Federal agencies fail to meet legal obligations to tribal nations despite climate partnerships push

A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report reveals that federal agencies managing millions of acres of critical lands are falling short of their legal responsibilities to tribal nations, even as climate pressures make collaboration more urgent than ever.

The report highlights a fundamental problem: while the Biden administration launched efforts in 2021 to expand tribal control over public lands, federal staff often lack basic knowledge of Indian law, treaty obligations, and government-to-government relationships with tribes. This knowledge gap hampers the development of co-stewardship agreements that have proven highly effective for environmental protection. Since 2021, tribes have entered at least 400 cooperative agreements with federal agencies, including successful partnerships like the one between the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and Chippewa National Forest, which combined Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Western science to restore snowshoe hare habitat.

However, these promising partnerships face significant obstacles. Recent budget cuts threaten to slash funding by 75% to programs like the Bureau of Land Management’s wildlife habitat management, while staffing reductions across agencies limit their capacity to build meaningful relationships with tribes. This comes at a critical time when Traditional Ecological Knowledge has shown remarkable success in wildfire management, water conservation, and biodiversity restoration—all essential tools for climate adaptation.

The GAO warns that without proper staffing, training, and resources, federal agencies risk undermining centuries-old treaty obligations while missing opportunities to leverage Indigenous expertise in addressing the climate crisis. As one expert noted, meaningful partnerships require understanding and respecting tribal sovereignty in all decisions that affect their ancestral lands.