| VERONICA LANE, PhD (Diné – Navajo Nation), Chief Data Officer, Office of Budget and Performance Management, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior &

| MAGGIE HARDY, PhD, Senior Advisor for Statistics and Evidence – Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), Office of the Policy Analysis, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior &

| NICOLE HERMAN-MERCER, Research Social Scientist, Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior

Indigenous Knowledges (IKs) are recognized as a form of evidence that inform scientific research, policymaking, and decision-making. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) presents a unique opportunity to support evidence capacity-building across 40 BIL programs led by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and its bureaus and offices, and to advance how IKs are included in policy- and decision-making.  
 
The evidence-building approach being developed in DOI includes balancing the CARE principles for Indigenous Data Governance (Russo Carroll et al. 2020, Data Science Journal) with the FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship (Wilkinson et al. 2016, Scientific Data). Although the CARE principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics) and FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) are similar, there are key considerations for data privacy and data dissemination to ensure Indigenous communities retain their rights to self-determination. These issues are considered under the data quality aspects of the evidence-based approach to data collection in DOI. 
 
Ensuring quality data is available to inform policy making, resource distributions, and effective program management is critical to advancing the well-being of Indian Country. In this session, an update will be provided on the Indian Country Data Working Group (ICDWG), which was established among Federal Agencies to identify shared goals and actions that could be presented to Tribes in consultation. The goals and actions address a spectrum of efforts including ensuring Tribal sovereignty is recognized upfront in DOI practices, improving quality of existing data, creating new data sources, increasing capability to integrate data, and producing new data driven research products.