. Our research studied the effects of saltcedar eradication on species richness and abundance of avian populations in riparian habitats. Nine, 500-m transects were established. Three were located in areas of dense saltcedar, three were in treated areas where saltcedar had been removed, and three were in areas dominated by cottonwood (Populus deltoides). For four consecutive years (2006–2009), each of the nine transects was walked twice during the typical avian breeding season (22 May to 5 July). The number of individuals for each bird species seen or heard within 50 m of the 500-m transect line was recorded. Twenty-seven bird species were found to be nesting in saltcedar. Saltcedar eradication efforts may negatively impact local populations of these species. Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens), Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla), and Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) were found only in saltcedar-encroached areas and therefore may be particularly negatively affected by saltcedar removal. The removal of the woody vegetation created more grassland habitat thereby potentially benefiting the seven species of grassland birds found exclusively in the treated areas. Riparian areas dominated by cottonwood had the highest species richness with 36 species found, including 14 species that were found only in these areas. If successful, the current efforts of the US Forest Service (USFS) to establish and maintain cottonwood forest along the Cimarron River likely will result in significantly increased avian species richness.

Improving efficiency and reliability of environmental DNA analysis for silver carp

Natural resource agencies have established surveillance programs which use environmental DNA (eDNA) for the early detection of bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis and silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix before they establish populations within the Great Lakes. This molecular monitoring technique must be highly accurate and precise for confident interpretation and also efficient, both in detection threshold and cost. Therefore, we compared two DNA extraction techniques and compared a new quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay with the conventional PCR (cPCR) assay used by monitoring programs. Both the qPCR and cPCR assays were able to amplify the DNA of silver carp present in environmental samples taken from locations where mixed populations of bigheaded carps existed. However, the qPCR assay had substantially fewer PCR positive samples which were subsequently determined not to contain DNA of bigheaded carps than the cPCR assay. Additionally, the qPCR assay was able to amplify the DNA of bigheaded carps even in the presence of inhibitors that blocked amplification with cPCR. Also, the selection of an appropriate DNA extraction method can significantly alter the efficiency of eDNA surveillance programs by lowering detection limits and by decreasing costs associated with sample processing. The results reported herein are presently being incorporated into eDNA surveillance programs to decrease the costs, increase DNA yield and increase the confidence that assays are amplifying the target DNA. These results are critical to enhancing our ability to accurately and confidently interpret the results reported from monitoring programs using eDNA for early detection of invasive species.

SOCIETY ACTIONS

SOCIETY ACTIONS

Perceived and desired outcomes of suburban deer management methods

ABSTRACTDisparity among natural resource agencies and the public often arises when white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are managed in suburban areas. To resolve conflicts, managers require information as to why public constituents deem deer management methods acceptable. We surveyed 660 residents in a suburban Illinois county to evaluate attitudes toward 5 deer management methods: archery hunts, gun hunts, sharpshooting, fertility control, and no management. We used the expectancy‐value model to determine beliefs and desires regarding outcomes of deer management methods that drove respondent acceptance and rejection toward deer management regimes. We then used multinomial logistic regression models to determine which public beliefs and desires regarding outcomes of each deer management method predicted acceptance of each method. Attitudes of respondents who accepted and rejected each deer management method differed from respondents who were neutral toward the methods (F2,215 = 3.59–17.93; 0.001 ≥ P ≤ 0.029). The variables most influencing beliefs toward lethal methods regarded whether deer will suffer an inhumane or unnatural death due to the management method (Akaike relative weight ω ≥ 0.95). Beliefs that damage to personal property from deer will decrease drove the acceptance of archery hunts and professional sharpshooting (ω ≥ 0.95). Beliefs regarding the number of deer‐vehicle collisions decreasing and deer dying an unnatural death had the strongest support for predicting a person's acceptance or rejection of fertility control (ω = 0.98). The desire for a low‐cost management technique and deer numbers to remain the same or increase were the strongest predictors for accepting no deer management (ω = 0.96). Although the expectancy‐value model offers the framework to identify attitudinal disparities among citizens who accept and reject deer management methods, not all of the variables in each model set provided further information on why attitudes toward each deer management method differed among residents. Understanding respondent beliefs and desires regarding outcomes of deer management methods will ultimately allow managers to guide education, resolve some management disputes, and aid in future management decisions that may increase the effectiveness of a deer management regime. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.

