Doctoral Dissertation Research: Natural Resource Governance with Indigenous Communities: Shifting Sovereignties Through Co-Management?

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This doctoral dissertation project examines the co-management of environmental resources between native communities in North America and state actors as a means of recapturing and reconfiguring indigenous sovereignty claims. Natural resource management between indigenous communities and state agencies is characterized by a high degree of distrust and conflict over lands and resources. Although collaborative management agreements are increasingly viewed as a solution, co-management is often criticized as a state-driven project that does not achieve meaningful power sharing. This project assesses the ways and degree to which indigenous sovereignty over contested lands and resources can be advanced through co-management agreements. The research evaluates two exemplar cases in Pacific Northwest salmon watersheds, the Karuk Tribe in California, USA and the Xaxli'p Indigenous Community in British Columbia, Canada, where communities are combining ecological and cultural restoration as a primary management goal. The project's research questions are: 1) How are community articulations of eco-cultural restoration goals being used in co-management to establish legitimacy for community claims to natural resources?; 2) How are indigenous sovereignty claims shaped by co-management over time?; and 3) How does access to land and resources shift through the co-management process for the community and state agency? Methods include semi-structured interviews of key participants in co-management processes; participant observation of restoration activities; document analysis; and participatory mapping. Analysis involves coding interviews with software and employing an access analysis approach to compare benefits received from co-management by both communities and state agencies, and the mechanisms by which co-managers control resources. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping and overlay analysis will help identify similarities and differences between Karuk and agency land management plans. Research findings will extend knowledge of environmental governance, particularly how co-management processes affect indigenous sovereignty struggles over territory, as well as issues of access and control over land and resources. Investigators also consider how indigenous communities are developing new knowledge, as well as linking ecological and cultural restoration, to influence natural resource management decisions on indigenous lands. In addition, a case study comparison will provide insight into different laws and policies in Canada and the U.S. that impact indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. Furthermore, a more comprehensive understanding of co-management, both in terms of possibilities and limitations, will help indigenous communities and state agencies move beyond lawsuits over resource management conflicts. Finally, research outputs will include practical tools for the Xaxli'p and Karuk communities to use as they continue eco-cultural restoration activities. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a doctoral student to establish an independent research career.