Congressional Hearings
OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON TRIBAL COMMUNITIES
Congressional Hearings
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| AUTHORITYID | CHAMBER | TYPE | COMMITTEENAME |
|---|---|---|---|
| hsii00 | H | S | Committee on Natural Resources |
[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON TRIBAL COMMUNITIES
=======================================================================
OVERSIGHT HEARING
BEOFRE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE UNITED STATES
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
__________
Serial No. 116-4
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
or
Committee address: http://naturalresources.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
35-199 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019
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COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, AZ, Chair
DEBRA A. HAALAND, NM, Vice Chair
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, CNMI, Vice Chair, Insular Affairs
ROB BISHOP, UT, Ranking Republican Member
Grace F. Napolitano, CA Don Young, AK
Jim Costa, CA Louie Gohmert, TX
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Doug Lamborn, CO
CNMI Robert J. Wittman, VA
Jared Huffman, CA Tom McClintock, CA
Alan S. Lowenthal, CA Paul A. Gosar, AZ
Ruben Gallego, AZ Paul Cook, CA
TJ Cox, CA Bruce Westerman, AR
Joe Neguse, CO Garret Graves, LA
Mike Levin, CA Jody B. Hice, GA
Debra A. Haaland, NM Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, AS
Jefferson Van Drew, NJ Daniel Webster, FL
Joe Cunningham, SC Liz Cheney, WY
Nydia M. Velazquez, NY Mike Johnson, LA
Diana DeGette, CO Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, PR
Wm. Lacy Clay, MO John R. Curtis, UT
Debbie Dingell, MI Kevin Hern, OK
Anthony G. Brown, MD Russ Fulcher, ID
A. Donald McEachin, VA
Darren Soto, FL
Ed Case, HI
Steven Horsford, NV
Michael F. Q. San Nicolas, GU
Vacancy
Vacancy
Vacancy
David Watkins, Chief of Staff
Sarah Lim, Chief Counsel
Parish Braden, Republican Staff Director
http://naturalresources.house.gov
------
SUBCOMMITTEE FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE UNITED STATES
RUBEN GALLEGO, AZ, Chair
PAUL COOK, CA, Ranking Republican Member
Darren Soto, FL Don Young, AK
Michael F. Q. San Nicolas, GU Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, AS
Debra A. Haaland, NM John R. Curtis, UT
Ed Case, HI Kevin Hern, OK
Vacancy Vacancy
Vacancy Rob Bishop, UT, ex officio
Vacancy
Raul M. Grijalva, AZ, ex officio
------
CONTENTS
----------
Page
Hearing held on Tuesday, February 12, 2019....................... 1
Statement of Members:
Cook, Hon. Paul, a Representative in Congress from the State
of California.............................................. 4
Prepared statement of.................................... 5
Gallego, Hon. Ruben, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Arizona........................................... 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 3
Statement of Witnesses:
Buzzard, Shirley, President, Building Resilient Communities
for Climate Extremes (BRACE) Institute, Washington, DC..... 16
Prepared statement of.................................... 17
Johnston, Tyson, Vice President, Quinault Indian Nation,
Taholah, Washington........................................ 7
Prepared statement of.................................... 8
Jordan, Jennine, Government Relations Liaison, Calista
Corporation, Anchorage, Alaska............................. 11
Prepared statement of.................................... 13
Jose, Verlon, Vice Chairman, Tohono O'odham Nation, Sells,
Arizona.................................................... 19
Prepared statement of.................................... 21
Additional Materials Submitted for the Record:
Chavarria, J. Michael, Governor, Santa Clara Pueblo,
testimony.................................................. 35
United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund,
testimony.................................................. 40
OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON TRIBAL
COMMUNITIES
----------
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples of the United States
Committee on Natural Resources
Washington, DC
----------
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 p.m., in
room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Ruben Gallego
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Gallego, Soto, San Nicolas,
Haaland, Case, Grijalva (ex officio), Cook, Young, and Hern.
Mr. Gallego. The Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the
United States will come to order. The Subcommittee is meeting
today to hear testimony on the impacts of climate change on
tribal communities.
Under Committee Rule 4(f), any oral opening statements at
hearings are limited to the Chairman and the Ranking Minority
Member. This will allow us to hear from our witnesses sooner
and help Members keep to their schedules.
Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that all other Members'
opening statements be made part of the hearing record if they
are submitted to the Subcommittee Clerk by 5 p.m. today or the
close of hearing, whichever comes first. Any objections?
Hearing no objections, so ordered.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. RUBEN GALLEGO, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA
Mr. Gallego. Good afternoon, and welcome to the first
hearing of the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the
United States in the 116th Congress.
We adjusted the name of this Committee to emphasize our
renewed and singular focus on the more than 2 million
indigenous peoples that we are charged with representing. As
the only Committee with exclusive jurisdiction over these
issues in the House of Representatives, we have a great
responsibility.
As a body, this Congress can make countless improvements to
the lives and well-being of indigenous peoples, and that starts
here in this Subcommittee, where we will spend the coming
months seeking solutions to address the issues these
communities have identified.
As a Subcommittee, we will: examine the significance of
tribal sovereignty and self-determination; strengthen tribal
consultation and honor our Nation's trust responsibilities;
ensure environmental justice for tribal communities; support
tribal control of their own lands and resources; work closely
with tribes to identify and protect sacred sites; uphold our
obligations to improve the health, safety, and delivery of
justice to tribal people; and, last, ensure that all indigenous
peoples and tribal governments are treated fairly, as co-
equals, with dignity and respect.
We have a lot of ground to cover, and I look forward to
working with my friend and fellow Marine, Ranking Member Cook
(Oorah!), and the rest of my colleagues, on addressing these
and other pressing issues.
Today, we will focus specifically on the impacts that
climate change is having on tribal communities. These
communities are on the front lines of the climate change
battle, and despite contributing almost nothing to climate
change, they face some of the worst impacts. From floods and
wildfire, to drought and rising sea levels, indigenous peoples
face existential threats to their traditional way of life,
including disruptions of subsistence hunting and fishing, as
well as their commercial activities and tourism enterprises.
This is especially true for tribes along coastal areas, who
are already seeing changes in their lands, including the
Quinault Nation, whose people live on the front lines of
extreme weather risks, from flooding to tsunamis.
These climate-related disasters are forcing indigenous
communities to make some very heartbreaking choices: the Tohono
O'odham Nation, who had to resort to FEMA for disaster support
after hurricanes caused severe flooding; or the Newtok Village
in Alaska, who had to choose between relocating their entire
community or losing access to safe drinking water.
And these are not isolated incidents. Throughout Indian
Country, the effects of climate change are evident, and they
are increasing at an alarming rate.
I would like to also remind us that all the challenges
facing tribal communities are a mere microcosm of the larger
climate change picture and that the harms of inaction in Indian
Country will affect us all.
Tribes are stewards of millions of acres of trust and
federally recognized land that provide habitat for more than
500 endangered species, contain over 13,000 miles of rivers and
nearly 1 million lakes. They also have stunning national
treasures, like Antelope Canyon in my home state of Arizona,
that provide tourism opportunities for visitors from near and
far, but are at risk of erosion and other harms as climate
changes. That is why it is important that we work hand-in-hand
to overcome the collective challenges that we will face.
Climate change is ignorant of reservation boundaries and
treaty land maps, and yet indigenous peoples are often left to
fend for themselves in addressing the issues that arise--and
that is just not right. We are all in this together.
The cultures, spiritual practices, and economies of many
indigenous peoples have already evolved to adapt to local
environmental changes. This knowledge, accumulated over
generations of historical and cultural connection with the
surrounding environment, is integral to this Committee's work.
In my view, this makes us natural partners in developing a
climate adaption strategy, both on tribal lands and for the
surrounding regions. This Committee's partnership with tribes
to address climate change and other issues affecting Indian
Country starts today.
To our witnesses, thank you for traveling long distances to
share your experiences and educate this Committee about the
impact that climate change has on your community. I look
forward to hearing your testimony. I hope that our Members not
only identify with your story, but also learn from you and your
expertise as we deal with ways to address climate change head-
on.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Gallego follows:]
Prepared Statement of the Hon. Ruben Gallego, Chair, Subcommittee on
Indigenous Peoples of the United States
Good afternoon and welcome to the first hearing of the Subcommittee
for Indigenous Peoples of the United States in the 116th Congress.
We adjusted the name of this Committee to emphasize our renewed and
singular focus on the more than 2 million indigenous peoples that we
are charged with representing. As the only committee with exclusive
jurisdiction over these issues in the House of Representatives, we have
a great responsibility.
As a body, this Congress can make countless improvements to the
lives and well-being of indigenous peoples.
That starts here--in this Subcommittee--where we will spend the
coming months seeking solutions to address the issues these communities
have identified.
As a Subcommittee, we will:
Examine the significance of tribal sovereignty and self-
determination;
Strengthen tribal consultation and honor our Nation's
trust responsibilities;
Ensure environmental justice for tribal communities;
Support tribal control of their own lands and resources;
Work closely with tribes to identify and protect sacred
sites;
Uphold our obligations to improve the health, safety, and
delivery of justice to tribal people; and last
Ensure that all indigenous peoples and tribal governments
are treated fairly, as co-equals with dignity and respect.
We have a lot of ground to cover, and I look forward to working
with my friend and fellow Marine, Ranking Member Cook (Oorah!), and the
rest of my colleagues, on addressing these and other pressing issues.
Today, we'll focus specifically on the impacts that climate change
is having on tribal communities. These communities are on the front
lines of the climate change battle. And despite contributing almost
nothing to climate change, they face some of the worst impacts. From
floods and wildfire, to drought and rising sea levels, indigenous
peoples face existential threats to their traditional way of life--
including disruptions to subsistence hunting and fishing, as well as
their commercial activities and tourism enterprises.
This is especially true for tribes along coastal areas, who are
already seeing changes in their lands--including the Quinault Nation,
whose people live on the front lines of extreme weather risks from
flooding to tsunamis.
These climate-related disasters are forcing indigenous communities
to make some very heartbreaking choices:
--like the Tohono O'odham Nation who had to resort to FEMA for
disaster support after hurricanes caused severe flooding
--or the Newtok Village in Alaska, who had to choose between
relocating their entire community or losing access to safe
drinking water.
And these are not isolated incidents. Throughout Indian Country the
effects of climate change are evident. And they are increasing at an
alarming rate.
I'd like to also remind us all that the challenges facing tribal
communities are a mere microcosm of the larger climate change picture.
And that the harms of inaction in Indian Country will affect us all.
Tribes are stewards of millions of acres of trust and federally
recognized lands that provide habitat for more than 500 endangered
species; contain over 13,000 miles of rivers and nearly 1 million
lakes. They also house stunning natural treasures like Antelope Canyon
in my home state of Arizona that provide tourism opportunities for
visitors from near and far--but are at risk of erosion and other harms
as the climate changes. That's why it is important that we work hand-
in-hand to overcome the collective challenges that we will face.
Climate change is ignorant of reservation boundaries and treaty
land maps. And yet, indigenous peoples are often left to fend for
themselves in addressing the issues that arise--and that's just not
right. We are all in this together.
The cultures, spiritual practices, and economies of many indigenous
people have already evolved to adapt to local environmental changes.
This knowledge--accumulated over generations of historical and cultural
connection with the surrounding environment--is integral to this
Committee's work.
In my view, this makes us natural partners in developing climate
adaptation strategies--both on tribal lands, and for the surrounding
regions.
This Committee's partnership with tribes to address climate change
and other issues affecting Indian Country starts today.
To our witnesses, thank you for traveling long distances to share
your experiences and educate this Committee about the impact that
climate change has on your community.
I look forward to your hearing testimony, and I hope that our
Members not only identify with your story, but also learn from you and
your expertise as we develop ways to address climate change head-on.
I now would like to recognize the Ranking Member, my esteemed
colleague, Mr. Cook, for his opening statement.
______
Mr. Gallego. I would now like to recognize the Ranking
Member, my esteemed colleague, Mr. Cook, for his opening
statement.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. PAUL COOK, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS
FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Mr. Cook. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
As the new Subcommittee Republican leader, I look forward
to what I hope will be a positive 116th Congress as we work to
address the issues facing Native American tribes and Alaska
Natives.
I also want to thank the witnesses for being here today for
this hearing.
Access to natural resources can be a lifeline to prosperity
and opportunity for Native communities. That is why this
Committee has focused in previous Congresses on providing
greater local control and autonomy to tribes to develop and
utilize resources on Native American land.
It is my hope that this Committee will continue along this
path and avoid the temptation to erect barriers to responsible
tribal resource management and use. Eliminating or sharply
curtailing the ability of tribes to carry out resource
extraction and development on tribal lands would be the wrong
approach.
These sorts of proposals would devastate tribal communities
that have built their economies around oil, gas, and, in some
cases, coal resources. For example, one tribe relies on coal
mining for 88 percent of its budget and would be left destitute
by the new restrictions on coal production and use.
Even tribes without significant energy resources would be
hard-hit by proposals that would increase the cost of coal,
oil, and gas. Native Americans in the Midwest and Northern
Plains, who already pay a lot to heat their homes, would be
required to pay even more. Reducing the supply of reliable
forms of energy would leave entire regions of the country
facing energy poverty. For Native American communities who
already face significant economic challenges, this result could
be disastrous.
Census figures showed the 2017 per capita income for Native
Americans to be $19,824, compared to $32,397 for the average
American. And the Native American poverty rate is 25.4 percent,
versus 13.4 percent for the rest of the country.
This Committee would do well to focus on innovative
solutions to address pollution, promote jobs, and opportunity
for Native Americans and Alaska Natives, and lower, not raise,
the cost of energy in tribal communities.
Today's question--How can we reduce pollution and promote a
healthier environment while protecting checkbooks and job
opportunities?
In past opportunities, this Committee has explored and
passed legislation providing tribes with tools to achieve
responsible natural resource management and conservation
objectives relating to climate change.
One of the best tools is scientifically sound active forest
management undertaken by tribes with substantial forestlands.
Tribes have proven to be excellent forest managers, creating
healthy forests and removing dangerous fuel that contributes to
deadly wildfires and the emission of enormous amounts of carbon
dioxide and pollutants.
This Committee should explore why the Federal Government
has not implemented measures enacted by Congress to promote
tribal stewardship contracting in mismanaged or non-managed
Federal lands.
When it comes to climate and energy, policies that impose a
one-size-fits-all approach would not help tribal economies,
especially when certain forms of energy are unreliable or come
at great cost to tribal members.
Again, I look forward to discussing how we can find
solutions and work together to improve the lives of Native
Americans and Alaska Natives.
Thank you. I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Cook follows:]
Prepared Statement of the Hon. Paul Cook, Ranking Member, Subcommittee
on Indigenous Peoples of the United States
Thank you, Chairman Gallego. As the new Subcommittee Republican
Leader, I look forward to what I hope will be a positive 116th Congress
as we work to address the issues facing Native American tribes and
Alaska Natives.
