Trainings:

Trainings & Events

2015 Webinars:
Please click on the links below to expand and close.

Presentations:

Nina Flagler Hall and LuAnn Dahlman: Nina and LuAnn are co-managing editors of the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit ( toolkit.climate.gov). The Toolkit was developed to help the nation prepare for climate-related changes and impacts. The website is a federal interagency effort, with NOAA leading site development and hosting. Major new content for Tribal Nations and the Arctic was announced in September 2015. The Toolkit features Climate Explorer, offering interactive visualizations for exploring maps and data related to the Toolkit’s Taking Action case studies. https://toolkit.climate.gov/

Kathy Lynn: Kathy is with the University of Oregon’s Environmental Studies Program, where she coordinates the Tribal Climate Change Project (http://tribalclimate.uoregon.edu/), a collaboration with the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. Kathy will be presenting the Online Tribal Climate Change Guide, with information for tribes on climate change funding opportunities, tribal climate change adaptation plans and climate tools, links to recent literature on tribal climate change issues, and most recently, a listing of regional and national climate scientists and climate programs to help tribes identify possible partnerships. More information about the Guide is available here: http://tribalclimateguide.uoregon.edu/

Tami Fordham: Tami currently serves as the Deputy Director of the US EPA’s Alaska Operations Office. Tami will be introducing Alaskan Voices on Climate, a new project to collect and disseminate videos from Alaskans that demonstrate the impacts of a changing climate. EPA invites Alaskans from all walks of life to submit videos, filmed in Alaska, on how changes in climate are affecting Alaskan communities; how those changes have made a difference in the way Alaskans live, work, or play; and what lessons they can share about becoming more resilient that would help other communities. http://www.epa.gov/ak/alaskan-voices-climate
Nov-Oct 2015
BIA’s Climate Change Competitive Award Process Overview

These webinars for tribes and 638 eligible tribal organizations (including tribal colleges) will highlight the funding process for the Bureau of Indian Affair’s (BIA) award categories: climate adaptation, ocean and coastal planning, and youth internships. The webinars are being offered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) at Northern Arizona University.
Session 2 - November 10, 2015:
BIA expects that the Notification of Available Funding announcement will be out, and due to restrictions of competitive funding, the speakers will only be able to take written questions which will be posted on the BIA website.
NOTE: The BIA Notification of Available Funding announcement is not yet available so the webinar will be similar to the October 20th webinar.
Recording: Click HERE for video.

Session 1 - October 20, 2015
The speakers will answer live general questions about the scope of the categories: climate adaptation, ocean and coastal planning, and youth internships, the review process, and the past history of awards. Presenters: Sean Hart, BIA Climate Change Coordinator, and Rachael Novak, BIA Climate Science Coordinator.
Presentation: [PDF format]
Water Resources and Climate Change Planning in Norton Bay, AK
Hal Shepard is the Principal of Water Policy Consulting, LLC, Alaska and has been working with The Native Village of Elim’s Tribal Council on various water resource management and climate change adaption planning projects focused on the Norton Bay Watershed. He will discuss how tribes can develop a program for management and protection of water resources that will help them respond to potential climate impacts.
Presentation: [PDF format]

Administration for Native American’s Grants and Technical Assistance
Charles Peele is the Technology and E-Outreach Manager for Three Stars of Alaska. He will discuss the application process for Administration for Native American’s grants, with a focus on the Environmental Regulatory Enhancement program area.
Presentation: [PDF format]
Tribal Climate Change Webinar Series: LEO Network; Extreme Weather Events; Human Health; Fish and Wildlife
This series of four webinars will introduce the Local Environmental Observer (LEO) network, discuss extreme weather events, and delve into the impacts of climate change on human health and fish and wildlife. The webinars are being offered by the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) at Northern Arizona University with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Webinar: About the Local Environmental Observer (LEO) Network
About the Local Environmental Observer (LEO) Network May 29, 2015, 10:00-11:30 a.m. PACIFIC Daylight Time – Mike Brubaker, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC)
With the growing importance of climate change, it is important that communities have the capacity to monitor, respond, and adapt to new impacts. Developing effective systems for accessing locally relevant information is part of the challenge. The Local Environmental Observer (LEO) Network provides a model for engaging communities and connecting with technical experts and resources. It also informs about specific events and the impacts, needs, and responses. LEO is comprised of local experts who collect observations about unusual environmental events. The LEOs are the eyes, ears and voice of environmental change in their communities.

