Tribal Nations Technical Center of Expertise

Building relationships is the foundation to achieving that goal and the necessary first step in realizing integration of human values, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and policies with modern communication and collaboration practices. The TNTCX is uniquely capable of fostering collaboration with indigenous people, both through our approach and the infrastructure we have established to that end.

Indigenous people are the original engineers to “work with nature” and continue this practice today. Recognizing their nature-based solutions expertise and integrating this knowledge into the NEWN framework is critical to successfully accomplishing Engineering with Nature across the country.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge, also called by other names including Indigenous Knowledge or Native Science, (hereafter, TEK) refers to the evolving knowledge acquired by indigenous and local peoples over hundreds or thousands of years through direct contact with the environment.