Co-Stewardship Agreement between National Park Service and Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida

Signed on August 27, 2024

On August 27, 2024, the National Park Service (NPS) and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida entered into two historic co-stewardship agreements for Everglades and Biscayne national parks with a formal signing ceremony at the Tribal Chairman’s Office. The press release provides a summary of the agreements. The full agreement with Everglades National Park follows and the Biscayne National Park agreement is posted to its website.

 

Everglades National Park Superintendent Pedro Ramos, Miccosukee Tribal Chairman Talbert Cypress, and Biscayne National Park Superintendent Sarah Hopson

NPS/Allyson Gantt

 

PURPOSE

This Co-Stewardship Agreement for Everglades National Park (the “Agreement”) is entered into by and between the National Park Service (the “Park” or “NPS-ENP”) and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida (the “Tribe” or “MTIF”), a federally-recognized sovereign Native American tribal nation organized pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, on this 27 day of August, 2024.

AUTHORITY

WHEREAS, NPS-ENP may enter into General Agreements such as this one pursuant to 54 U.S.C. 100101; and

WHEREAS, at the close of the Second Seminole War, the Macomb Truce designated as Indian Territory approximately 2.5 million acres southwest of Okeechobee, and this Truce was ratified by Executive Order of President James Polk; and

WHEREAS, that Truce was broken and the United States sought to remove the Miccosukee and Seminole peoples from the bounds of their reserved lands; and

WHEREAS, the Miccosukee people were then pushed deep into the Everglades by the U.S. military over two decades, and in 1858 Colonel Gustavus Loomis led his forces to burn all known villages and fields in the region before declaring victory in the Third Seminole War; and

WHEREAS, the traditional clan camps of Miccosukee living within the Everglades retreated to the tree islands within the borders of the modern Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve under the leadership of Sam Jones (Abiaki), and they have not left since; and

WHEREAS, a 99,200 acre reservation for the Seminole and Miccosukee peoples, the State Seminole Indian Reservation in Monroe County, was created by Chapter 7310, Acts of 1917 of the State of Florida, to provide a homeland for the Seminole and Miccosukee peoples living in the southern Everglades; and

WHEREAS, that reservation was “withdrawn and returned” shortly thereafter by the Florida Legislature in 1936 (Florida Statute 285.06) to facilitate the establishment of Everglades National Park; and

WHEREAS, many other active traditional family camps, or villages, were evicted from within the borders of what is today Everglades National Park to facilitate its establishment and accompanying wilderness designations, including Charlie Tigertail’s camp near Chokoloskee, the Everglades Camp near Everglades City, Jim Tiger’s Camp near Crooked Creek, Chief Charlie Jumper’s Camp near Monte Carlo Casino, medicine maker Ingraham Billie’s Camp on Lostmans River, and Willie Jim’s Camp along Long Pine Key; and

WHEREAS, the enabling legislation of Everglades National Park was signed in 1934, and, after the removal of the park land’s prior inhabitants, was established in 1947 by President Harry S. Truman, who was accompanied in his announcement by Miccosukee leaders William McKinley Osceola and Ingraham Billie; and

WHEREAS, the northernmost Miccosukee settlements in Everglades National Park, including the Wind Clan Camp, the Osceola-Poole Camp, and Jimmy Tiger’s Camp, were permitted to remain under special-use permits; and

WHEREAS, the first law enforcement officers in service of the Tribe received Federal BIA commissions on June 6^th, 1976 and deputizations as National Park Service deputy rangers on September 16^th, 1976, beginning an almost half-century of varying forms of cooperative stewardship of Everglades National Park together with the National Park Service; and

WHEREAS, places of traditional habitation, including the Wind Clan Camp and Jimmy Tiger’s Camp, were incorporated into the Miccosukee Reserved Area through the Miccosukee Reserved Area Act of 1998; and

WHEREAS, the Tribe has developed a relationship with Park leadership in the course of carrying out its governmental duties on behalf of Tribal citizens and resources within the Park, in order to facilitate the effective administration and stewardship of its resources; and

WHEREAS, Secretary Deb Haaland of the Department of Interior and Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack of the Department of Agriculture issued Joint Secretarial Order No. 3403 on November 15^th, 2021 calling for co-stewardship of federal lands and waters, supplemented by guidance issued September 13^th, 2022; and

WHEREAS, the Director of the National Park Service, Charles Sams III, issued the September 12, 2022 Policy Memorandum 22-03 setting forth guidance on implementing NPS’s fulfillment of trust responsibilities to Indian Tribes in the stewardship of Federal lands and waters; and

