Climate Programs

Deadline is Ongoing. The Tribal College Extension grant program allows the 1994 Land-Grants to create extension offices for their reservation communities. Each extension office works with reservation communities to build programs that target local needs. The result is a diversified and targeted outreach. Reservation youth participate in fun activities in a safe environment. Farmers and ranchers gain science-based insights to improve their productivity. Financial literacy training enhances rural reservation economies. The 1994 Land-Grants also provide culture-centered family activities to restore Native languages, traditions and agriculture. Within this grant program are two types of funds: Capacity grants and Special Emphasis. Capacity grants fund an entire Extension office which can have many mission areas and clients. Special Emphasis are targeted, short-term pilot projects that allow Extension educators to explore new ways to better serve their community.

Categories: reservation communities, financial literacy training, education, culture, native languages, traditions, agrculture

The 1994 Land-Grants often serve as the primary institution of scientific inquiry, knowledge and learning for reservation communities. This funding allows them to address the questions that matter to these communities such as protecting reservation forests or monitoring water quality. Projects may help a tribe improve bison herd productivity, discover whether traditional plants can play a role in managing diabetes or control invasive species. The grant's partnership requirement ensures that other federal and Land-Grant research entities can share resources and knowledge with these, the newest Land-Grants. In addition, this grant places an emphasis on training students in science.

Categories: reservation communities, science, research, tribal education, tribal colleges

The overarching vision is to maintain and strengthen the tribe’s safety, collective identity, social stability, and contribution to the region throughout the resettlement process. Traditional ways of life will be rekindled and reinforced with tribal members living in one community rather than scattered, as they are today - some on The Island and others living in surrounding villages and towns. The design and layout of the new community is inspired by the tala, Choctaw for palmetto, because of its symbolic and functional importance in the tribe’s traditional lifeways. A successful resettlement will integrate historical traditions, novel technologies, and state-of-the-art resilience measures to create proactive solutions for this time of change and into the future. These efforts will not only benefit the Isle de Jean Charles community, but will also inform other communities that decide to relocate as the most sensible response to increasing coastal environmental hazards. This effort of utilizing tradition roots, innovation, and teaching and sharing activities will further enhance tribal livelihoods and build upon their resilience and social capacity. The new site will be a self-sustaining, practical, affordable, living demonstration of a community-led resettlement, with residential, agriculture, agroforestry and aquaculture uses.

Categories: resettlement, climate change, adaptation, marine ecosystems, infrastructure, tribal lands

The USDA Resource Guide for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) was developed to provide tribal leaders and tribal citizens, 1994 Land-Grant Tribal Colleges and Universities, AI/AN businesses, and non-governmental organizations serving AI/AN communities with a tool for navigating USDA resources. The USDA programs and services available to members of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes are described in the following pages. This guide provides readers with a comprehensive summary of USDA Programs, separated into four categories: 1. Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Traditional Foods 2. Business and Community Development 3. Conservation and Forestry 4. Research, Extension, and Outreach 

Categories: resources, agriculture, food sovereignty, traditional foods, business and community development, conservation, forestry

The State of Alaska’s Salmon and People (SASAP) project is a collaboration of researchers, cultural leaders, and others working to bring together integrated, accurate, and up-to-date information that will help to support better salmon decision-making. SASAP’s mission is to create an equitable decision-making platform for all stakeholders by addressing data gaps in Alaska’s salmon system through information synthesis, collaboration and stakeholder engagement. This project is led by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Nautilus Impact Investing (NII) in Anchorage, Alaska. SASAP is collaborating with and engaging leading experts at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and Anchorage, indigenous leaders, and specialists across resource sectors.

Categories: salmon health, decision-making, information synthesis, data, stakeholder engagement, collaboration

The Hoonah Native Forest Partnership (HNFP) is a science-based, landscape scale, community forest approach to watershed planning and project implementation. The overall goal of the HNFP is to achieve a measurable and resilient blend of timber, salmon and deer production, local economic diversification and improved watershed health. The HNFP is one of southeast Alaska’s premiere all-lands, all-hands initiatives and our hopes is that this effort can be used as a model for other areas in the region.

