Recognize Nation Sovereignty and Collaborate with Tribal Communities

For millennia, Indigenous communities have practiced what we now call regenerative agriculture, alongside traditional hunting and fishing practices.^[1] Preservation of these practices were enshrined in many treaties between tribes and the U.S. government. Inherent to many of the 370 treaties ratified between tribal nations and the federal government between 1778 – 1871 was the “federal trust responsibility,” an agreement that the federal government would protect tribal lands and self-government while providing needed support services such as health, education, and agriculture, to ensure tribal success.^[2] Over centuries, the U.S. federal government has repeatedly broken these agreements, often through violence, and continues to do so today. Programs and services in Indian country are chronicly underfunded,^[3] contributing to the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons,^[4] and loss of cultural heritage, language, and knowledge.

However, Native communities are resilient. Decades of tribal organizing have led to significant wins in recent years, including on preservation or reintroduction of traditional foodways. State legislators can collaborate with tribes to support these efforts through policy, regulation, and the budget process. As one example, after an industrial aquaculture fishnet in the Puget Sound failed in 2017, releasing tens of thousands of non-native salmon, the Lummi Nation hand-picked the invasive fish from the waters of their traditional fishing grounds.^[5] Subsequent tribal organizing led Washington State to ban open-net finfish industrial aquaculture in state waters in 2022. In 2024, after years of activism by the Klamath Tribe in the Northwestern U.S., the largest dam removal in U.S. history was completed in the Klamath Basin, with regulatory and fiscal support from state agencies including the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. In situations where policy is not a viable solution, agency collaboration can be a valuable tool. Just months after the removal, salmon were spotted in the basin for the first time in over a century.

Another important role for states is expediting federal funding, which must pass through states before reaching Indian County. Recent large-scale federal investments such as the American Rescue Plan directed billions of dollars into tribal communities.^[6] A clear understanding of the process at the state level and a strong relationship between state and tribal nations can move funding to tribes more quickly, increasing Native sovereignty and self-determination.