Written by NW CASC Senior Tribal Climate Resilience Liaison Amelia Marchand & Assistant Tribal Climate Resilience Liaison Kylie Avery
This past March, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) held their fifth Tribal Climate Camp (TCC) alongside co-host Navajo Technical University, with funding and support from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Climate Resilience Program and the Northwest, North Central, and Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Centers. The 2023 Southwest Tribal Climate Camp (SW TCC) was designed to bring together Indigenous peoples on the issues of water, food security and climate change impacts in the Northwest and Southwest regions of the United States. The Camp ran from March 12th to March 18th, 2023, at the Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center in New Mexico. About 50 individuals, including those representing seven Tribal Nations, convened to share experience and knowledge, while also learning about planning strategies for engaging their communities in addressing climate change impacts and other risks to their water and food security. Some key activities that take place at ATNI’s TCCs include presentations, networking, and time with experts in the climate field and regional Tribes who are undertaking climate initiatives and planning at any level.
Throughout the week, participants engaged in the Camp’s curriculum that included a combination of brief presentations, group activities and breakout sessions. Sharing circles during breakout groups provided participants the opportunity to learn how other Indigenous communities across a diversity of regions and contexts are approaching water and food security risk in relation to climate change and the possible solutions peoples are implementing in their planning. These sharing circles were then divided into smaller groups to allow for more focused discussion on the prompts.
A highlight of the 2023 SW TCC was how passionately and strongly several elected officials in Tribal government support climate action. The SW TCC started off with an opening prayer and remarks by Governor J. Michael Chavarria of Santa Clara Pueblo. This form of welcome and grounding helps TCC participants connect with the importance of the Tribal territories they are visiting and get a sense of the social and cultural resiliency that the local Tribal communities have established prior to, and in tandem with, climate impacts. Later on in the week, Councilman Ryan Oatman of the Nez Perce Tribe and Councilman Matthew Ives of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, also shared with the participants the importance of supporting their technical staff and interdisciplinary teams with strategic climate planning. Tribal delegates and invited guest speakers have emphasized that the TCC is an excellent space to dedicate uninterrupted time to that specific endeavor.
Beyond the sharing circles, the Camp included presentations from expert instructors and invited guests, field trips and independent time for tribal delegations to work and reflect. Presentation topics included climate vulnerability assessments, water resources, climate data, and grant writing, as well as community and youth engagement. Field trips and evening cultural activities provided participants opportunities for connection and relationship building among themselves and allowed for breaks to gain an appreciation for local culture and community. The Camp agenda also included built-in free time to give flexibility for delegates and other participants. Some folks used that time to catch up on their own work or to go for a hike and explore what Ghost Ranch had to offer. To culminate this collaborative learning experience, each delegation developed a climate change plan which they presented to their cohort and Camp staff towards the end of the week.
ATNI is now accepting applications to their sixth Tribal Climate Camp in collaboration with the Jamestown S’klallam Tribe this August in Olympic National Park. Applications are due no later than June 19th, 2023 and are available at ATNI’s Climate Resilience website (see: https://atnitribes.org/climatechange/home/tcc/). ATNI and the NW CASC encourage Tribes to join this and future Tribal Climate Camps to help their staff and climate champions develop, strengthen, or enhance their climate action plans.
