Tribes withdraw from Chesapeake Bay talks over lack of representation

A collective of Indigenous tribes seeking a voice in the Chesapeake Bay restoration movement said Monday that, after repeated delays, they’ve had enough.

Governors and federal officials from across the bay watershed pledged less than a year ago to study the inclusion of seven federally recognized tribes in the four-decade-old bay cleanup effort.

Tribal leaders appreciated that gesture at the time, members of the Indigenous Conservation Council said in a statement Monday, but it has since become clear that the state and federal officials are “unwilling to give the tribes a seat at the table.”

Melissa Ann Ehrenreich, executive director of the Indigenous Conservation Council, said last year that the tribes wanted their own representative on the Chesapeake Bay Program’s executive council, which includes the governors of all six watershed states, the mayor of Washington, D.C., and the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The group helps plot bay restoration, conservation and research efforts.

“Respect for tribal sovereignty is non-negotiable and must be demonstrated with action, not just words,” the tribes said in a statement. “As a result, the ICC Board has voted to withdraw from all discussions and formal engagement with the Chesapeake Bay Program until this basic and essential principle is met.”

The Indigenous Conservation Council, formed in 2022 to represent seven tribes in Virginia, has worked to earn them a vote on the executive council, which was formed in 1983 to oversee the restoration of an estuary depleted by generations of sewage and farm pollution.

A spokesperson for the Chesapeake Bay Program did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources referred comment to the Bay Program, and a representative from the office that oversees Virginia environmental agencies did not immediately respond.

There are no federally recognized tribes based in Maryland, and the seven Virginia tribes received that recognition relatively recently. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe became the first tribe in the Chesapeake watershed to achieve federal recognition of its sovereignty a decade ago, while the remaining six were recognized in 2018.

The tribes originally hoped to be signatories to the latest Chesapeake watershed pact, approved last December by governors from across the watershed. But that request was rebuffed, and the governors instead approved a six-month study on how to include the tribes, due for completion by July 1.

Ahead of that deadline, however, state and federal representatives decided to delay a proposal until December, when executive council members would vote on a resolution about tribal representation at their annual meeting.

When tribal leaders sought an explanation for the delay, the Indigenous Conservation Council statement said, they were “stonewalled.”

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a leading bay advocacy group, expressed solidarity with the tribal governments Monday.

“It’s unacceptable that the Chesapeake Bay Partnership is not following through on promises to engage in good faith and meaningfully include tribes in the partnership,” Keisha Sedlacek, the foundation’s senior policy director, said in a statement. “Enough delays. We urge decision makers to make things right.”

Tribal leaders said Monday that they still welcome chances to work with governments and organizations that recognize tribal sovereignty and the importance of Indigenous perspectives to the region’s ecosystems.

“When the Chesapeake Executive Council decides it is ready to uphold tribal sovereignty and provide space at the leadership table for us, then we will be happy to renew our conversations,” the statement said.