North America

The Upper Snake River Watershed has been home to humans for more than 10,000 years. Many of their ancestors still reside on the landscape and are members of the Burns Paiute Tribe, Fort McDermitt PaiuteShoshone Tribe, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation, and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation. Together, these four member tribes comprise the Upper Snake River Tribes (USRT) Foundation.

Tlingit & Haida began to seek information and studies on climate change in Southeast Alaska to fully understand its impacts to our tribal citizens and our way of life. In a national technical report on climate change, there were only two pages on Southeast Alaska and climate change impacts. In addition, Tlingit & Haida requested information on Southeast climate change from local scientists, the University of Alaska, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Forest Service; and it was determined that there is currently little information specific to the Southeast Alaska region.

Future changes in climate are expected to significantly impact regional species and ecosystems, via changes in species distributions and abundances; the productivity, composition, and distribution of vegetation communities; and the timing of biological events (e.g., flowering, breeding, and migration). Understanding which species and ecosystems are most likely to be vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and why, is a critical first step in addressing potential negative effects and maintaining healthy ecosystems.

The Nome Eskimo Community (NEC), in collaboration with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP), developed a climate adaptation plan with the Nome-based tribes. This includes tribal members of NEC, Village of Solomon, Native Village of Council, and King Island Native Community. The project goals were to familiarize tribal members with climate science and local knowledge, provide an opportunity to identify and discuss climate impacts and adaptation strategies, develop a plan, and share information with other rural Alaska and Native communities.

Impacts to the Navajo people, both directly and indirectly, won’t be seizing so it is up to the people to adapt to the future changes. This ongoing change due to the climate around us is the reason the Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife (NNDFW) established the Climate Change Program and team. The purpose for the program is to spread awareness of climate change to the Navajo people. Several hours were spent visiting communities all over the reservation to present on impacts and suggested adaptive solutions for climate change.

Throughout western Alaska, residents report changes in weather, seasons, landscape, plants, and wildlife. All of these changes can affect peoples’ health, culture, and livelihoods. Local infrastructure is also at risk from flooding, permafrost melt, and wildfire. Many changes are already occurring, and many more are expected to occur in the future.

The Metlakatla Indian Community Climate Change Adaptation Plan was composed to provide support to the Metlakatla Indian Community as they are impacted by a changing climate on the Annette Islands Reserve (AIR). Throughout this document the Metlakatla Indian Community will be referred to as “the Tribe”, this term will be used to describe the entire Metlakatla Indian Community. The Tribe acknowledges the changing climate and advocates addressing the potential effects through the integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and scientific evidence.

The Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe (Tribe), is a federally recognized Indian Tribe located in southwest Michigan. The Gun Lake Tribe currently holds over 838 acres of agricultural, forested, commercial, and residential properties. Many valuable cultural and natural resources exist within these properties. The Gun Lake Tribe realizes that these impacts are not solely within Tribal properties, but that these impacts will affect the entire Great Lakes Region and Mother Earth.

This document describes previous climate planning efforts of the Makah tribe and how community engagement has helped steer future plans in an attempt to be resilient to, adapt to, and mitigate the impacts of climate change.