Tribal Profiles, Fact Sheets and Climate Planning Tools

Since the beginning of O’odham history, the Tohono O'odham of southern Arizona and northern Mexico have adapted to high summer heat and water scarcity. Until a century ago the tribe lived in the mountains, descending to desert lowlands from spring through late summer to capture monsoon rains and practice "flood farming" of corn, squash, beans and melons, and to gather desert foods that include cholla buds, saguaro fruit and tepary beans. In recent years, as climate change disrupts the tribe's traditional and modern ways of living, the O'odham people are examining short- and long-term solutions through the development of a Climate Change Adaptation Plan. The draft plan is under review and scheduled for release in the summer of 2017. Its final details are not yet available, but the plan will address a variety of challenges that impact the tribe's communities and O’odham culture.

Categories: Drought, Water insecurity, Rising Temperatures, Community Health, Adaptation

"Nations, states and communities around the world are establishing rapid decarbonization goals, including Colorado, which declared a target of 90% carbon-free energy by 2050. With increased pressure for immediate, large-scale changes to energy infrastructure, international policies for expanding renewables have played a critical role in increasing solar technology’s accessibility and efficiency. By combining this evolving technology with local knowledge, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is generating energy solutions rooted in its community."

Categories: renewable energy, carbon-free energy, decarbonization, energy efficiency, sovereignty, solar panels, infrastructure, local knowledge

In August 2012, the Snoqualmie Tribe of Washington celebrated Indigenous knowledge systems by hosting the Traditional Knowledge and Healthy Ecosystems Summit. The Summit, held at the Skamania Lodge near Stevenson, WA, brought together Indigenous leaders, tribal members, resource managers, academics and students to discuss and learn about the importance of traditional knowledge in natural resource management and in everyday ways of life. Participants came from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, and British Columbia to partake in the various presentations, roundtables, panels, and workshops that formed part of this event. This profile describes some of the highlights from the event, including talks from keynote speakers Daniel Wildcat and Larry Merculiefff, storytelling by elders, presentations on traditional knowledge in contemporary resource management and indigenous health, and field trips featuring traditional sites and activities.

Categories: event, traditional ecological knowledge, health, Indigenous knowledges

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

This resource page was created to provide Tribal Nations and Indigenous Communities with a comprehensive selection of climate change adaptation tools while considering traditional knowledges and the cultural significance of land, water, and other natural resources.

Categories: adaptation, land, water, natural resources, management, climate change, traditional knowledges

In response to concerns about the Nooksack River and the glaciers that drain into it, the Nooksack Indian Tribe is undertaking efforts to address climate change and its impacts on Nooksack Usual and Accustomed lands and its people. Specifically, the Tribe is exploring climate impacts facing their lands as a way to address the continued health of salmon: riparian ecosystem health, stream and river temperatures, sediment loading in the watershed, and impacts of climate change on glaciers and the hydrology of the Nooksack River. Salmon in the Nooksack River are already severely stressed by a variety of factors including wide scale-watershed alteration by forest practices, channelization of the river, pollution and human-induced habitat loss. Climate impacts, therefore, have the potential to cause major additional harm to salmonid populations in the Nooksack River. Mitigating the impacts of climate change is therefore an integral part of ensuring that the Nooksack watershed is able to continue supporting salmon at harvestable levels. This profile draws on the work of the Nooksack Indian Tribe to address climate change impacts on the hydrology of the Nooksack River and salmon survival and recovery.

Categories: Climate Impacts, Salmon, Hydrology, Watershed

Concerned about the effects of climate change on their homeland and surrounding environment, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians have taken numerous steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the impacts of climate change on tribal peoples, land, and resources. This profile describes the climate change programs implemented by the Santa Ynez Chumash Environmental Office and the Chumash Casino Resort to address climate change adaptation and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Categories: habitat management, tribal profile, greenhouse gas emissions, climate adaptation

This tool is designed to help tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Great Basin, U.S.A, understand how the climate is expected to change in places that they care about. It provides maps, graphs, tables and descriptions of projected changes.

Categories: Tribes, climate change, climate tool, maps, graphs, tables, projected changes

The U.S. Forest Service released Tribal Connections, a new online interactive mapping tool that shows how lands managed by the agency connect or overlap with current tribal trust lands and lands tribes exchanged with the federal government prior to 1900. This reference tool will help Forest Service employees and the public better understand historical treaties and the role they play in making current land management decisions. Tribal Connections contains multiple layers that include information on forests and grasslands managed by the agency, lands owned by tribes and historical data on lands ceded by treaties. Nearly 4,000 miles of shared boundaries between tribal lands and Forest Service-administered/owned land are identified.

