Bridges to a New Era Report
BRIDGES TO A NEW ERA: A REPORT ON THE PAST, PRESENT, AND POTENTIAL FUTURE OF TRIBAL CO- MANAGEMENT ON FEDERAL PUBLIC LANDS Monte Mills & Martin Nie September 2020 Blackfeet protest of oil and gas leasing in the Badger-Two Medicine area, Montana, 1986. Photo courtesy and used with the permission of Dylan DesRosier, who reserves all other rights. Please cite as: Monte Mills & Martin Nie, Bridges to a New Era; A Report on the Past, Present, and Potential Future of Tribal Co- Management on Federal Public Lands, [page] (Missoula, MT: Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic/Bolle Center for People and Forests, University of Montana, 2020). Authors’ Note: The foregoing citation provides our institutional affiliations for identification purposes. In researching, writing, and producing this Report, we are writing for ourselves and not as representatives or on behalf of the Alexander Blewett III School of Law, the University of Montana, or the Montana University System. INTRODUCTION Fifty years ago, the United States took important but divergent steps to fundamentally reshape its relationship with Native Nations and its management of federal public lands.1 On July 8, 1970, President Nixon delivered a Special Message to the Congress on Indian Affairs.2 The President’s message marked the culmination of a years-long and major shift in federal Indian policy and the longstanding federal trust obligations toward tribes. For the first time, President Nixon’s message formally and expressly rejected the United States’ prior approach of forced termination of those obligations in favor of tribally-defined priorities, including the promotion of tribal sovereignty.
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