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AB-2225 Resource conservation: Native American tribes: traditional ecological knowledge: policy: conservation and management of lands.(2021-2022)

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Date Published: 05/20/2022 04:00 AM
AB2225:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  May 19, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2225

Introduced by Assembly Member Ward
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Ramos)

February 15, 2022

An act to add Division 9.5 (commencing with Section 9980) to the Public Resources Code, relating to resource conservation.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2225, as amended, Ward. Resource conservation: Native American tribes: traditional ecological knowledge: land management plans. policy: conservation and management of lands.
Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency, composed of departments, boards, conservancies, and commissions responsible for the restoration, protection, and management of the state’s natural and cultural resources.
This bill would require the agency, on or before no later than January 1, 2024, to conduct a listening tour of regional workshops with Native American tribes across the state to solicit their initial the input, priorities, and concerns of Native American tribes regarding the state’s collection, acquisition, storage, and use of traditional ecological knowledge, as defined, and provide reimbursement to the tribes for this consultation, as provided. defined. The bill would require the agency, after completing the listening tour, but no later than January July 1, 2024, in consultation with the Governor’s tribal advisor, to adopt a policy for incorporating regarding the state’s collection, acquisition, storage, and use of traditional ecological knowledge into the conservation and management of lands owned or managed by the agency or the departments, boards, conservancies, or commissions under the agency, knowledge, as provided. The bill, among other things, bill would require, on and after January July 1, 2024, the agency and the departments, boards, conservancies, and commissions every department, board, conservancy, and commission under the agency to to, among other things, incorporate the policy of traditional ecological knowledge into land management plans for lands managed for conservation purposes, as provided. described above, including in guidelines for grant programs that offer land conservation or management funding.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) California faces a biodiversity crisis, with nature in a steep decline. Scientists are documenting a rapid loss of natural areas and wildlife in California, the United States, and throughout the world, including all of the following:
(1) From 2001 to 2017, a quantity of natural areas equal to the size of a football field disappeared to development every 30 seconds in the United States, constituting more than 1,500,000 acres per year. During this period, California lost more than 1,000,000 acres of natural area.
(2) The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found that approximately 1,000,000 plant and animal species are threatened with extinction over the coming decades as a result of land conversion, water diversions, development, climate change, invasive species, pollution, other stressors, and direct exploitation, including wildlife trade.
(3) The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found that more than 500,000 terrestrial species have insufficient habitat for long-term survival without habitat restoration.
(4) At least 686 California species are at risk of future extinction, and native species in California have already declined by 20 percent.
(5) Climate change is accelerating the decline of nature in California and the United States by reducing the ability of ecosystems to provide clean water and regulate water flows, limiting the ability of nature to buffer communities against disasters, such as fires, storms, floods, and marine heatwaves. Many of these changes disproportionately impact the health of communities of color and indigenous populations, and have far-reaching effects on marine and terrestrial wildlife, including by altering habitats, forcing changes to migratory patterns, altering the timing of biological events, causing shifts in species distributions, and warming and acidifying the ocean.
(6) Nature, like the climate, is nearing a tipping point where the continued loss and degradation of the natural environment will push many ecosystems and wildlife species past the point of no return, threaten the health and economic prosperity of California and the United States, and increase the costs of natural disasters.
(b) Executive Order No. B-10-11 established a tribal advisor under the Governor and directed the tribal advisor to oversee and implement effective government-to-government consultation with tribes on policies that affect California tribal communities. Executive Order No. N-15-19 reaffirmed and incorporated by reference the principles in that order.
(c) The Natural Resources Agency adopted a tribal consultation policy in 2012 to ensure effective government-to-government consultation between the Natural Resources Agency, departments of the Natural Resources Agency, and Native American tribes and tribal communities to provide meaningful input into the development of regulations, rules, policies, programs, projects, plans, property decisions, and activities that may affect tribal communities.
(d) Governor Gavin Newsom released a Statement of Administration Policy on Native American Ancestral Lands on September 25, 2020, to encourage state entities to seek opportunities to support California tribes’ comanagement of and access to natural lands that are within a California tribe’s ancestral land and under the ownership or control of the State of California, and to work cooperatively with California tribes that are interested in acquiring natural lands in excess of state needs.
(e) To combat the climate and biodiversity crises, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order No. N-82-20, which did all of the following:
(1) Established a goal of the state to conserve at least 30 percent of California’s land and coastal waters by 2030.
(2) Established the California Biodiversity Collaborative to protect and restore the state’s biodiversity directing state agencies to consult with the collaborative on efforts to establish a baseline assessment of California’s biodiversity that, among others, uses traditional ecological knowledge.
(3) Directed the Natural Resources Agency to collaborate with tribal partners to incorporate tribal expertise and traditional ecological knowledge to better understand our biodiversity and the threats it faces.
(f) Traditional ecological knowledge can provide a fundamental tool for restoration and conservation management. Before European American contact, Native American tribes managed and stewarded California’s terrestrial and marine resources using traditional ecological knowledge and a wide array of traditional practices and techniques to maintain an environment capable of supporting large, thriving human, plant, and animal populations. Today, tribes continue to use these practices, which vary from tribe to tribe, but are generally focused on ecosystem interconnectivity, respecting the carrying capacity of the land, and viewing humans as an integral part of the environment.
(g) Tribal methods of protecting and managing land can be an essential and fundamental part of a concerted effort to successfully restore biodiversity. However, the state lacks a policy to partner and collaborate with Native American tribes to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge in the state’s land management and conservation activities.
(h) Tribes have an important role in protecting and managing land and should be represented at local and regional levels as advisors, managers, and comanagers to provide their expertise on region-specific conservative initiatives and actions.

