Tribal Profiles, Fact Sheets and Climate Planning Tools

In the mid to late 1990’s, the Nez Perce Forestry & Fire Management Division began developing a carbon offset strategy to market Carbon Sequestration Credits. This profile describes the tribe’s initial trial afforestation project, and their strategies for reinvesting revenue from the sale of carbon to invest in additional afforestation projects, wildlife rehabilitation and forest development.

Categories: Carbon Sequestration, Carbon Offset, Tribal

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of southeastern Montana takes climate change seriously and is doing something about it. The tribe has been progressing on a showcase demonstration project on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30 metric tons CO2e annually through energy retrofits of the Tribal Environmental Protection Department (EPD) building. This project is supported by a $200,000, two-year grant provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2010 through its Climate Showcase Community Program.

Categories: Mitigation, Tribal

The Norton Bay Inter-Tribal Watershed Council (NBITWC) formed in 2012 after recognizing the need for Alaskan Native Villagers in the Arctic to come together todevelop community projects to address those critical infrastructure threats. The NBITWC is based in the Norton Bay area, at the southern end of Norton Sound onthe Seward Peninsula, and focuses their efforts on issues related to the Norton Bay watershed. Five federally recognized tribal governments are represented onthe NBITWC: the Native Villages of Elim, Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Golovin, and Shismaref. Together, their voices are stronger than any individual Village’s could be.

Categories: tribal profile, resilience, action, climate adaptation, community, infrastructure, mitigation, risk assessment, BIA Tribal Resiliency Program

A consortium of dedicated Oglala Lakota programs and organizations was awarded nearly a million dollars in the form of a HUD Sustainable Communities Planning Grant to pursue a path towards creating a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development for the Oglala Lakota Nation in South Dakota. The planning effort is being led by the non-profit Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation and includes numerous partners from within the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Tribe, as well as many non-governmental public and private partners. The Tribe also became the first official Tribal member of ICLEI USA–Local Governments for Sustainability. By joining, the Tribe made a voluntary pledge to mitigate climate change, seek adaptation measures, and promote sustainability. Ultimately, a Climate Action Plan for the Tribe will be developed and with the goal of inclusion in the overall Oyate Omniciyé | Oglala Lakota Plan.

Categories: Mitigation, Adaptation, Tribal

Since time immemorial, Samish people have lived and prospered on the land and water of the Salish Sea in Washington State. Over time, Samish people have successfully navigated a variety of changes while maintaining a strong connection to the resources, rich lands, and waters of our region. While many of us may have moved away, we are still connected to this place and through it, to each other.

Categories: traditional ecological knowledge, cultural resources, climate change adaptation, sea level rise, stream temperatures, ocean acidification,

Collaboration is something the Pacific Northwest Region is deeply committed to and has engaged in for decades. It can provide agency staff opportunities to address local community priorities, build community capacity, leverage resources, and increase accomplishments and benefits across the board. There are 36 collaborative groups that work either exclusively or partially on national forest lands (see map pgs 6-7). All national forests in the Pacific Northwest Region are linked to at least one forest collaborative group.

Categories: collaboration, community, capacity, resource management, national forest lands

The Pala Band of Mission Indians, like many tribes, has turned to renewable energy as a means of lowering energy costs and gaining independence from the grid. In the last three years, the Tribe has received funding support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs toward two separate renewable energy projects—the first of which is now complete, and providing significant benefits to the Tribe.

Categories: tribal profiles, Office of Indian Energy, solar power, renewable energy

Steve Crawford, director of the Passamaquoddy Tribes' Environmental Department and chair of the Natural Resources Committee of the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET) cooperative, is working with local tribes to spread the word about climate change and addressing what tribes can do through adaptation and miitigation. Steve is working with Passamaquoddy Tribe on alternative energy and fuel sources, and feels immediate action is required to reverse the warming process.

