TITLE: In Support of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives
WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and
WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and
WHEREAS, our Indigenous Peoples of Alaska have inhabited our lands and waters for over 10,000 years, depending on the continued existence of our fish and wildlife resources and gathering of edibles from the land for our food security; and
WHEREAS, the LCC Networks have been in existence for the last six years in which they have played an important role in advancing western science and traditional knowledge with our local communities that are continually struggling to adapt to increasingly unpredictable and dangerous environments due to climate change; and
WHEREAS, the LCC’s have been in meetings with scientific and technical expertise, and institutionalized state, tribal input in landscape collaborations and projects. They have done an exceptional job in leveraging non-governmental resources by building strong public/private partnerships, supported local stewardships, economic, resource development, and fought for long-term sustainability of our important subsistence resources such as fisheries; and
WHEREAS, our Indigenous involvement in the LCC has been beneficial for our tribal and community citizens. We have been involved through participation on the steering committees since the beginning of the program; and
WHEREAS, LCC’s have conducted coastal resilience workshops which involved the whole communities in their research of the historical and current knowledge of our environments, at which we gained more information to improve the habitat conditions; and
WHEREAS, other organizations such as Arctic Council has placed a high priority on community-based monitoring and observation programs to enable more effective communications programs to enable more effective communication between Arctic Nations and the Federal Government. The elimination of the LCC Network will devastate the ability to identify, track and conserve vital ecosystem services that extend beyond the borders of Alaska; and
WHEREAS, communications among communities, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, industry personnel, universities and other stakeholders will be hindered greatly.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) supports LCCs to continue their work with other partnership funding opportunities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NCAI strongly urges the President of the United States of America and United States Congress fully support continuation of full funding for the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives in Alaska and the other states.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.
CERTIFICATION
The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 2017 Midyear Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Mohegan Sun Convention Center, June 12 to June 15, 2017, with a quorum present.