By Jacqline Wolf Tice, At-large delegate, Pennsylvania Chapter Executive Committee
On July 12, Pennsylvania Chapter Executive Committee at-large delegate Jacqline Wolf Tice and John Donahue traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with National Park Service Director, Charles (Chuck) Sams. Director Sams (Cayuse/Walla Walla) is a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and a graduate of University of Oklahoma College of Law’s Indigenous Peoples Law program.
Ms. Wolf Tice and Mr. Donahue serve on a steering committee to elevate the designation of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DEWA) to the Delaware River National Park and Lenape Preserve. The Sierra Club chapters of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Atlantic support this effort, and includes as committee members Pennsylvania Chapter Co-Chair Don Miles, John Kashwick (New Jersey Chapter Vice Chair) and Kate Bartholomew (Atlantic Chapter Chair).
The DEWA is situated in the Lenapehoking, the sacred ancestral homeland of the Lenni Lenape (Delaware). Consultation with Tribal communities who descend from the Lenapehoking is a central tenet of the committee and an obligation of the U.S. Government in fulfilling its trust responsibility to Tribal nations. Director Sams is making an impact in Indian Country* by advancing Tribal co-management agreements on federal lands. Secretary Haaland at the Department of Interior and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack recently signed the Secretary’s Order No. 3403, Joint Secretarial Order on Fulfilling the Trust Responsibility to Indian Tribes in the Stewardship of Federal Lands and Waters. This directive is being used as a lever to elevate opportunities for Tribally led projects that integrate Indigenous ecological knowledge and sustainability practices in the interest of each Tribe connected to federal lands and waters.
Honoring the history and continuity of Tribal knowledge and practices is now written into the operations of the National Park Service. We are fortunate to have NPS Director Chuck Sams guiding these efforts as we embark on honoring the ancestral and living histories of the Lenapehoking and seek to recognize and protect its enduring legacy and culture in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and beyond.
* “Indian Country” is a jurisdictional term found at 18 U.S.C. § 1151 and is defined as (a) all land within the limits of any Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States Government, (b) all dependent Indian communities within the borders of the United States whether within the original or subsequently acquired territory thereof, and (c) all Indian allotments. Materially, it is sovereign Tribal territory and conceptually, the term can also apply to the spirit of Indigenous community.
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