I also want to thank the witnesses for being here today for this
hearing.
Access to natural resources can be a lifeline to prosperity and
opportunity for Native communities. That's why this Committee has
focused in previous Congresses on providing greater local control and
autonomy to tribes to develop and utilize resources on Native American
land.
It is my hope that this Committee will continue along this path and
avoid the temptation to erect barriers to responsible tribal resource
management and use. Eliminating or sharply curtailing the ability of
tribes to carry out resource extraction and development on tribal lands
would be the wrong approach.
These sorts of proposals would devastate tribal communities that
have built their economies around the oil, gas, and coal resources. For
example, one tribe relies on coal mining for 88 percent of its budget
and would be left destitute by new restrictions on coal production and
use.
Even tribes without significant energy resources would be hit hard
by proposals that would increase the cost of coal, oil, and gas. Native
Americans in the Midwest and Northern Plains who already pay a lot to
heat their homes would be required to pay even more. Reducing the
supply of reliable forms of energy would leave entire regions of the
country facing energy poverty. For Native American communities who
already face significant economic challenges, this result would be
disastrous.
Census figures show the 2017 per capita income for Native Americans
to be $19,824 compared to $32,397 for the average American. And the
Native American poverty rate is 25.4 percent versus 13.4 percent for
the rest of the country.
This Committee would do well to focus on innovative solutions to
address pollution, promote jobs and opportunity for Native Americans
and Alaska Natives, and lower--not raise--the costs of energy in tribal
communities.
Today's question: How can we reduce pollution and promote a
healthier environment, while protecting checkbooks and job
opportunities?
In past years, this Committee has explored and passed legislation
providing tribes with tools to achieve responsible natural resource
management and conservation objectives relating to climate change.
One of the best tools is scientifically sound active forest
management undertaken by tribes with substantial forestlands. Tribes
have proven to be excellent forest managers, creating healthy forests
and removing dangerous fuel that contributes to deadly wildfires and
the emission of enormous amounts of carbon dioxide and pollutants.
This Committee should explore why the Federal Government has not
implemented measures enacted by Congress to promote tribal stewardship
contracting in mismanaged--or non-managed--Federal lands.
When it comes to climate and energy, policies that impose a one-
size-fits-all approach will not help tribal economies, especially where
certain forms of energy are unreliable or come at great cost to tribal
members.
Again, I look forward to discussing how we can find solutions and
work together to improve the lives of Native Americans and Alaska
Natives.
______
Mr. Gallego. Thank you, Ranking Member.
And I would also like to recognize our Committee Chairman,
Congressman Raul Grijalva, who has joined us today.
Mr. Grijalva. Thank you.
Mr. Gallego. Thank you.
Now, please let me introduce our witnesses for today.
First, our original invited witness, the Honorable Fawn
Sharp, President of the Quinault Indian Nation, was unable to
attend due to the weather in Washington State.
But we are fortunate that the Vice President of the Nation,
Tyson Johnston, was already here in DC, so he will graciously
testify in her stead.
I will also now recognize Member Don Young for the next
introduction.
Mr. Young. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was listening to your
opening statement, and I was going to put my name on top of it.
I think you copied my exact words the last time I chaired this
Committee.
But I would like to introduce a witness, one of my
constituents, Jennine Jordan. She is the Government Relations
Liaison for Calista Corporation. She is an Inuit, and her
family is from Unalakleet. I am quite proud of her efforts to
try to bring forth messages from my Native community in the
state of Alaska.
I yield back.
Mr. Gallego. Thank you.
Next, we will be introducing Dr. Shirley Buzzard, President
of the Building Resilient Communities for Climate Extremes
(BRACE) Institute.
And, finally, our last witness is the Honorable Verlon
Jose, Vice Chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation in Arizona.
Let me remind the witnesses that under our Committee Rules,
they must limit their oral statements to 5 minutes, but their
entire written statement will appear in the hearing record.
When you begin, the lights on the witness table will turn
green. After 4 minutes, the yellow light will come on. Your
time will have expired when the red light comes on, and I will
ask you to please wrap up your statement.
I will also allow the entire panel to testify before we
question the witnesses.
The Chair now recognizes Vice President Tyson Johnston to
begin his testimony.
Thank you.
STATEMENT OF TYSON JOHNSTON, VICE PRESIDENT, QUINAULT INDIAN
NATION, TAHOLAH, WASHINGTON
Mr. Johnston. Thank you very much for the introduction and
the opportunity to be here with you all today. I know President
Sharp deeply regrets not being here, since she is very
passionate about this issue.
My name is Tyson Johnston. I am the Vice President of the
Quinault Indian Nation. I come to you today from Washington
State, where my tribe is located in southwest Washington. We
are a treaty tribe, a signatory to the Treaty of Olympia of
1856. We are also a founding self-governance tribe and believe
in the tenets of self-governance and self-determination.
We currently manage 210,000 acres of forest and reservation
land. We are also an ocean-navigating people and co-manage
natural resources in the ocean and several of our river
systems. Our villages primarily support themselves from fishing
income and natural-resources-related work.
We also have taken a multi-layered approach to climate
change, because this issue has impacted our community very hard
and first in many different ways. We have been talking locally
with our state partners and now here at the Federal level.
We are a place-based people. We are deeply committed to our
land. It is incomprehensible to think about having to relocate
from our sacred lands that make up our identity, but because of
climate change and the issues that face us, we have had to
consider options.
We have currently worked with the Federal Government to
develop a master plan to relocate our village and essential
infrastructure. This was funded in 2013 and fully adopted by
the tribe in 2017, which has given us a blueprint to finally
address the tsunami inundation zone that is up on the screen.
[Slide.]
We face several challenges moving to higher ground. A lot
of this is related to funding, obviously. We have estimated,
with our master plan, that in order to fully implement village
relocation and the relocation of our infrastructure, it would
cost anywhere between $150 million to $200 million.
Also, I mentioned earlier how we are a fishing community.
We have had to declare several fisheries disasters. The best
science and analysis that we have been able to look at have
been influenced by the climate change factors of the ocean
conditions as well as the effects of terrestrial climates.
Being so close to the ocean, the Quinault Nation is on the
front lines of all the American people who are dealing with the
negative effects of climate change. Ocean sea level rise has
really increased. We have been dealing with coastal erosion on
our coasts and have seen that really speed up these last
several years.
But, most importantly, I think the message I want to leave
you with is that this is going to be affecting more people
along the coast, and this is really our time to come together
and think about what are the best options to protect the
American people and set up our future generations for success.
We have taken many efforts, painstaking efforts, to
mitigate this at our local level as the tribe, but we don't
have the resources to fully implement that action without the
support of our trustee and our Federal partners. We owe it to
our future generations to be bold, actionable, and decisive
when it comes to addressing this issue.
Again, I am looking forward to the questions from the
Committee and offering expertise and support on behalf of the
tribe to address this issue not only today but for future
generations.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Johnston follows:]
Prepared Statement of Tyson Johnston, Vice President, Quinault Indian
Nation
Good afternoon Chairman Gallego, Ranking Member Cook and members of
the Subcommittee. I am Tyson Johnston, Vice-President of the Quinault
Indian Nation (``QIN''). I want to thank the Subcommittee for holding
this hearing on the impacts and challenges tribal communities face due
to climate change. It is critically important for the Federal
Government, as trustee to Quinault and other Tribal Nations, to examine
this issue and work with tribal governments to address the challenges
we face.
climate change today on the quinault indian reservation
The Quinault Reservation (``Reservation'') is located on the
southwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State and
abuts the Pacific Ocean. Since time immemorial, QIN has relied on the
waters of the Quinault River and Pacific Ocean for sustenance and
survival. The village of Taholah is the primary population, social,
economic and government center of the QIN. It is facing imminent
threats from potential tsunamis and potential damage from the sea level
rising.
QIN, as a signatory to the Treaty of Olympia (1856), has the
reserved right of ``taking fish, at all usual and accustomed fishing
grounds and stations.'' This federally-protected treaty right
guarantees every enrolled Quinault tribal member--now and into the
future--the right to harvest any and all species of fish and shellfish,
anywhere within the QIN's usual and accustomed area in perpetuity,
subject only to restrictions intended to conserve the fisheries.
However, since 2015, many QIN members have experienced fish harvest
levels that are significantly lower than they have been in previous
years. Because of this decline, the Nation requested through the
Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration a commercial fishery resource disaster be declared. The
declaration was approved and QIN was awarded funding, however the
harvest levels continue to decline because of water temperature change
and deterioration of habit brought on by climate change. This decline
has been nothing short of devastating for QIN as our tribal members
depend on fishing for commercial, subsistence, and recreational
purposes, as well as ceremonial and cultural ones.
Our Nation has had Models prepared by the Washington Department of
Natural Resources show a potential of tsunami inundation of 40-50 feet
in depth in most of the Lower Village of Taholah, well above the
elevation of the tallest building in the village. A tsunami event at
the Village of Taholah would be catastrophic for our tribe, the loss of
life and destruction of our infrastructure would compromise QIN
government operations.
Historically, large earthquake/tsunami events along the Cascadia
Subduction Zone have occurred every 300 to 500 years. The last such
event happened in February, 1700, so the 300-year threshold has already
been breached. Approximately 650 residents live within the tsunami zone
in the Taholah Village. Important Quinault social and cultural
institutions are located in the tsunami inundation zone and flood prone
area (including the Senior Center, Head Start Day Care, the K-12
Taholah School, Community Center, fire cache, police station, jail and
courts, Veterans Park, Taholah Mercantile, Fitness Center, Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families, Housing Authority, Canoe Carving Shed,
Enterprise Board, and the Museum, the repository of Quinault culture).
On a typical weekday, at least 60 employees of the Quinault Indian
Nation also work in the lower Taholah Village.
A comprehensive 2012 report was contracted by QIN to understand the
effects of climate change on sea levels. The report, entitled
``Relative Sea Level Change Along Quinault Indian Reservation Marine
Coastlines,'' found that the combined effects of thermal expansion of
ocean waters, vertical land deformation (e.g., tectonic movements),
melting glaciers and ice fields and seasonal water surface elevation
changes due to local atmospheric circulation effects will result in sea
level increases that will substantially increase flood risks in the
Lower Village of Taholah. The report noted that the changes posed by
climate change, including increased winter precipitation, soil
saturation and flow into the Quinault River, will compound and increase
the coastal flood risks to the lower Village of Taholah.
Already, high tides, high winds and storm surge conditions have led
to waves breaking over the seawall that protects the Lower Taholah
Village from coastal surges. The seawall was breached in 2014,
prompting a state of emergency to be declared. While the Army Corps of
Engineers replaced the seawall, it is not a permanent solution. During
minor storm events, areas around First Avenue in Taholah flood
regularly with seawater.
The QIN determined through multiple public processes, including a
General Council resolution (a vote taken by the entire Tribe), that
enabling the movement of residents, businesses, and institutions from
the lower village of Taholah to a new Upper Village Relocation Area was
the only solution because of these threats.
This prioritization prompted the Nation to apply for a grant in
2013 from the Administration for Native Americans (U.S. Dept. of Health
and Human Services) to prepare a plan to relocate the village to higher
ground. The grant was received and resulted in the Taholah Village
Relocation Master Plan (``Master Plan''). The Master Plan was adopted
by the Quinault Indian Nation Business Committee (a governing body of
the Nation) on June 26, 2017. The NEPA Environmental Review was
completed through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and HUD.
the plan to relocate the taholah lower village
The Master Plan document presents land uses, conceptual
neighborhood layouts, design principles, suggestions for energy
efficiency measures, preliminary development cost estimates, resilience
measures and required zoning changes. Although the Quinault Nation
isn't subject to state zoning requirements of the Growth Management Act
of Washington State county (GMA), this Master Plan meets numerous goals
and requirements of the GMA. This includes: community participation;
concentrated development near transit lines and existing adequate
infrastructure; encouragement of pedestrian travel; a range of housing
choices; convenient access to services; and, water quality. The Master
Plan was in part based on feedback received at community meetings and
surveys. A Space Needs Assessment was compiled with input from every
department at the Nation regarding future space needs.
The project area governed by the Master Plan is located directly to
the east of the existing Administration Building on land ranging in
elevation from 125 feet to 165 feet, well above the tsunami danger
zone. The Roger Saux Health Center is the only existing building at
this time within the Relocation Area. The Relocation Area is
approximately 180 acres and is accessed by two roads from the west. The
Relocation area is adjacent to development on higher ground that is
served by adequate infrastructure. The Master Plan provides a blueprint
for the future village, including housing, community facilities, energy
facilities, a K-12 school, and park areas.
A primary goal of the Plan is to create a rural community comprised
of residential neighborhoods around a central corridor of community
facilities. The heart of the community will be the school, the Health
Center, the Generations Building, a new Community Center, the Museum
and the Mercantile. The Generations Building (Wenasgwella?aW in the
Quinault language) will be the first building to be constructed and
will house the Head Start, Day Care and Senior programs; these programs
serve the most vulnerable populations and were identified by the
community as the priority programs to relocate prior to the Plan
starting. The new Community Center would also serve as an evacuation
center. As part of the Plan, a schematic design was done for the
building with oversized restrooms and showers and storage for tents and
cots. The Mercantile is the only store in the village and serves as a
social hub for the village. The village has been laid out so that these
community facilities are within a 5 to 10 minute walk of each
neighborhood. To this end, new paths have been plotted and the existing
Wellness Program walking routes connected to the new path network. The
paths will enable connection back to the river and the ocean that the
residents are leaving, as well as allowing easy access to the community
services at the heart of the new village.
QIN expects substantial demand for housing in the Upper Village.
The Census (2000) data indicates that during that period Washington
State had an 8.7 percent vacant housing rate, while the QIR had a 1.8
percent vacant housing rate. Taholah's average household size is 3.68.
The Quinault Housing Authority maintains a housing waiting list of
families and maintains that if more housing were developed on the QIR,
there would be increases both in off-Reservation tribal members who
would apply for a new home, and on-Reservation tribal members that now
share a home that houses two or more families, would apply for
additional housing. There are over 125 families on the waiting list.
Thus, the Master Plan was designed to accommodate those needing to move
to higher ground and those seeking to move back to the Reservation.
Taholah is a rural community with limited public transportation
options; high density residential housing would not be appropriate
here, as it may be in larger towns. The Master Plan sought to create a
walkable community, while retaining a rural feel and creating
opportunities for a mix of housing types and sizes to serve the varying
demand of residents. Each neighborhood is required to include a mix of
unit type and lot size, so all segments of the population can be served
throughout the Relocation process, with denser unit types and lot sizes
closer to the center of the community (and likely bus stops) and
density lessening toward the edges. This should allow for mixed-income
neighborhoods. An effort has been made to include Quinault art in the
new village and to engage Quinault artists in the integration of art
and culture into the built environment. Low impact development for
stormwater has been utilized to protect the salmon runs in the Quinault
River. Resilience to disaster and sustainability have been included in
the Plan to best determine how the concepts could be integrated
physically into the new village.