LiDARHub: a free and open source software platform for web-based management, visualization and analysis of LiDAR data

LiDAR is an active remote sensing technique with a unique capability to capture three-dimensional information of the earth’s surface even in heavily vegetated areas, and it is proven to be useful in many research applications. Although it is becoming the remote sensing platform of choice for planning and natural resource agencies that require three-dimensional information, the enormous data that are generated and the lack of available software analysis packages make LiDAR still unavailable to a typical user of spatial data. LiDARHub is a free and open source platform for web-based management, visualization and analysis of LiDAR data that enables development of online tools for LiDAR data processing in a web browser. The framework provides a foundation to develop online tools for LiDAR data processing and tools can be shared. The framework is also flexible so that the developed tools can be easily ported to High Performance Computing (HPC) environments that speed up the computationally extensive LiDAR data processing. Two example LiDARHub tools are presented as case studies to demonstrate potential software development scenarios. The developed tools provide easy to use user interface and hide complex computation so that users can take advantage of the LiDAR technology with only a web browser. The LiDARHub allows not only the sharing of large volume of LiDAR data but also developing online LiDAR processing platform for a large audience.

An Environmental History of Roadkill: Road Ecology and the Making of the Permeable Highway

Road-killed animals are simultaneously one of the most common ways that Americans encounter wildlife and one of the most unexamined phenomena by scholars. Despite this neglect, a handful of American naturalists, landscape architects, wildlife managers, and road ecologists have attempted to understand and even mitigate the conflicts between animal mobility and automobility. Their histories describe the evolution of understanding the different scales of a highway. Early road engineers saw the highway as ending at the macadam’s edge. This gave way to the idea of the “complete highway” that included the entire right-of-way. Modern road ecologists go far beyond the right-of-way and see the highway as part of a complex network of fragmented patches and corridors. As this development unfolded, so too did mitigation strategies. Early roadkill mitigation techniques prioritized the hardening of the highway, an attempt to make the highway as uninviting to animal mobility as possible. This order is being replaced by the idea of the permeable highway, building an infrastructure that accommodates animal mobility and lessens the impacts of habitat fragmentation. This transformation in highway ideology occurred when members of natural resource agencies, departments of transportation, and local communities came together at early stages of project design. More important, this transition only happened among those who dispensed with a wilderness ideology and viewed the highway environment as a part—as opposed to the antithesis—of the economy of nature.

Land management within capability: a new scheme to guide sustainable land management in New South Wales, Australia

A new evaluation scheme, land management within capability (LMwC), used to guide sustainable land management in New South Wales (NSW), is presented. The scheme semi-quantitatively categorises the potential impacts of specific land-management actions and compares these with the inherent physical capability of the land in relation to a range of land-degradation hazards. This leads to the derivation of LMwC indices, which signify the sustainability of land-management practices at the scale of individual sites up to broader regions. The LMwC scheme can be used to identify lands at greatest risk from various land-degradation hazards. It can help to guide natural resource agencies at local, regional and state levels to target priorities and promote sustainable land management across their lands. Few other schemes that assess the sustainability of a given land-management regime in a semi-quantitative yet pragmatic manner are found in the literature. The scheme has particular application for regional soil-monitoring programs and it was applied in such a program over NSW in 2008–09. The results suggested that the hazards most poorly managed across the state are wind erosion, soil acidification and soil organic carbon decline. The LMwC scheme, or at least its underlying concepts, could be readily applied to other jurisdictions.

Experimentation and Innovation in Advance Mitigation

Advance mitigation is a process through which the environmental impacts and required mitigation are assessed for one or more transportation projects early in project planning and development. The approach enables mitigation to be planned, commenced, and completed earlier; applies regionally or programmatically across multiple projects; and takes ecosystem- and landscape-level concerns into account. Although there have been efforts to develop programmatic mitigation initiatives and funding to support them, there is little documentation of their establishment, operation, or accomplishments. A study documents and analyzes 10 prominent California experiences with advance mitigation undertaken by the state department of transportation in coordination with regional councils, local governments and transportation agencies, and environmental groups. Each effort is profiled, including the origin of the mitigation effort; its location, scale, and cost; its specific connection to transportation projects; funding, revenue sources, or financial options used to support it; key institutional partners; and lessons learned from the experience. California's initiatives offer some lessons: external conservation planning efforts can play a significant role in creating both momentum and structure for comprehensive mitigation planning; transportation-related advance mitigation is necessarily a highly interdependent undertaking, involving not only the state department of transportation and other transportation project sponsors but also federal and state natural resource agencies as well as local environmental groups; and the long-time horizons of advance mitigation planning and the complex nature of infrastructure development bring unavoidable uncertainty to such efforts and demand flexibility from mitigation partners in the process.

Incentivizing the public to support invasive species management: eurasian milfoil reduces lakefront property values.

