Intertribal Timber Council Leaders Travel to Brussels to Educate EU Officials on Indigenous Forest Management and the EUDR

By Intertribal Timber Council
PR Newswire
January 28, 2026
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, International

BRUSSELS — Leaders of the Intertribal Timber Council (ITC) are in Brussels this week to meet with European Union officials to explain how the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR) is affecting Indigenous forest managers in the United States. President Cody Desautel, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and Vice President Phil Rigdon, Yakama Nation, are meeting with representatives of several European countries to discuss Tribal sovereignty, Indigenous forest governance, and the impacts of EUDR implementation on Tribal Nations that manage millions of acres of forestland under long-standing, legally protected stewardship systems. The EUDR… aims to prevent global deforestation by requiring traceability and geolocation data… Tribal leaders say these requirements do not distinguish between high-risk deforestation contexts and low-risk forests sustainably managed under Tribal law, U.S. federal law, and treaty obligations. Detailed geolocation and traceability requirements raise concerns about Indigenous data sovereignty and protection of culturally and ecologically sensitive areas.

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