Kathy Lynn

The impacts of climate change on tribal traditional foods

American Indian and Alaska Native tribes are uniquely affected by climate change. Indigenous peoples have depended on a wide variety of native fungi, plant and animal species for food, medicine, ceremonies, community and economic health for countless generations. Climate change stands to impact the species and ecosystems that constitute tribal traditional foods that are vital to tribal culture, economy and traditional ways of life. This paper examines the impacts of climate change on tribal traditional foods by providing cultural context for the importance of traditional foods to tribal culture, recognizing that tribal access to traditional food resources is strongly influenced by the legal and regulatory relationship with the federal government, and examining the multi-faceted relationship that tribes have with places, ecological processes and species. Tribal participation in local, regional and national climate change adaption strategies, with a focus on food-based resources, can inform and strengthen the ability of both tribes and other governmental resource managers to address and adapt to climate change impacts.

Cultural impacts to tribes from climate change influences on forests

Climate change related impacts, such as increased frequency and intensity of wildfires, higher temperatures, extreme changes to ecosystem processes, forest conversion and habitat degradation are threatening tribal access to valued resources. Climate change is and will affect the quantity and quality of resources tribes depend upon to perpetuate their cultures and livelihoods. Climate impacts on forests are expected to directly affect culturally important fungi, plant and animal species, in turn affecting tribal sovereignty, culture, and economy. This article examines the climate impacts on forests and the resulting effects on tribal cultures and resources. To understand potential adaptive strategies to climate change, the article also explores traditional ecological knowledge and historical tribal adaptive approaches in resource management, and contemporary examples of research and tribal practices related to forestry, invasive species, traditional use of fire and tribal-federal coordination on resource management projects. The article concludes by summarizing tribal adaptive strategies to climate change and considerations for strengthening the federal-tribal relationship to address climate change impacts to forests and tribal valued resources.

Engagement with indigenous peoples and honoring traditional knowledge systems

The organizers of the 2014 US National Climate Assessment (NCA) made a concerted effort to reach out to and collaborate with Indigenous peoples, resulting in the most comprehensive information to date on climate change impacts to Indigenous peoples in a US national assessment. Yet, there is still much room for improvement in assessment processes to ensure adequate recognition of Indigenous perspectives and Indigenous knowledge systems. This article discusses the process used in creating the Indigenous Peoples, Land, and Resources NCA chapter by a team comprised of tribal members, agencies, academics, and non-governmental organizations, who worked together to solicit, collect, and synthesize traditional knowledges and data from a diverse array of Indigenous communities across the US. It also discusses the synergy and discord between traditional knowledge systems and science and the emergence of cross-cutting issues and vulnerabilities for Indigenous peoples. The challenges of coalescing information about climate change and its impacts on Indigenous communities are outlined along with recommendations on the types of information to include in future assessment outputs. We recommend that future assessments – not only NCA, but other relevant local, regional, national, and international efforts aimed at the translation of climate information and assessments into meaningful actions – should support integration of Indigenous perspectives in a sustained way that builds respectful relationships and effectively engages Indigenous communities. Given the large number of tribes in the US and the current challenges and unique vulnerabilities of Indigenous communities, a special report focusing solely on climate change and Indigenous peoples is warranted.

Wildland Fire Management as Conservation-Based Development: An Opportunity for Reservation Communities?

This article explores the economic and cultural development potential of wildland fire management for American Indian communities. Wildland fire management provides opportunities to engage in “conservation-based development”—helping communities to strengthen their connections with the land, improve ecosystem health, stimulate small-business development, and reduce their risk from fire. Indian communities—many of which are rural and dependent on natural resources for their cultural, spiritual, and economic livelihood—are an important example of the potential of wildland fire management for conservation-based development. To examine this potential we asked the question: What are the opportunities and issues for fire-management activities to augment tribal economies, providing jobs and small-business development opportunities while restoring the ecosystem and providing opportunities for cultural development? To answer the question we interviewed representatives of all federally recognized tribes in the Pacific Northwest.

Using Basic Geographic Information Systems Functionality to Support Sustainable Forest Management Decision Making and Post-Decision Assessments

Abstract Sustainable management of natural resources requires informed decision making and post-decision assessments of the results of those decisions. Increasingly, both activities rely on analyses of spatial data in the forms of maps and digital data layers. Fortunately, a variety of supporting maps and data layers rapidly are becoming available. Unfortunately, however, user-friendly tools to assist decision makers and analysts in the use and interpretation of these data generally are not available. Such tools would properly be in the form of decision support systems that incorporate basic geographic information system (GIS) functionality. A spatial decision support system featuring basic GIS functionality was designed to illustrate how such systems may be used to support decision making and post-decision assessments. This utility is illustrated with four sustainable forest management examples. Decision making is the focus of three of the examples: (1) allocating funding for forest wildfire mitigation purposes, (2) identifying forested watersheds at risk of conversion to non-forest land uses, and (3) identifying lands in the Rocky Mountains with potential for management for water yield. An assessment of the results of previous decisions is the focus of the example: (4) evaluating the socio-economic effects of the allocation of wildfire mitigation funds.