National Parks, Native Sovereignty proposes a reorientation of relationships between tribal nations and national parks, placing Indigenous peoples as co-stewards through strategic collaboration. More than simple consultation, strategic collaboration, as the authors define it, involves the complex process by which participants come together to find ways to engage with one another across sometimes-conflicting interests.

In case studies and interviews focusing on a wide range of National Park Service sites, the authors and editors of this volume—scholars as well as National Park Service staff and tribal historic preservation officers—explore pathways for collaboration that uphold tribal sovereignty. These efforts serve to better educate the general public about Native peoples; consider new ways of understanding and interpreting the peoples (Native and non-Native) connected to national park lands; and recognize alternative ways of knowing and using park lands based on Native peoples’ expertise.