ARMP-IRMP Planning Portal

Cultural Resources

About Cultural Resources and why you will NOT find them published HERE

Cultural resources are crucial to Reservation communities and as such are important to include in any and all Resource Management Plans you may want to develop. We understand that information regarding cultural resources is sensitive and that most (if not all) Tribes do not want this information out there for the public to see. Because of this, we wanted to reassure you that you do not have to include specific information or details whatsoever about your cultural resources in any of your management plans that will be shared with the BIA. All you have to include in these documents that will become available to the public (which is anything provided to the BIA) is a general reference to the fact that you have cultural resources on the Reservation and that the protection, sustainability, restoration, etc. of these resources is included in your management planning. 

It is recommended in these circumstances that you have an internal facing management plan consisting of specifics with regards to cultural resources and their management. This internally facing plan will only be seen and utilized by Tribal entities and can be kept separate from the documents that you provide to the BIA. We also encourage you, if able, to develop some sort of inventory and/or database of your Reservation’s cultural resources and sites to better manage these resources- this would be another example of information that can be kept separate from the public. 

For all the reasons above, the dashboards and thematic maps publicly available on the Native Lands Information System (NLIS) do not include any specific data on cultural resources, however they do include data and information (for instance about land) that you can use in developing the unique planning and management of your cultural resources. That being said, would you require a private confidential one on one collaboration to support your effort, for instance with mapping resources for your internal reference, we are here to assist in any way we can. Please refer to our contact page for all the information you need to get in touch with us.