GAO: Authority gaps limit tribal role in federal land management

Federal agencies are expanding shared decision-making agreements with tribes, but gaps in authority and capacity continue to limit tribal control over federal land and water management, a new Government Accountability Office report found. 

The Jan. 28 review found that agencies have embraced a 2022 federal directive calling for tribes to play a greater role in managing federal lands and waters, but lack the legal authority, staffing and guidance needed to apply it consistently. 

The report examined how the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce and the Interior have implemented Joint Secretarial Order 3403. It found that federal agencies entered a growing number of shared decision‑making agreements with tribes between 2021 and 2024. Those agreements ranged from co‑stewardship and co‑management arrangements to memorandums of understanding, cooperative agreements and, in Interior’s case, self‑governance compacts. 

GAO found wide variation in the strength of those agreements, with some lacking clear decision-making authority, dispute‑resolution processes or long-term commitments. Agency staff often were uncertain about what they were legally allowed to include, which sometimes slowed negotiations, the report said. 

“Field staff were not always clear on what they were authorized to have in the agreements, including how to determine which activities were inherently federal functions, and this lengthened negotiating time frames in some cases,” the GAO report said. 

Some of that comes down to gaps in federal authority between departments, GAO writes. Interior agencies can use the Indian Self‑Determination and Education Assistance Act to transfer program administration and funding to tribes. The U.S. Forest Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lack comparable authority, which limits their ability to enter long‑term shared decision‑making arrangements even when tribes request them.

The report recommends that Congress extend self‑governance‑style mechanisms to both agencies to close that gap.