A conscious effort was made to tailor the Master Plan to the
community context. The context is somewhat different than other
municipalities around Washington. The land for the village is owned by
the Quinault Nation--private developers will not speculatively develop
this project; some development will be undertaken by the Housing
Authority, but most of the housing will likely be developed by
individual landowners. These landowners will not mass produce homes
where strict design guidelines can be applied. In many cases families
will be installing modular homes or simple homes where design
guidelines might be onerous. Thus, the Master Plan does not impose such
guidelines on residents; it merely suggests energy efficiency measures
homeowners should consider when constructing a home. Many homeowners
require larger lots for storage of nets and boats, as they fish for a
livelihood. Thus, the plan supports traditional rural lifestyles.
The Master Plan is also designed to concentrate development in
Taholah as opposed to on scattered sites around the Reservation,
creating a limited area of intensive rural development. The Plan
creates neighborhoods of higher density than those developed on the
Reservation during the past 50 years with a mix of housing, from large
lot housing to tiny homes for those transitioning back into the
community. This compact development will encourage pedestrian travel
and convenient access to services in the new village.
moving forward with the master plan
With completion and adoption of the Master Plan, the Nation has a
blueprint for redevelopment of the village, safe from flooding and
tsunamis that incorporates the vision of the community members,
sustainable practices, culture, amenities and upgraded community
facilities. Design has begun on the first building in the new village,
the Wenasgwella?aW (Generations Building).
Wenasgwella?aW will house the Senior Program and children's
programs (Head Start, Early Head Start and Day Care). The Nation is
also in the process of designing the first residential neighborhood of
the Master Plan so that there is a place for residents of the Lower
Village to relocate as soon as possible. However, the Master Plan has
an estimated price tag of $150 to $200 million and the Quinault Nation
will not be able to fully fund the plan. We will need assistance from
our trustee, the Federal Government, to continue the Master Plan and to
ensure that our citizens and government operations continue.
conclusion
Again, thank you for allowing me to testify to the Subcommittee
today on this critical issue to the Quinault Indian Nation. QIN is
taking the necessary steps to protect our citizens from the effects of
climate change, but we will need the Federal Government's assistance in
doing this. I'm happy to answer any questions in person at this
hearing.
______
Mr. Gallego. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
The Chair now recognizes Jennine Jordan.
STATEMENT OF JENNINE JORDAN, GOVERNMENT RELATIONS LIAISON,
CALISTA CORPORATION, ANCHORAGE, ALASKA
Ms. Jordan. Hello, Chairman Gallego, Ranking Member Cook,
and distinguished members of the Subcommittee for Indigenous
Peoples of the United States.
My name is Jennine Jordan. I currently serve as the
Government Relations Liaison for Calista Corporation, a
regional Alaska Native corporation. Thank you for inviting me
to provide a village perspective in this hearing and to discuss
how climate change has affected Newtok, 1 of the 56 villages
within the Calista region.
In addition to giving my statement today, I will be
submitting additional written testimony for the record.
I am Inupiaq, and my family is from the Native village of
Unalakleet, a remote community of about 700 people in the
Bering Straits region. I am a shareholder of Unalakleet Native
Corporation, my village corporation; Bering Straits Native
Corporation; and CIRI Corporation, my regional corporations,
each of which were created and mandated by Congress through
passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971,
which settled our Alaska Native land claims. I am also tribally
enrolled with the Native village of Unalakleet.
I am here to tell you that climate change is affecting
Alaska's rural communities. Erosion is the principal threat to
the habitability of many Alaska Native villages. This is
according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
The Arctic Sea ice extent that protects coastal communities
is melting, and, as a result, waves and storm surges are
accelerating erosion. This is a report found by the Government
Accountability Office.
As a result of coastal erosion, my family's village,
Unalakleet, is considered one of the vulnerable communities of
Alaska. Unalakleet has been adapting to climate change by
building seawalls and raising roads. In 2010, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers spent more than $28 million on
infrastructure for Unalakleet, armoring the beach with rocks
and a gabion wall.
Despite these efforts, my family, my cousins, and the
neighbors in my community see the shoreline armoring being
chipped away daily. And some folks have moved their homes from
town to the hillside, which exemplifies a gradual relocation of
Unalakleet to the higher hills in response to climate change.
Throughout the state, local companies and Alaska Native
corporations have pitched in to help communities battling
erosion costs by climate change. Calista Corporation, for
example, through its subsidiary, Brice, Inc., has repaired
gabion walls and breakwater for decades for villages affected
by climate change. We are currently doing work in St. George
and at the Kivalina Airport in Alaska on this issue. We do this
because we enjoy working within Alaska to rebuild communities
in partnership with the state and Federal Government.
Newtok, a coastal village of 350 people on the Bering Sea,
is one of the first communities in Alaska to migrate to a new
site 9 miles away, Mertarvik. Newtok is currently threatened by
advancing erosion caused by the Ninglick River adjacent to the
village. This progressive erosion plus permafrost degradation
and seasonal storm flooding threaten the very existence of
Newtok.
Years of erosion studies show that Newtok must relocate
because there is no permanent and cost-effective alternative
for remaining at the current village site. According to the
Army Corps of Engineers' estimates, it could cost up to $130
million to move the whole village.
Even though Mertarvik and Newtok are only 9 miles apart,
relocation costs are high due to the fact that there are no
roads connecting the two rural Alaskan communities together.
In 2007, the state of Alaska created the Subcabinet on
Climate Change, identifying communities in the most critical
need of support. The Subcabinet's Immediate Action Work Group
identified Kivalina, Koyukuk, Newtok, Shaktoolik, Shishmaref,
and Unalakleet as six communities in peril.
In addition, the U.S. Government Accountability Office
identified 31 Alaskan communities that are threatened by
climate change. Of those, 4 were considered to be dire: Newtok,
Kivalina, Shishmaref, and Shaktoolik.
In 2008, I conducted a housing analysis for Newtok while I
was an intern at the Denali Commission. The housing analysis
was a product of the Newtok Planning Group, which was formed
with state and Federal agencies and NGOs to coordinate
relocation for Newtok.
These are all generally outlined in the strategic
management plan, which is listed on the Alaska Department of
Commerce, Community, and Economic Development's website. Many
more specific plans are located there with information.
Numerous Federal and state hearings and reports have also
been conducted on the relocation of Newtok.
Stanley Tom, the formal Tribal Administrator of the Newtok
Traditional Council, testified on October 11, 2007, at the
Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery outlining the steps Newtok
has taken to move.
But their greatest need is for housing at the relocation
site of Mertarvik. There is such a critical housing shortage in
Newtok today that multiple families are living in a single-
family home. The Cold Climate Research Center, a non-profit
organization that specializes in building in Arctic climates,
estimates the community needs a total of 105 houses in
Mertarvik--39 more than the 66 houses standing in Newtok today.
Newtok Village Council and the Lower Kuskokwim School
District received $1 million in funding from the Alaska Housing
Finance Corporation to advance construction in Mertarvik by
2020.
The project will construct two state-of-the-art, high-
energy-performance duplexes with solar photovoltaic panels. The
duplexes will be the first housing constructed specifically to
serve professional populations, including teachers, village
public safety officers, and public health aides, in Mertarvik.
These grants address our greatest need, which is housing.
Alaska's rural communities lack critical access to clean
water for drinking, sanitation, and hygiene. The people of
Newtok have been living without water or sewer systems for
generations, so, to address this need, the United Methodist
Committee on Relief awarded $943,000 to Newtok to install 21
in-home portable alternative sanitation system (PASS) units in
Mertarvik, Newtok's relocation site. PASS units are innovative,
low-cost alternatives to piped infrastructure that provide
basic sanitation for handwashing, clean drinking water, and
safe human waste disposal.
In conclusion, Alaskan permafrost, land that typically
stayed hard and frozen year-round, has been melting due to
temperature increases. Larger sea storms sweep the elevated
ocean levels over the land and cause erosion. This leaves
residents vulnerable to the sea.
Infrastructure threats will pose an ongoing concern for
rural coastal communities, particularly given the high cost of
construction in rural Alaska. Alaska is indeed on the front
lines of climate change, and it is affecting all of our coastal
communities.
There is a need of Federal funds and bipartisan advocates
to address climate change due to the Federal trust
responsibility that the government has with its indigenous
peoples. The funds already made available are just a drop in
the bucket compared to the dozens of communities in Alaska that
will eventually have to relocate due to climate change.
Thank you very much for providing me this opportunity to
testify on the impacts of climate change.
[Speaking native language.]
[The prepared statement of Ms. Jordan follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jennine Jordan, Government Relations Liaison,
Calista Corporation
Hello Chairman Gallego, Ranking Member Cook, and distinguished
members of the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United
States. My name is Jennine Jordan. I currently serve as the Government
Relations Liaison for Calista Corporation, a regional Alaska Native
Corporation. Thank you for inviting me to provide a village perspective
in this hearing, and to discuss how climate change has affected Newtok,
1 of the 56 villages within the Calista region. In addition to giving
my statement today, I will be submitting additional written testimony
for the record.
I am Inupiaq and my family is from the Native Village of
Unalakleet, a remote community of about 700 people in the Bering
Straits region. I am a shareholder of Unalakleet Native Corporation, my
village Corporation, and Bering Straits Native Corporation and CIRI
Corporation, my regional Corporations, each of which were created and
mandated by Congress through passage of the Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971, which settled Alaska Natives aboriginal
land claims.
I am here to tell you that climate change is affecting Alaska's
rural communities. Erosion is the principal threat to the habitability
of many Alaska Native villages (USACE 2006, 2009). The Arctic sea ice
extent that protects coastal communities is melting. As a result, waves
and storm surges are accelerating erosion (GAO 2003, 2009). As a result
of coastal erosion, my family's village, Unalakleet, is considered one
of the vulnerable communities of Alaska. Unalakleet has been adapting
to climate change by building seawalls and raising roads. In 2010, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spent more than $28 million on
infrastructure for Unalakleet, armoring the beach with rocks and a
gabion wall. Despite these efforts, my family, my cousins, and the
neighbors in my community see the shoreline armoring being chipped away
daily. Some folks have moved their homes from town to the hillside,
which exemplifies a gradual relocation of Unalakleet to the higher
hills in response to climate change.
Throughout the state, local companies and Alaska Native
Corporations have pitched in to help communities battling erosion
caused by climate change. Calista Corporation through its subsidiary,
Brice, has repaired gabion walls and breakwater for decades for
villages affected by climate change. We are working currently in St.
George and at the Kivalina Airport. We do this because we enjoy working
within Alaska to rebuild communities in partnership with the state and
Federal Government.
Newtok, a coastal village of 350 people on the Bering Sea, is one
of the first communities in Alaska to migrate to a new site 9 miles
away, Mertarvik. Newtok is currently threatened by advancing erosion
caused by the Ninglick River adjacent to the village. This progressive
erosion, plus permafrost degradation and seasonal storm flooding
threaten the very existence of Newtok. Years of erosion studies show
that Newtok must relocate because there is no permanent and cost-
effective alternative for remaining at the current village site.
According to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates, it will cost $130
million to move the whole village. Even though Mertarvik and Newtok are
only 9 miles apart, relocation costs are high due to the fact that
there are no roads connecting the two rural Alaskan communities
together.
In 2007, the state of Alaska created the Subcabinet on Climate
Change, identifying communities in the most critical need of support.
The Subcabinet's Immediate Action Work Group identified: Kivalina,
Koyukuk, Newtok, Shaktoolik, Shishmaref, and Unalakleet as ``six
communities in peril.'' In addition, the U.S. Government Accountability
Office identified 31 Alaska communities that are threatened by climate
change. Of those, 4 were considered to be dire: Newtok, Kivalina,
Shishmaref and Shaktoolik.
In 2008, I conducted a housing analysis for Newtok while as an
intern at the Denali Commission. The housing analysis was a product of
the Newtok Planning Group, which was formed in 2006 by representatives
from state and Federal agencies and NGOs which agreed to coordinate
relocation assistance for Newtok. The Newtok Planning Group has
published various studies and plans are underway to move the village.
These are generally outlined in the Strategic Management Plan--Newtok
to Mertarvik (2012) listed on the AK Department of Commerce, Community,
and Economic Development's website. More specific plans and much more
information on relocating Newtok to Mertarvik is also available there.
Numerous Federal and state hearings and reports have also been
conducted on the relocation of Newtok. Stanley Tom, the former tribal
administrator of the Newtok Traditional Council testified on October
11, 2007 at the Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, outlining the steps
Newtok has taken to move to Mertarvik.
The community members' greatest need is for housing at the
relocation site of Mertarvik, Alaska. There is such a critical housing
shortage in Newtok today that multiple families are living in a single-
family home. The Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC), a non-
profit organization that specializes in building in arctic climates,
estimated the community needs a total of 105 houses in Mertarvik--39
more than the 66 houses standing in Newtok today.
This past summer, four Mertarvik homes were constructed by the
Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP), the area's regional
housing authority. In summer 2019, 13 more homes are expected to be
built in Mertarvik, bringing the total on site to 21. Securing funding
for housing is essential to the relocation process because it will
expedite the relocation and provide improved quality of life. For
example, occupied housing at Mertarvik will allow the community to
become eligible for many traditional state and Federal funding
programs.
Newtok Village Council and the Lower Kuskokwim School District
received $1 million in funding from the Alaska Housing Finance
Corporation to advance housing construction in Mertarvik in 2020. The
project will construct two state-of-the-art high energy performance
duplexes with solar photovoltaic panels. The duplexes will be the first
housing constructed specifically to serve professional populations
including teachers, village public safety officers, and public health
aides in Mertarvik. These grants address the greatest challenge in
Newtok's relocation to Mertarvik--new housing construction. As part of
efforts to enable Newtok's relocation to the Mertarvik site, the Denali
Commission is providing match funding for the award issued to Newtok
Village Council.
Alaska's rural communities lack critical access to clean water for
drinking, sanitation, and hygiene. The people of Newtok have been
living without water or sewer systems for generations. To address this
need, the United Methodist Committee on Relief awarded $943,000 to
Newtok to install 21 in-home Portable Alternative Sanitation System
(PASS) units in Mertarvik, Newtok's relocation site. PASS units are
innovative, low-cost alternatives to piped infrastructure that provide
basic sanitation needs including hand washing, clean drinking water,
and safe human waste disposal.
conclusion
Alaskan permafrost, land that typically stayed hard and frozen
year-round, has been melting partially due to temperature increases
across the state. Larger sea storms sweep the elevated ocean levels
over the land and cause erosion into the ocean. This leaves residents
vulnerable to the sea. Infrastructure threats will pose an ongoing
concern for rural coastal communities, particularly given the high
costs of construction in rural Alaska. Alaska is on the front lines of
climate change and it is affecting all of our coastal communities.
There is a need of Federal funds and bipartisan advocates to address
climate change due to the Federal trust responsibility that the
government has with its indigenous peoples. The funds already made
available are just a drop in the bucket compared to the dozens of
communities in Alaska that will eventually have to relocate due to
climate change.
