Tribal environmental and natural resource assistance handbook

This handbook was developed by the Domestic Policy Council Working Group on American Indians and Alaska Natives (Working Group). The first draft of this document was possible thanks to the significant contributions of the Native American Fish & Wildlife Society. Previous drafts of the handbook were reviewed by each federal contributor and also went through the interagency review process at the Office of Management and Budget. The result is a compilation of the federal sources of financial and/or technical assistance programs available for Tribal environmental management.

The handbook is intended to provide a central location for federal sources of both technical and financial assistance available to Tribes for environmental management. Many Tribes have limited environmental staffs that are faced with the challenge of addressing a broad range of environmental issues. Unlike State environmental programs that have received annual federal funding for many years, Tribal environmental programs generally must compete annually for their funds. With 554 federally recognized Tribes, there simply is not enough money to go around.

Therefore, Tribal environmental staffs spend a large part of their time applying for grants and searching for sources of federal assistance. This document is an effort to assist Tribal staff in their search and hopefully save them valuable time. The handbook can also assist federal, regional, State and Local government employees in becoming better informed about the sources of environmental assistance available in order to improve customer service to the Tribes.

The Working Group recognizes that this document does not contain every federal resource available to Tribes. This is an evolving document and will be updated periodically. Future versions of this document will be available on the Internet (see Comments section).