Protection of the environment is enormously important to Indian and Alaska Native nations. Yet collaboration between Native peoples and conservation organizations is often impeded because conservationists lack information about Native nations and their resources.

There is no ready resource to provide conservationists with practical information about Indian and Alaska Native peoples, their lands, histories, cultures, and legal rights. We are writing a handbook for conservationists to meet this need. The need to build collaboration between indigenous peoples and conservationists has never been greater.

As we have demonstrated in our work to secure the clean-up of the Zortman-Landusky mines near the Ft. Belknap Reservation in Montana, collaboration can result in far better outcomes. The goal of the Conservationists' Handbook is to facilitate better alliances between conservation organizations and Native communities to improve the effectiveness of conservation efforts. The absence of a written resource to educate and assist conservationists is a significant impediment to successful collaboration where Native lands are involved.

Our handbook will expand understanding of Indian and Alaska Native tribes and help foster positive relationships. The handbook will be widely distributed amongst universities, conservation programs and tribal communities. We expect the Handbook to be a building block for powerful alliances that protect the rights of Native peoples while also protecting threatened lands and ecosystems in the nation.