Thank you very much for providing me this opportunity to testify on
the impacts of climate change in rural Alaska.
works cited
AK Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development's
website: https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/dcra/
PlanningLandManagement/NewtokPlanningGroup.aspx.
GAO [Government Accountability Office]. 2003. Alaska Native villages:
most are affected by flooding and erosion, but few qualify for federal
assistance. Government Accountability Office, Washington, DC, USA.
[online] URL: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04142.pdf.
GAO [Government Accountability Office]. 2009. Alaska Native villages:
limited progress has been made on relocating villages threatened by
flooding and erosion. Government Accountability Office, Washington, DC,
USA. [online] URL: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09551.pdf.
USACE [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]. 2006. Alaska village erosion
technical assistance program: an examination of erosion issues in the
communities of Bethel, Dillingham, Kaktovik, Kivalina, Newtok,
Shishmaref, and Unalakleet. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Anchorage,
Alaska, USA. [online] URL: http://www.housemajority.org/coms/cli/
AVETA_Report.pdf.
USACE [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]. 2009. Alaska baseline erosion
assessment: study findings and technical report. U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Anchorage, Alaska, USA. [online] URL: http://
climatechange.alaska.gov/docs/iaw_USACE_ erosion_rpt.pdf.
*****
The following documents were submitted as supplements to Ms. Jordan's
testimony. These documents are part of the hearing record and are being
retained in the Committee's official files:
--Newtok to Mertarvik Relocation, Newtok Village Council, December
2017.
______
Mr. Gallego. Thank you, Ms. Jordan.
Now we will have Dr. Buzzard speak.
STATEMENT OF SHIRLEY BUZZARD, PRESIDENT, BUILDING RESILIENT
COMMUNITIES FOR CLIMATE EXTREMES (BRACE) INSTITUTE, WASHINGTON,
DC
Dr. Buzzard. I would like to just echo my colleagues, and
thank you so much for holding these hearings and calling
attention to this really urgent problem.
The impact of climate change is enormous to the health and
livelihood of many Native Americans but most urgently, as you
can see, for those who are living on low-lying islands and
coastal communities.
In May 2016, Congressman Grijalva sponsored a forum on
``Confronting a Rising Tide: The Climate Refugee Crisis.''
Among those invited to speak at that forum were representatives
of the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Choctaw, a gentleman from
the Arctic Council, and people from the Embassy of the Marshall
Islands.
My company, Heartlands International, which is a Native
American-owned small business, was honored to host our visitors
to Washington and provide them with some food and housing. So,
we spent a lot of time with them, and they told us that they
desperately need an intermediary organization to help them
understand the bureaucracy and the way Washington works.
These are people who live on disappearing islands. They are
not equipped to deal with the intricacies of the Federal
Government or large donors. Even taking a few days off work--
since these are mostly maritime people, just taking a day or
two off work was a major hit to their income.
So, they asked if we would form a non-profit organization
that would serve as an intermediary between the groups that you
have heard about and others to help them leverage funds, do
reporting and accountability, and provide technical assistance
for areas where they need it.
In response to their request, we created the Institute for
Building Resilient Communities for Climate Extremes, or the
BRACE Institute, which is a 501(c)(3). Our objective is to
provide support and technical services for the relocation of
whole communities while keeping their cultural integrity.
Initially, BRACE is partnering with the following
communities, which are populations of between 200 and 1,000
people that are going to relocate in the next 3 years:
Primarily, we are working with the Choctaw in Isle de Jean
Charles. We hope to be working with the Native Alaskan
communities and also with the Quinault.
Community relocation is a multi-sectoral problem. All of
the communities mentioned have maritime economies, and if they
move very far inland, they are going to have to learn new ways
of making a living, including fish farming, greenhouse
gardening, or other skills. As the educational level of the
older members of these communities is marginal, they depend
heavily on young people to lead the way.
And the groups we have identified are only the beginning.
As you have heard, all of the Alaskan coastal communities are
going to have to move soon. Estimates are that there are
already about 14 million climate refugees in the world. And
these are people who have moved to new cities or countries as
individuals or families because of job loss, famine, and other
climate extremes. There is really very limited experience with
relocating whole communities.
Responding to this urgent need, BRACE works with partners
in the business and labor sectors to provide technical
assistance and research. We partner with the Laborers
International Union of North America on housing construction,
and they also do job-training skills in the construction
trades.
We have a partnership with Illinois State University in
Normal, Illinois, to provide technical assistance in political,
economic, social issues that come up and also in terms of the
documentation of what is working and what is not.
BRACE is initially targeting these low-lying islands in the
United States, but we are learning from the Marshall Islanders
who have moved to Springdale, Arkansas, so we understand some
of the health and other issues that climate refugees face. Many
of the Pacific Islands will be disappearing before long.
We employ a classic community development approach within
each community, which includes highly participatory methodology
of helping people make decisions for themselves and building
the capacity of communities to make their own decisions. We
place emphasis on building leadership skills of young community
members and women.
Our multi-disciplinary approach fosters a better
understanding of the issues in both the origin and the
destination communities, because with community relocation, you
need to think not only about where they live now but where they
are moving to and what effect that is going to have on the
destination communities.
There are dozens of organizations working to mitigate
climate change and postpone relocation by building seawalls or
houses on stilts. All of these efforts are welcome, but they
are short-term and often very costly. BRACE is the only
organization that works with communities on total relocation
and on the design of new green communities and with the
assistance of learning new job skills.
The main issues we are encountering on start up, of course,
are funds, not only for BRACE as an institution but to the
construction of new communities. As you have heard----
Mr. Gallego. Dr. Buzzard, please, can we come to a summary?
Dr. Buzzard. Yes.
Mr. Gallego. Thank you.
Dr. Buzzard. OK. Anyway, we are grateful to be here and
happy to answer your questions.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Buzzard follows:]
Prepared Statement of Shirley Buzzard, Ph.D., President of the BRACE
Institute, Washington, DC
Many thanks to the Subcommittee on Indigenous People for calling
attention to the effect of climate change on Native Americans. The
impact of climate change is enormous to the health and livelihood of
many Native Americans but most urgently for those who live on low-lying
islands and coastal communities.
In May 2016, Rep. Grijalva sponsored a forum on Confronting the
Rising Tide: The Climate Refugee Crisis. Among those invited to speak
at that forum were representatives of the Isle de Jean Charles Band of
Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, a representative from the Arctic Council and
a representative from the Embassy of the Marshall Islands. My company,
Heartlands International, a Native American Owned small business, was
pleased to host some of the visitors to Washington, DC for that event.
In our discussions during their visit, it became clear that the people
who live on the disappearing islands are unequipped to deal with the
Federal bureaucracy and fundraising for their relocation. Taking a few
days off from their work to travel to Washington, DC was a huge
sacrifice for them and their families. The functioning of the U.S.
government and other potential donors is bewildering to them.
They asked Heartlands to form a non-profit with would serve as an
intermediary for them in leveraging funds, reporting, and providing
technical assistance to them. In response to their request, we created
The Institute called The Building Resilient Communities for Climate
Extremes (BRACE Institute) a 501(c)(3). Our objective is to provide
support and technical services for the relocation of whole communities
while keeping their cultural integrity. Initially BRACE is partnering
with the following communities. These are all communities of between
200 and 1,000 people that need to completely relocate in the next 3 to
5 years:
The Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Citimacha-Choctaw
The Alaskan communities of Shishmaref, Kivalina, Newtok
and Quinhagak
The Quinault Indian Nation in Tahdah, Oregon
Community relocation is a multi-sectoral problem. All the
communities mentioned have maritime economies and if they move very far
inland, they will have to learn new ways of making a living including
fish farming, greenhouse gardening and other skills. As the education
level of the older members of these communities is marginal, they are
depending heavily on young people to lead the way.
This is only the beginning. All coastal Alaskan communities will
have to move soon. Estimates are that there are already 14 million
climate refugees in the world. These are people who have moved to new
cities or countries as individuals or families because of job loss,
famine, and other climate extremes. There is limited experience with
the relocation of whole communities. Responding to this urgent need,
BRACE works with partners in the business and labor sectors for
technical assistance and job training. We partner with Illinois State
University in Normal (ISU) to provide technical assistance and
research. We also work with the Laborer's International Union of North
America (LiUNA) on housing construction and jobs skills training. BRACE
is a multi-disciplinary and global support center for communities that
need to relocate due to climate change
BRACE is initially targeting low-lying islands in the United
States. We also are learning from the Marshall Islanders who have moved
to Springdale, Alaska as to some of the health and other issues for
climate refugees. Many of the Pacific Islands will also disappear
before long.
BRACE Institute employs a classic community development approach
within each community. This includes a highly participatory methodology
of helping people make decisions for themselves and building the
capacity of communities to make their own decisions. We place emphasis
on building the leadership skills of young community members and women.
A multidisciplinary approach fosters a better understanding of the
issues in both the origin and destination communities. The complex
problem calls for a multifaceted solution. BRACE monitors carefully and
documents what works as thousands of communities worldwide will have to
relocate in coming years.
There are dozens of organizations working to mitigate climate
change and postpone relocation by building sea walls or houses on
stilts. All of these efforts are welcome, but they are short-term and
often very costly solutions. BRACE is the only organization that works
with communities on total relocation and the design of new, green
communities and assistance with learning new job skills.
The main issues we are encountering as we start up are, of course,
funds for the organization and for the construction of new communities.
The construction of totally new communities is very costly so where
possible we promote re-location in or near existing communities. Also,
BRACE wants to be cautious about raising expectations and assuring that
the communities take the lead with BRACE as a supporting partner.
Community members know what they need to do and, in many cases, how to
do that. The Choctaw and Quinault already have excellent designs for
new green communities and have located land they want to purchase. They
urgently need a support organization that can provide funding,
management skills, and technical assistance on construction, and job
training.
We are very grateful to be included in these hearings. I am happy
to answer your questions.
______
Mr. Gallego. Thank you, Doctor. Much appreciated.
Next is Mr. Verlon Jose from the Tohono O'odham Nation.
STATEMENT OF VERLON JOSE, VICE CHAIRMAN, TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION,
SELLS, ARIZONA
Mr. Jose. [Speaking native language.] Good day to you,
everyone. Good afternoon, Chairman Gallego, Ranking Member
Cook, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee.
My name is Verlon Jose, and I am the Vice Chairman of the
Tohono O'odham Nation, a federally recognized tribe with more
than 34,000 members. The Tohono O'odham Reservation consists of
more than 2.8 million acres in southern Arizona, one of the
largest Indian reservations in the United States, and shares a
62-mile border with Mexico.
Since time immemorial, we have learned to live in the
desert and have adapted to high summer heat and scarce water.
But as climate change has begun to disrupt our traditional and
modern ways of living, we have had to figure out ways to cope
with these changes.
The Nation has 41 monitoring stations on the reservation to
measure precipitation and temperature. The Nation also took the
proactive step of developing a climate change adaptation plan
which examines the impacts of climate change on the Nation and
its members and potential solutions.
We appreciate the Subcommittee providing this opportunity
to address climate change, which is a significant issue for the
Nation as well as other Native people.
As a result of climate change, it is getting hotter and
hotter, and there is more drought across the Nation's lands
than we have experienced in the past. Arizona is currently in a
20-year drought. The average annual temperature is increasing,
as shown in the 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment and
monitoring done by the Nation.
The heat and the drought reduce forage for our livestock,
food for wildlife, and the recharge of our groundwater
aquifers. As a result of the dry soils, higher surface
temperatures, and less vegetation, there is an increased threat
of wildfires. And the wildfires are larger and start earlier in
the season.
The heat, drought, and fires put people, animals, and food
sources at risk, impose greater costs on the Nation to ensure
the well-being and safety of our people.
The day-to-day impacts on our members' ability to gather
and use traditional foods is staggering. Although we have not
yet experienced the complete loss of traditional foods, the
availability of these foods has been drastically impacted by
the significant change in the average temperature that alters
the seasonal life cycle of traditional plants. Our members go
out to gather traditional foods and find that many are blooming
out of season or not blooming at all as a result of climate
change.
As rising heat and drought continues, the Nation will
likely face increased challenges with respect to our ability to
store food for our members. Currently, the Nation stores food
to distribute to members in need. However, we do not have
enough cooling capacity to store perishable foods, and we have
only two food distribution trucks to cover 2.8 million acres.
In addition to high heat and drought, the Nation also is
experiencing much more extreme weather than ever before, such
as intense rain, severe thunderstorms, microbursts, and strong
winds. Fifteen of our communities have been impacted by 50-year
floods. There are four communities within the Nation where
flooding is most severe. The Nation is very concerned that if
we were to see a 100-year flood event, these communities would
be completely devastated.
We are experiencing more changes in the rain, and, while
the annual average precipitation is less, there are shorter,
more intense rain events throughout the year. For example, last
fall, Hurricane Rosa dumped an incredible amount of rain on the
reservation in a very short time. Residents of three villages
had to move to avoid the extreme flooding. One village got 8
inches of rain in 6 hours, and a nearby dam almost overflowed.
Following that intense flooding of our reservation last
year, in November 2018, President Trump issued a disaster
declaration for the Nation to assist with recovery efforts. We
received FEMA funds to assist with the repair of roads and
bridges and for hazard mitigation measures to prevent further
risk of life and property from flooding.
The Nation's climate adaptation plan includes the following
core strategies: use traditional building knowledge and
practices to make homes cooler; open available community
buildings as cooling centers during heat emergencies; plan for
flood mitigation; hire additional wildland firefighters; ensure
groundwater is treated for more households; and educate
community members about climate change.
The Nation will continue to take corrective steps to invest
in climate change response, but the costs of addressing climate
change are significant. Increased funding for Federal programs
and grants focused on climate change is needed. Increased FEMA
funding for flood mitigation and firefighter support is a must.
The Nation and other tribal communities cannot fight
climate change impacts alone. Congress must live up to its
trust obligations to help provide us with the resources to
ensure that we can protect our members, our lands, and our
natural resources.
The Nation sincerely appreciates the Subcommittee's
interest in this critically important issue and the opportunity
to share our concerns about the impacts climate change has had
and will continue to have on the Tohono O'odham Nation.
Climate change threatens to drastically and negatively
impact the O'odham way of life. We are working to save it. We
ask Congress to work together with tribal nations to address
climate change impacts to communities throughout Indian
Country.
Thank you for this opportunity to testify. I welcome any
questions you may have.
And, last, I think if we address $30 billion to climate
change, we might make a difference.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Jose follows:]
Prepared Statement of the Honorable Verlon Jose, Vice-Chairman, The
Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona
introduction & background
Good afternoon, Chairman Gallego, Ranking Member Cook, and
distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. My name is Verlon Jose and I
am the Vice-Chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation, a federally
recognized tribe with more than 34,000 members. The Tohono O'odham
Reservation consists of more than 2.8 million acres in southern Arizona
(one of the largest Indian reservations in the United States), and
shares a 62-mile border with Mexico.