Categories: Adaptation, Mitigation, Education, Energy, Tribal

The Pueblo of Jemez in New Mexico is engaged in several renewable energy projects, including developing a four-megawatt solar power plant, exploring the feasibility of developing its geothermal resources, and designing a biomass boiler for its visitor center that will use waste from forest thinning projects. The tribe is also providing education and training to its youth and community members about renewable energy.

Categories: Renewable energy, Education, Tribal

The Pueblo of Tesuque is located in the desert Southwest, approximately 10 miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The traditional Tesuque form of farming has long been hailed as a benchmark for sustainable agriculture in arid environments. Unfortunately, the climate change-induced decline in regional precipitation has made traditional farming more challenging for the Tesuque people. In addition to ongoing concerns about surface water volume and access, the Pueblo of Tesuque Environment Department has to contend with regional fire hazards, which are predicted to intensify with climate change. In light of these climate change-driven environmental concerns, the Pueblo of Tesuque Environment Department has turned its attention toward (1) watershed management and planning and (2) wildland restoration.

Categories: Drought, Management, Tribal

The homelands of the Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) are located on the Pacific coast of Washington's Olympic Peninsula—the tribe's culture and economy depend on the bounty of the land, forests, rivers, and ocean. With its location on the Pacific Ocean, the risk and uncertainty of tsunami has been, and continues to be, ever-present. Today, though, the Quinault community faces a different type of threat to its daily life: impacts from climate change. With support from the community, QIN leadership made a difficult decision: they would begin planning to relocate the lower portion of Taholah to higher ground. With support from a Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS) grant from the Administration for Native Americans, efforts were initiated to develop a master plan by 2016.

Categories: U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, Disaster Risk Reduction, Coastal, Relocation

The Regional Resilience Toolkit focuses on the regional scale because disasters happen at a regional scale, and a coordinated process across multiple jurisdictions can result in safer communities. The toolkit is set up to allow multiple jurisdictions and levels of government to work together for regional-scale actions. It is also designed for non-governmental partners and community groups to engage in a more inclusive and holistic process so that resilience actions are guided by core community values.

Categories: emergency preparedness, natural disasters, resilience, toolkit

Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at more than twice the rate of the global average. Results include violent ocean storms, flooding, and erosion beneath the homes of Kivalina—impacts that have been traumatic to the barrier island's Alaskan Iñupiaq community. Sea ice that once protected the island from winter storms no longer forms early enough in the fall to prevent rising waters and storm surge from reaching the island's shores. Patchy sea ice also makes winter travel and hunting difficult and dangerous. Residents and others are making concerted efforts to move the community to safety.

Categories: U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, Permafrost Melt, Infrastructure Damage, Community Health, Relocation

Tribes are beginning to identify potential climate change impacts on their cultural and environmental resources and to develop climate change adaptation plans. The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, located in New York and Canada, is in the early stages of adaptation planning. The Tribe is bringing together the Haudenosaunee decisions makers from the Tuscarora Nation, Seneca Nation, Tonawanda Nation, Onondaga Nation, Cayuga Nation, and Oneida Nation in New York as well as the Mohawk Nation and Shinnecock Nation to identify priority resources that should be considered in addressing climate change. The goal of the Haudenosaunee and other Tribes is to combine knowledge of traditional cultural resource values with local knowledge of recent climate changes. The ultimate goal of this unique strategy is to bring together Tribal decision makers to share information that will lead to practical planning.

Categories: Adaptation, Tribal

"The Tribe is engaged in climate change mitigation (efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptation (responding to current and future issues caused by a changing climate) from a local to a global scale, and everything in between. Locally, the Samish Council has committed to creating a climate resilient community and reducing the Tribe’s carbon footprint through energy efficiency and renewable energy development."

Categories: mitigation, ITEP, adaptation, climate resilient, carbon footprint, energy efficiency, renewable energy development

Alaska Native communities rely on easy-to-use multiple SNAP tools, including climate projections, climate science, and data exploration by community name, which rapidly develops a local focus within the broader context of climate change.

