Innovations in partnerships and tribal forest management: A panel discussion.

Native American forests and tribal forest management practices have sustained Indigenous communities, economies, and resources for millennia. Tribal forest management is multifaceted and every tribe has unique values, history, and management goals. Tribal forests are managed for timber production, species diversity, and spiritual and cultural values. Tribal management often seeks to maintain species diversity, to respect culturally important landscapes, to reintroduce fire into fire-dependent ecosystems, and to protect water resources. Tribal forest management can provide important approaches to build landscape-scale partnerships and management. This panel presentation captured a broad range of tribal forest management practices and partnerships. Panelists discussed strategies for building partnerships with tribes, the role of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in tribal forest management, the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission and their management strategies, and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe's approach to forest management. Panelists highlighted some of their partnerships and successful collaborative approaches to management. The panelists stressed the importance that tribal forests and forestry play within the landscape. Tribal partnerships can be enhanced when agencies listen to tribal perspectives, show mutual respect for tribal perspectives, use common language everyone can understand, and participate tribal community activities.