A conversation with U.S. Forest Service Tribal Relations Specialist Jennifer Hanlon.
By Bethany Goodrich
This story was produced for the Sustainable Southeast Partnership's monthly column with the Juneau Empire, 'Resilient Peoples & Place.' Read the full story here. The story explores the perspectives of a lifelong resident of Yakutat, Jennifer Hanlon, on Tongass Forest Management and her transition from working with Tribal government to representing the Federal government.
The Tongass National Forest includes 16.7 million acres and was established in 1907. The islands, forests, salmon streams, mountains and coastlines of Southeast Alaska are the ancestral lands of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people who continue to depend on and care for their traditional territories. The Tongass was not created with the consent of Alaska Native people and today, the U.S. Forest Service is working to improve government-to-government relations with the federally recognized tribal governments of Southeast Alaska. (Bethany Goodrich / Sustainable Southeast Partnership)
When the Tongass National Forest was created in 1907, the U.S. Forest Service became the primary land manager of millions of acres of land that had been cared for by Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian communities for over 10,000 years. For decades, many Alaska Native citizens have felt marginalized by the federal government’s land management system and public processes that have been imposed on, and not built with Indigenous people. The Forest Service has sought to repair relationships and honor obligations to Southeast Alaska’s Tribal nations.
The story is also available at the Sustainable Southeast Partnership's website: https://sustainablesoutheast.net/tribalrelations/