Developing Ecosystem Approach Model for Consideration of Traditional Cultural Landscapes in Planning Transportation Infrastructure: Issues, Benefits, and Constraints.

While Native American cultures are not certainly heterogeneous, many seem to share a quite similar worldview when it comes to the sustaining the environment. Sharp distinctions are drawn between the “natural” environment and the “human” environment in Western societies, but for many Native Americans and other indigenous cultures there is no simple way to separate the natural, cultural, and spiritual aspects of the environment—everything is interrelated to greater or lesser degrees. There is a critical need to better incorporate Native American perspectives, cultural values and beliefs when considering traditional cultural properties and landscapes in the context of the transportation planning and environmental analysis processes. The following study focuses on the need to incorporate Native American values, beliefs, and traditional knowledge when considering traditional cultural properties and landscapes in the context of transportation planning and proposes developing an approach to the consideration of both traditional cultural landscapes and traditional ecological knowledge, modeled after the ecosystem approach presented in the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) document, Eco-Logical: An Ecosystem Approach to Developing Infrastructure Projects. The benefits and constraints involved in developing and implementing such an approach in a transportation setting are addressed. Development, testing and implementation of a prototype approach by a candidate group (consisting of tribes, resource agencies, and other stakeholders) who are already participating in collaborative or programmatic endeavors is identified as a future research need.