A conduit for Native America: Local directs fish and wildlife society
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The Native American Fish and Wildlife Society was started 29 years ago in response to contemporary hot button issues during the time involving tribal lands and rights. Today the society still strives to serve as a national communications network for the exchange of information and management techniques for tribal wildlife and fish management.
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes’ involvement in the cause has also remained strong. The CSKT was one of the tribes involved in the early stages of the organization, and today CSKT tribal member Fred Matt serves as the executive director of the society, which is based out of Denver, Colo. Matt has held this position for the past five years. He also sits on the National Fish Habitat advisory board and the Western Governor’s Wildlife Council.
“We were involved from the beginning,” Matt said, explaining that the society is broken up into seven different regions: Alaska, Pacific, Southwest, Great Plains, Great Lakes, Northeast and Southeast.
The Flathead Indian Reservation was part of the Great Plains region but is now part of the Pacific Region, because the waters in the area flow into the Pacific. The society is open to individual and tribal memberships, which include natural resource managers, tribal conservation law officers, tribal elders, youth and families.
Matt said one of the issues that helped bring about the society was when tribes in the Pacific Northwest received half of the rights to salmon, which according to Matt, was a controversial issue with commercial fishers and non-Native sports fishers at the time.
“Around that time there were three national issues that were hot button issues,” Matt said.
“It was (also) around that time that we decided we needed to stick together with these issues.”
Native American tribes in the lower 48 states have jurisdiction over a land base of more than 52 million acres. Around 220 tribal entities are members of the society.
The society is a nonprofit that assists Native American and Alaska Native Tribes with conservation and protection of their fish and wildlife resources. Some of the society’s purposes include assisting the facilitation and coordination of communications about issues dealing with treaty rights and court cases related to hunting and fishing regulations.
“Tribes are doing great things in fish and wildlife conservation,” Matt said. “They are leaders in those areas.”
The society also provides support, expertise and advice to tribal governments and provides publications and promotions for distribution to organizations, members and the public. Each region also hosts its own conferences in addition to the national conference, and a great wealth of information and knowledge is shared and distributed amongst attendees. Matt said last year at the national conference in South Dakota, a presentation on the Jocko River restoration efforts on the Flathead Indian Reservation, which included a DVD, was a big hit with conference- goers.
“A primary benefit is the collaboration with other fish and wildlife managers,” said Tom McDonald, division manager for the CSKT’s Fish, Wildlife, Recreation and Conservation Program. “We are combining efforts for Indian Country.”
According to Matt, this collaboration and exchanging of ideas is why the society has been around for almost 30 years.
“We are a support organization,” Matt said. “That is the meat of what we do. We are a source of information for tribes.”