Categories: climate projections, community, climate change, tools

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) developed the Seven Generations (7G) manual, training, and outreach program to assist Alaska Native communities to adopt an environmental planning process to recognize climate impacts and build community capacity for resilience from which other Tribal Nations may also benefit. The Tool is called “Seven Generations” because many Tribal Nations hold in common a policy to consider many future generations in community decision-making to focus on long-term sustainability.

Categories: outreach, training, sustainability, generations, tribal nations

SmartICE is an award-winning technological innovation for the North. We are the world’s first climate change adaptation tool to integrate traditional knowledge of sea ice with advanced data acquisition and remote monitoring technology. Our system combines these approaches to provide invaluable, data-driven insights into sea-ice thickness and local ice conditions, in near real-time. We embrace a business model that aims to expand opportunities for economic and social development in northern markets while preserving local cultures and lifestyles.

Categories: sea ice, arctic, traditional knowledge, data collection, monitoring, adaptation, technology

In the South Central US, particularly severe climate impacts are projected to occur. With support from the South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (SC CASC) and Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program (SCIPP), the University of Oklahoma (OU) hosted a series of five intertribal workshops on climate impacts. Paulette Blanchard, a Master’s candidate at OU who played an instrumental role in organizing the workshops, brought together native filmmakers with tribal participants to discuss ways that native people can document their experiences and challenges with climate impacts. These workshops also provided an opportunity for tribes and governmental agencies such as the SC CASC to establish working relationships.

Categories: workshop, climate adaptation, intertribal

Cook Inletkeeper developed the Stream Temperature Monitoring Network to build the science-based knowledge needed to identify thermal impacts in Alaska’s coastal salmon habitat. We are 1) collecting consistent, comparable temperature data for Cook Inlet’s salmon streams; 2) increasing our understanding of the rate of rising stream temperatures and areas of maximum exceedances throughout the basin; and 3) providing the knowledge and data needed to prioritize sites for future research, protection and restoration actions. Click here for site locations and links for site-specific factsheets.

Categories: Cook Inlet Watershed, salmon, climate change, warming temperatures, stream temperatures, adaptation, data collection, restoration

Today, seafood, game, and traditional plants remain essential to the Suquamish culture and diet. Around 20 percent of the Tribe's members help support their families by earning income from the harvest of fish and shellfish, and proceeds from geoduck clam harvests support elders' programs. However, decades of development have significantly degraded these species' habitats, which reduces their ability to withstand predicted impacts of climate change. In 2010, biologists working in the Tribe's Fisheries Department began discussing the threats of ocean acidification and climate change with the Suquamish Shellfish Committee. In consultation with the Shellfish Committee, the Tribal Council adopted two strategies for immediate action: (1) use the K–12 educational system to help change human behaviors that harm ecosystems; and (2) develop computerized zooplankton imaging and identification tools researchers can use to detect and monitor changes at the base of the marine food web. The Tribe is also pursuing another strategy to study the impacts of ocean acidification: they are building tools that facilitate the visual study of zooplankton.

Categories: U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, Fish Health, Water Health, Ocean Acidification, Education

In 2007, the Swinomish Tribe passed a Climate Change proclamation in response to growing concerns about potential impacts of climate change on the Swinomish Indian Reservation. This profile highlights the project climate change impacts for climate change, their planning process for the impact assessment and action plan development, as well as key partners and project successes and challenges.

Categories: Coastal, Adaptation, Tribal

The Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe—a federally recognized Native American tribe in California—was one of 16 communities selected as a 2015–2016 Climate Action Champion by the Obama Administration for exceptional work in response to climate change. The Tribe began its strategic climate action planning in 2008 and has become a regional leader in greenhouse gas reductions and community resiliency measures. To date, the Tribe has reduced energy consumption from 2008 levels by 35 percent and has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2018, utilizing a range of approaches—including aggressive energy efficiency upgrades, developing on-site renewable energy (biomass, solar, fuel cells, grid battery storage), and switching to green fuels (electricity and biodiesel).

