Does your research involve field work or data related to people from Native American tribes or Alaska native entities?
DOE has requirements for the Lab regarding any consultations or engagements with federally recognized Native American tribes or Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act corporations (ANCSA). For instance, in our research areas, this may include field work on tribal/ANCSA lands or human subjects related research (e.g., surveys, gathering feedback, using publicly available population data).
As a DOE National Lab, we share DOE’s responsibility to interact with Indian tribes in a manner that recognizes their inherent sovereignty, their unique political relationship with the federal government, and the federal trust responsibility. This requires that we identify, consider, and appropriately protect the rights and interests of Indian Tribes in the work we do at LBNL and off-site by LBNL researchers.
Per DOE guidance, Tribal interests include but are not limited to Tribal self-governance, Tribal resources and practices, and Tribal access to areas of cultural or religious significance and lands from which a Tribe may have been removed. If a research team has any current or proposed activity that has the potential to impact tribal interests, please email Bill Johansen (wejohansen@lbl.gov).
The Directorate will then work with them to determine what (if any) additional steps the team and the Lab may need to take, and who should handle those steps as some steps may require working with DOE.
