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Why do we have a land acknowledgment statement?

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Countries around the world, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and many U.S. tribal nations, and various universities, including University of Illinois, Michigan State, and the University of Denver, open events and gatherings by acknowledging the traditional Indigenous peoples of that land. The acknowledgment is a way of offering respect to traditional Indigenous citizens, both those who have come before and those currently living here; correcting the practice of erasing Indigenous people's history; and recognizing that Indigenous peoples are still a vital part of our country's lands and future. Land acknowledgments move us towards reconciliation and the decolonization of Indigenous cultures.

When do I read the land acknowledgment statement?

Read the land acknowledgment statement at any full day or multi-day event hosted on the Fort Collins Colorado State University Campus or when hosting or facilitating an official CSU event.

Who can read the land acknowledgment statement?

Anyone who treats the land acknowledgment statement with respect and can communicate the significance of the statement can read it. Who reads the statement must be respectful which means: practice reading it prior, read with sincerity, read with intention and purpose, and avoid rushing through it. The significance of the statement is achieved through ensuring your audience is attentive, asking participants to hear the message through our framing, deliver the message with attention to tone, emphasis and pacing.

Decisions regarding the management, use and condition of Colorado's forests are complicated by a mosaic of public and private ownerships ranging in size from a single acre to several million acres.

Each entity brings with it a unique set of philosophies, directives and regulations that further influence the decisions made about their particular part of the forest, as well as the options available to surrounding landowners.

Approximately 65% of Colorado's forests are in federal ownership; the primary land manager is the U.S. Forest Service with 47 percent or 11.3 million acres. Nearly three-quarters of the state's high-elevation species such as spruce-fir, lodgepole pine and aspen are located on USFS lands. The Bureau of Land Management oversees an additional 17 percent or 4.2 million acres, primarily in the state's lower elevation piñon-juniper and oak shrubland forests. The National Park Service has responsibility for 380,925 acres or 2 percent of Colorado's forests; the majority of these lands are within the borders of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Despite this significant federal presence, private landowners also play an important role in the stewardship of Colorado's forest resources. Approximately 186,000 private landowners control 30 percent or 7.1 million acres of the state's forested landscapes. Although the majority of these lands are in lower elevations, private landowners are represented in all of Colorado's forest types, including a notable portion of aspen and mixed-conifer forests.

The remainder of Colorado's forests is held by a combination of tribal governments, municipalities, state agencies and other non-federal entities. The Colorado State Land Board, for example, owns approximately 370,000 acres of forest land throughout the state; the largest parcel is the Colorado State Forest near Walden. Two resident tribes, the Ute Mountain Utes and Southern Utes, make their home in southwest Colorado where they own a total of 402,303 acres of forestland. The vast majority of these acres are in ponderosa pine and piñon-juniper forests. These tribes also retain specific hunting rights and other aboriginal rights on national forests throughout their traditional territory, which includes portions of Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. More than a dozen other tribes located outside Colorado also maintain tribal interests and inherent aboriginal rights in Colorado's national forests (USFS 2008)¹.

Historically, human use of the forest has been constant, ranging from subsistence gathering to harvesting for mining and railroad industries, and management for wildlife habitat, drinking water and recreation. Growing populations, urban development and climate change pose new and demanding challenges for today's forest managers.

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Information about Colorado's forest types has been reproduced from the Colorado Statewide Forest Resource Assessment and the 2001 Report on the Condition of Colorado's Forest (1.25 MB PDF).

Land Acknowledgment | Colorado State University

Text Citation

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¹United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (USFS). 2008. Rulemaking for Colorado roadless areas: draft environmental impact statement. Denver, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.