IFMAT IV Executive Summary
Introduction
The Intertribal Timber Council (ITC), for the fourth time, has organized a team to conduct this federally mandated assessment of forestry on American Indian lands. The statute mandating the Indian Forest Management Assessment is the National Indian Forest Resources Management Act (NIFRMA), enacted as Title III of Public Law 101-630 on November 28, 1990. The Secretary of the Interior is required under NIFRMA to undertake an independent national assessment of Indian Forests and Forest
Management every ten years. This assessment is contracted to the ITC which in turn has engaged a team of nationally known experts in forest management to do the assessment and prepare the report for Congress. As with previous assessments, the 4th Indian Forest Management Assessment Team (IFMAT) is required to address eight tasks defined in NIFRMA and three additional tasks specified by ITC. In the 2019 base year there were 19.3 million acres of tribal trust
forested lands in the United States (F&PA 2019), which includes approximately 10.2 million acres of commercial forests and woodlands. These lands provide important economic, social, and cultural resources to Indian communities. The federal government has a fiduciary duty to ensure that the lands are managed in the best interest for Indian people. Past IFMAT reports and current findings show that tribal forestry can serve as a positive example
Woodland restoration project at San Carlos Apache. PHOTO CREDIT: SERRA HOAGLAND
Executive Summary 1
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