Economic evaluations of invasive species are essential for providing comprehensive assessments of the benefits and costs of publicly-funded management activities, yet many previous investigations have focused narrowly on expenditures to control spread and infestation. We use hedonic modeling to evaluate the economic effects of Eurasian milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) invasions on lakefront property values of single-family homes in an urban-suburban landscape. Milfoil often forms dense canopies at the water surface, diminishing the value of ecosystem services (e.g., recreation, fishing) and necessitating expensive control and management efforts. We compare 1,258 lakeshore property sale transactions (1995–2006) in 17 lakes with milfoil and 24 un-invaded lakes in King County, Washington (USA). After accounting for structural (e.g., house size), locational (e.g., boat launch), and environmental characteristics (e.g., water clarity) of lakes, we found that milfoil has a significant negative effect on property sales price ($94,385 USD lower price), corresponding to a 19% decline in mean property values. The aggregate cost of milfoil invading one additional lake in the study area is, on average, $377,542 USD per year. Our study illustrates that invasive aquatic plants can significantly impact property values (and associated losses in property taxes that reduce local government revenue), justifying the need for management strategies that prevent and control invasions. We recommend coordinated efforts across Lake Management Districts to focus institutional support, funding, and outreach to prevent the introduction and spread of milfoil. This effort will limit opportunities for re-introduction from neighboring lakes and incentivize private landowners and natural resource agencies to commit time and funding to invasive species management.

The role of conservation partnerships between scientists and nonprofit agencies in freshwater science and management

The role of conservation partnerships between scientists and nonprofit agencies in freshwater science and management

Natural resource management in an energy‐constrained future in the United States

ABSTRACTThe plenary theme at the 2008 annual conference of The Wildlife Society was, “Thriving within limits: toward a scenario of hope.” Wildlife professionals are still grappling with how wildlife management relates to sustainability as global limits, especially energy, become more obvious in affecting resource management. “Sustainability” as used in this paper is derived from the commonly cited, Brundtland Report definition of sustainable development as, “…development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Further, it is activity that simultaneously addresses the interlinked aspects of economy, environment, and social well‐being. To be effective in the future, natural resources agencies and organizations (NGOs) will be compelled to 1) reduce energy use by increasing efficiency of unavoidable uses and reducing optional energy uses; 2) anticipate how energy costs will affect resource use by various stakeholders; and 3) mitigate climate change by reducing combustion processes and thereby greenhouse gases. Because of their fundamental missions, natural resource entities have a special obligation to employ exemplary conservation practices. Challenges are great, but opportunities are significant. Higher fuel costs will constrain some management practices, but may limit further development of more rural and underdeveloped lands, thereby reducing habitat fragmentation and often wildlife damage complaints. Will energy costs promote smaller vehicles, reduction of some management practices, greater focus on recreational areas closer to population centers, consolidation of offices with other entities, and more video‐conferencing of meetings? Will wildlife management be effectively integrated into landscapes where energy crops are produced along with food and where “life‐cycle analysis” measures the full ecological footprint of land management? Agencies and NGOs can partner with stakeholders to design landscape use that is more sustainable (less pollution, conserving of energy and soil, more biologically diverse), provides better connections to nature, and enhances overall resource conservation. Educational institutions have a critical role because they are instrumental in preparing future resource managers. © 2014 The Wildlife Society. © 2014 The Wildlife Society.

Brood Surveys and Hunter Observations Used to Predict Gobbling Activity of Wild Turkeys in Mississippi

Abstract The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks utilize data from turkey hunter observations and brood surveys from across the state to manage wild turkey Meleagris gallopavo populations. Since 1995, hunters have collected gobbling and jake observation data, while the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks' personnel and cooperating wildlife managers of several natural resource agencies throughout the state have collected brood survey data. Both sources of data serve to forecast poult recruitment and gobbling activity. The objective of this study was to evaluate if these data can serve as a viable predictor of gobbling activity. We used three mixed models to investigate the relationship between the number of jakes observed per hour of hunting 1 y prior and the total number of poults per hens 2 y prior (model 1), number of gobblers heard per hour of hunting and the number of jakes observed per hour of hunting 1 y prior (model 2), the number of gobblers heard per hour of hunting and the total number poults per total hens observed 2 y prior (model 3) using data from 1995 to 2008 among five wild turkey management regions encompassing the state. We incorporated region as a random effect to account for spatial variation. We found the number of jakes observed per hour of hunting 1 y prior correlated with the total number of poults per total hens observed 2 y prior. We also found the number of gobblers heard per hour of hunting correlated with the number of jakes observed per hour of hunting 1 y prior. Additionally, we found that the total poults per total hens observed 2 y prior was correlated to the number of gobblers heard per hour of hunting. Our results show promise for using indices of gobbling activity, jake observations, and brood surveys to estimate gobbling activity.

