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TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA - The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma's Department of Natural Resources is leading a team of employees from different departments in writing and implementing an Integrated Resource Management Plan (IRMP) for the approximately 60,000 acres of tribally owned lands.

An IRMP is a strategic plan for the comprehensive management of the tribe’s resources. It is a tribal policy document based on visions that the tribal government and tribal members have for their lands and natural resources. The plan considers the interrelationships between the natural, social, and economic environments whenever activities are to occur on, or are planned for tribal lands sometime in the future.

"We'll do field inspections and look at all the tribally held lands", said Butch Garner, a natural resource specialist for the Cherokee Nation. “We’re going to look at all the resources we have, and then go the public and say 'Hey, what do you think we should do with these lands?'"

The 1993 "American Indian Agricultural Resource Management Act" and the 1990 "National Indian Forest Resources Management Act" authorizes the Secretary of Interior or a contracting tribe to develop or implement resource management plans for that tribes’ lands. This would allow either party to address the objectives of the two Acts and to complete the plan within three years of initiation of the planning activity.

The tribe is receiving technical assistance from two agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The U.S. Forest Service is helping to guide this planning effort with assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Although both Acts allow three years for completion of the plan, the team hopes to be near completion by end of the year 2001.

Tribal members will have significant input into the plan and its recommendations for future use of tribal lands and resources through the public hearing process and a survey to be developed by the team. For more information on the Integrated Resource Management Plan, inquiries may be addressed to the tribal Department of Natural Resources, Butch Garner, at 918-456-0671 extension 2373.