Categories: Forest Service, GIS, mapping, tribal trust lands, treaties

The Tribal Green Building Toolkit is an assessment tool, with tribal case studies, for identifying and prioritizing structures your community wants to build. It provides detailed information and code references on:Land UseMaterials and Resource ConservationHuman Health: Radon, Mold and other Hazardous PollutantsEnergy Efficiency and Renewable EnergyWater Access, Management and SanitationResilience and AdaptabilityCode Implementation and ComplianceUpdating, Adapting or Adopting Codes or Developing New Codes

Categories: green building, tribal homes, green infrastructure, energy efficiency, renewable energy, resilience, planning

The Tribal Pesticide Program Council (TPPC) is a tribal technical resource and program and policy development dialogue group, focused on pesticides issues and concerns. The TPPC assists tribes in building tribal pesticide programs, providing pesticide education and training, and researching, developing and presenting a broad range of tribal pesticide-related issues and concerns. It is the intent of the TPPC to focus on pesticides and be as inclusive as possible for all tribes and tribal organizations that have pesticide issues and concerns. The TPPC facilitates communications between tribes, tribal and intertribal organizations, tribal communities, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as other federal and state agencies on pesticides and pesticide-related issues.

Categories: pesticide management, policy, education, training, communication, EPA, health

Held at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia, the Congress is a week long interactive conference, attended by a diverse mix of Native American students. It is designed to reach out to emerging leaders in tribal nations and communities, and provide a setting where they can learn about climate change and other environmental issues, and how these issues affect them, their own communities, and neighboring communities.

Categories: Native American youth, community, adaptation, leadership, climate change, training

Tribal nations have been actively engaged in efforts to understand climate risks to their natural and cultural resources, and what they can do to prepare. We have carefully selected a suite of resources that may be useful to tribes at each stage in the process of evaluating their vulnerability to climate change—from tribes just getting started to those well on their way.

Categories: tribal, vulnerability assessment, resources, planning, climate change

EPA Tribal-FERST helps tribes progressively evaluate concerns from data acquisition and assessment through environmental issues identification and prioritization. It also assists in exploring potential solutions and mapping results.

Categories: environment, issues, maps, solutions

This website serves as a platform for new and existing tribal Exchange Network (EN) users, as well as those interested in EN activities, to connect with one another and access relevant information and resources. The site includes basic information on the EN and the Tribal Governance Group (TGG), links to EN announcements, and tools and resources for website visitors. In addition, this website houses the Tribal Mentors Program - a networking tool designed to offer peer-to-peer mentoring to tribes participating in the Exchange Network.

Categories: data, technology, environmental data, network

Fisheries managers identified pollution from manure runoff at local dairy farms as a major cause of salmon mortality. Historically, many farmers held the view that tribal fishing rights imposed limits on their farms and increased operation costs. The Tulalip Tribes sought a mutually beneficial solution to resolve this conflict. Collaboration among the Sno/Sky Agricultural Alliance, Northwest Chinook Recovery, and Tulalip Energy Corporation eventually established Qualco Energy as a shared energy cooperative. The group arranged for area farmers to collect livestock manure and agricultural waste in tanks, keeping it out of the streams. The waste products are then fed into an anaerobic biodigester to generate methane gas. The clean-burning methane is sold to produce green energy, and the digester effluent is stored in lagoons and returned to the farmers for irrigating their fields. The salmon-friendly energy is then sold to the Snohomish County Public Utility District. In 2010, these groups collaborated to launch the Sustainable Lands Strategy (SLS) to build resilience through cooperative planning at the basin scale.

Categories: U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, Fish Health, Water, Biodiversity Conservation, Energy Production

The Tuscarora Nation is one of Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, commonly referred to as the Iroquois, all based in New York state. Each Nation in the confederacy has taken steps to address climate change impacts and promote cultural solidity by tapping their traditional knowledge base. The Tuscarora began an Environmental program that has addressed an array of bio-cultural concerns through innovative programs that draw on traditional knowledge. Projects include protecting the community's traditional food base through a seed-banking program and community-based agriculture, conducting a comprehensive GIS analysis of the tribe's natural resources, land-restoration projects, a program to pass cultural knowledge and wisdom to the youth, and sustainability efforts.

