Miccosukee Tribe signs co-stewardship agreements with Everglades and Biscayne National Parks

MIAMI, Fla. – The National Park Service (NPS) and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida today entered into two historic co-stewardship agreements for Everglades and Biscayne national parks. A formal signing ceremony was held at the Miccosukee Reserved Area within Everglades National Park. The Tribe and the national parks will implement the agreements through joint and cooperative endeavors focused on the natural and cultural resources of mutual interest.

“The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida has long been a steward of the Everglades and Biscayne Bay, pre-dating the establishment of the National Park Service,” said Chairman Talbert Cypress of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. “Since the battles in Biscayne Bay during the Seminole Wars and the subsequent creation of Everglades National Park and the eviction of the Tribal villages within it, the Tribe has worked with the Service to reestablish our role in the Everglades and the Bay. We are deeply appreciative of the National Park Service’s commitment to restoring Tribal co-stewardship of these lands.”

The agreement with Everglades National Park enables cooperative administration of wildland fire and prescribed burn operations, hydrology and water resources, and visitor services in the Shark Valley area. The Biscayne National Park agreement acknowledges Miccosukee citizens’ rights to traditional fishing and plant gathering within park borders. The agreement also establishes the intent to collaborate on fisheries management, vegetation restoration, resource protection and facilitation of traditional Tribal practices.

“This is an historic moment. While the parks have been consulting with the Miccosukee for many years, these co-stewardship agreements take our important relationship to the next level,” said Superintendent Pedro Ramos who oversees the NPS sites in South Florida. “These landscapes are home to the Miccosukee people, and continuing to provide Miccosukee citizens access to their traditional lands and cultural practices is simply the right thing to do. The infusion of traditional ecological knowledge will benefit our public lands and conservation efforts.”

The agreements will remain in effect for five years, with both parties agreeing to renew in good faith with similar terms every five years, for a total of twenty-five years, at which time the Tribe and NPS have agreed to revisit the terms of the agreements.

In 2022, the NPS issued guidance to improve federal stewardship of public lands, waters and wildlife by strengthening the role of Tribal governments in federal land management. This guidance followed from the Joint Secretarial Order 3403—signed by the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture during the 2021 White House Tribal Nations Summit—which outlined how the two Departments will strengthen Tribal co-stewardship efforts. The NPS’s co-stewardship policy provides a strong framework beyond traditional consultation to help park managers facilitate and support working relationships with Tribes. 
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The term “co-stewardship” broadly refers to collaborative or cooperative arrangements between Department of Interior bureaus and offices and Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations related to shared interests in managing, conserving and preserving Federal lands and waters. The over-arching goal is to empower Indigenous communities while strengthening management of these unique places.