America's Indians own and manage 7.7 million acres of timberland and 10.2 million acres of woodland. Their lands are among the best managed in the entire nation. We have featured Indian Country forestry in Evergreen Magazine on two occasions - first in June of 1998 (click) and again in our Winter 2005-2006 edition (click). Tribal lands are sovereign - meaning that they are nations within our nation.

Our nation's relationship with tribes is improving, but it has come through a long period of neglect - a time when, in our opinion, the federal government was not living up to well defined treaty and trust obligations and responsibilities.

Increasingly, tribes are assuming full control over the management of their forests and woodlands. But our nation still has financial obligations that it cannot legally escape. Of these, none is more important - from a land perspective - than providing the federal funding needed to ensure the proper management of tribal lands.

Although it is too early to draw any definitive conclusions, there are signs that the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management are warming to the idea of shifting more of their federal forest and rangeland management responsibilities to tribes that once owned these lands. We regard this as a positive step forward, not just because we believe these lands ought to be returned to Indians from who they were taken, but also because we see much to admire in the Indian Way of managing lands, which does a far better job of accounting for cultural, historic and spiritual connections to land and place.

As time passes, we'll have more to say about this important topic. For now, our goal is to post thought-provoking information about Indians and Indian Country in this section.

Jim Petersen, Evergreen