PUEBLO, Colo. — The U.S. Forest Service is now working closer with Native Americans on the management of public lands in southern Colorado.
“I'm the very first person to inhabit the role of Tribal Liaison here at Pike National Forest and San Isabel National Forest, Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands,” said Tribal Liaison, Jason Herbert.
The addition of a liaison to Southern Colorado is an extension of a position that has been used in other parts of the country.
Herbert has his PhD in Indigenous and Environmental History.
He acknowledges the past to inform how we move into the future.
“The United States did engage in violent extirpation, attempted violent extirpation of native people from the landscape,” said Herbert.
He also credits native tribes with managing public lands long before the government.
He is reaching out and meeting with people from the native tribes of Colorado.
Part of the collaboration is out of respect for the connection between native cultures and the land.
“When landscape is tied to culture, culture is tied to identity. When you threaten the landscape; when you mismanage landscape, you threaten the viability of culture of tribes themselves.”
It is also drawing on native tradition and knowledge passed down from generation to generation.
“Incorporating traditional wisdom, traditional knowledge, incorporating tribal voices into the administration of these landscapes, makes all of these spaces better for all of us.”
Herbert says it is needed and deserved input on public land management.
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