Presentation: About LEO Network [pdf]
Recording: Click HERE for video.
"Impacts of Climate Change on Tribal Health" June 24, 2015, 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 pm PACIFIC Daylight Time – Lesley Jantarasami, U.S. EPA, Office of Atmospheric Programs, Climate Change Division – Mike Kolian, U.S. EPA, Office of Atmospheric Programs, Climate Change Division
Climate change, together with other natural and human-made health stressors, threatens our health and well-being in many ways. This webinar will provide an overview of climate-related health impacts facing tribes and indigenous peoples in the United States, drawing mainly from the results of the Third National Climate Assessment. This webinar will also present work by EPA to compile a set of key indicators related to the causes and effects of climate change into a report entitled: Climate Change Indicators in the United States. The presentation will focus on climate-related health indicators and how the report highlights the far-reaching significance of these changes and their possible consequences for people, the environment, and society.

Presentation: Mike Kolian [pdf]
Presentation: Lesley Jantarasami [pdf]
Recording: Click HERE for video.
"Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change" June 26, 2015, 11:00 am - 12:30 p.m. PACIFIC Daylight Time – Bob Rabin, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
The presentation will review known variability in extreme weather such as excessive heat, cold waves, floods, droughts, hurricanes, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Projections and uncertainties of how these hazards might change due to global warming will be reviewed.

Presentation: Bob Rabin [pdf]
Recording: Click HERE for video.
"Climate Change Impacts on Fish and Wildlife" June 29, 2015, 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 pm PACIFIC Daylight Time – Kurt Johnson, National Climate Change Scientist, US Fish and Wildlife Service
The Earth’s climate is changing. In some places such as the Arctic, the change is rapid and profound, while in other areas change has been less dramatic and more gradual. But virtually everywhere, climate change has – and will continue to – impact fish, wildlife, and plants and the habitats upon which they depend through effects on species’ distribution and abundance, community composition, productivity, timing of life history events, and other biological and ecological characteristics. Some species are even threatened with extinction. Not only are fish, wildlife, and plants inherently worthy of conservation, they provide valuable ecosystem services – including jobs, food, clean water, storm protection, carbon sequestration, health benefits and many others – that support people, communities and economies across the nation every day. Climate change impacts are expected to increase with continued changes in the planet’s climate system. Action is needed now to help safeguard fish, wildlife, and plants and the communities and economies that depend on them.

Presentation: Kurt Johnson PART 1 [pdf]
Presentation: Kurt Johnson PART 2 [pdf]
Recording: Click HERE for video.
March 19, 2015, - Alaska Tribal Climate Change Webinar
Kate Morse, Program Director, Copper River Watershed Project
Kate has lived and worked in the Copper River region for over 12 years, working with diverse partners to implement environmental education and fish habitat restoration and monitoring programs. Starting in 2013 she worked with many partners to develop and implement Salmon Blitz, a citizen science program that engages volunteers of all ages in salmon habitat assessments in local streams to generate data for the State of Alaska’s Anadromous Waters Catalog.
» http://copperriver.org/programs/fish-habitat-restoration/salmon-blitz

» Presentation/Slides

Sean Hart, National Climate Change Coordinator, Bureau of Indian Affairs
Sean is responsible for Bureau and tribal support for climate change adaptation, including the tribal adaptation funding program and the ocean & coastal funding opportunity. He will discuss the BIA’s newest grant opportunity, the Tribal Climate Resilience Program, that has over 8 million dollars to fund projects that promote tribal climate change adaptation and ocean and coastal management planning. (Applications are due by April 24th, 2015).
» http://www.indianaffairs.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA/climatechange/index.htm

