Task K Findings and Recommendations
K7 Finding
Recommendation ■ Recurring funding must be sufficient to maintain tribes’ existing forestry needs before a tribe can take on additional responsibilities (see Task C). ■ Collaborative and co-management needs access to funding for staffing, training, and equipment equivalent to their federal partners. ■ Grant funding is short term and the timelines often do not provide the opportunity for retaining professional staff. Acquiring equipment in a timely fashion for implementation and/or training for additional projects is difficult as funding cycles do not correspond with the need. ■ Facilities on many reservations are presently not adequate to house and provide office capacity for existing workloads and facilities throughout Indian Country need to be assessed. Recommendation ■ Recurring funding is necessary to build and train forestry and natural resource expertise at the tribal level. Recommendation ■ BIA needs to provide opportunities for more tribal certified NASP training and/or provide the technical support for landscape projects. ■ BIA should provide the needed technical assistance or contract the needed services that the tribes require to be successful in cross-boundary collaboration.
Tribes with small land bases do not have sufficient personnel or resources to go beyond their basic trust responsibilities and lack resources to participate in collaborative or co-management type projects.
K8 Finding
Funding to support additional staffing and training needs. Most projects require skilled professional foresters and silviculturists to engage with the Forest Service and often require other natural resource specialists.
K9 Finding
A certified silviculturist significantly improves the tribe’s ability to engage with the Forest Service in completing environmental assessments and silvicultural prescriptions.
Task Findings and Recommendations 205
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