Sovereign Tribal Nations are still missing from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement
/The Indigenous Conservation Council has voted to withdraw from discussions to become official partners in the Chesapeake Bay Agreement
Sunset on the chesapeake Bay
Today, the Indigenous Conservation Council (ICC), which represents the seven federally recognized Tribal Nations in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, announced that it is withdrawing from discussions about becoming a signatory to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement until the Chesapeake Executive Council honors Tribal sovereignty, the value of Indigenous Knowledge, and returns to the conversation in good faith.
The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement is the central framework guiding the sovereign governments of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York as they work together to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Sovereign Tribal Nations are missing from that list. To rectify this, the ICC is calling for a formal role in the partnership and for Indigenous Knowledge and leadership to be meaningfully incorporated into the work of restoring the Bay.
This is not an unprecedented request. Tribal governments are already formal partners in the stewardship and restoration of major waterways and coastal ecosystems elsewhere in the United States. Other watershed and estuary agreements across the country have included Tribal Nations as formal partners and signatories, recognizing that their inclusion is not optional.
The ICC’s decision was not made lightly and is submitted after more than a year of delays and missed opportunities for action. In December 2025, the Chesapeake Executive Council formally directed its staff to work with federally recognized Tribal Nations on recommendations for their inclusion in the Chesapeake Bay Program, including potential signature on the Watershed Agreement. Those recommendations were originally due July 1, 2026, but the decisions continue to be delayed.
Potomac Conservancy stands with our Indigenous neighbors in calling on the Chesapeake Executive Council to honor Tribal sovereignty and return to these conversations in good faith. The Bay partnership should restart discussions with the ICC and establish a clear path toward including Tribal Nations as full partners in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. A partnership built to coordinate sovereign governments across the watershed must include the sovereign Tribal Nations that have cared for these lands and waters long before the Chesapeake Bay Program existed.
Last year, 405 Potomac Conservancy members signed the petition calling for the ICC to be included as a signatory to the Agreement. Our community understands that Tribal Nations, whose ancestral lands and waters encompass the Chesapeake Bay watershed, deserve a meaningful role in decisions about its future. It is past time our leaders came to the same understanding.
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