Since the beginning of O'odham history, we have learned to live in
the desert, and have adapted to high summer heat and scarce water. But
as climate change has begun to disrupt both our traditional and modern
ways of living, we have had to figure out ways to cope with these
changes. The Nation has 41 monitoring stations on the reservation to
measure precipitation and temperature. The Nation also took the
proactive step of developing a Climate Change Adaptation Plan, which
examines the impacts of climate change on the Nation and its members,
and potential short- and long-term solutions.
My testimony will summarize a number of those impacts and some
potential solutions. We appreciate the Subcommittee providing this
opportunity to address climate change, which is a significant issue for
the Nation, as well as other Native people.
i. heat and drought
As a result of climate change, it is getting hotter, and there is
more drought across the Nation's lands than we have experienced in the
past. Arizona is currently in a 20-year drought, and drought conditions
persist across the Southwest. Climate change has resulted in increased
average annual temperatures on the Nation's reservation, as reported in
the congressionally-mandated Fourth National Climate Assessment
completed in November 2018, and confirmed by monitoring done by the
Nation. The increased temperatures and drought reduce the forage
available for livestock and the sources of food for wildlife. The heat
and drought reduce the recharge of our groundwater aquifers, and there
is less surface water available for livestock and wildlife.
Additionally, climate change affects the availability of traditional
foods that our members rely upon.
As a result of the dry soils, higher surface temperatures, and less
vegetation, there also is an increased threat of wildfires--and the
wildfires are larger and start earlier in the season. The heat, drought
and fires put people, animals and food sources at risk--and impose
greater costs on the Nation to ensure the well-being and safety of our
people. For example, many of the Nation's members used to open the
windows at night to keep their homes cool. But with the hot
temperatures extending long into the night our members now need to keep
air conditioning units on throughout the day and night in order to keep
the temperature in their homes at safe levels. This results in
increased electricity costs for individual members. The Nation also
incurs additional costs as we work to ensure the safety of our members
who may not be able to afford air conditioning units. Traditionally, to
cope with intense daytime heat the O'odham people constructed wattos--
open-air shade structures with dirt floors, which we would wet
throughout the day. As part of our Climate Change Adaptation Plan, the
Nation is currently exploring a return to some of our traditional
building practices in order to reduce the cost of air conditioning
during the hottest months.
In addition, the day-to-day impacts of increased heat and drought
on our members' ability to gather and use traditional foods is
staggering. The Nation has been increasingly creating and implementing
programs to encourage O'odham people to return to a traditional diet in
order to improve health. However, returning to a completely traditional
diet is next to impossible because of the damage done to our
traditional food sources as a result of climate change. Although we
have not yet experienced the complete loss of traditional foods, the
availability of these foods has been drastically impacted by
significant changes in the average temperature that alters the
phenology, or the seasonal life cycle, of traditional plants. Our
members go out to gather traditional foods and find that many are
blooming out of season or not blooming at all as a result of climate
change.
Additionally, as rising heat and drought continue, the Nation will
likely face increased challenges with respect to our ability to store
food for members needing food assistance. Currently the Nation stores
food to distribute to members in need. However, we do not have enough
cooling capacity to store perishable foods and we have only two food
distribution trucks to cover all 2.8 million acres. Rising heat and
drought will only compound the challenges that we face in storing
adequate food for distribution to our members.
ii. extreme weather and flooding
In addition to higher heat and drought, the Nation also is
experiencing much more extreme weather than ever before, such as
intense rain and severe thunderstorms, microbursts and strong winds
(called jecos). Fifteen of our communities have been impacted by 50-
year floods. In many cases, when these areas flood throughout the year,
the flood waters come straight up to the doorways of our members'
homes. There are four communities within the Nation where flooding is
most severe, including Santa Rosa Valley, Menager's Dam, Chui Chu
Village, and Vamori Village. The Nation remains very concerned that if
we were to see a 100-year flood event these communities would be
completely devastated.
We are currently experiencing much more variability in rain, and
while the annual average precipitation is lower and the rainstorms are
fewer, there are shorter, more intense rain events throughout the year.
For example, last year Hurricane Rosa dumped an incredible amount of
rain on the reservation in a very short time. Residents of three
villages had to move to avoid the extreme flooding. In one location a
berm broke as a result all of the rain, and about 3 feet of water swept
through the village. Another community got 8 inches of rain in 6 hours.
That community is located near a dam, which came very close to
overflowing--luckily it did not, but if it had it would have destroyed
the village.
The intense rain events and increased flooding also wash out roads
and strand communities: residents, school buses, and emergency vehicles
are cut off from the homes by the flood waters. These extreme weather
events put people, homes and other infrastructure at risk. Following
the intense flooding of our reservation last year, in November 2018
President Trump issued a disaster declaration for the Nation to assist
the Nation with recovery efforts. Funds from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) were transferred to the Nation to assist with
the repair of public facilities such as roads and bridges as well as
hazard mitigation measures to prevent long-term risk to life and
property due to the flooding.
iii. potential solutions
As I noted in my opening remarks, the Nation has created a Climate
Change Adaptation Plan to begin to focus on how we can mitigate the
impacts of climate change. The plan includes the following core
adaptation strategies: (1) use traditional building knowledge and
practices to make homes cooler; (2) open available community buildings
as cooling centers during heat emergencies; (3) plan for flood
mitigation; (4) hire additional wildland firefighters; (5) ensure
groundwater is treated for more households; and (6) educate community
members about climate change.
To respond to extreme storms and flooding, we need to continue to
do floodplain mapping and create inundation maps for all dams and
levees. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has analyzed several areas
prone to flooding on the Nation and has offered potential solutions,
including a reconnaissance report to reduce flooding in the Santa Rosa
Valley and a feasibility study for potential flooding in and around
Chui Chu village. The Nation is working on implementing these steps.
The Nation is also identifying areas for drilling and aquifer testing
to accurately quantify groundwater resources on our reservation.
Additionally, the Nation is facilitating the development of an
environmental trust fund to assist with covering the costs of
mitigating climate change impacts.
With respect to addressing impacts from heat and drought, we have
created a Nation-wide agricultural plan to attempt to ensure the
survival of traditional foods and provide these foods to our members.
Measures include seed-banking of traditional plants, expanding food-
crop acreage, finding better ways to get water to crops, and enhancing
the Nation's food-distribution infrastructure. The Nation has
undertaken the long-term inventory and monitoring of wild food plants.
We also have implemented a Nation-wide program to check on elderly and
ill members of our communities during the increasing number of extreme
heat events. Additionally, the Nation is developing a volunteer
firefighter program to increase the number of firefighters available to
fight fires caused by extreme drought and heat.
Although the Nation will continue to take proactive steps to invest
in climate change response, the costs of addressing climate change are
significant. Increased funding for Federal programs and grants focused
on climate change solutions and response is needed, including, for
example, increasing FEMA grant funding for flood mitigation, hazard
mitigation, mitigation planning, fire prevention and firefighter
staffing, support and training, and providing funding for BIA climate
resilience programs to support tribal adaption planning and training.
The Nation and other tribal communities cannot fight climate change
impacts alone. Congress must live up to its trust obligations to assist
in providing tribal governments with the resources to ensure that we
can protect our members, our lands, our natural resources and our
tribal economies from the impacts of climate change.
conclusion
The Nation sincerely appreciates the Subcommittee's interest in
this critically important issue, and the opportunity to share our
concerns about the impacts climate change has had and will continue to
have on the Tohono O'odham Nation. Climate change threatens to
drastically and negatively impact the O'odham way of life and we are
working to save it. We ask that Congress work together with tribal
nations to address climate change impacts to communities throughout
Indian Country. Thank you for this opportunity to testify, and I
welcome any questions you may have.
______
Mr. Gallego. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman.
The Chair will now recognize Members for questions. Under
Committee Rule 3(d), each Member will be recognized for 5
minutes.
I will start by recognizing our overall Committee Chair,
Chairman Raul Grijalva, for the first questions.
Mr. Grijalva. Thank you very much to all the witnesses.
And, indeed, Mr. Chairman, thank you for the hearing, and
the members of this Subcommittee. It is historic, having a
discussion about something that is with us already in many
parts of Indian Country and certainly looming as an issue that
has to be dealt with. So, I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman and
the Members, for having this hearing, and the Ranking Member.
Let me ask Vice President Johnston and Vice Chairman Jose a
question that was alluded to in both your comments. The trust
responsibility, the consultation, the responsibilities that the
Federal Government has to tribes--and this is for both of you--
how is that relationship with respect to this particular issue
working? Or what does it need to work better?
If you don't mind, we will start with you, Mr. Vice
President.
Mr. Johnston. Thank you for that question.
When my ancestors signed the Quinault River Treaty of 1855
and later the Treaty of Olympia of 1856, they did that with the
thought that our resources and our access to them would be in
perpetuity forever to take care of their families, the coming
generations. That was their wisdom when they sat in those
councils to create those terms.
And now, because of the issues that we face because of
climate change and the crisis that our communities are
suffering, a lot of those treaty rights are at risk.
I think with a lot of Federal agencies that we work with
there is inconsistency about that trust relationship. Some of
them, I think, work or are touched by that issue more often.
Working with the Bureau or even working with organizations such
as NOAA, they are educated, to a degree, on what the trust
relationship looks like.
I think what would help improve that is if there was
consistency across the board, if all of the agencies somehow
had that mandated as something that legally they need to
understand what that relationship should comprise.
I think that the trust relationship could always be better.
You know, it is a two-way street. It is something that is
living and is forming even today in the discussions that we are
having in this room.
But I think from where I am sitting, from the emergency
perspective, dealing with this issue, it is the consistency and
the lack of understanding one agency has over the other.
Mr. Grijalva. Thank you very much.
Mr. Jose?
Mr. Jose. Thank you for the question.
Trust responsibility. I have been looking for that
definition for a long time. I think it is a matter of
interpretation, as the Tohono O'odham Nation and, I believe,
many other nations--we are not looking for handouts, we are
looking about positive collaboration and working together.
As indicated in my testimony, we have taken some proactive
measures to address climate change. What tribal nations need
when it comes to trust responsibility is a true seat at the
table. I have often asked that question when measures are taken
here in Congress: Who have you consulted? And the response is
usually, ``Oh, we have our experts who have studied this and so
forth.''
One of the things that I always say is that, well, your
experts have never consulted with our experts. Those are the
ones that are living there that face these issues.
This is man-made, this is caused climate change. We really
need to take a proactive measure at that and assist, as I
indicated in my testimony, about addressing the issues, even to
include wildland fires. We are more reactive than proactive.
So, trust responsibility needs to be improved, have the
Nation have a seat at the table, have the boots on the ground,
consult with the people in the area that is affected or of
concern.
Thank you for the question.
Mr. Grijalva. Thank you.
Ms. Jordan, the cultural impacts of climate change on
Alaska Native communities, part of the question.
The second part is, is climate change in Alaska a myth or
is it part of reality there?
So, both those questions, if you don't mind.
Ms. Jordan. Thank you, Congressman Grijalva.
Traditionally, Alaska Native people were nomadic. We were
nomadic tribal people. And due to government policies with
boarding schools in particular in Alaska, we had to make our
communities permanent so that we could send our children to
school. Now we cannot just get up and move like we did in the
past when we were nomadic.
Climate change is affecting our subsistence hunts. Many
Alaska Natives rely on subsistence foods instead of processed
foods, such as seal, fish, whales, et cetera. When the ice is
melting, we see that there is a decline in some of these
populations, which affects what we eat.
With respect to your second question, yes, we are
definitely seeing climate change in Alaska. It does exist. We
see it every day in our coastal communities.
My aunt's house in Unalakleet was flooded just a couple
years ago because the sea level is rising. It is flooding
houses and destroying houses. And my aunt's house isn't even on
the shore of Unalakleet.
So, it is changes in the sea. We absolutely see it.
Mr. Grijalva. Thank you. And thank you for your indulgence,
Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it and yield back.
Mr. Gallego. Thank you, Chairman.
I would like now to yield to Member Don Young of Alaska for
questions.
Mr. Young. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I only have two
questions.
Jennine, what is the responsibility--and I think it was
alluded to, the trust relief--but what is the responsibility of
the Federal Government in helping the communities in Alaska, I
think there are six now, that have to be relocated? What will
be our responsibility?
Ms. Jordan. Well, we would say that it is a Federal trust
responsibility with our Alaska Native communities.
These six communities that are considered dire are going to
need funding. And, as Mr. Johnston mentioned, there is a lack
of coordination between Federal agencies on funding and who is
going to spearhead funding initiatives.
Housing is an issue in Alaska, to move our communities. And
Alaska Native communities can't receive Federal funding with
respect to the Stafford Act. It is based on singular events
like earthquakes and hurricanes, not slow-moving disasters
caused by climate change. This does not fit into the Stafford
Act. Therefore, Alaska Native communities don't qualify for
Federal disaster funds.
So, I would recommend a Federal agency right now that can
address climate change refugees in Alaska. Mertarvik does not
qualify for many state and Federal agency funds because of
housing. And entities that provide housing grants and energy
initiatives won't provide those until sanitation facilities are
built. So, having a coordinated effort so that there is not the
chicken before the egg.
We have the Denali Commission, which helped substantially
in the past with infrastructure in Alaska. And that,
unfortunately, has not been funded, although it did get funded,
I believe, $15 million a few years ago, which was used for
Newtok. But the Denali Commission really did spearhead the
effort to put infrastructure and help our rural communities,
and, unfortunately, there is no funding for it right now.
Mr. Grijalva. Good point.
Mr. Young. Thank you, Jennine. Mr. Chairman, I would say
one thing. We ought to, if anything we do, consider a funding
program to make sure that we do address this issue, because,
very frankly, it is not the Alaska Natives' responsibility or
their blame.
And I don't know how many have been up there. The erosion
is bad. And we might do a little better if we took a lot of
this money that we have for meetings and discussions and
everything else and put it into really solving the problem and
adapting to it. I mean, we might want to think about that too.
With that, I yield back to the gentleman. Thank you.
Mr. Gallego. Thank you, Representative Young. Duly noted.
Now I would like to recognize Congresswoman Deb Haaland
from the great state of New Mexico.
Ms. Haaland. Thank you, Chairman, for yielding and for
convening this important hearing.
Thank you, Vice Chairman Jose, Vice President Johnston, Ms.
Jordan, Dr. Buzzard, for taking the time to be here today to
help Congress understand how climate change is affecting tribal
communities.
As I said yesterday in my response to the State of Indian
Nations address, I am committed to protecting our sacred lands,
addressing climate change, and moving renewable energy forward
so we can pass our natural treasures down to our children.
I believe it is essential that we focus on environmental
justice as we make this transition to reduce our carbon
footprint, because all too often, the communities that are most
impacted by our changing climate are the communities that are
least responsible for causing the problem and the least well-
equipped to adapt to the changes.