Categories: U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, Energy Production, Green Fuels, Sustainable Housing, Disaster Risk Reduction

Members of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa believe that it is the obligation of the community to preserve and protect cultural resources for seven generations into the future. Tribal leaders and staff have committed to reducing the Band’s contributions to the greenhouse gases that lead to warming through developing and promoting projects and policies that advance sustainability and energy efficiency. In 2007, the Fond du Lac Reservation Business Committee ratified the Kyoto Protocol, pledging to obtain 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2020.

Categories: U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, Food Insecurity, Flooding, Energy Production

Members of the Karuk Tribe in northern California maintain that the age-old tradition of prescribed burning holds the answer to climate adaptation planning in the Klamath River range. Fire is foundational to the Karuk Tribe, who live and manage 1.48 million acres of their aboriginal lands along the Klamath and Salmon Rivers in northern California. By removing accumlated fuels, fire makes room for new growth and change. This renewal helps ensure the quality of traditional foods and cultural materials and serves as a medium of cultural education. Ceremonies surrounding fire strengthen the Tribe's social networks and enhance its members' physical and mental health.

Categories: U.S. climate resilience toolkit, climate change, human health, tribal sovereignty, self-determination, adaptation, mitigation, management, prescribed burn, wildfire, prevention, technical. climate science, TEK, cultural resources, U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit,

The Lummi Nation has launched a number of renewable energy projects to reduce its environmental impact and to contribute to its goal of energy self-sufficiency. These projects include conducting a wind energy development feasibility assessment, lighting a walking trail with solar LEDs, installing a geothermal heat pump system for a new administrative building, and developing a strategic energy plan to coordinate future efforts. This profile provides detailed information on the wind energy development feasibility assessment project and also examines the opportunities and motivation that inspired the Lummi Nation to explore the options for renewable energy on their tribal lands.

Categories: Renewable energy, Wind Energy, Tribal

The people of the Quileute Tribe of the Quileute Reservation, located on the Pacific Coast of Washington's Olympic Peninsula at the mouth of the Quillayute River, have for centuries depended on the sea and the rivers that flow through the community from the coastal mountains. But environmental pressures likely tied to climate change have diminished the tribe's traditional food sources, at times pushing some species below harvestable levels, including salmonids whose migration cycles have been disrupted by changes in snowfall patterns. Other problems have arisen as a result of shifts in precipitation and average temperatures, storm intensity, and changing marine chemistry. As climate change continues to impact the Quileute community, tribal members are rethinking not only their means of sustenance but their geographic location. Federal legislation in 2012 gave the small tribe an additional square mile of higher land to which they are slowly relocating parts of their community—a limited but possibly critical option.

Categories: Food insecurity, Flooding, Shoreline Erosion, Wildfires, Relocation, Coasts

Our Salish Sea Campaign is focused on the health of salmon, qwe ‘lhol mechen (orca), and the waters. The Salish Sea is our sacred sea, and it is our Xa Xalh Xechnging (sacred obligation) to help heal and revitalize it.

Categories: Salish Sea, orcas, salmon populations, environmental protection, water, protection, revitalization

Our forests have been shaped by people over millennia. This website tells a story of consumption and conservation, of conflict and collaboration. But most of all, it is a story of regrowth, renewal, and abundance. Through interactive maps and graphs, The State of America’s Forests helps you explore the many benefits forests provide, understand today’s challenges to this renewable resource, and learn about forest management and conservation.

Categories: data, forests, wildfires, benefits, threats

The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Skagit River System Cooperative, are developing tools that assess future projections of sea level rise and wave impacts to nearshore habitats. Community members will take an active role in determining community health impacts based on the projections using the Indigenous Health Indicators (see link at right). The Swinomish community will use methods they piloted and tested in 2013 to (1) assess future impacts to shellfish, juvenile salmon rearing habitats, and other culturally important nearshore areas, and (2) evaluate community health implications based on the projected nearshore impacts. Results will guide decision making to mutually benefit ecosystem protection and restoration, coastal hazards mitigation, community health, and adaptation to climate change.

Categories: U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, Coasts, Sea-level rise, Food Health, Community Health