A Mid Atlantic brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) stream sustainability statistic for rating non-tidal streams

Due to the decline of Mid Atlantic brook trout populations coupled with diminishing budgets of relevant natural resource agencies who monitor the populations, a quick and cost effective assessment of brook trout streams or potential brook trout streams in the Mid-Atlantic United States is warranted. Using five core metrics – two watershed metrics (percent land use in agriculture and distance to the nearest road from the survey site) and three in-stream metrics (riffle/run quality, dissolved oxygen content and water temperature), a classification model has been developed, useful as preliminary indication as to a stream’s suitability to sustain brook trout populations. Developed via discriminant analysis using Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ historical stream data, two classification equations (Smith–Sklarew equations) can be simplified into one equation, which produces a sustainability statistic (S). Should the five field measurements from the metrics produce a positive “S” value at a given site, then the stream reach most likely favors conditions suitable for sustainable brook trout populations. Conversely, negative “S” values indicate less than adequate conditions for sustainable brook trout populations.

A general model to quantify ecological integrity for landscape assessments and US application

Increasingly, natural resources agencies and organizations are using measures of ecological integrity to monitor and evaluate the status and condition of their landscapes, and numerous methods have been developed to map the pattern of human activities. In this paper I apply formal methods from decision theory to develop a transparent ecological indicator of landscape integrity. I developed a parsimonious set of stressors using an existing framework to minimize redundancy and overlap, mapping each variable as an individual data layer with values from 0 to 1.0, and then combined them using an “increasive” function called fuzzy sum. A novel detailed land use dataset is used to generate empirical measures of the degree of human modification to map important stressors such as land use, land cover, and presence, use, and distance from roads. I applied this general framework to the US and found that the overall average degree of human modification was 0.375. Regional variation was fairly predictable, but aggregation of these raw values into terrestrial or watershed units resulted in large differences at local to regional scales. I discuss three uses of these data by land managers to manage protected areas within a dynamic landscape context. This approach generates an internally-valid model that has a direct, empirical, and physical basis to estimate the degree of human modification.

Application of an Ecological Risk Assessment for Evaluation of Alternatives Considered for Restoration of Oysters in Chesapeake Bay: Background and Approach

ABSTRACT Oyster populations in Chesapeake Bay, USA, declined precipitously over the past three decades, and on-going efforts to restore the native oysters to former abundance were considered to be ineffective. Maryland and Virginia natural resource agencies proposed the introduction of a non-native Asian oyster (Crassostrea ariakensis) that is resistant to diseases affecting the native oyster and well adapted to the Chesapeake Bay environment. Numerous stakeholders raised concerns about potential adverse consequences of an introduction of a non-native species into a new environment. In response, state and federal agencies determined that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) should be prepared to address the environmental consequences of such an introduction as well as of seven other oyster restoration alternatives, including several involving only the native oyster. Preparation of an Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) of the proposed action as well as all alternatives was an integral element of EIS preparation. This series of articles describes several different analyses that contributed to and collectively comprised the ERA conducted as input to the EIS. The final article of this series in HERA describes how the ERA and EIS findings were taken into account in the final decision on the preferred restoration alternative by state and federal agencies.

The Science‐Natural Resource Policy Relationship: How Aspects of Diffusion Theory Explain Data Selection for Making Biodiversity Management Decisions

This study extends a previous project which examined the salience of neo‐institutional theory in explaining how data are selected for use in making and implementing biodiversity management decisions. Our prior findings prompted us to examine the selection of data from federal, state or local, and nongovernmental sources using aspects of diffusion theory. We argue that diffusion theory also possesses explanatory value regarding the identification and selection of data within a natural resource agency. We empirically test our theory by analyzing original data collected from a 2007 survey of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service field offices. We find that drivers of diffusion identified by previous research are explanatory of how data are selected. Specifically, perceptions of other field offices’ data selection procedures and collaboration with interest or advocacy groups aid in explaining field office data selection. The results enhance our understanding of the science‐natural resource policy relationship.Related Articles Hallock Morris, Mary. 2007. “.” Politics & Policy 35 (): 836‐871. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2007.00086.x/abstract Bakenova, Saule. 2008. “.” Politics & Policy 36 (): 676‐719. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2008.00125.x/abstract Neill, Katharine A., and John C. Morris. 2012. “.” Politics & Policy 40 (): 629‐656. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2012.00371.x/abstract Related MediaFilm: by McBride, Dennis K. 2009. “.” . National Capital Area Skeptics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3IuZ6Mqg18 . 2013. “.” March 15. http://www.nars.org/bas.html