I have a question for you, Vice Chairman Jose. The Tohono
O'odham Nation is having an especially difficult time securing
the Federal funding it needs to respond to the devastation of
Hurricane Rosa. This systematic breakdown follows a pattern set
by Hurricanes Katrina, Maria, and so many others in which
under-represented groups bear the brunt of natural disasters.
Can you speak to the financial burden climate change has
put on your community or tribal communities in general?
Mr. Jose. Thank you, Congresswoman Haaland.
I am not sure if we can actually put a financial amount on
the burden that it has on our people when it comes to climate
change. It is changing a way of life. It is changing our
traditional practices. Our traditional foods are off course,
and causes a lot of challenges to us due to our health, due to
our medicinal purpose and so forth.
With Tropical Storm Rosa, the Nation spent over $4 million
just addressing that. And even though there was a Presidential
Declaration, we all know that that doesn't cover the entire
amount that we spent that we could have used for health,
education, housing, infrastructure, and so forth.
So, when it comes to funding, I can't even begin to put an
amount. And how do you put a price on changing someone's way of
life? It is an enormous cost and burden to not only the Tohono
O'odham Nation but tribal communities and the country in
general, the world in general.
So, I think we really need to be proactive and address
those things proactively rather than reactively. And, as I
said, if there is an intent to spent $30 billion on something,
why don't we put it to something that is proactive in
addressing the challenges of climate change?
Thank you.
Ms. Haaland. Thank you very much, Vice Chairman.
I yield back my time, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Gallego. Thank you.
I now recognize Ranking Member Cook.
Mr. Cook. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I am sorry Congressman Young had to leave, because he has a
lot of experience, obviously, with the tribes and the weather
and everything else. He told me one time that he only will
shave when it rains for 3 days in a row. Whether that is
climate change or not, I don't know.
But I am concerned about this partly because I have a
number of tribes in my area, in Southern California. And, of
course, our big disasters that we are worried about are fires.
You have heard the news. And everybody has problems--we don't
have a flooding problem, because I am out in the desert, but
flooding from the oceans, we do have flooding. Right now, we
have had a lot of rain, this and that.
I am unlike, perhaps, some of my colleagues. I don't
understand the whole thing. I am always looking for data on how
it applies.
But I have to be honest with you. As a former mayor, I am
going to be--I have a deficiency in my community that perhaps
puts some of my citizens or tribal members in danger or affects
their economy. I am going to be trying to get money or funds
for that. That is the only way we are going to solve that
problem.
And, of course, this is where you have flood-control
projects. This is where you have the thinning of perhaps some
of the forests so we don't have the fuel.
Part of the reason my statement had that thing in there, I
am always going to go back. I am committed to changing what has
happened in the past. The tribes have so much poverty and
everything else, and now they are being hurt even more.
So, that being used as an incentive--I will call on, I
don't know, any of you. But I will ask Ms. Jordan whether, if
we created certain funds for whether it is called climate
control or what have you, but certain economic factors where we
could have a superfund, where we could at least--we know that a
dam has to--or that is a bad word, but some kind of thing where
you control certain rivers that don't wipe out settlements or
villages or anything else. And I always was looking for a
certain fund, because I hate to use the term a ``rainy-day
scenario,'' but I think even more so than other peoples,
because of past history, something like that that could be used
for these emergencies, however they are caused.
Can you comment on such a radical solution, perhaps, Ms.
Jordan?
Ms. Jordan. Thank you, Ranking Member. I appreciate the
question. And I absolutely think that there should be a fund or
an agency that can address and take on climate change directly.
Unfortunately, with the example of Newtok moving to
Mertarvik, many of the funds--the estimates were $130 million
with the Army Corps of Engineers. And I have done some math,
and about $46 million has been spent just to start the project
of moving over to Mertarvik. But that is just a drop in the
bucket.
They try to get funds from the Denali Commission. You heard
in my testimony that they were trying to get funds from a
church for sanitation purposes. They tried to apply for funds
through the Stafford Act. They were actually denied FEMA funds.
So, I absolutely agree.
Mr. Cook. And do you think the Federal Government has been
slow in declaring this a national emergency or crosses that
threshold so we could get money for these projects?
In other words, if I am hearing this right, you want to see
if this Committee can use its power to expedite some of these
occurrences, to get the money and funds, because somebody
referred to the red tape and the bureaucracy. I am not trying
to put words in your mouth, but I am just trying to gauge----
Ms. Jordan. Absolutely. Correct. Yes.
Mr. Cook. OK.
I see the gentleman wants to answer, so if the Chair will--
--
Mr. Gallego. I yield more time, 2 more minutes.
Mr. Johnston. Thank you for the opportunity to respond.
Thank you for the question, Mr. Cook.
Earlier, when you gave your opening statement, I believe
you said one-size-doesn't-fit-all. And I think when you think
of our tribes in the United States that have a special
relationship with the United States, one-size-doesn't-fit-all.
And if we had an opportunity to access a program like you
mentioned that promotes self-determination and self-governance,
that allows us to really design what that would look like in
our community, that would be most helpful, because we know our
communities best.
Mr. Cook. Thank you.
And I just want to comment, I am on your side on this. God,
I hope I am not on TV, but I kind of hate the Federal
Government, OK? And I worked for it for 26 years. I guess I am
working for it again.
But I think everybody on the panel just wants to cut
through the red tape when we have something like--and I am
looking for solutions, funds, or what have you. Because I look
at that poverty line, which has been contributed to--well,
because of past history, and I want to correct it.
I know we are asking you questions, but you people are a
lot smarter than I am. And anytime you have a solution on
this--I mean, it is going to be huge. But if we can cut through
that crap that is, ``Well, you have to submit this document and
5,000 pages of this before we correct this, this, and this''--
and I think a lot of us here, even though we are different
parties, we are looking at ways to help the people that we
represent. And I will be honest with you, you are the experts.
I yield back because I am out of time.
Mr. Gallego. Thank you, Mr. Cook.
I now recognize Mr. Case from Hawaii.
Mr. Case. Thank you, Chair and witnesses.
As this is the first meeting of this Committee, my
Subcommittee members, I bid you ``aloha'' from the Native
Hawaiians, the indigenous peoples of Hawaii, the indigenous
peoples just as are you and as are the Native Americans and the
Alaska Natives and the residents and indigenous peoples of my
colleague to my right.
The Native Hawaiians, as with all indigenous peoples, were
highly sensitive to the changes in our environment, in our
weather, to the seasons. They could detect short-term, long-
term changes and make adjustments. The Native Hawaiians in
Hawaii had a highly sustainable culture of hundreds of
thousands without any imports from the outside world, since
they knew nothing of the outside world, other than for the
ancestral lands to the south. And they survived and prospered
for generations and generations by careful land and resource
management.
They had a system of land management in which the land
divisions stretched from the top of the mountains out into the
fisheries in kind of pie-shaped structures all the way around
the islands. And, in that way, each of those divisions was able
to manage, from the uplands through the harvest lands and out
into the ocean.
And I can tell you in no uncertain terms--and you know this
for yourselves--that, had we been back in the situation of
climate change 300 years ago, with the kind of rapid change in
our climate and with our atmospheric changes and with the ocean
changes, the Native Hawaiians would have detected changes in
the ocean temperature, they would have detected changes in the
fisheries, in the corals, they would have detected a different
growing season, they would have detected changes in the upland
forests and the birds, and a sustainable take from all of that.
They knew these things, as you did, and they would have--
although maybe they wouldn't have understood the science as we
understand it--they would have made adjustments.
And I ask you this question in that spirit. And I am going
to just focus with you, Vice President Johnston, because you
are talking about the ocean resources. In Hawaii, we
particularly worry about--we have changes in our ocean
temperature; we have changes in our coastlines; we have erosion
on our coastlines; we have changes in our forests, causing our
native birds to adjust their habitat, adjust their habits; and
we definitely have changes in our fisheries. And we are trying
to find the ways to manage our fisheries, not only through
over-exploitation but through the impacts of climate change on
temperature, on the feeding relationships from predators on
down.
So, I ask you this, Mr. Johnston. You spoke a little bit
about this, but in the management of your ocean resources,
what, if anything, have you noticed in the last decades that
you now may attribute to climate change in terms of the changes
in your fisheries? Do you have control over your fisheries? And
what are you doing about it from a management perspective?
Mr. Johnston. Thank you so much for that wonderful
question.
The Quinault Indian Nation has adjudicated treaty rights 30
miles out on the west side of the border into the ocean. And we
have noticed, even in this last decade, just a high increase of
temperature.
And this increase of temperature has allowed an influx of
different things that we have been seeing--invasive species,
deepwater fish being in our area that we haven't seen before.
We have seen domoic acids rise in our shell beds for our clams,
for our different shellfish that we access.
We have seen these changes happen at that macro level. And
even working with our partner agencies and the Federal
Government, we have been able to see conditions that are just
not conducive to our fish going out into the ocean and coming
back and spawning. It has been some of the worst ocean
conditions that we have ever witnessed.
We have had to declare two fisheries disasters within the
last two decades. One was more recent, in 2015. We actually
just are mulling over the thought of calling in for another
fisheries disaster for our prized blueback salmon that go into
our Quinault River, a subspecies of sockeye.
Mr. Case. Under your treaty rights, do you have the power
to manage your fisheries in that way? Do you have full
discretion over how you manage?
Mr. Johnston. We have full discretion in a co-management
relationship with the state of Washington. And that is
something that we perfected since the U.S. v. Washington Boldt
decision.
But this has just become a new way of living, with these
new conditions. We are looking out for the best science but
also calling on our partners that work with us at the state and
Federal level to honor the indigenous history, knowledge, and
science that we possess in parity with theirs.
Mr. Case. Thank you very much.
Mr. Gallego. Since we have nothing coming from my right-
hand side, we will move to Representative Soto for his
questioning.
Mr. Soto. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you all for coming today.
One of the primary functions of this Committee is, I have
always believed, to make sure to provide justice for so many
indigenous peoples throughout the United States and really to
right the wrongs as best we can that have happened throughout
American history.
And when it comes to climate change, one of my biggest
concerns relates to our history, that so much of the fertile
land was stolen over the course of centuries. And many of our
Native American tribes are on lands in areas that are more
vulnerable to climate change as a result of that tragic and
unfortunate history that we have to come to grips with today,
and not just today but in the past and now in the future.
Whether it is desert or tundra or islands or mountainous
regions or low-lying regions, so much of the areas that we are
talking about are more affected, more vulnerable to climate
change than other lands throughout the United States.
I do have some hope in the fact that we will have a
trillion-dollar infrastructure package that hopefully we will
pass out of this Congress with bipartisan support.
I guess my biggest question to each of you would be: If we
were to include one specific project, major project, in this
package to help you all combat climate change for your
community, what would that project be?
And we will start from left to right, starting first with
Vice President Johnston.
Mr. Johnston. I think the one thing we would ask for is the
continued support in funding of our relocation efforts. We have
put thousands of man-hours, dollars, Federal grants, to develop
what a master plan would look like to revision our communities,
so the ability to implement that effectively, on the ground,
driven by our community and our Nation's need, would be the ask
that I would make.
Mr. Soto. Thank you.
Ms. Jordan?
Ms. Jordan. Thank you.
I would echo that funding is absolutely something that we
need for our communities.
As I mentioned in my testimony, there are many Alaska
Native villages that are seeing the real effects of climate
change right now. It is just right out their door, literally,
the ocean.
So, having a coordinated funding approach with a process in
place that acknowledges that there are so many communities in
need would be what I would ask for.
Mr. Soto. And then, Dr. Buzzard, overall, what would you
recommend----
Dr. Buzzard. I strongly support what the previous speakers
have said.
I think the challenge is making access to those funds easy.
Because, as I said before, many of the tribal communities don't
know how to access Federal funds or don't really want to get
into the whole proposal-writing business. So, I think having an
intermediary organization that can parcel out those funds, be
sure that they are used correctly, and provide assistance where
they need it, I think that is a fabulous idea.
Mr. Soto. And the current departments in place to do that
aren't able to accomplish that function?
Dr. Buzzard. I think we have already heard there is so much
overlap and contradiction in Federal agency rules and
regulations. All of that needs to be simplified and made much
more accessible to small communities.
Mr. Soto. Thank you.
And Vice Chairman Jose?
Mr. Jose. Congressman, thank you for the question.
I believe and echo the sentiments of the other witnesses
here, and also echo and thank Ranking Member Cook about
developing a superfund of some sort to cut the red tape out, as
was stated earlier. I believe not only tribal communities, but
communities and cities across America, want to address this.
But the lack of resources, the lack of funding to do some of
these things is a two-way street. It is not for the government
to solve all--but it is for the people to step up and address
that, but there needs to be a better system to do it.
There needs to be a better system so the individuals, the
communities can address those funds and use them. Because, too
often, people put resources available, but they don't know how
to fix the problem because they are not actually there. And
that is why I mentioned a seat at the table, to really have
true consultation on how to address those things. Funding needs
to be available to take proactive measures to address climate
change.
Thank you for the question.
Mr. Soto. Thank you all for your input.
Mr. Gallego. Thanks to all the witnesses.
And, Dr. Buzzard, I have a question. You stated in your
testimony that community relocation is a multi-sectoral
problem. Please expand on that and what it means to relocated
communities.
Dr. Buzzard. Yes, relocation is a multi-sectoral thing.
You have the economic issues of new jobs or retraining for
jobs. You have political issues of sovereignty. If you are
moving into an existing city, are you going to be a little
reservation or what? Or, of course, when you get into things
like the Pacific Islanders that are trying to buy land in
Australia, what kind of sovereignty are they going to have? Are
they going to be reservations? There are a lot of issues about
sovereignty and political issues as these relocate.
There are psychological problems, because relocation is
hardest particularly for the older people who are used to
traditions and customs, and all of a sudden they aren't able to
do those. And they are exposed to a lot of cultural change,
shock.
There are health issues. The people who are most affected
by relocation are usually the women, disabled people, and
elderly.
So, one of the reasons we partner with the university is
that we can get technical assistance or we can get research to
bring to bear on how to minimize these things from all
directions.
But it is not just a simple thing of packing up and moving.
There are a lot of other external issues.
Not to mention the relationships with the destination
community. Because if you start bringing in people, foreigners,
and plunking them down in an existing town, you can create all
kinds of problems. We have been doing some research with the
Marshall Islanders in Springdale and trying to look at how that
has affected the situation in Springdale.
But, yes, it is complicated, and it is not a simple thing.
Mr. Gallego. Thank you, Doctor.
A question for Vice Chairman Jose.
After the most recent flooding on the Reservation, a
disaster declaration was issued by the Administration and FEMA
funds were made available to the Nation. And I think you kind
of hit on this before.
Were these a sufficient amount of funds in terms of being
able to rebuild the roads and land previous to the state before
the flooding? Were there enough funds actually to take care of
the problems, essentially?
Mr. Jose. Chairman Gallego, Ranking Member Cook,
distinguished members of the Committee, there are never enough
funds.
