Superintendent Kevin Schneider announced that Acadia National Park was cited as a model in a memo from the White House last week regarding new guidance on increasing the role of indigenous traditional ecological knowledge in tackling National Park Service science and resource management issues.

See the excerpt from the Whie House memo below that references how the National Park Service in Acadia National Park is working with citizens of the Wabanaki Tribes on shared governance and research on sweetgrass harvesting.

Excerpt

Supporting Examples of ITEK Application and Collaboration Between Native Communities and the Federal Government, Written with Native Partners

In Acadia National Park, the National Park Service is working with citizens of Wabanaki Tribes—the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, the Houlton Band of Maliseets, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayak, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township, and the Penobscot Indian Nation—on shared governance and research on sweetgrass harvesting. Wabanaki people have harvested sweetgrass for generations. Research in Acadia, guided by Indigenous methodologies, reinforces what Wabanaki people have always known: that harvesting sweetgrass through a Wabanaki philosophy enhances sweetgrass abundance. Wabanaki knowledge, and the gatherers who generate this knowledge, are leading NPS research and management strategies that will enable restoration of Wabanaki harvesting within Acadia National Park.

Abbe Museum, Wabanaki Sweetgrass Harvesting in Acadia National Park (June 1, 2019),