Project overview: Move Yosemite National Park toward more meaningful and lasting collaborative stewardship with traditionally associated Tribes. Advance a strategic planning effort led by a Tribal–owned consulting firm and the seven associated Tribes to identify strategic objectives and priority projects.

How your support helps: The seven Tribes affiliated with Yosemite National Park have expressed interest in having a greater presence in, access to, and stewarding resources of the park. To truly move forward with the seven affiliated Tribes in collaborative stewardship, the park seeks to learn their top priorities. A strategic planning effort, including representatives of all seven Tribes and led by a third-party Indigenous facilitator, will give consulting Tribes an opportunity to work together to identify a list of shared needs most critical to their own communities’ interests. This list of strategic objectives and project priorities will let Yosemite National Park and Yosemite Conservancy identify overlap in goals across organizations, setting a clear course for project planning and true collaborative stewardship for the next 10 to 20 years.

This year: In 2024, a multistep process, including meeting, draft reporting, and follow-up, will be facilitated by a third-party, Tribally owned firm and joined by two members (one elder or council member, one support staff member) of each Tribe.

Project partners: Seven Affiliated Tribes of Yosemite, Yosemite National Park

Dawn Bringelson

Cultural Resources, Yosemite National Park

Project Notes

"A strategic planning effort, including representatives of all seven tribes and led by a third-party indigenous facilitator, would provide consulting tribes an opportunity to work together to identify a list of shared needs most critical to their own communities' interests."