#indigenous conservation

By Andy Corbley -Jan 26, 2026

Five California tribes have established an intertribal commission to co-manage Chuckwalla National Monument, marking a historic step toward tribal sovereignty over sacred desert lands. Though the commission lacks veto authority, it will have formal advisory power with the federal government, advancing the tribes’ long-term goal of full management control. [...] “Rather than be in conflict, there is mutuality,” said Daniel Leivas, chairman of the Chemehuevi. “The forming of this commission is a testament to a willingness to come together for the same purpose: for the future of our children and for our ancestors.”

"For myself, to know that my kids will see many future generations of salmon coming back to their historic waters, it's a very special day."

Almost two centuries ago, Native American tribe members sought the protection of Florida’s Everglades during the Seminole wars as they hid from government forces seeking to banish them to Indian territories that later became Oklahoma. Now, as the Trump administration continues its wholesale slashing of federal funding from conservation projects, the Miccosukee Tribe is stepping up to fulfill what it sees as a “moral obligation” to return the favor. The tribe is looking to buy and protect environmentally significant lands, including some that once provided refuge, in a groundbreaking partnership agreement with the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation. The corridor is an ambitious project to connect 18m acres (7.3m hectares) of state and privately owned wilderness into a contiguous, safe habitat for scores of imperilled and roaming species, including black bears, Key deer and Florida panthers.

• Newly designated Medio Putumayo-Algodón Protected Area safeguards 283,000 hectares of Amazon rainforest—home to jaguars, giant river otters, harpy eagles, and more than 1,800 documented species. • The area fills a critical gap in a nearly 2-million-hectare conservation corridor, supporting Peru’s progress toward global biodiversity and climate goals. •Co-created with 16 Indigenous communities, the designation strengthens territorial rights and recognizes Indigenous leadership in stewarding the region’s forests, rivers, and wildlife.

Through a Dept. of the Interior initiative aiming to bring indigenous knowledge back into land management, 76 square miles east of the central stretch of the Klamath River has been returned to the Yurok tribe. Sandwiched between the newly-freed Klamath and forested hillsides of evergreens, redwoods, and cottonwoods, Blue Creek is considered the crown jewel of these lands, though if it were a jewel it wouldn’t be blue, it would be a giant colorless diamond, such is the clarity of the water. It’s the most important cold-water tributary of the Klamath River, and critical habitat for coho and Chinook salmon. Fished and hunted on since time immemorial by the Yurok and their ancestors, the land was taken from them during the gold rush before eventually being bought by timber companies. Barry McCovey Jr., director of the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department, remembers slipping past gates and dodging security along Blue Creek just to fish up a steelhead, one of three game fish that populate the river and need it to spawn. Profiled along with the efforts of his tribe to secure the land for themselves and their posterity, he spoke to AP about the experience of seeing plans, made a decade ago, come to fruition, and returning to the creek on which he formerly trespassed as a land and fisheries manager. “To go from when I was a kid and 20 years ago even, from being afraid to go out there to having it be back in tribal hands … is incredible,” he said. Part of the agreement is that the Yurok Tribe would manage the land to a state of maximum health and resilience, and for that the tribe has big plans, including restoring native prairie, using fire to control understory growth, removing invasive species, restoring native fish habitat, and undoing decades of land-use changes from the logging industry in the form of culverts and logging roads. “And maybe all that’s not going to be done in my lifetime,” said McCovey. “But that’s fine, because I’m not doing this for myself.”

indigenous stewardship is a necessity. give the land back.