The Department of the Interior has extended a federal demonstration program that allows participating tribes to assume greater authority over trust forest lands and certain surface leasing activities, preserving a self-governance initiative that has seen limited participation since 2016.
Only three tribes have secured approved management plans since the law was enacted: the Coquille Indian Tribe, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians and the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians.
The Coquille tribe became the first to secure an approved management plan in 2020, four years after Congress created the authority. Tribal forestry advocates have argued that the delayed rollout compressed much of the program’s original 10-year authorization period before tribes could fully utilize it.
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