Indigenous Circular Economies (IndCE): The Yurok Tribe, Regenerative Forest Management, and Tribal Sovereignty

In this research, we present the Indigenous Circular Economy (IndCE); not as a novel framework, but as an enduring system of stewardship, resilience, and relationality practiced by Indigenous communities for generations. As Indigenous (Yurok/Hoopa) and non-Indigenous co-authors, we draw on historical analysis, forest science, Yurok oral tradition, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to demonstrate how IndCE repairs the ecological and cultural harm of capitalist economies by weaving together forest health with human health. Through a case study of the Yurok Tribe in Northern California, we highlight how IndCE is not just a cultural or local economic alternative. It is a paradigm shift away from economic perspectives that ignore culture, history, land, and non-human & human relationships. The Yurok stewardship practices that support its IndCE (e.g. Good Fire) provide a slew of benefits: wildfire risk mitigation, ecosystem restoration, economic revitalization, and cultural resilience. The Yurok case reveals the urgency of legitimizing and resourcing Indigenous-led ecological governance. We identify persistent policy and funding barriers that undermine this work and offer concrete paths forward to support it. This paper contributes to broader debates on sustainable economics, Indigenous rights, and community-led conservation. It also raises critical questions for non-Indigenous communities about how some state systems may sometimes obstruct, rather than support, regenerative land stewardship, cultural continuity, and ecological care. The Yurok model shows that another type of economy is not only possible; it already exists.