For decades, Tribes and Tribal consortia from the Bering Sea region of Western Alaska have been advocating for enhanced protections for the Northern Bering Sea, and have long asserted a willingness to co-steward the region and build a co-management structure that is more robust and collaborative than the federal government’s usual consultation practices. The demonstrated ability of our Indigenous communities to co-steward our region is centered in our unique knowledge of the area, and our right to co-steward our region is grounded in bedrock principles that predate this Nation―our aboriginal title and hunting and fishing rights and the federal government’s unique legal relationship with and obligation to Tribes.
In 2016, the Obama Administration responded by issuing Executive Order 13754, which established the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area (NBSCRA) and recognized the Tribal role in the management of the Northern Bering Sea. The Trump Administration rescinded that promise, but President Biden, on his first day in office, reinstated Executive Order 13754 and reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to partnering with Tribes to steward the Northern Bering Sea. In the almost three years since then, a diverse group of representatives from Bering Sea coastal communities, Alaska Native organizations, and federal agencies have coalesced in an evolving partnership to protect and restore the health of the people and ecosystems of the region. Executive Order 13754 established a first-of-its kind Federal Task Force of senior-level agency representatives to facilitate collaboration among the numerous federal agencies working on issues affecting the Northern Bering Sea. In response, regional Tribes and core NBSCRA coalition organizations paved the way for the formation of the Bering Inter-Tribal Advisory Council (BITAC), composed of ten elected representatives from across the region. The NBSCRA initiative emphasizes the importance of recognizing and including Traditional Knowledge in research, policy, and decision making, prioritizing issues of Indigenous food sovereignty, and developing methodologies to ensure co-production of knowledge in service of co-stewardship of resources.
President Obama, Alannah Hurley of United Tribes of Bristol Bay, and elder Mae Syvrud in Dillingham. September 2, 2015. Photo credit: Pete Souza / White House
Key Sections from the Executive Order
"The Bering Intergovernmental Tribal Advisory Council shall be charged with providing input and recommendations on activities, regulations, guidance, or policy that may affect actions or conditions in the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, with attention given to climate resilience; the rights, needs, and knowledge of Alaska Native tribes; the delicate and unique ecosystem; and the protection of marine mammals and other wildlife."
"It shall be the policy of the United States to recognize and value the participation of Alaska Native tribal governments in decisions affecting the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area and for all agencies to consider traditional knowledge in decisions affecting the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area. Specifically, all agencies shall consider applicable information from the Bering Intergovernmental Tribal Advisory Council in the exercise of existing agency authorities. Such input may be received through existing agency procedures and consultation processes."
"In recognition of the value of participation of Alaska Native tribal governments indecisions affecting the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, the U.S. Coast Guard should consider traditional knowledge, including with respect to marine mammal, waterfowl, and seabird migratory pathways and feeding and breeding grounds, in the development of the Bering Sea PARS, establishment of routing measures and any areas to be avoided, and subsequent rulemaking and management decisions."
Vision and Goals
The BITAC’s vision is Tribes working in unity for the resilience and protection of the Bering Sea. The BITAC is a unified tribal voice that advocates for the Northern Bering Sea, its interconnected ecosystems, and all its inhabitants. As original caretakers of the Bering Sea, we steward the natural resources of the ecosystem. We have a generational understanding of place, and our values are grounded in Tribal sovereignty, trust, respect, and reciprocity. We do this work to secure and protect a future for many generations to come.
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Co-Stewardship
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The BITAC aspires to co-develop a model with Federal partners for the equitable and environmentally just joint stewardship of the waters and coasts within the NBSCRA. We understand co-stewardship to be a mutually beneficial arrangement, wherein the BITAC represents the interests and needs of their communities within decision-making spaces and Federal partners are responsive, responsible, and accountable to those interests and the broader interest of ecological health. Co-stewardship is formal, institutional, grounded in the Federal trust relationship with Tribes, and not to be reduced to consultation, box checking, or tokenism.
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Salmon Restoration
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The Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers are among the major salmon habitats currently affected by the statewide collapse of Chum and Chinook populations. Communities represented by the BITAC are in their fourth year of being legally restricted from harvesting salmon, even though both commercial salmon fishermen and industrial groundfish trawlers are still permitted to reap and waste these fish. The BITAC is actively driving a conversation with NOAA, NMFS, and the AKFSC to rectify this injustice and restore the health of Western Alaska salmon.
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Shipping Management
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The number of maritime vessels transiting the Bering Strait has increased dramatically over the last decade, driven by anthropogenic Arctic sea ice retreat and commercial interest in Arctic mineral resources and tourism. The BTAC is working with Federal partners from USCG to identify avenues for monitoring, prevention, response, and regulatory enforcement to ensure that the adverse impacts of shipping are maximally reduced.
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Traditional Knowledge
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The Traditional Knowledge held by the NBSCRA BITAC has been formed through our direct interactions with this environment over millennia; it has been handed down from generation to generation and is continuously being updated and refined. While Traditional Knowledge “is itself a resource that must be protected,” it also offers critical insights into some of the existential threats facing the United States and the world. For example, and as your Administration has recognized, the data we have about species locations, behaviors, habitats, and changes over time offers important insight into the environmental and community impacts of climate change.
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Commitment to Partnership
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We do not see the BITAC as another meeting-just-to-meet body. Our region’s Tribes are the traditional stewards of the Northern Bering Sea, and we view our relationship with the Federal Task Force as a partnership grounded in the government-to-government relationship and a joint commitment to be the stewards of the health and resilience of the Northern Bering Sea Region.
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Strategic Objective 2.1:
Advance Community Adaptation and Climate Resilience
Climate change is forcing some Alaskan communities to relocate entirely, move multiple buildings and homes, or protect vulnerable infrastructure while remaining in place. Communities also face other climate challenges, including adverse impacts on food security due to changes in the availability of and access to subsistence resources and increased vulnerability to drought and wildfires.
Objective 2.1.1: We will support communities as they face these challenges, providing data and financial and technical assistance to enable community adaptation and resilience planning. We will collaborate with Alaska Native communities to determine preferred solutions for these and other climate challenges, and we will coordinate across Federal, state, and local agencies to define dedicated roles and responsibilities to deliver whole-of-government support.
Measuring Progress: Success in measuring progress on the broad range of steps described above will relate to a variety of factors, such as the number of communities receiving Federal funding for staff support; effective streamlining of government Federal processes; creation of specific benchmarks into agency initiatives (e.g., miles of bank stabilized, acreage compared, risks analyzed, table-tops conducted, funds combined); degree of transition from diesel to cleaner fuels; improvements in the capacities of local communities to address the challenges outlined under this Objective; new and expanded training programs, opportunities, and participants.
Excerpt from White House Implementation Plan for the 2022 National Strategy for the Arctic Region, October 18, 2023
Photos courtesy of Nicholas Parlato (top) and Jennifer Hooper (bottom)