» Presentation/Slides
Jan-Feb 2015: Pacific Northwest Series: Tribal Case Studies and Available Resources
This webinar series highlights tribes and tribal organizations that have been addressing climate change impacts through conducting assessments and developing and implementing adaptation strategies. It also provides an overview of funding and technical resources that are available both regionally and nationally. The webinars are being offered by the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) at Northern Arizona University with support from the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station (PNWRS), and in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Tribal Climate Change Project at the University of Oregon, the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NPLCC), and PNWRS.
Nooksack Indian Tribe Climate Change Impacts Assessment, Vulnerability Assessment, and Adaptation Plan - January 15, 2015

Presenter: Oliver Grah, Water Resources Manager, Nooksack Indian Tribe

Description: The Nooksack Indian Tribe is located in northwest Washington State approximately 12 miles east of Bellingham, WA, and 10 miles south of the International Boundary with British Columbia, Canada, and occurs in the Nooksack River watershed, which heads in the glaciated North Cascades. Legacy impacts from forest practices and recent climate change have stressed nine species/populations of Pacific salmonid species that the Tribe relies on. The Nooksack River suffers from excessive temperatures and low flows during the late summer and increased sedimentation due to land uses. Continued climate change will cause the loss of many glaciers in the headwaters of the Nooksack River, adverse alteration the river’s hydrology, increased temperatures, altered sediment dynamics, reduced suitable physical habitat for fish, and further stress the fish that the Tribe relies on. The Tribe has commenced a large climate change project that addresses glacier ablation, altered river hydrology, changes in sediment dynamics, and increasing stream temperatures. A climate change impacts analysis, vulnerability assessment, and an adaptation plan for salmon habitat restoration are in preparation.
Video:
» Click HERE to view the video on YouTube.
Tribal Landscape Conservation Case Studies - January 30, 2015

Part 1 – Implementing Ecosystem-based Management in the Central Coast of British Columbia: Heiltsuk Participation in the Strategic Landscape Reserve Design (SLRD) Process
Description: On behalf of the Heiltsuk Nation, I will present an overview of the project Implementing Ecosystem-based Management in the Central Coast of British Columbia: Heiltsuk Participation in the Strategic Landscape Reserve Design (SLRD) Process. The project incorporates Heiltsuk traditional knowledge and values into ecosystem-based management planning in temperate rainforests that comprise Heiltsuk territorial lands in western Canada. For the project we drew on the Heiltsuk Traditional Use Studies (HTUS), which identify harvesting and other types of cultural sites important to Heiltsuk well-being. Heiltsuk members visited HTUS sites and collected spatial and photographic evidence so that culturally important sites and forest resources could be buffered from resource development activities. The results locate areas for landscape conservation and maintain low ecological risk on the coast while incorporating cultural sites, biodiversity and fisheries values.

Part 2 – Berry risk mapping and modeling of native and exotic defoliators in Alaska
Description: Beginning in 2008, an outbreak of native Geometrid (Geometridae) moths caused widespread defoliation of salmonberry and blueberry plants in many Native communities in the Chugach Region, resulting in major berry failures and resource loss. The outbreak was particularly severe in Port Graham, Nanwalek, and Seldovia. In Seldovia, a tribal for-profit enterprise based on blueberries was placed in jeopardy because of successive failure of their blueberry crops. This outbreak continued through 2012 when Geometrid populations began to decline only to be replaced by an exotic leaf roller (Epinotia solandriana). Although this is the first known Geometrid outbreak in Alaska, in other areas of the world where these same species of moth are native outbreaks return on cycles of approximately 10 years. This cycle of outbreaks is so regular that Geometrids are used in entomology textbooks as an example of cyclical insects. Hence, we expect that we will see outbreaks of the Geometrid moths in the future. To prepare for future Geometrid outbreaks we are developing methods to assess the vulnerability of our subsistence berries to damaging insects, and tools to help us prepare for future impacts. We are currently developing computer models that will identify areas of potential high quality berry habitat, we intend to use silvicultural treatments to improve berry habitat in these areas to develop healthy and resilient berry patches that can resist or recover from future geometrid outbreaks. Authors: Nathan Lojewski, Chugachmiut, Anchorage AK; Robin Reich, Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO; and and John Lundquist, USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry, Anchorage AK.

Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) Climate Impacts and Adaptation Projects - February 23, 2015, 10:00-11:15 PST

Part 1 – Climate Change Impacts on Columbia River Treaty Tribe’s Resources
Presenters: David Graves, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC), and Bob Heinith, technical consultant for CRITFC


Description: The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) assists its member tribes (Nez Perce, Yakama, Warm Springs and Umatilla) in efforts to establish of climate change adaptive management strategies and actions that will protect their First Foods. This is only possible by understanding climate change impacts specific to tribal ceded areas and larger ecosystems and habitats in which First Foods depend upon. This requires: 1) developing quantitative and qualitative analyses including data and information prioritization and organization through field studies, literature review and other assessments, 2) integration and enhancement of existing assessment tools such as climate, hydrological, temperature and fish survival models, and, 3) collaboration and active participation in the various Columbia Basin and international water management forums (i.e. Columbia River Treaty review; Pacific Northwest Climate Cooperative). The goals of this work are to: 1) assess First Food vulnerability under the most robust downscaled, future climate change projections and integrating ecosystem function, hydrogeneration and flood risk into these projections, and, 2) determine adaptive management First Food vulnerability. The scope of this work ranges from the Canadian strategies to address headwaters to the mouth of the Columbia River. The CRITFC Information System (CIS) is the primary modeling tool for this task and outputs of this tool will be presented on the webinar. Discussion will also include results of several modeling efforts of water temperature under future climate change scenarios in select Columbia River Basin tributaries.
Part 2 – Adaptation of Salmonids to Climate Change
Presenter: Shawn Narum, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC)


Description: Anthropogenic climate change is well documented and expected to affect biodiversity richness and distribution according to species’ capacities for adaptation or relocation. Since many freshwater fishes have limited relocation potential, it is critical to evaluate the potential for species and populations to adapt to warming environments. Here we discuss physiological and genetic mechanisms for thermal adaptation in salmon and trout in the Pacific Northwest using redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) as a case study. This species is widely distributed in the interior Columbia River drainage and is typically found in cool montane streams, but it also occupies desert streams where water temperatures can greatly exceed thermal preferences (>30° C). Studies indicate that redband trout have evolved over generations to desert stream environments through an adaptive heat shock response that conserves energy and increased heart rate to deliver more oxygen to tissues. These genetic and physiological indicators are being developed as biomarkers for broad-scale evaluation of redband trout in the Pacific Northwest in order to predict which populations are most likely to adapt over time or be extirpated under scenarios of climate change.
Climate Change Funding and Technical Resources for Tribes - February 25, 2015, 10:00 - 11:15 a.m. PST

Presenters: Kathy Lynn, Project Coordinator, Tribal Climate Change Project, Environmental Studies Program, University of Oregon, and Sue Wotkyns, Climate Change Program Manager, Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, Northern Arizona University

Description: This webinar will provide an overview of funding and technical resources available to tribes to support their climate change adaptation planning and implementation initiatives. It will include resources specific to tribes in the Pacific Northwest, as well as other resources. This presentation will highlight existing guides for climate change assessments and planning, as well as current grants related to funding for climate change adaptation and mitigation.




For more information please contact:
Nikki Cooley, Co-Director
928/523-7046
Nikki.Cooley@nau.edu
Karen Cozzetto, Co-Manager
928/523-6758
Karen.Cozzetto@nau.edu