Native American Plant Gathering in the National Park System. Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility (PEER) 202 265-PEER

摘要

In a July 2010 conference with the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, National Park Service (NPS) Director Jonathan Jarvis publicly proclaimed that the NPS regulations that preclude Native Americans from gathering plants from parks are 'wrong.' He vowed that one of his goals as Director was to revise the regulation and implement a complete about-face on Native Americans collecting in the national park system. Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility (PEER) asked the NPS spokesman, David Barna, to certify the accuracy of the report that Director Jarvis determined the current rule to be wrong. He confirmed, and included the following statement: 'Director Jarvis has deep experience working in parks where the ties between First Americans and the lands that are now parks have never been broken. He believes that maintaining those ties can nourish our landscapes while supporting native cultural traditions and providing opportunities for all Americans to better understand the history of America's first peoples.' This analysis examines the NPS regulations judged to be 'wrong' by the NPS Director. The analysis reviews the current status of Native American plant gathering in the parks. Lastly, the analysis reviews pertinent authorities, including the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA).