Klamath Tribes: Managing Their Homeland Forests in Partnership with the USDA Forest Service

The Klamath Tribes were “terminated” during the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s as part of a national program to force assimilation of tribes into the larger culture of the United States. Most of their Reservation went into federal ownership and became the Winema National Forest. In 1986, the Klamath Tribes regained federal recognition. By the late 1990s, Klamath Tribal natural resource professionals, guided by a Memorandum of Agreement with the Forest Service, increased their participation in interdisciplinary planning on projects within the Reservation. The Klamath Tribes also continued to seek return of their homeland. In the early 2000s, they developed a Restoration Strategy for their Reservation and commissioned development of a forest plan that guides their recommendations to the Fremont-Winema National Forest on management of their Reservation. Through a Master Stewardship Agreement with the Forest Service, the Klamath Tribes now share implementation responsibilities, including prescription writing, sale layout, tree marking, and forest inventory.

Management and Policy Implications Indian tribes across the United States have knowledge and experience managing forests for multiple benefits, and restoration efforts on the national forests lag behind needs. Thus, engaging tribes to help manage our national forests may assist both the tribes and the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The Klamath Tribes provide an example of how tribes can help accelerate forest restoration efforts on the national forests. Their partnership with the Forest Service is building Tribal capacity to manage the natural resources of their homeland and may provide a new model of collaborative stewardship in project planning and implementation.