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The National Park Service (NPS) is a bureau within the Department of the Interior (DOI). The NPS manages more than 400 national parks and 100 related areas, as well as many programs that reach across the United States and the world. The Office of Native American Affairs (ONAA), within the Office of the Director of the NPS, strengthens relationships with Native American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Alaska Native communities.
The ONAA’s primary responsibilities are highlighted below:
Tribal Consultation
The Native American Affairs Liaison is primarily responsible to ensure the NPS meets the requirements set out in the DOI Policy on Consultation with Indian Tribes. The ONAA works closely with tribal liaisons and tribal affairs staff in regions, parks, and programs to improve and support active tribal consultation. Consultations with Native Hawaiian organizations and Pacific Islander communities were also undertaken. In fiscal years 2018-2019, the NPS reported 3,531 tribal consultations with 237 Tribes, 34 Alaska Native Villages, and 13 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act corporations. The NPS currently supports 56 agreements with Tribes, with 17 others being reviewed for finalization.
Find contact information for your National Park Service tribal liaison.
NPS Draft Tribal Consultation Policy
The NPS is looking forward to receiving feedback from Tribal representatives as to proposed edits/recommendations on how the NPS Tribal Consultation policy will best serve the needs of Indian Country. The draft policy includes the requirements within President Biden’s Memorandum on Uniform Standards for Tribal Consultation released at the 2022 Tribal Summit. The draft also covers various divisions within NPS that work closely with Tribal Nations. Our draft policy directs regions to engage in the biennial Tribal meetings with the intention of advancing relationships with Tribal Nations, as well as many other agency requirements.
NPS Draft Tribal Consultation Policy (DOCX, 94KB)
The consultations will be held on:
- Tuesday, July 23, 2024, 3:00 to 5:00 pm EST
- Wednesday, July 24, 2024, 2024, 3:00 to 5:00 pm EST
Register for the consultations online
Transcontinental Railroad Tribal Consultation Sessions
We will be conducting 2 virtual tribal consultations sessions to share information on the National Park Service’s multi-year and multi-state effort to study the history, legacy, and impacts of the Transcontinental Railroad. The Transcontinental Railroad program (TCRR) seeks to study, engage, and develop programming that tells the full story of this route.
Engaging with Tribal elders and Indigenous communities early in the project is our highest priority. We recognize that perspectives of Tribes are essential to understanding the significance and impact of this historic route. Please consider attending.
Program background: In 2019, via the Golden Spike NHP act, Sec. 2205 of Public Law 116-9 (the Dingell Act) Subsection (c) the United States Congress charged the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS) with establishing a program that commemorates and interprets the Transcontinental Railroad. This new national program spans three NPS Regions (Regions 3, 4, & 5, (Midwest) Regions 6, 7, & 8 (Intermountain,) and Regions 8, 9, 10, & 12 (Pacific West) as it follows the historic railway connecting Iowa to California at Golden Spike National Historical Park in Utah.
How to engage: As a federally recognized Tribe and sovereign nation with connections to the railroad’s complex legacy, we invite you and/or other Tribal representatives to join us in shaping the future of this program. We invite your participation at whatever level you would like to be engaged. We respectfully wish to honor the level of contributions of time and energy you are willing and able to provide. To participate, please:
- Join us for a Tribal Engagement Session. Two virtual sessions are scheduled for September 4, 2024, 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com) and September 30, 2024 5 p.m. Eastern Time (events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com).
- Visit this project’s planning page on NPS Planning, Environment & Public Comment (PEPC) platform: parkplanning.nps.gov/TCRRstudy to submit comments, find planning documents, and access other meeting links.
The National Park Service looks forward to building and growing our relationship with you. Our goal is to provide a full and inclusive telling of this complex story and codify that Indigenous perspectives are essential to this route’s significance. If you have additional questions, please email us.
Find transcripts, schedules and other resources from past consultations at DOI.
Listening Session - Perspectives on the Transcontinental Railroad
Monday May 6, 2024. 5 p.m. Eastern Time.
