Northglenn, CO (September 13, 2024) –The Native American Fish & Wildlife Society (NAFWS)  in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has partnered with the United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) to further their Tribal Mapping Analytics Project. By partnering with UTTC, the project’s capacity has grown to store Tribal data on protected Tribal servers for processing. This partnership supports the ability of NAFWS to support Tribal data analysis and ensure Tribal data sovereignty.

The Tribal Mapping Analytics Project aims to engage Tribes in improving and expanding technical assistance in collecting, managing, and analyzing animal movement data. This project has secured a Tribal representation in the USGS Corridor Mapping Team in response to the Department of Interior (DOI) Secretarial Order 3362. The goal of the collaborations are to provide technical assistance to Tribes in mapping corridors for elk, mule deer, and pronghorn. This mapping assistance helps identify migration routes, stopovers, potential threats to animal movement, and direct conservation actions.

Mandy Guinn, Environmental Science & Research Chair at UTTC said, “We are excited about the newly established collaboration between United Tribes Technical College, the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society and United States Geological Services. This partnership underscores our shared commitment to tribal data sovereignty and the advancement of research in wildlife management. Together, we will empower Tribal Nations to take control of their ecological data, ensuring that wildlife conservation efforts are aligned with tribal values and driven by their expertise.”

To ensure Tribes are actively engaged in receiving support to map tribal ungulate migration corridors equitably, the project will support workshops and training sessions to assist Tribes in analyzing movement data. The NAFWS Tribal Mapping Analyst is available to support Tribes during the project in processing ungulate movement data, collecting movement data, and building programming, and data management systems.

United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) is an educational institution in Bismarck, North Dakota, that is operated by five Tribal Nations in North and South Dakota including: Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold, the Spirit Lake Tribe, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. UTTC has served over ten thousand students from more than 75 federally recognized Indian Tribes across the nation. UTTC is a 1994 Tribal Land-Grant institution, therefore USGS and UTTC hold mutual interests in several program areas related to agricultural and environmental science.

The Native American Fish and Wildlife Society (NAFWS) is a non-profit 501(c)3 intertribal organization founded in 1983 by a group of Tribal fish and wildlife professionals to “assist Native American and Alaska Native Tribes with the conservation, protection, and enhancement of their fish and wildlife resources.” NAFWS is the only national Tribal organization with a specific focus on Tribal fish and wildlife resources. Membership includes 227 Support Member Tribes in 7 regions. NAFWS hosts  conferences, trainings, webinars, youth education and provides technical assistance to the 574 federally recognized Tribes in the US and fish and wildlife professionals working in Indian Country. For more information, please visit nafws.org. 

United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a primary Federal source of science-based information on ecosystems, land use, energy and mineral resources, natural hazards, water use and availability, and updated maps and images of the Earth’s features available to the public.