ABSTRACT
The management of forests by and for tribes and tribal members takes place within one of the country’s most complex governance scenarios. This chapter explores the history of tribal recognition and land tenure, beginning with a brief historical overview of legal principles and the shifting eras of federal-tribal relations. It goes on to examine tribal recognition, variations on tribal forest tenure, tribal sovereignty, tribal land recovery, the role of Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge, and the growing opportunities for tribes to influence the management of federal forests outside of reservation boundaries. Special attention is given to the tensions between Indigenous and colonial visions of forestry and the changing relationships between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the tribal nations with which it interacts.
