Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs)
Summary Findings For many tribes, non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are the most important value of their forests. Fishing, gathering, and hunting are fundamental to tribal identities and cultures. These practices provide food, medicine, material for traditional crafts, and are essential to ceremonies and other spiritual expressions. Wild plants, animals, and mushrooms harvested from forests and grasslands support the lives and livelihoods of tribal members through direct use (subsistence), barter, and sale in formal and informal markets. Unfortunately, there is consensus among tribes that tribal values, goals, and standards regarding NTFPs are often not articulated in current management plans or in cross-boundary landscape planning with neighbors. Likewise, forest and landscape management on and around tribal lands generally falls short of providing healthy, abundant populations of species important to tribes for fishing, gathering, and hunting. Likewise, regulations on surrounding state and federal lands frequently prohibit tribal members from gathering culturally important plants and mushrooms and have resulted in fines and other penalties, including for members of tribes with reserved rights to hunt, fish, and gather. Tribes want more opportunity to apply traditional ecological knowledge
Chaga mushrooms growing on Chugachmiut tribal lands in Alaska. PHOTO CREDIT: ADRIAN LEIGHTON
Background A recent assessment of non- timber forest products (NTFPs) in the United States defines NTFPs as plants and mushrooms used for food, medicine, and other purposes (Chamberlain et al., 2018). In this report, that
to manage their own forests for hunting, fishing, and gathering benefits. Recently, partnerships with the National Park Service and USDA Forest Service are piloting approaches to improve access for tribal hunting, fishing, and gathering on traditional territories off reservation.
Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) 35
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