Native American Lands

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Native American Lands

Energy, Environment and Natural Resources

The combination of our Washington DC experience and our long-term service on behalf of tribal Nations enables us to understand and respond to the unique challenges Native American communities face, and help our clients assert their rights, protect their sovereignty and manage their resources. Our lawyers represent tribes in a variety of interactions with federal agencies, including the US Department of the Interior (DOI), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), and Army Corps of Engineers. We have advised tribes in connection with historic negotiations to increase tribal sovereignty and self-determination, and in securing approvals for the development of resorts and renewable energy and oil and gas facilities on federal lands. We have direct experience working with high-level federal agencies and have successfully managed many relationships between tribes and federal agencies, brokering mutually advantageous outcomes. Our regulatory lawyers work closely with the firm’s Native American Law team, which advises tribal governments on difficult or unsettled legal questions and advocates for the rights of tribes in complex litigation. 

Experience

  • Representing tribes in historic settlements of breach of trust claims against the United States.
  • Representing multiple tribes in finalizing the settlement of a decades-long water rights dispute with one another and the US government.
  • Representing tribes in the negotiation of historic cooperation agreements with the NPS and FWS regarding units managed by those agencies.
  • Advising Native American tribes in the exploration and development of renewable and other resources on and off tribal lands, including identifying and leveraging available federal assistance and private partnerships.
  • Securing federal approvals on behalf of tribes for large-scale recreational development on lands managed by the USFS and US Army Corps of Engineers.
  • Advising energy and infrastructure developers seeking to build constructive partnerships with tribes regarding tribal land use.
  • Providing tribes with public policy advice and representation before members of US Congress and multiple federal agency officials, including those from the DOI, Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, NPS, Army Corps of Engineers, FWS and USFS.

Notice

Unless you are an existing client, before communicating with WilmerHale by e-mail (or otherwise), please read the Disclaimer referenced by this link.(The Disclaimer is also accessible from the opening of this website). As noted therein, until you have received from us a written statement that we represent you in a particular manner (an "engagement letter") you should not send to us any confidential information about any such matter. After we have undertaken representation of you concerning a matter, you will be our client, and we may thereafter exchange confidential information freely.

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