Categories: science, community forest, watershed planning, implementation, natural resources, wildlife conservation, watershed health

The Northwest Climate Hub encompasses Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The purpose of the Hub is to deliver science-based knowledge and practical information to farmers, ranchers, forest landowners, and Native American tribes that will help them to adapt to climate change.

Categories: science, outreach, adaptation

The world is awash in bullshit. Politicians are unconstrained by facts. Science is conducted by press release. Higher education rewards bullshit over analytic thought. Startup culture elevates bullshit to high art. Advertisers wink conspiratorially and invite us to join them in seeing through all the bullshit — and take advantage of our lowered guard to bombard us with bullshit of the second order. The majority of administrative activity, whether in private business or the public sphere, seems to be little more than a sophisticated exercise in the combinatorial reassembly of bullshit.
Our aim in this course is to teach you how to think critically about the data and models that constitute evidence in the social and natural sciences.

Categories: science, transparency, student, research, framework, training, myth-bust,

SoundToxins, a diverse partnership of Washington state shellfish and finfish growers, environmental learning centers, Native American tribes, and Puget Sound volunteers, is a monitoring program designed to provide early warning of harmful algal bloom events in order to minimize both human health risks and economic losses to Puget Sound fisheries.

Categories: shellfish, Harmful Algal Bloooms (HABs), finfish, aquaculture

The Source Water Protection Program (SWPP) is a joint project with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the National Rural Water Association (NRWA), a non-profit water and wastewater utility membership organization. The SWPP is designed to help prevent pollution of surface and ground water used as the primary source of drinking water by rural residents. Through NRWA, full-time rural source water technicians with practical experience are hired. The technicians work with specialists from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and state and county FSA staff, to identify areas where pollution prevention is most needed. Once areas for pollution prevention are identified, technicians work with state rural water associations to create local teams made up of citizens and individuals from federal, state, local, and private organizations. These teams collaborate to create a Rural Source Water Protection plan to promote clean source water. The plan identifies voluntary actions that farmers and ranchers can install to prevent source water pollution.

Categories: source water, water protection, water quality, pollution prevention, agricultural runoff

The Office of Indian Energy has created a hotline to provide Alaska Native villages with access to quick-response solutions for minor PCE filing challenges. This number is intended for questions that can be addressed relatively quickly; requestors who require more in-depth or longer-term assistance will be directed to complete the online technical assistance request form linked above.

To access the PCE assistance hotline, call 907-707-7234. Hotline hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Alaska Time.

Categories: technical assistance, evaluation, efficiency

This exhibition explores four inspiring stories of environmental and cultural restoration, and is a 5-year cross-cultural collaboration involving OMSI, IEI, Smithsonian NMAI and four Native Community partners.

Categories: TEK, cultural revitalization, sovereignty, self determination, social justice, restoration

NOAA Scientists confirmed 2015 to be the warmest year on record, according to this press release:"During 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62°F (0.90°C) above the 20th century average. This was the highest among all years in the 1880-2015 record, surpassing the previous record set last year by 0.29°F (0.16°C). This is also the largest margin by which the annual global temperature record has been broken. Ten months had record high temperatures for their respective months during the year. The five highest monthly departures from average
for any month on record all occurred during 2015. Since 1997, which at the time was the warmest year on record, 16 of the subsequent 18 years have been warmer than that year."

Categories: Temperature, Global Climate Change, Temperature Increases

"This site is for anyone interested in working with Indigenous peoples and long-term (hundreds of years) local residents for stewardship of ecosystems. It provides information, resources and discussion for those interested in considering both traditional knowledge and western science. please contact us to submit information for the website for consideration. We honor and respect Mother Earth's caretakers and desire to learn time-tested ways of stewardship."

