Student Research Spotlight: Improving Federal-Tribal Consultation Processes

Research BlogDecember 19, 2024

This Fall 2024, a Native Nations Center student intern conducted a research project exploring the tribal consultation process between Tribal Nations and the federal government. She also contributed to our project identifying tribal points of contact, such as tribal relations offices or tribal liaisons, across all federal agencies—building upon work conducted by our Fall 2023 intern. Based on her findings, she made two key recommendations to enhance these critical government-to-government interactions. Her recommendations offer practical insights into strengthening the federal-tribal relationship and fostering mutual respect and understanding between sovereign governments.

First, she proposed standardizing consultation frameworks across federal agencies to promote consistency while respecting the unique needs and protocols of individual tribes. While current federal efforts encourage standardizing the consultation process, her research found that many federal agency websites lack accessible or well-maintained tribal consultation pages, potentially making it difficult for tribes to find contact information to engage effectively. She recommendsfunding and technical support to improve these websites, as well as a cohesive design that enhances accessibility and communication. For example, she suggests creating a standardized tribal consultation page with a uniform design across all federal agency websites, making it easy to locate and navigate.

Second, she emphasized the importance of increased funding to tribal governments, which mayface resource constraints that hinder their ability to fully participate in consultations. Although the federal government may, at times, provide appropriations to cover federal and tribal costs to participate in consultations, she suggests another option could be to create federal funds for tribes to hire a legal or technical expert trained in consultation processes. This option would enable improved, responsive engagement and enhance meaningful and collaborative conversations between Tribal Nations and points of contact across the federal government.

Grace Harris (Cherokee) is a senior at the University of Oklahoma majoring in Political Science and Native American Studies. As a 2024-2025 NAS Mellon Impact Fellow, Grace benefits from a generous grant awarded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to the Department of Native American Studies, in collaboration with the OU Native Nations Center, to support undergraduate fellowships. The NNC provided guidance and resources to help Grace successfully fulfill her Mellon Impact Fellowship obligations.

About Grace Harris

Grace Harris is a member of the Cherokee Nation and senior undergrad double majoring in Political Science and Native American Studies. Her aspirations include going to law school after graduation and focusing on Native law, in hopes of working for either a tribe or the federal government in tribal advocacy. Her time at the Native Nations Center was spent updating a spreadsheet on federal and tribal government relationships, specifically on the consultation process. This spreadsheet includes federal agency liaisons to tribes as well as any important contact information needed in the consultation process. She was also held responsible for completing a research memo on this process, as well as any recommendations for future administrations in attempts to improve the federal and tribal government relationship. Other tasks such as cleaning and setting up for events in the event center, as well as attending important affairs were completed.

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