Land Area & Name Directory
Purpose and Goals
Understanding the locations of Tribally important places and resources is essential to their preservation and consideration during emergency response activities and planning for infrastructure, energy, and broadband development – including NHPA Section 106 reviews. This project will create a geospatial platform for information on Tribal cultural resource contacts and areas of interest. It will be driven by Tribes in its design, decision making, and data population. It will improve both protection of Native places and efficiency of required project reviews.
A New Approach
Identifying the need for such a tool, staff in the NPS Northeast Region worked with Tribes to develop a beta platform to demonstrate the idea’s feasibility (“Horizons”). Recognizing the strength of the project being Tribally driven and housed outside government, the beta version of the database has transitioned to NATHPO. Unlike other similar directories, LAND will contain only information populated by Tribes, representing a fundamentally different approach to a perpetual challenge.
CONTACT US HERE if you are a Tribal Member and interested in joining the Tribal Working Group or if you have questions about the application. Please be sure to include the name of your Tribe, if applicable, and your contact information including valid email address & phone number.
We look forward to working with you to develop this application.
Key Differences
- The LAND database is essentially a bookshelf
- Tribes decide what information to (or not to) include
- NATHPO will not populate from any other databases to fill in information
- Does not serve as consultation, is contact info tool
Guiding Principles
- Sovereignty & self-determination
- Meaningful consultation
- Relationships & trust
- Tribal capacity building
- A seat at the table
- All land is indigenous land
Project Activities
Phase 1: Beta & Transition – Origin and building of IOSPP-funded beta application, securing federal funding to facilitate transition to NATHPO, transition beta platform to NATHPO, begin communications with Tribes to solicit feedback, building partnerships, and support for a new approach.
Phase 2: Design & Development – Continued IOSPP funding, GIS specialist hire, establish Tribal Working Group, develop GIS platform based on Tribal needs, preliminary planning for Common Ground Tour.
Phase 3: Common Ground Tour & Data Entry – Operational GIS platform, Common Ground Tour across Indian Country to build relationships and trust, share information and begin data entry by Tribes, long range platform planning.
Phase 4: Growth & Maintenance – Outreach and workshops to encourage data entry by more Tribes, platform tweaks and updates based on feedback and Tribal needs, annual data updates by Tribes, ongoing operational support.
