Adaptation Plans

Tribes throughout the United States are developing and implementing tribal climate change adaptation plans and climate vulnerability assessments. Search this list for examples of tribal climate change adaptation plans, as well as other plans and planning resources that may be useful reference guides.

Title Year Sort ascending Description Geography Website
Karuk Eco-Cultural Resources Management Plan 2010

The Department of Natural Resources Eco-Cultural Resources Management Plan (ECRMP) is intended to guide future management of natural resources within the Karuk Aboriginal Territory and beyond. The ECRMP is an integrated resource management plan (IRMP) developed under the authority of the National Indian Forest Resources Management Act. Though this Act limits the implementation of IRMP’s to Tribal Trust lands, the authority provided in 43 USC Chapter 35 Federal Land Policy and Management provides for the “Coordination of plans for National Forest System lands with Indian land use planning and management programs for the purposes of development and revision”.This should allow for coordination of the ECRMP with the Klamath and Six Rivers National Forests Land and Resource Management Plan revisions that will be occurring soon. With this coordination we should be able to once again manage the Aboriginal Territory in a manner consistent with our cultural and natural heritage. The Department of Natural Resources welcomes comments from the Tribal Membership and Descendants to help ensure that the final plan will provide lasting benefits for generations to come. We will be developing the draft provided below in consideration of the comments received to provide a final draft for council review, NEPA compliance, and approvals.To download a PDF of the plan, click here.

Categories: cultural resource management, natural resources

Northwest Link
Climate Change in Point Hope, Alaska: Strategies for Community Health 2010

Today with the added pressure of climate change, Point Hope continues its struggle with increased urgency; against erosion and against other new emerging challenges to the community, the culture, and to public health. Assessment of climate change related health effects in Point Hope, Alaska. Point Hope is an Inupiat community of approximately 700 residents, located in Northwestern Alaska on the Chukchi Sea. Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, 2010. 

Categories: Tribal Health, climate change, strategies, adaptation

Alaska Link
Swinomish Climate Change Initiative: Impact Assessment Technical Report 2009

Impact  assessment report for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in northwest Washington. To download a PDF of the report, click here.

Categories: Tribal, Adaptation Plan

Northwest, Washington Link
City of Kwethluk, Alaska: Local Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan 2009

Plan for these natural hazards : flooding, erosion, severe weather, and earthquake. Includes information to assist the city government and residents with planning to avoid potential future disaster losses. To download the City of Kwethluk, Alaska Local Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, click here.

Categories: Tribal, Adaptation Plan, Hazard Mitigation Plan

Alaska Link
Dibaginjigaadeg Anishinaabe Ezhitwaad: A Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu

Tribal Adaptation Menu Team. 2019. Dibaginjigaadeg Anishinaabe Ezhitwaad: A Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu. Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Odanah, Wisconsin. 54 p

Climate change has impacted and will continue to impact indigenous peoples, their lifeways and culture, and the natural world upon which they rely, in unpredictable and potentially devastating ways. Many climate adaptation planning tools fail to address the unique needs, values and cultures of indigenous communities. This Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu, which was developed by a diverse group of collaborators representing tribal, academic, intertribal and government entities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, provides a framework to integrate indigenous and traditional knowledge, culture, language and history into
the climate adaptation planning process. Developed as part of the Climate Change Response Framework, the Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu is designed to work with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate
Science (NIACS) Adaptation Workbook, and as a stand-alone resource. The Menu is an extensive collection of climate change adaptation actions for natural resource management, organized into tiers of general and
more specific ideas. It also includes a companion Guiding Principles document, which describes detailed considerations for working with tribal communities. While this first version of the Menu was created based
on Ojibwe and Menominee perspectives, languages, concepts and values, it was intentionally designed to be adaptable to other indigenous communities, allowing for the incorporation of their language, knowledge
and culture. Primarily developed for the use of indigenous communities, tribal natural resource agencies and their non-indigenous partners, this Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu may be useful in bridging
communication barriers for non-tribal persons or organizations interested in indigenous approaches to climate adaptation and the needs and values of tribal communities.

Categories: climate change, adaptation, planning

Great Lakes Region Link
Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Climate Adaptation Plan

The Climate Adaptation Plan (CAP) was reviewed by the CTUIR Board of Trustees (BOT) and a vote to formally adopted this document into CTUIR department and program work plans with Resolution 22-103, passed on December 19th, 2022. Links and resources related to the CAP include:Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation Climate Adaptation Plan: https://ctuir.org/departments/natural-resources/climate-adaptation/ctui… Climate Adaptation - YouTube CTUIR Webinar series archive: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjN61eROflvHaI9dSVl4VEA CTUIR - Climate Adaptation Plan Webinar Archive: https://ctuir.org/departments/natural-resources/climate-adaptation/clim…

Categories: Climate Adaptation Plan, Umatilla, Oregon

Northwest Link
Fort Belknap Indian Community Climate Change Adaptation Plan

Fort Belknap Indian Community is home to the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes (the Aaniiih and Nakoda Nations). The Gros Ventre call themselves “AH-AH-NE-NIN” meaning the White Clay People, and
the Assiniboine refer to themselves as “Nakoda” meaning the generous ones. For the purpose of this plan, we will be referring to the community as Fort Belknap Indian Community, or FBIC for short. The
Gros Ventre and Assiniboine peoples were nomadic hunters and warriors who followed the buffalo which provided them all the necessities of life.2 The reservation is located 43 miles south of the
Canadian Border and 20 miles north of the Missouri River, which is on the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Categories: tribal adaptation plan, climate change

Montana Link
Tribal Climate Adaptation Guidebook

The Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, along with Adaptation International, created the Tribal Climate Adaptation Guidebook, which provides a framework for climate change adaptation planning in the context of existing tribal priorities. The Guidebook builds on the on-going climate-related work in tribal communities, directly considers the unique issues facing Indigenous communities, and identifies opportunities and guidance for incorporating Traditional Knowledges based on the Climate and Traditional Knowledges Workgroup’s Guidelines for Considering Traditional Knowledges (TKs) in Climate Change Initiatives. The Tribal Climate Adaptation Guidebook is designed to be useful for tribes at any stage of adaptation planning and with varying degrees of funding and staff capacity. The Guidebook is designed so that tribes can work through any applicable section and skip sections that are not applicable. The development of the guidebook was overseen by a group of advisors who supported the writing staff by refining the goals and objectives for the Guidebook and by providing regular reviews throughout the development process. The project was funded by a grant from the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative and received supplemental funding from the Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Research Consortium and the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute.

Categories: adaptation, planning, resource, climate change

National, Northwest Link