Categories: Adaptation, TEK, Tribal

The U.S. Forest Service established the first Tribal Government Program Manager position in the Washington Office in 1988, responding to identified needs and Executive direction. Subsequently, in 2004, the Office of Tribal Relations was formed as a permanent staff within the State and Private Forestry Deputy Area, to facilitate consistency and effectiveness in Forest Service program delivery to Tribes, and to institutionalize long-term consultative and collaborative relationships with tribal governments through new policy and direction. The current Office of Tribal Relations staff consists of six employees who serve as the Headquarters component of the Forest Service’s Tribal Relations Program. Field staffs comprise the other part of the program, and include the Regional Program Managers, Tribal Liaisons at the Forest level, and individuals in each of the Agency’s mission areas.

Categories: facilitation, consultation, collaboration, policy, government to government relationship, communication, tribal trust rights

This table is a compilation of USDA programs and resources to assist Tribes with adaptation and mitigation of climate change. This resource have been reviewed and approved by the USDA Office of Tribal Relations. There are over 140 USDA program and resources that provide financial assistance, technical assistance, loans, insurance, or services to help Tribes adapt to climate change. Disclaimer: Details of programs and resources listed are from the 2014 Farm Bill and will be updated to reflect the 2018 Farm  Bill.

Categories: adaptation, mitigation, climate change, financial assistance, technical assistance, loans, insurance

The scientific and policy literature on climate change increasingly recognizes the vulnerabilities of indigenous communities and their capacities for resilience. The role of gender in defining how indigenous peoples experience climate change in the United States is a research area that deserves more attention. Advancing climate change threatens the continuance of many indigenous cultural systems that are based on reciprocal relationships with local plants, animals, and ecosystems. These reciprocal relationships, and the responsibilities associated with them, are gendered in many indigenous communities. American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians experience colonization based on intersecting layers of oppression in which race and gender are major determinants. The coupling of climate change with settler colonialism is the source of unique vulnerabilities. At the same time, gendered knowledge and gender-based activism and initiatives may foster climate change resilience. In this literature synthesis, we cross-reference international literature on gender and climate change, literature on indigenous peoples and climate change, and literature describing gender roles in Native America, in order to build an understanding of how gendered indigeneity may influence climate change vulnerability and resilience in indigenous communities in the United States.

Categories: Indigenous peoples, climate change vulnerability, resilience, gender, identity

Living among the bayous in southern Louisiana, coastal tribes have a long history of vulnerability to and impacts from a range of environmental and human-caused events, including storms, subsidence, land sinking and shrinking, sea-level rise and oil spills. These events have posed uncommon challenges to these indigenous communities. In January 2012, several tribal communities from coastal Louisiana (including Grand Bayou Village, Grand Caillou/Dulac, Isle de Jean Charles and Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribes) met to “share knowledge, support, cultural connectivity and adaption strategies” in response to the significant environmental changes they face. This meeting, convened by the tribes and attended by the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), brought together local tribal members, national tribal leaders, faith leaders, government agency representatives, and resource specialists to share information on the various opportunities, resources, and programs available to tribal communities experiencing the impacts of large-scale environmental change.

Categories: Adaptation, Collaboration, Tribal

Tribal Nations may take advantage of this Federal Support Toolbox to access a comprehensive “one-stop-shop” online water resources data portal. The site offers direct links to valuable data, state-of-the-art models, and tools for the U.S. and international water resources community to collaborate and share information.

Categories: toolbox, water, resources, models, collaborate, community

The mission of NASA’s Western Water Applications Office (WWAO) is to help solve important and pressing water-resource problems that the western United States faces today. To do this, WWAO equips water decision-makers with useful, accessible and sustained remote-sensing-based information. Read more about their work from NASA Western Water Application Office's 2019 Report here.

Categories: remote-sensing, data collection, groundwater, drought, water management

The Yukon River drains a vast and diverse area of western Canada and Alaska. Where it approaches Alaska’s southwest coast on the Bering Sea, the great river spreads out and meanders across the Yukon Delta, a broad, flat region of wetlands and tundra underlain by permafrost. For thousands of years, Native Alaskans of Yup’ik and Cup’ik cultures have flourished in this unique region, sustained by hunting, fishing, and gathering the region’s diverse plant life. To help residents document past and current conditions across the delta—and use that information to anticipate and adapt to future changes—a group of scientists from government agencies and universities collaborated with community members from four indigenous communities. In the winter and spring of 2014, researchers and community members gathered observations in a project called Strategic Needs of Water on the Yukon (SNOWY).

Categories: U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, Community Resilience, Social Equity, Assessment and Planning