WHEREAS, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dr. Arati Prabhakar, and the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, Brenda Mallory, of the Executive Office of the President, released Guidance for Federal Departments and Agencies on Indigenous Knowledge and an accompanying Implementation memorandum on November 30, 2022; and

WHEREAS, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and Everglades National Park have mutual interests in natural and cultural resources within the park unit’s boundaries.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, NPS-ENP and MTIF agree as follows:

1. NPS-ENP and MTIF will implement this Agreement through joint and cooperative endeavors focused on the co-stewardship of Everglades National Park and natural and cultural resources within its borders which are of mutual interest to the National Park Service and Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.
2. The Superintendent of Everglades National Park and the Chairman or their designees will meet at least annually to ensure that the provisions of the cooperative partnership established under this Agreement are being fully implemented and to identify any measures necessary to improve this cooperative partnership.
3. MTIF and NPS-ENP shall act in good faith and as true partners to resolve disagreements that may arise in the implementation of this Agreement. In the event of a disagreement, the parties agree to contact each other in a timely manner and make a reasonable effort to resolve the conflict at the lowest level. If the disagreement is not resolved between the staff of each party, then the Superintendent of Everglades National Park and the Chairman of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida shall meet in conference to seek to resolve the issue. Should elevation of the dispute become necessary, the Southeast Regional Director of the National Park Service and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida’s Chairman will serve as final decision makers on behalf of their respective agencies in resolving points of disagreement within 90 days and seek to resolve the agreement as expeditiously as possible.
4. MTIF and NPS-ENP shall assist each other in supporting and defending mutually agreed rules, regulations, and policies relating to the Park and Miccosukee Reserved Area.
5. MTIF and NPS-ENP shall enter into a co-stewardship agreement to cooperatively administer wildland fire and prescribed burn operations (Appendix A).
6. MTIF and NPS-ENP shall enter into a co-stewardship agreement to cooperatively administer hydrology and water resources (Appendix B).
7. MTIF and NPS-ENP shall enter into a co-stewardship agreement to cooperatively administer visitor services in the Shark Valley area (Appendix C).
8. Nothing within this Agreement shall be construed as an abrogation or cession of the sovereignty of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, a federally-recognized sovereign Native American Tribal nation, organized pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and imbued with those protections characteristic of a sovereign nation.
9. NPS-ENP and MTIF acknowledge and agree that this Agreement shall be considered to be the complete and entire agreement between the parties, with the exception of those subsequent agreements explicitly authorized by this document or its appendices.
10. Neither party may assign its right under this Agreement to any other person or entity without the prior written consent of the other party.
11. Modifications to this Agreement may be made through mutual consent of the NPS-ENP and MTIF as approved by the Superintendent and the Chairman in signed writing.
12. This agreement shall remain in effect for five (5) years, with both parties agreeing to renew this agreement in good faith with substantially similar terms every five (5) years subsequent, for a total of twenty-five (25) years, at which time the parties agree to revisit the terms of this agreement.
13. Termination of this agreement may not occur, except through the time limitation described in Section 12, or if the dispute resolution provision contemplated in Section 3 fails to resolve differences, in which case the terminating party must give at least 90 days’ notice and actively seek to further mediate the conflict in good faith until the 90-day notice of termination window elapses.
14. Pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 1341, nothing contained in this Agreement shall be construed to obligate NPS, the Department, or the United States of America to any current or future expenditure of funds in advance of the availability of appropriations from Congress and their administrative allocation for the purposes of this Agreement, nor does this Agreement obligate NPS, the Department, or the United States of America to spend funds on any particular project or purpose, even if funds are available.
15. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to obligate NPS, the Department, or the United States of America to any current or future action in advance of any and all statutorily or policy required compliance, including but not limited to National Environmental Policy Act review, Endangered Species Act review, and Section 106 of National Historic Preservation Act review.

WHEREFORE, the Parties hereto, through their designated Representatives, have executed this Agreement on the last date listed and signed below.

 

 

WHEREFORE, the Parties hereto, through their designated Representatives, have executed this Agreement on the last date listed and signed below.

U.S. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
INTERIOR REGION 2
__/Mark Foust/______8/26/2024__
Regional Director, Mark A. Foust

MICCOSUKEE TRIBE OF INDIANS OF FLORIDA
__/Talbert Cypress/__8/27/2024__
Chairman, Talbert Cypress

U.S. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK
__/Pedro Ramos/____8/27/2024__
Superintendent, Pedro M. Ramos