The National Park Service is hosting a virtual listening session to hear perspectives on the Transcontinental Railroad.
What is this project about? The Transcontinental Railroad (first built between 1863 and 1869) transformed the lives of people living and working in the continental U.S. The nearly 2,000-mile-long route connected, displaced, created, and remade countless communities in its path, yet their diverse perspectives have long gone unrecognized. NPS is creating a Foundation Document to outline the significance and fundamental resources and values of the Transcontinental Railroad.
What is the goal of this listening session? Through a new Transcontinental Railroad program, the National Park Service (NPS) has an opportunity to preserve and share histories vital to the national significance of this route and critical to public’s understanding of U.S. History. The National Park Service invites members of the public with a connection to the Transcontinental Railroad--including Native Americans and descendant communities of Chinese, LDS, Irish, and African American railroad workers --to participate in a listening session to share their perspectives.
Why does it matter? Participating in these listening session series helps ensure this new Transcontinental Railroad program captures the depth and complexity of the Transcontinental Railroad’s impacts; honors the lives of the many people who shaped it; and recognizes diverse ways of studying, remembering, and interpreting its stories.
What are the other ways to participate? If you are unable to participate in the listening session but would still like to share your thoughts on the history and the legacy of the Transcontinental Railroad, contact the Project Manager for the Transcontinental Railroad Foundation Document Julie Bell via email or via phone at 720-987-0282.
Consultation on Development of an Agency Request for a Program Comment for Regular Maintenance, Capital Projects, and Leasing at National Park Service Mission 66-Era Facilities (1945-1972)
The NPS developed a Program Comment conceptual overview, which summarizes its proposed application to provide an alternative path to compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act for NPS Mission 66-Era Facilities (1945-1972). It also lists proposed prohibitions on the use of the Program Comment, such as for undertakings planned to occur on or that may affect: Tribal lands; properties of religious and cultural significance to Indian and Alaska Native Tribes or Native Hawaiians; burial sites; human remains; funerary objects; and/or, battlefield areas which are listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. All comments received during consultation will inform the nature and scope of the NPS agency request to the ACHP, which the NPS plans to submit to the ACHP in 2024. Please go to the website to find out more ParkPlanning - Mission 66 Program Comment (nps.gov).
Consultation on Tribal Plant Gathering in National Parks
Find detailed information, including a briefing statement, guide to the plant gathering regulation, consulation letters, the consultation slide deck, and how to submit written comments. Written comments are requested by July 31, 2023.
Review a draft of the Indian Youth Service Corps Guidelines (852KB PDF).
The NPS follows DOI's Tribal Consultation Policy. DOI consulted with Tribal leaders to improve our consultation process, identify best practices, and strengthen our relationship with Tribal governments. Learn more about the DOI Tribal Consultation Policy. View the Detailed Plan for Improving Interior’s Implementation of E.O. 13175.
Find resources for Tribal Consultation that relate to DOI-managed lands and programs, including memoranda, executive summaries, reports, studies, plans, and other resources.
Represents NPS Tribal and Indigenous Relations
The ONAA serves as a point of contact for Tribes, Indigenous peoples, regions, parks, and programs on tribal self governance topics and funding agreements under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA). Since 2011, approximately $27 million has been provided through annual funding agreements with self governance Tribes to accomplish maintenance, resource management, interpretation, and youth program activities in associated national parks.
There are currently 574 federally recognized Tribes. There are 202 Tribal Historic Preservation Offices that have entered into an agreement with the NPS. Find more information about the Tribal Historic Preservation Program.
Policy Development and Implementation
The ONAA develops NPS-wide guidance, and reviews proposed policy and legislation to advise and support the NPS Director, regional offices, and individual parks on issues that impact Native American, Alaska Native, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian communities.
In addition, the ONAA collaborates with other Department of Interior bureaus to develop Department-wide and government-wide guidance on issues involving tribal governments. ONAA also participates in international efforts to join with Indigenous peoples to achieve common natural resource and cultural heritage preservation goals.
Last updated: July 12, 2024