Parks Stewardship Forum

The International Workshop on Indigenous Communities and Government Partnerships for Protected Area Management was held on September 2022 on the homelands of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. This event, hosted by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, gathered approximately 55 Indigenous and government representatives from the U.S., Chile, Canada, and Mexico. The Participants represented Indigenous communities, organizations, and Tribal governments involved with marine, coastal, and terrestrial protected areas, as well as federal government representatives selected for their existing relationships with the Indigenous communities and the associated protected areas. The workshop, the first of its kind, was organized to facilitate dialogue among the Indigenous community and government representatives to share their unique experiences, identify and address concerns, and collectively develop recommendations to advance shared governance and collaborative management of protected areas with their respective federal government agencies.