Categories: Traditional Ecological Knowledge, National Parks Management

The Native Food Systems Resource Center is an initiative of First Nations Development Institute, under our Native Agriculture and Food Systems Initiative. Funding for development of this website (and several of our food-related projects) was generously provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. We recognize that accessing healthy food is a challenge for many Native American children and families. Without access to healthy food, a nutritious diet and good health are out of reach. To increase access to healthy food, First Nations supports tribes and Native communities as they build sustainable food systems that improve health, strengthen food security and increase the control over Native agriculture and food systems. First Nations provides this assistance in the form of financial and technical support, including training materials, to projects that address agriculture and food sectors in Native communities.
We also undertake research projects that build the knowledge and understanding of Native agriculture and food-systems issues, and inform Native communities about innovative ideas and best practices. We also participate in policy forums that help develop legislative and regulatory initiatives within this sector.

Categories: traditional foods, family health, community health, cultural practices, native economies

Mohawk Seedkeepers is carrying on the tradition of Indigenous gardening and seed saving. Terrylynn Brant a Mohawk of Six Nations supports gardening initiatives and shares traditional seedkeeping knowledge.

Categories: traditional seedkeeping, sustainable living, traditional knowledge

This training module is designed to increase your understanding of the causes of climate change, its potential impacts on water resources, and the challenges water resource managers are facing. The course contains three parts which will take about 45 minutes to complete. Optional supplementary information on climate change impacts in the United States is included at the end of the course if you are interested in more details.

Categories: Training Module, Climate Education, Water Resources Impacts

Deadline Passed 2016. Deadline for 2019 Unknown. The BIA Tribal Resilience Program (TRP) provides federal-wide resources to Tribes to build capacity and resilience through leadership engagement, delivery of data and tools, training and tribal capacity building. Direct funding supports tribes, tribal consortia, and authorized tribal organizations to build resilience through competitive awards for tribally designed resilience training, adaptation planning, vulnerability assessments, supplemental monitoring, capacity building, and youth engagement. The resilient ocean and coastal management effort supports planning, science and tools, and capacity for coastal tribe's ocean management, including the Great Lakes.

Categories: training, tribal capacity building, resilience, adaptation planning, vulnerability assessments, youth engagement

The training package consists of 17 standalone modules covering a range of topics that will prove very useful to build capacity of public health professionals who are involved in management of public health programmes impacted by climate change. The modules are also designed for ease of use by professionals from other sectors such as the environment, transport, disaster preparedness, etc., enabling them to understand the intersectoral nature of the issue and to address health impacts jointly with other sectors. One or more modules can be used as advocacy material as well as to orient different target audiences such as policymakers.

Categories: Tribal Health, capacity building, disaster preparedness, training

In 2016, Pala Band of Mission Indians was awarded a grant from the U.S. EPA under a solicitation called “Building the Capacity of Tribes to Address the Health Impacts of Climate Change.” The grant funds the development and distribution of online trainings, a resource clearinghouse, and other capacity-building tools that will help tribal health and environmental professionals across the nation prepare their communities for the public health impacts of climate change.

Categories: Tribal Health, capacity building, environmental health, public health, community

The Oregon Climate and Health Network will provide a forum for local public health practitioners and partners to stay connected and apprised of current climate science, health implications, and opportunities for action. It will serve as a forum for sharing information and best practices across various programmatic areas of public health. 

The network will include a list serve for e-mail communications and a quarterly conference call that will feature member updates and guest speakers. Oregon's Climate and Health program will manage the list serve and facilitate the conference calls. 
The network is open to all those who are interested and will include members in local health departments, other local agencies, state and non-profit partners. We expect members to work in various fields (including environmental health, emergency preparedness, chronic disease prevention, land use, transportation and natural resource planning, social services, etc.) and we also expect members to have different levels of experience and expertise.

