Mission Statement:
Create opportunities at WAFWA to communicate with and engage tribes and indigenous organizations to improve the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, and their habitat through relationship building, knowledge sharing, and addressing shared challenges.
Purpose Statement:
Tribal representatives participating in the WAFWA summer meeting technical meetings and WAFWA technical workshops will add a more comprehensive perspective and valuable information to WAFWA’s shared communities of practice.
Acknowledgement:
The WAFWA Executive Committee and Board of Directors requested the development of this working group to help develop guidance about how states/provinces should engage tribes in order to mutually benefit through shared professional interactions. WAFWA recognizes there are varying degrees of jurisdictional authority over fish, wildlife, and habitat by tribes and indigenous people across the West and equally varying degrees of comfort and cooperations between tribes and states who have shared geographies and thus defining the working group scope is important.
This is a working group of the Executive Committee.