CAFOs and Environmental Justice: The Case of North Carolina

On the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina, families in certain rural communities daily must deal with the piercing, acrid odor of hog manure—reminiscent of rotten eggs and ammonia—wafting from nearby industrial hog farms. On bad days, the odor invades homes, and people are often forced to cover their mouths and noses when stepping outside. Sometimes, residents say, a fine mist of manure sprinkles nearby homes, cars, and even laundry left on the line to dry.1 Today’s industrial-scale farms—called concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)—house thousands of animals whose waste is periodically applied to “spray fields” of Bermuda grass or feed crops.2,3 The waste can contain pathogens, heavy metals, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria,4,5 and the spray can reach nearby homes and drinking water sources. The odor plume, which often pervades nearby communities, contains respiratory and eye irritants including hydrogen sulfide and ammonia.6,7,8 A growing body of research suggests these emissions may contribute not only to mucosal irritation9 and respiratory ailments10 in nearby residents but also decreased quality of life,11 mental stress,12,13 and elevated blood pressure.14 The home of a minority family in Kenansville, North Carolina, situated next to a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO. Dust, odors, and manure from CAFOs can reach nearby residents’ homes, including their laundry. Although the Midwest is the traditional home for hogs, with Iowa still the top-producing state, North Carolina went from fifteenth to second in hog production between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.15 This explosive growth resulted in thousands of CAFOs located in the eastern half of the state—squarely in the so-called Black Belt, a crescent-shaped band throughout the South where slaves worked on plantations.16,17 After emancipation many freed slaves continued to work as sharecroppers and tenant farmers. A century later, black residents of this region still experience high rates of poverty, poor health care, low educational attainment, unemployment, and substandard housing.18,19 The clustering of North Carolina’s hog CAFOs in low-income, minority communities—and the health impacts that accompany them—has raised concerns of environmental injustice and environmental racism.20 As one pair of investigators explained, “[P]eople of color and the poor living in rural communities lacking the political capacity to resist are said to shoulder the adverse socio-economic, environmental, or health related effects of swine waste externalities without sharing in the economic benefits brought by industrialized pork production.”21 Although North Carolina is not the only area with environmental justice concerns vis-a-vis CAFOs, it has become one of the best studied.

Advancing Species Protection With a Revised Agency Mission: The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Assessment '87

Organizational missions are thought to guide decision-making by natural resource agency officials, particularly when officials must prioritize among competing responsibilities. It is unknown, however, whether officials will rearrange their priorities in response to a fundamental change in their organizational mission. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation provided an opportunity to examine this question when it revised its mission from water development to environmentally sensitive water management with a commitment to species conservation in 1987. A comparison of all major Reclamation decisions before and after the change suggests that the new mission compelled Reclamation officials to give greater priority to the needs of endangered and threatened species than they had in previous decisions. Missions may be an important factor determining how environmental laws are implemented during agency decision-making.

Incorporating Indigenous Rights and Environmental Justice into Fishery Management: Comparing Policy Challenges and Potentials from Alaska and Hawaiʻi

Colonial processes including the dispossession of indigenous lands and resources and the development of Western management institutions to govern the use of culturally important fish resources have served in many ways to marginalize indigenous interests within the United States fisheries. In recent years, several US fishery institutions have begun to develop policies that can confront this colonial legacy by better accommodating indigenous perspectives and rights in fishery management practices. This paper analyzes two such policies: the 2005 community quota entity program in Alaska which permits rural communities (predominantly Alaska Native villages) to purchase and lease commercial halibut fishing privileges and the 1994 State of Hawai'i community-based subsistence fishing area (CBSFA) legislation through which Native Hawaiian communities can designate marine space near their community as CBSFAs and collaborate with the state of Hawai'i to manage those areas according to traditional Hawaiian practices. The analysis reveals a striking similarity between the trajectories of these two policies. While they both offered significant potential for incorporating indigenous rights and environmental justice into state or federal fishery management, they have so far largely failed to do so. Environmental managers can gain insights from the challenges and potentials of these two policies. In order to introduce meaningful change, environmental policies that incorporate indigenous rights and environmental justice require a commitment of financial and institutional support from natural resource agencies, a commitment from indigenous groups and communities to organize and develop capacity, and careful consideration of contextual and cultural factors in the design of the policy framework.