Categories: Tribal Health, Climate Adaptation, Environmental Health, Emergency Preparedness, Chronic Disease, Social Services

Climate Ready Tribes is a part of NIHB’s nationally-focused public health program that will serve as a resource for information and collaboration in the interest of increasing knowledge of the health effects of climate change.

Categories: Tribal Health, climate change, capacity building, assessment, data sharing

This toolkit provides local health jurisdictions guidance on how to integrate climate change work into local public health practice. Health departments of all capacities can incorporate climate change considerations into existing planning and programming.​ For those with higher capacity, this toolkit can serve as a resource for developing a Climate and Health Resilience Plan (also called an "adaptation plan" or a "climate change preparedness plan.") This toolkit is adapted from CDC's Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework and modified based on the experience of five local health jurisdictions in Oregon. This toolkit builds on their lessons learned​​ through planning for climate change at the local level.

Categories: Tribal Health, Climate Change, resilience, planning

Many American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes across the United States are finding their traditional ways of life disrupted by poor housing conditions, barriers to educational achievement, poverty, historical trauma, and racism. All of these factors – compounded by environmental hazards, geospatial challenges and limited access or proximity to health care or medical services – lead to poor health outcomes. The Think Tank is focused on increasing education and awareness of the unique public and environmental health challenges faced by tribal communities, and achieving improvements to these issues.

Categories: Tribal Health, community health, natural resources, climate change, health assessment, food health

The Center for Disease Control’s Climate Change Program leads efforts to prevent and adapt to the anticipated health impacts associated with climate change. The Program seeks to identify populations most vulnerable to these impacts, anticipate future trends, assures that systems are in place to detect and respond to emerging health threats, and takes steps to assure that these health risks can be managed now and in the future. The program has 3 core functions: 1) To translate climate change science to inform states, local health departments and communities; 2) To create decision support tools to build capacity to prepare for climate change; and 3) To serve as a credible leader in planning for the public health impacts of climate change.

Categories: Tribal Health, education, adaptation, public health

This short film depicts Indigenous Pacific Northwest Coast views on impacts from projected changes due to sea level rise and storm surge.

Categories: Tribal Health, health, climate change impacts, environmental healht, food safety, natural resources, cultural resources

The Tribal Healthy Homes Network is a tribally-led coalition that strives to find and share solutions for healthy, sustainable, and safe housing. We search for and help develop effective programs, and share our results with tribes. We also serve as a clearinghouse for technical support, program guidance, resources, and funding.

Categories: Tribal Health, healthy housing, technical support, funding

SWPI helps health department programs strengthen services to people that use wells, cisterns, springs, and other private drinking water systems not covered by the Safe Drinking Water Act. Oversight for these systems vary, but core elements of successful, sustainable programs are similar. SWPI walks through the 10 Essential Environmental Public Health Services and the Environmental Public Health Performance Standards, and provides examples of using them to identify and fill program gaps in these types of drinking water programs.

Categories: Tribal Health, public health, sustainability, well water, safe drinking water

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is a member of the Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health (IWCGGH). The IWCGGH is an effort to develop a strategic plan for basic and applied research on the human health of effects of climate change for use by federal agencies and institutes with a human and environmental health mission. The aim of this project is to look at all aspects of the health implications of climate change.

Categories: Tribal Health, research

The Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission is commonly known by its acronym, GLIFWC. Formed in 1984, GLIFWC represents eleven Ojibwe tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan who reserved hunting, fishing and gathering rights in the 1837, 1842, and 1854 Treaties with the United States government. GLIFWC provides natural resource management expertise, conservation enforcement, legal and policy analysis, and public information services in support of the exercise of treaty rights during well-regulated, off-reservation seasons throughout the treaty ceded territories. GLIFWC is guided by its Board of Commissioners along with two standing committees, the Voigt Intertribal Task Force and the Great Lakes Fisheries Committee, which advise the Board on policy.

Categories: tribe, climate change, treaty, off-reservation