SEC. 2.

 Division 9.5 (commencing with Section 9980) is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

DIVISION 9.5. Traditional Ecological Knowledge

9980.
 For purposes of this division, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Agency” means the Natural Resources Agency.
(b) “Cause no harm” means identifying and avoiding risks that could lead to loss of or misappropriation of traditional ecological knowledge.
(c) “Free, prior, and informed consent” means all of the following:
(1) The consent of Native American tribes to share their traditional ecological knowledge cannot be given under force of threat.
(2) Native American tribes receive the draft proposed policy and any relevant information with enough time to review it.
(3) The information provided to Native American tribes is detailed, emphasizes both the potential positive and negative impacts of the proposed policy, and is presented in a language and format understood by the community.
(4) Native American tribes have the right to agree or not agree to share their traditional ecological knowledge and may withdraw their consent at any time.
(d) “Native American tribe” means a federally recognized California Native American tribe or a nonfederally recognized California Native American tribe that is on the contact list maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission.
(e) “Traditional ecological knowledge” means the knowledge held by indigenous cultures about their immediate environment and the environment, cultural landscapes, and traditional practices that build on that knowledge. Traditional ecological knowledge includes an intimate and detailed knowledge of plants, animals, and natural phenomena, the development and use of appropriate technologies for hunting, fishing, trapping, agriculture, and forestry, and a holistic knowledge, or “world view” that parallels the scientific discipline of ecology.

9981.
 (a) On or before No later than January 1, 2024, the agency shall conduct a listening tour of regional workshops with Native American tribes across the state to solicit their initial the input, priorities, and concerns of Native American tribes regarding the state’s collection, acquisition, storage, and use of traditional ecological knowledge. During the development of the policy identified in subdivision (b), the agency shall consult with Native American tribes from across the state and shall provide at least one draft for comment by Native American tribes. The agency shall provide reimbursement for this consultation, pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b).

(b)(1)After completing the listening tour described in subdivision (a), but no later than January 1, 2024, the agency, in consultation with the Governor’s tribal advisor, shall adopt a policy for incorporating traditional ecological knowledge, where appropriate and freely shared, into the conservation and management of lands owned or managed by the agency or the departments, boards, conservancies, or commissions under the agency. The policy shall incorporate the principles of “cause no harm” and “free, prior, and informed consent” and shall include protections for the intellectual property of Native American tribes.

(2)In developing the policy identified in paragraph (1), the agency shall implement guidance on reimbursement and contracts. The guidance shall be consistent with the way that the agency pays other subject matter experts for their expertise.

(b) No later than July 1, 2024, the agency, in consultation with the Governor’s tribal advisor, shall adopt a policy regarding the state’s collection, acquisition, storage, and use of traditional ecological knowledge that incorporates the principles of “cause no harm” and “free, prior, and informed consent” and that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(1) Direction and guidance for consulting with Native American tribes for the purpose of collecting, acquiring, storing, and using traditional ecological knowledge in order to incorporate this knowledge, where appropriate, into the conservation and management of lands owned or managed by the agency or its departments, boards, conservancies, or commissions. This shall include direction and guidance for formal consultation with the tribal decisionmaking authority of a Native American tribe.
(2) Direction and guidance to protect traditional ecological knowledge from unauthorized distribution or use, including, but not limited to, both of the following:
(A) Direction and guidance for when traditional ecological knowledge shared during the creation and implementation of the policy will be protected from public records requests, and when it is subject to disclosure, pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code).
(B) Direction and guidance for third-party distribution and use, when authorized by the relevant Native American tribe.
(3) Direction and guidance to reimburse Native American tribes for the use of traditional ecological knowledge and for any services provided to the state by Native American tribes. This shall include direction and guidance regarding contracting with Native American tribes.
(c) Before adopting the policy identified in subdivision (b), the agency shall do both of the following:
(1) Provide at least one draft of the policy to each Native American tribe described in subdivision (d) of Section 9980 for comment.
(2) Provide opportunities for Native American tribes to engage in informal consultation with the agency on the draft.

(c)

(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that the implementation of this section honor and uphold the sovereignty of Native American tribes and respect the intellectual property rights of Native American tribes. The adoption of a policy shall be guided and informed by formal consultation with the tribal decisionmaking authority of Native American tribes.

9982.

(a)(1)On and after January 1, 2024, the agency and the departments, boards, conservancies, and commissions under the agency shall incorporate the policy of traditional ecological knowledge pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9981 into land management plans for lands managed for conservation purposes.

(2)If the agency contracts with a Native American tribe on policy implementation and consultation strategies for purposes of this section, the Native American tribe shall be located regionally within close proximity and, where possible, comprised of representatives indigenous to the specified land area.

(b)On and after January 1, 2024, the agency or the departments, boards, conservancies, or commissions under the agency who administer grants for land management and conservation purposes shall incorporate the policy of traditional ecological knowledge pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9981 into their guidelines. The guidelines shall provide guidance for grantees, where appropriate, to contract with Native American tribes and compensate for their expertise.

9982.
 On and after July 1, 2024, every department, board, conservancy, and commission under the agency shall do all of the following:
(a) Incorporate the policy adopted by the agency pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9981 into the department, board, conservancy, or commission’s policies, including in guidelines for grant programs that offer land conservation or management funding.
(b) Identify regionally appropriate opportunities to partner with Native American tribes to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge into the conservation and management of lands owned or managed by the department, board, conservancy, or commission.
(c) Provide opportunities for Native American tribes to engage in formal consultation to share traditional ecological knowledge in order to incorporate this knowledge, where appropriate, into the conservation and management of lands owned or managed by the department, board, conservancy, or commission.