There was never enough funds in the beginning. And that is
why some of these disasters are very severe, because of lack of
maintenance on waterways and roads that were already in
deplorable conditions. And when you have the amount of water
and rain that hit the Tohono O'odham Nation in such a short
time, the roads were easily destroyed.
The berms, the levees that were there to divert water were
totally destroyed because of lack of maintenance. And with 2.8
million acres of land, it was challenging for us to address
those things because of lack of resources, equipment, manpower,
and so forth.
So, to answer your question, we didn't get--and you know
that in any declaration, you don't get 100 percent of what you
spend there. So, no, there wasn't enough.
And I think that, in order to address that again
proactively--had we been addressing it all along, I think we
could have mitigated some of the devastation that happened when
you have 3, 4 feet of water and mud coming into your homes.
Mr. Gallego. Excellent.
Do we have any other questions for our panel?
Mr. Case, sure.
Mr. Case. Thank you.
Let me ask a question that is going through my mind that
may well be a difficult question.
We are talking here about climate change, which is an
international issue. It really calls for international action,
national action, local action, action right across the board.
It is impacting everybody.
And we had testimony in another subcommittee of this
Committee this morning from the Appalachian coal community. And
the question in that testimony was how do we best transition in
a situation where we have to move from fossil fuel use over to
renewable energy, and there are going to be dislocated
communities along the way.
And it was a very good discussion, but the relationship
between the Federal Government and the communities of
Appalachia is different from the relationship between the
Federal Government and the Native Americans and Alaska Natives.
And the Ranking Member, in his testimony, made the comment
that--I think it was somewhere along the lines of--we should
not require tribes who are undertaking certain practices, for
example, oil and gas and coal extraction--I think those were
what he cited--just to solve this problem. I know that is not
exactly the way he put it, but that was the gist of it to me.
And the question I have, really, is: If we have to move
together to actually move away from fossil fuel extraction, how
do we do that with the indigenous peoples and the relationship
that we have when we all have to move at the same time?
For example, what if we tell Appalachia, ``Sorry, we can't
do coal anymore''? How do we then say to the tribe that is
doing extraction of fossil fuels, ``You have to join the
party''? I mean, how do we have that discussion in the
different relationship the Federal Government has with you?
Maybe Vice Chair Jose can take a crack at that. I don't
know if I got the question right. But how do we all get on the
same wagon here?
Mr. Jose. Thank you for the question, Congressman.
I believe in order to get on the wagon all together, it is
about proactive measures in educating.
When we talk about fossil fuels, we need to think about
transportation systems that can work. When we have 2.8 million
acres of land--well, back in the day, we used to ride horses,
we used to run from place to place. And, right now, look at the
amount of cars that are out here, just here in the area. Maybe
we need to develop systems that will allow us to move without
using fossil fuels. We need to look at solar, using solar and
providing funding for some of those things.
It is all about education and proactive measures. Because
climate change doesn't discriminate. It is going to affect all
of us, and maybe the impoverished people more than anyone
because of lack of resources. So, it is really about education.
I believe that American cities and towns and Native
communities are ready to do that, but the challenges are the
resources. I believe we can get all on the same page, all on
the same bandwagon if we educate and provide resources to do
so.
Mr. Case. Thank you.
Anybody else have a reaction to my question?
It really has more to do with the jurisdictional question.
It has to do with the Federal Government's power and how the
power is exercised in this particular case, where you are
trying to get uniformity across the country in terms of a
transition from one type of energy to another.
Ms. Jordan. Thank you, Congressman.
I did want to comment that I believe that climate change is
an international issue. I used to serve on the Arctic Economic
Council, which was under the Arctic Council. And the Arctic
Council really looks at climate change as well as diplomacy
with other Arctic nations.
Our biggest problem in the Calista region--we represent 56
villages--is unemployment. We have about a 26 percent
unemployment rate. It is the highest in the Nation, I believe.
I work with folks that are some of the most impoverished people
in the Nation.
So, we need economic development to really stimulate the
area, because there is no infrastructure, there are no roads;
it is tundra. People use diesel fuel to heat their homes and
stoves.
I actually manage a grant called the Chumai grant under the
Department of Energy, and we provide energy audits to those
households and are measuring how high and how costly it is to
have energy out in rural Alaska. And it is because there is no
infrastructure. There is none. And there are no jobs.
So, for us, economic development is very, very important.
And we do use fossil fuels, because that is what is available.
Thank you.
Mr. Case. Thank you very much.
Mr. Gallego. Again, thank you to our panelists.
Thank you to all the Members that have attended. We will be
moving to a closing statement.
I hope we have all gained some valuable insights into the
real-world effects of climate change on indigenous peoples and
their communities and what they are doing to combat and adapt
to those impacts.
However, tribes are wrongly shouldering too much of the
burden on this front. The Federal Government must live up to
its trust responsibility and provide the resources the tribes
deserve to address climate change impacts.
In the meantime, as we have heard, tribes are often left
scrambling to patch together funds from various state and
Federal grants and to dig deep into their own pockets.
I know there are proposals already offered by my colleagues
that would start to address these issues, and I hope that we
can work together to advance real legislative solutions to what
we have heard today.
In closing, let me again thank the witnesses for their
valuable testimony and time, and the Members for their
questions.
The members of the Committee may have some additional
questions for the witnesses, and we will ask you to respond to
those in writing.
Under Committee Rule 3(o), members of the Committee must
submit witness questions within 3 business days following the
hearing, and the hearing record will be held open for 10
business days for these purposes and for the responses.
If there no further business, without objection, the
Subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:19 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
[ADDITIONAL MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD]
Written Testimony of J. Michael Chavarria, Governor of the Santa Clara
Pueblo
Introduction
Thank you Chairman Gallego, Ranking Member Cook, and members of the
Subcommittee for this opportunity to testify on the critically
important issue of climate change and its impact tribal communities
like the Pueblo of Santa Clara. My name is J. Michael Chavarria and I
am the Governor of the Pueblo of Santa Clara, located in north-central
New Mexico. I also serve as Chairman of the Eight Northern Pueblos
Council, Inc. and Vice-Chair of the All Pueblo Council of Governors
(APCG). In the last decade, Santa Clara has had five Presidential
Disaster Declarations: three by the request of the State of New Mexico
and two directly by the Pueblo after the Stafford Act was amended.
Overall, the ability to directly request Presidential Disaster
Declarations has given Santa Clara Pueblo greater control over our own
disaster relief efforts. My community has faced numerous natural
disasters whose impacts and severity have been heightened, in part, by
the increasing effects of climate change on our natural environment.
Climate Change Poses an Existential Threat to Our Pueblo Beliefs and
Identity
The Pueblo of Santa Clara is certified as a National Historic
Landmark under the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. Sec.
470 et seq.; NRHP ref. #74001199). As such, our Pueblo is recognized as
a finite, irreplaceable resource. The land and its natural resources
form the essence of who we are as Pueblo People across generations: our
origin stories are rooted in its geographic features, our contemporary
life finds sustenance in its flora and fauna, and our future
generations will shape their identity and dreams in the light of its
sun-drenched plateaus. This intimate relationship is replicated in
indigenous communities across the country. For all of us, climate
change poses a disconcerting and tangible threat to the continued
existence of our traditional practices and unique cultural identities.
My testimony focuses on the experience of the Santa Clara Pueblo and
its multi-generational effort to restore our forests and watershed
after the devastating Las Conchas wildfire.
Federal Trust Responsibility and Environmental Justice
The Federal Government has a solemn trust responsibility to protect
the interests and welfare of pueblos, tribal nations, and Native
communities--including from the harmful and increasingly dangerous
effects of climate change. Changes in vegetation cover, the adequacy of
water supplies, and the frequency and intensity of wildfires, among
other natural phenomena, impact the short- and long-term well-being of
our tribal members. In 1994, President Clinton issued Executive Order
12898, which directs all federal agencies to make achieving
environmental justice part of their missions. Accordingly, as agencies
work to fulfill the federal trust responsibility, they must take into
consideration the drivers and ongoing needs of environmental justice in
Native communities.
Background on the Las Conchas Wildfire
Historically, the Santa Clara Canyon and watershed have provided
timber, pasture, traditional, economic, and recreational resources for
our Pueblo. The Santa Clara Creek watershed occupies a vast majority of
our Reservation lands and is home to many of our Pueblo members. Our
infrastructure, governmental services, and economic activities are
concentrated in the downstream end of the Creek near its confluence
with the Rio Grande. Countless traditional cultural sites occupy this
landscape.
In the summer of 2011, the Santa Clara Pueblo was devastated by the
Las Conchas Fire, then the largest wildfire in New Mexico history.
Although mercifully no lives were lost and no homes at Santa Clara were
burned, we still saw our traditional and treasured homeland and
spiritual sanctuary, the Santa Clara Canyon, practically destroyed. It
is estimated that more than 16,000 acres of our forestlands were
burned. Together with the lands that we lost in the Oso Complex Fire of
1998 and the Cerro Grande Fire of 2000, over 80% of our forests and an
immeasurable part of our cultural heritage has been destroyed.
In addition, the fire burned thousands of acres of traditional
lands located outside of our reservation that contain cultural sites
and resources of great importance to us. This area encompasses our
lands of origin, the P'opii Khanu--the headwaters of our Santa Clara
Creek, as well as numerous cultural and traditional sites. In addition,
the loss of the forest is devastating to wildlife and wildlife habitat,
recreational resources, and to the purity of our water--which we use
for irrigation and many traditional purposes. (See Attachment 1 for
fire impact on Santa Clara watershed.) Throughout this tragedy, the
Santa Clara People have shown grit and determination to persevere on
the long road to recovery so that while this generation may never see
the canyon in its glory again, that will not be said of the next
generation.
Contribution of Climate Change to the Disaster
Climate change played a significant role in heightening the
severity of the Las Conchas fire, along with several factors that
contributed to its spread. At the time of the fire, it was reported
that drought conditions in the Southwest caused living trees in the
canyon to have a lower moisture content than the wood that you would
typically buy at a lumberyard. This is a result of drought conditions
in the Southwest that the scientific community continues to associate
with climate change. In addition, higher temperatures in general create
more conducive conditions for wildfires. While drought and wildfires
can be a natural part of life, the severity and frequency of these
phenomena are intensified by climate change.
According to EPA and National Research Council research,
an annual temperature increase of just 1.8+F could result
in four times the number of wildfires in New Mexico every
year.\1\
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\1\ ``The Age of Western Wildfires,'' Climate Central at 9 (Sept.
2012), available at https://www.climatecentral.org/wgts/wildfires/
Wildfires2012.pdf.
Higher temperatures affect the retention of water in
plants and soil, as well as in reservoirs and streams,
which creates a more conducive environment for the rapid
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
spread of wildfires.
Increasing temperatures also degrade the quality of
ecosystems making it difficult for native species to
flourish, thus, hindering recovery efforts and leaving the
area vulnerable to invasive species.
Climate change was not the only reason this fire was so
devastating. The forest had become unhealthy, with excessive
undergrowth and too great a tree density, making conditions ripe for an
intense fire that would kill the mature trees. As a part of managing
the impact of climate change, we must manage the conditions in our
forests.
Increased Risk of Flooding due to the Fire and Climate Change
All five of the Pueblo's Presidential Disaster Declarations have
involved infrastructure damage stemming from catastrophic flash floods.
Three of the Declarations were made by request of the State of New
Mexico and two were made by the Pueblo after the Stafford Act was
amended. Flooding has wiped out existing water control structures
within the canyon, destroyed once-pristine native cutthroat fish
habitat, impacted roads, taken away culverts, and damaged the
traditional cultural properties of our sanctuary.
Because the Santa Clara Canyon has been stripped of its vegetation,
the area has a heightened risk of flooding and landslides. Over 50% of
the Santa Clara Pueblo watershed burned during the Las Conchas fire.
Because of the high severity of the burn, there has been a dramatic
reduction in the infiltration rates in the burned area and the soil is
now what is hydrophobic. This has resulted in a four- to eightfold
increase in runoff and sediment/debris flow into the Santa Clara Creek,
posing a threat to the lives and safety of the people of Santa Clara
Pueblo and increasing the potential for widespread property damage. The
channel through Santa Clara Pueblo no longer has the conveyance
capacity necessary to safely pass large post-fire flows. Hundreds of
residential structures including several public structures are at risk
from flood and debris flows if no action is taken immediately. (See
Attachment 2 on the potential flood risk zone to Santa Clara for a 10-
year event.)
An average monsoon season storm one inch rain event over 8 hours on
August 21, 2011 led to intense flooding and the emergency evacuation of
Santa Clara and US Army Corps of Engineer personnel. This rain event
resulted in a Presidential Disaster Declaration. As the Department of
the Interior, Interagency Burned Area Emergency Response (``BAER'')
Team noted, the intense flames from the fire burned trees and
vegetation off the steep slopes of the canyon and heated the soils
causing severe damage to the natural resources of the area and placing
the downstream tribal members of the Santa Clara Pueblo at risk to
extreme flooding. The post-fire watershed effects were rife for massive
landslides and debris flows which occurred on August 21, 2011. The
event produced massive debris (including boulders) and severe mud flows
to the canyon bottom. The canyon reservoirs were overwhelmed by this
average rainfall event and filled with sediment. Flood protection
emergency measures put in place after the Las Conchas fire were inches
away from being compromised. It is important to note that this storm
was an isolated thunderstorm over a small portion of the Santa Clara
watershed (one drainage) and not over the entire watershed. Another
similar event occurred in July 2012, destroying much of the recovery
undertaken over the prior year. If the rain event of August 21, 2011
had occurred over the entire post-fire watershed, our Pueblo would have
been devastated.
Further, in November 2013, Santa Clara Pueblo became the first
tribal government to request and receive federal disaster recovery
assistance under the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF). The
Federal Emergency Management Agency used the NDRF to create a
comprehensive federally-led strategy for the Pueblo to identify all
possible actions that would build the community's resiliency to future
flooding. The NDRF provided the Pueblo with an opportunity to
effectively develop recovery strategies for our respective areas.
Heightened Human Health and Environment Impacts
The recent natural disasters have raised numerous interrelated
short and long-term concerns for Santa Clara and nearby tribal
communities, almost all of which are further complicated by climate
change. The environmental impacts of the disasters include water
quality deterioration from ash, debris, and sediment changes that
affect fisheries, wildlife, flora, and agriculture. The destabilized
ecosystem also poses a physical safety risk due to erosion and shifting
or falling trees and boulders. Runoff from the Santa Clara Creek also
flows into the Rio Grande, which affects downstream communities like
Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and our neighboring Pueblos who all rely upon
these waters for municipal water sourcing. Ash contamination and
sediment transport have impacted these resources, while limiting water
holding capacity in reservoir facilities. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers has noted that sediment deposition from the Los Conchas Fire
remains an existential threat to the holding capacity of Cochiti
reservoir.
