Cultural Competency in Environmental Design and Planning: Building Relationships with California's Native Tribes

Cultural competency in environmental design and planning and cultural resource management requires a deep knowledge base prior to engagement with California Native American Tribes that is currently missing from professional education and training. In order to engage successfully in collaborative efforts and mandated consultation with California Tribes, environmental professionals must have some understanding of tribal cultural history in general, specific knowledge of the how individual Tribes would be impacted by proposed projects, and an understanding of sovereignty, tribal governmental structures, and contemporary issues for those particular Tribes. Formal consultation as mandated by the State of California also requires engaging Tribes in a timely and meaningful way and necessitates an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of participants in the process. These responsibilities include interacting with Tribal representatives early and often in the process, communicating clearly, directly, and honestly in a manner that respects the different knowledge and experiences of Tribal people, and taking every opportunity to empower communities by sharing knowledge and skills, and building long-term relationships that can increase project success while supporting Tribal sovereignty.;To bring this knowledge into the sphere of environmental design and planning, the direct input of Tribal representatives was sought for this research, as was input from environmental professionals working with Tribes and designated state Tribal Liaisons; their responses inform the guidelines and recommendations for process interventions and multilevel curricula proposed here.