The following definitions help to clarify the Service’s Native American policy (510 FW 1):
Agreement– a document approved by two or more parties that identifies their roles and responsibilities in achieving mutual objectives (e.g., Memoranda of Agreement, Memoranda of Understanding, Cooperative Agreements, Statements of Relationship, Grants, and Contracts).
Alaska Native Organizations (ANO) – any organization established by Alaska Tribal governments or by law, whose interests encompass the conservation, protection, restoration, and enhancement of fish, wildlife, and environmental resources. For purposes of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a group designated by law or formally chartered that represents or consists of Indians, Aleuts, or Eskimos residing in Alaska (see 16 U.S.C.1362(23)).
Alaska Native Corporation – any Alaska Native village corporation, urban corporation, or regional corporation as defined in, or established under, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
Collaborate – the Service and Tribal governments working together.
Co-management – two or more entities, each having legally established management responsibilities, working collaboratively to achieve mutually agreed upon, compatible objectives to protect, conserve, use, enhance, or restore natural and cultural resources.
Collaborative management – two or more entities working together to actively protect, conserve, use, enhance, or restore natural and cultural resources.
Consult– to conduct mutual, open, and direct two-way communication in good faith to secure meaningful participation in the decision-making process, as allowed by law.
Director– the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Fish and wildlife resources – fish and wildlife (including invertebrates), plants, and their habitats that the Service is responsible for managing and conserving, including migratory birds; marine mammals; inter-jurisdictional fish; refuges (including fish, wildlife, and plants found on refuges); and federally listed, threatened, and endangered species.
Fish and wildlife and cultural resource management – all activities that are intended to contribute directly or indirectly to the preservation, protection, use, maintenance, mitigation, or enhancement of fish, wildlife, and cultural resources.
Indian lands – any lands where title is either held in trust by the United States for the benefit of an Indian Tribe or individual Indian, or held by an Indian Tribe or individual Indian subject to restrictions by the United States against alienation (i.e., sale or transfer).
Lands – includes uplands, wetlands, and open waters such as streams, lakes, estuaries, and bays.
Native American – refers to American Indians in the conterminous United States and Alaska Natives (including Aleut, Eskimo, and Indian) who are members of federally recognized Tribes.
Sacred site – any specific, discrete, narrowly delineated location on Federal land that is identified by (1) a Tribal government, or (2) an Indian individual determined to be an appropriately authoritative representative of an Indian religion, as sacred by virtue of its established religious significance to, or ceremonial use by, an Indian religion, provided that the Tribal government informs the Service of the existence of such a site.
Traditional knowledge – includes Tribal Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and is used to describe the knowledge held by indigenous cultures about their immediate environment and the cultural practices that build on that knowledge. TEK includes an intimate and detailed knowledge of plants, animals, and natural phenomena; the development and use of appropriate technologies for hunting, fishing, trapping, agriculture, and forestry; and a holistic knowledge, or “world view” that parallels the scientific discipline of ecology. See the Service’s Native American Program Web page for more information.
Tribal governments or federally recognized Tribes – all Indian Tribes identified in the most recent list of “Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs” published in accordance with section 104 of Public Law 103-454 (108 Stat. 4792; 25 U.S.C. 479a-1) and any other Indian Tribes acknowledged by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and identified for inclusion on such a list.
Tribal trust resources – pertains only to Indian trust assets (i.e., lands, natural resources, money, or other assets) that the Federal Government holds in trust or that are restricted against alienation for the benefit of Indian Tribes and individual Indians.