Tribal Monitor Program
Podcast: Episode 1, Season 2
We recently recorded a very powerful podcast with Nanebah Lyndon, Tribal Relations Staff Officer, and LeRoy Shingoitewa, Tribal Monitor Group Manager, to discuss the Tribal Monitor Program and other concerns tribes face while preserving their history and culture.
Learn More About the Program Below
In joint effort with tribes throughout Arizona, and the innovative Tonto National Forest (TNF) Tribal Monitor Program, we are helping to spread the word about recreating responsibly around areas of cultural significance to native people. The Tribal Monitor Program trains tribal members to participate in pedestrian land surveys to record ancestral sites and places of cultural significance. Tribal Monitors function as traditional cultural specialists…In their own words, the Tribal Monitors consider themselves the “eyes and ears” of their communities.
Since its inception in early 2018, the TNF Tribal Monitor Program has grown to include 32 tribal cultural specialists including a field director, three crew chiefs, two assistant crew chiefs, and 26 crew members. Represented tribal communities include the White Mountain Apache Tribe, Gila River Indian Community, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Hopi Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, Ak-Chin Indian Community, and Mescalero Apache Tribe.
After completing a two-week training designed by the Tonto National Forest, Tribal Monitors hit the field to ensure that areas of potential significance to tribal communities were recorded and information was made available to tribes. In addition to cultural sites, the monitors also record locations of culturally significant plants or mineral resources that may be of interest to the consulting tribes. Monitors continue to receive on-the-ground and herbarium training in native plant identification and are learning new skills that expand their ability to work on similar projects for their tribes, for other federal agencies, and for Cultural Resource Management contractors. To date, Tribal Monitors have surveyed more than 15, 545 acres of land!
The Tribal Monitor Program places an emphasis on providing the opportunity for tribal elders, traditional practitioners, and tribal leaders to visit sites identified by the monitors. Monitors record the information provided by their elders and leaders and use these to compile the tribal perspectives report for each surveyed area; these are considered to be confidential data, protected by the Forest Service’s confidentiality provisions. The Tribal Perspectives report is a first of its kind, because it was designed and written by the tribal members who surveyed the land. The Forest Service sends the draft reports to the tribal cultural representatives for review and identification of Traditional Cultural Properties or other special resource areas.
Watch this short video to learn more about the Tribal Monitor program.
Contact Information
For more information about the TNF Tribal Monitor Program please contact Forest Service Tribal Liaison Nanebah Lyndon at nanebah.nezlyndon@usda.gov.
