ABSTRACT
Native American Indian reservations represent approximately 4% of all of the lands within the US. Some of these reservations, originally thought to be land of little value, actually contain large uranium, coal, oil or timber resources having significant economic value. Through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the federal government has made leases or contracts available to non-Indians for ranching and for extraction of raw materials from reservation lands. Historically, two primary factors have caused the development of resources on and off the reservation to be so damaging to the environment and a tribe's culture. First, tribes have had little if any jurisdictional authority over their lands regarding environmental protection, and they have had little legal oversight of potentially environmentally and culturally damaging activities off the reservation. Second, the technical training and expertise necessary for understanding the potential long-range implications and impacts of economic and resource development on the reservation's environment and culture has also been lacking within the tribes.
