Most of the territory of the protected area (80%) overlaps with three Embera indigenous reservations, which are legally recognized. The zone of influence of the park includes the black communities of Bahia Solano and Nuqui. These communities undertake subsistence agricultural activities, as well as artisanal fishing both in rivers and on the sea. River fishing is quite common in the area, especially amongst the indigenous communities, whereas the black communities engage more in sea fishing. Hence, the NNP Utria includes these topics in its management and conservation efforts, as part of its territorial organization work.

The Park aims at ensuring the permanence of the environmental characteristics required by the black and indigenous communities, allowing for the proper continuity of the cultural dynamics, which in turn depend on the status of natural resources. The Park intends also to contribute to the preservation and protection of the cultural wealth of the ethnic groups with which it is related.

Emberas

This indigenous community still keeps much of its line of thought, oral traditions and rituals. The Jaibana figure stands out in their culture, as healer, central authority, social control and territorial manager. For his ceremonies, he uses beverages such as the pilde or borrachero in order to communicate with the spirits. The Embera world is threefold: the upward world where the spirits of the dead, the royal roosters and Karagabi, their cultural hero, reside; the middle world where Trutuika and other spirits such as the mother of water, who take the shape of animals or monsters, reside; and the last world, where humans reside.

Black Communities

Set up by descendants of African slaves from Equatorial Africa brought to the American continent during the Conquest, in the XVI century. They entered the country legally through Cartegena de Indias as part of the slave trade, in a market dominated by the Dutch and the Portuguese. They also entered the country as contraband, through the Pacific littoral to Buenaventura, Charambira and Gorgona, or through the Atlantic to the coast of Riohacha, Santa Marta, Tolu and the Darien.