Joint News Release CTCLUSI and USFS For Immediate Release, February 20, 2024
Contact:
Confederated Tribes R.J. Benner, (541) 435-7175, rbenner@ctclusi.org
US Forest Service Siuslaw Joanie Schmidgall, (541) 259-9804, joan.schmidgall@usda.gov
COOS BAY, OREGON- The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI) and the Siuslaw National Forest are pleased to announce the signing of a Programmatic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Tribal co-stewardship on Siuslaw National Forest lands. This agreement emphasizes the shared goals of the Tribe and the Forest Service regarding the use and management of natural and cultural resources on the forest, while acknowledging the unique management expertise of the Tribe gained though millennia of stewarding these lands. It addresses the need for proactive stewardship to promote the ecological health, diversity, and resiliency of the forest.
“The lands that we now know as the Siuslaw National Forest have been stewarded by Tribal People since time immemorial,” said Brad Kneaper, Tribal Council Chair for the CTCLUSI. “For thousands of years we practiced a holistic approach to stewardship that provided for clean air and water, resilient and diverse forests, robust salmon runs, bountiful deer and elk, and an abundance of the plants that we used for food and medicine. We stewarded a forest that provided for the local human community, and also provided for all of our plant and animal relatives with whom we share these lands. This agreement will allow us to begin returning some of these stewardship practices to the landscape.”
“The MOU provides a framework for the future implementation of activities that would meet both parties’ goals of restoring Siuslaw National Forest lands,” said Siuslaw National Forest Supervisor Rebecca Brooke. “It also establishes an intergovernmental relationship between the Tribe and the Forest that will provide opportunities for increased Tribal involvement in the planning and implementation of sustainable forest stewardship activities.
”The MOU outlines a comprehensive set of forest management goals that include improving and protecting the health and resiliency of forest ecosystems; promoting cultural resources of importance to Tribal people; providing a diversity of habitat for fish and wildlife species; protecting air and water quality; and providing economic opportunities for local communities. The MOU anticipates that these goals will be achieved through the use of traditional stewardship practices such as the use of cultural fire as well as contemporary management practices such as selective harvest and mechanical fuels treatment.
In addition to recognizing the value that people can provide to the forest through active stewardship, the MOU also recognizes the important values that the forest can provide for people. Towards that end, the MOU emphasizes a need to explore market-based solutions for hazardous fuel reduction, promotes the generation of renewable energy using forest biomass, and seeks economic opportunities for local economically depressed areas. The MOU also recognizes the need to sustain the economic vitality of the existing forest products industry, and to provide for the ecologically sustainable use of timber and other commercial forest products while also supporting non-commercial cultural uses. The MOU highlights the commitment of both the Siuslaw National Forest and the Tribe to promoting a holistic, balanced, and sustainable approach to co-stewardship.
“Our goal is to restore an Indigenous approach to stewardship on the Siuslaw National Forest,”
said Colin Beck, the Tribe’s Director of Forest Management. “Indigenous People have always
recognized that humans are a part of this landscape, and that humans play a crucial role in
stewarding for a diverse and resilient landscape that meets the needs of humans as well as all of
the other diverse species that call this place home. By entering into this MOU, the Forest Service
is recognizing the value of this Indigenous approach and recognizing that there is a need to
restore proactive stewardship to the landscape.”
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Headquartered in Coos Bay, Oregon with a five-county service area including Coos, Curry, Lincoln,
Douglas and Lane Counties, The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians are
one of the 9 Federally Recognized Tribes of Oregon. CTCLUSI is comprised of 3 Tribes (4 Bands): 2
bands of Coos Tribes: Hanis Coos, Miluk Coos; Lower Umpqua Tribe (Quuiich); and Siuslaw Tribe.
The Siuslaw National Forest encompasses 630,000 acres along Oregon’s coastal region, reaching from
the north Oregon Coast, just south of Tillamook, to the central coast north of Coos Bay. This diverse
and productive forestland is bordered to the east by the Willamette Valley and the west by the Pacific
Ocean.
