ABSTRACT
Industrialisation and the effects of other human activities have increasingly impacted on the natural environment of the American Indians, frequently resulting in environmental degradation. To better understand the tribal perspective on ISO 14001, some background about the status of American Indians in the US is helpful. American Indian reservations are scattered across the continental US, ranging in size from a few to thousands of acres and located in rural as well as urban environments. Therefore, American Indian reservations are widely diverse with regard to landscape and the type and degree of impact that US society may have on the natural environment of the reservation. The constitution of the Bad River Band, like the majority of American Indian tribal constitutions, delegates both legislative and executive functions of government to a relatively small Tribal Council, not unlike a corporate board of directors. The word 'nation' rather than 'tribe' is used to emphasise the political status of the American Indian peoples.