In terms of human health, the effects range from physical impacts
from the smoke and compromised environmental quality to deep emotional
strain caused by the unprecedented loss of or damage to our cultural
and sacred sites. We are still processing how to recover from the loss
of these places and the diminishment of animal and plant species that
have been integral to Santa Clara cultural and spiritual practices for
generations. Further, our community has taken on increased financial
burdens in response to these disasters and changes in the environment
to reinforce infrastructure, implement fire suppression measures, and
support the work of our award winning Santa Clara Pueblo Forestry
Department, among other expenditures.
Working to Mitigate the Risks of Climate Change at the Pueblo Level
Santa Clara has a highly regarded Forestry Department, numbering
some 40 personnel. Santa Clara fire crews and equipment served on the
front lines of the Las Conchas fire. We have a dedicated commitment to
the maintenance and restoration of healthy forests on, around, and
adjacent to the Pueblo. We work diligently to effectively and
efficiently manage our natural resources for the safety of our
community and property. For example, our work on installing fuel breaks
on tribal lands was effective at stopping the spread of the Las Conchas
fire in those areas. In areas that lacked proper management techniques,
the land, trees, and wildlife were devastated. In the past decade, we
have faced four forest fires that have threatened our forests--the Oso,
Cerro Grande, South Fork and Las Conchas fires--and none of them
originated on Pueblo lands. Although fate and climate change play their
part, we have suffered horrible consequences largely due to the failure
of others to properly guard in some fashion against causing a fire.
Tribal-Federal Partnerships
For several years, the Pueblo has worked to establish a partnership
with the U.S. Forest Service under the Tribal Forest Protection Act to
address the long-term health of Forest Service lands around our
reservation. Further, the Pueblo is in negotiations with the U.S. Park
Service to assume responsibility for federal functions in managing the
Valles Caldera National Preserve, which is adjacent to our Pueblo in
the Jemez Mountains. Each of these efforts is founded on the desire to
strengthen tribal sovereignty and advance land management practices for
the protection of our resources and community. As part of managing the
impacts of climate change, the Pueblo is and must remain an active
leader in the management of our forestlands.
Forest Restoration and Recovery
The Pueblo is also engaged in the complex process of forest
regeneration and recovery in the canyon with a variety of federal and
state partners. As we work to develop forest resiliency to the future
effects of climate change, our efforts have taken into account research
on the effect of climate change on forest regeneration, including a
study of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem undertaken by the University
of California--Merced.\2\ The study predicts that the expected rising
temperatures caused by climate change could increase the frequency of
large wildfires in Yellowstone to an unprecedented level. The study
also predicts that the increased occurrence of wildfires will alter
ecosystems, resulting in ``fewer dense forests and more open woodland,
grass and shrub vegetation, with forests becoming younger, the mix of
tree species changing and some forests failing to regenerate after
repeated fires. This would affect the region's wildlife, hydrology,
carbon storage and aesthetics. These conditions are already present in
our forestlands and local ecosystem.
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\2\ Please see http://www.ucmerced.edu/news/study-climate-change-
increase-yellowstone-wildfires -dramatically.
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Other climate change related stressors are expected to further
complicate our forest and ecosystem regeneration efforts going forward.
These include an increased severity of droughts, the introduction and
proliferation of invasive species, soil degradation, and habitat
fragmentation. Alone, each of these issues could cause significant
damage to our fragile ecosystem and watershed. Together, they pose an
alarming threat to our future. Take the tamarisk, for example. The
tamarisk, or salt cedar, is an aggressive invasive species that can
uptake nearly 200 gallons of water per day.\3\ It displaces native
vegetation and destabilizes local habitats. This directly impacts avian
and other species that depend on native vegetation for breeding and
sustenance.\4\ As a result of climate change, the tamarisk is expected
to expand its geographic distribution throughout the southwest and
other regions. When compounded by the increasing scarcity of water and
increasing severity of weather events, tamarisk and other invasive
species have the capacity to severely hinder forest restoration efforts
in the Santa Clara Canyon and watershed.
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\3\ ``Saltcedar (Tamarix),'' National Riparian Service Team, Bureau
of Land Management (Dec. 12, 2007), available at https://www.blm.gov/
or/programs/nrst/files/tamarisk_paper.pdf.
\4\ ``Tamarix spp. In: Fire Effects Information System,'' U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (Feb. 21, 2019), available at
https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/tamspp/all.html.
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Conclusion
In New Mexico, and across the Southwest, we have experienced the
harmful effects of major wildfires, most recently the truly devastating
Camp Fire in California. The ecosystems and well-being of our
environment are being dramatically affected and sometimes permanently
altered with each new occurrence. At the Pueblo of Santa Clara, we need
only look out from our backyards to see the fundamental changes wrought
by natural disasters heightened by climate change on the Santa Clara
Creek and Canyon ecosystems. Never again in our lifetime will we see
our traditional and treasured homeland and spiritual sanctuary, the
Santa Clara Canyon, as we have known it. It will take generations for
our community and lands to recover from the devastation of this fire
and, because of climate change, it is not clear how that future will
unfold.
This is our only homeland; it is the place we have been entrusted
with since time immemorial. We devote the resources we can to the
healing of our land and the protection of our community, but we do not
have the resources to do it alone. The Federal Government must take
steps to effectively manage the meta-factors that drive climate
change--such as worldwide deforestation, fossil fuel consumption, and
greenhouse gas emissions--before it is too late. Acting on climate
change today is a moral and legal imperative, essential to all of us as
Pueblo People, Americans, and citizens of this world during a period of
what now appears to be almost inevitable rapid climate change.
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Testimony of United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection
Fund
On behalf of the United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty
Protection Fund (USET SPF) we write to provide the House Natural
Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous People of the United States with
the following testimony for the record of the hearing ``The Impacts of
Climate Change on Tribal Communities'' held on February 12, 2019.
USET SPF is an intertribal organization comprised of 27 federally
recognized Tribal Nations, ranging from Maine to Florida to Texas.\1\
USET SPF is dedicated to enhancing the development of federally
recognized Tribal Nations, to improving the capabilities of Tribal
governments, and assisting USET SPF Member Tribal Nations in dealing
effectively with public policy issues and in serving the broad needs of
Indian people.
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\1\ USET SPF member Tribal Nations include: Alabama-Coushatta Tribe
of Texas (TX), Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians (ME), Catawba Indian
Nation (SC), Cayuga Nation (NY), Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana (LA),
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana (LA), Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
(NC), Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians (ME), Jena Band of Choctaw
Indians (LA), Mashantucket Pequot Indian Tribe (CT), Mashpee Wampanoag
Tribe (MA), Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida (FL), Mississippi
Band of Choctaw Indians (MS), Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut
(CT), Narragansett Indian Tribe (RI), Oneida Indian Nation (NY),
Pamunkey Indian Tribe (VA), Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township
(ME), Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point (ME), Penobscot Indian
Nation (ME), Poarch Band of Creek Indians (AL), Saint Regis Mohawk
Tribe (NY), Seminole Tribe of Florida (FL), Seneca Nation of Indians
(NY), Shinnecock Indian Nation (NY), Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana
(LA), and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) (MA).
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Human-induced climate change will have a lasting impact on Tribal
lands, waters, and communities across the United States. USET SPF
Member Tribal Nations have a unique historical experience, which
factors in climate change impacts as well as options for climate change
adaption.
South and Eastern Tribal Nations: A Historical Context
Current broad understanding of Tribal Nations and historical
context within the United States stems from the 19th century, when the
United States the country and settlers expanded westward. Tribal
Nations were forced to sign treaties, cede large tracts of land, and
reside on reservations yet were promised autonomy and support from the
federal government to manage natural resources, education, and health
care. Tribal Nations within the USET SPF region also signed treaties
and were forced to cede lands. However, many USET SPF member Tribal
Nations are ``First Contact Nations'' and faced 17th- and 18th-century
local colonial governments and distant European nations at the onset of
colonization of North America.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, colonial wars and disease also
decimated Indigenous populations. After the United States was
established, often the lands and rights acknowledged in colonial
treaties or agreements east of the Appalachians were left to the states
to either recognize and fulfill obligations or abolish. Within decades
after establishment of the United States, a federal policy of removal
was adopted, and many Tribal Nations whose aboriginal territories were
in the Appalachians, Southeast, and Midwest were forcibly removed to
western territories. For example, the ``1830 Indian Removal Act'' split
entire Tribal Nations and families and forced tens of thousands of
Indigenous people to reservations in Oklahoma.
USET SPF Tribal Nations, today, have persevered despite
colonization and federal policies of assimilation, termination and
other events that have unfolded over the past 400 years. Despite
disease, warfare, and removal, our Tribal Nations have persisted and
exhibited profound resilience. In environments considered harsh to
European and American settlement such as the Gulf Coastal Bayous, the
Everglades, the Appalachians, or the Northern Forests, Tribal Nations
not only survived, but adapted and rebounded as communities and
nations. Tribal communities even integrated into more populated
landscapes, have maintained self-governance and distinct cultural
identities tied to cultural and traditional homelands and family
kinship systems. The 20th century witnessed a rebound in population of
Indigenous communities within the USET SPF region and a resurgence of
Tribal voices on a national platform to promote Tribal sovereignty and
self-determination, management of natural resources on remaining Tribal
lands that are now mere fractions of once held territories, and the
restoration of Tribal lands lost to the colonies and early states.
The Fourth National Climate Assessment: Key Messages
On November 23, 2018, the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4)
was released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).
According to the USGCRP, the report ``focuses on the human welfare,
societal, and environmental elements of climate change and variability
for 10 regions and 18 national topics, with particular attention paid
to observed and projected risks, impacts, consideration of risk
reduction, and implications under different mitigation pathways.'' The
report includes a chapter on climate change and Indigenous peoples as
well as discussion on climate change and Indigenous peoples in other
regional and sectoral chapters. The NCA4 acknowledges Indigenous
peoples in the United States as, ``diverse and distinct political and
cultural groups and populations'' and affirms, ``Though they may be
affected by climate change in ways that are similar to others in the
United States, Indigenous peoples can also be affected uniquely and
disproportionately.'' The NCA4 Chapter 15 ``Tribes and Indigenous
Peoples,'' provides three key messages regarding climate change impacts
and Indigenous peoples. The key messages are listed below with
subsequent comments pertaining to Tribal Nations within the USET SPF
region.
Key Message 1: Climate change threatens Indigenous peoples'
livelihoods and economies, including agriculture, hunting and
gathering, fishing, forestry, energy, recreation, and tourism
enterprises. Indigenous peoples' economies rely on, but face
institutional barriers to, their self-determined management of water,
land, other natural resources, and infrastructure that will be impacted
increasingly by changes in climate.
Tribal Nations across the United States have regained the
management of natural resources for over 100 million acres of Tribal
lands. However, USET SPF member Tribal Nations have substantially
smaller Tribal land bases from which to assert direct jurisdiction and
management of natural resources. This means our Tribal Nations must
work with state, municipal, and non-Tribal federal jurisdictions to
address climate change impacts on natural resources of cultural and
economic significance beyond Tribal lands. Institutional barriers arise
as the interests and management plans of non-Tribal jurisdictions often
do not align with Tribal priorities or cultural values at best, or at
worst, Tribal Nations are not even included in local and regional plans
that would have implications on their natural resources and areas of
cultural significance. Often fish and wildlife, wild foods, medicinal
plants, and places of cultural significance, some of which may be
outside of Tribal reservation or trust lands, are impacted by climate
change. For some USET SPF Tribal Nations, the Tribal reservation or
trust lands have been reduced to one square mile or smaller, and
climate change impacts to these vulnerable land bases pose serious
threats to Tribal cultures and lifeways. Finally, one of the greatest
threats of climate change will be migration of species and shifting of
ecosystems beyond Tribal lands or even beyond Tribal regions, rendering
the fixed political boundaries and territories of present day Tribal
lands unconnected to long held traditional lifeways.
Key Message 2: Indigenous health is based on interconnected social
and ecological systems that are being disrupted by a changing climate.
As these changes continue, the health of individuals and communities
will be uniquely challenged by climate impacts to lands, waters, foods,
and other plant and animal species. These impacts threaten sites,
practices, and relationships with cultural, spiritual, or ceremonial
importance that are foundational to Indigenous peoples' cultural
heritages, identities, and physical and mental health.
Many of the places that have significance to the cultural
heritages, identities, and physical and mental health of Indigenous
peoples from Tribal Nations within the USET SPF are located off Tribal
reservation or trust lands. In many instances, places of cultural
significance are now located within national parks, monuments, wildlife
refuges, and sea shores, or state parks, forests, or private lands.
While climate change impacts the ecosystems, water, and landscapes of
these places, our Tribal Nations continue to struggle with non-Tribal
jurisdictions for access to these places for activities of cultural,
spiritual, or ceremonial importance. USET SPF member Tribal Nations and
their citizens often find themselves in a position of having to request
access to locations of cultural significance to partake in cultural
activities they have been engaging in for thousands of years. Loss of
access to these places impacts both the physical and mental health of
Indigenous peoples and has been doing so for many years. Climate change
impacts do threaten sites, practices, and relationships with cultural,
spiritual, or ceremonial importance which are foundational to
Indigenous peoples, yet current barriers to access and a lack of a
meaningful role in the climate adaptation planning process of these
areas compounds the issue.
Key Message 3: Many Indigenous peoples have been proactively
identifying and addressing climate impacts; however, institutional
barriers exist in the United States that severely limit their adaptive
capacities. These barriers include limited access to traditional
territory and resources and the limitations of existing policies,
programs, and funding mechanisms in accounting for the unique
conditions of Indigenous communities. Successful adaptation in
Indigenous contexts relies on use of Indigenous knowledge, resilient
and robust social systems and protocols, a commitment to principles of
self-determination, and proactive efforts on the part of federal,
state, and local governments to alleviate institutional barriers.
The impacts of the 2012 northeastern summer drought and heat wave
as well as coastal flooding from Hurricane Sandy respectively prompted
the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe and the Shinnecock Indian Nation to complete
climate change adaptation plans for their Tribal lands, waterways, and
communities. Other Tribal Nations within the USET SPF region have
followed suit through exploring climate change adaptation options and
opportunities to fund climate change adaption activities. Often
departments within Tribal Nations such as natural resource or cultural
preservation departments take the lead, but not exclusively as Tribal
emergency management or economic development programs have also
explored climate adaptation options. The same institutional barriers of
limited jurisdiction and access to traditional territory or places of
cultural significance remain factors in Tribal climate adaptation
planning. Funding climate change adaptation also remains a challenge
because federal natural and cultural resources funding can be very
sector, species, or place specific whereas Tribes are concerned about
the health of the whole system. Many Tribal managers are in the
position of pursuing multiple grants and searching for funding from
different sources with varying objectives required in order to address
larger climate change impact on their Tribal Nations. Federal funding
for climate change adaptation is also at the whims of United States
executive and congressional political power shifts. Opportunities
available this year may not be available next, hobbling a consistent or
long-term climate change adaption plan.
Climate change adaptation may also mean placing lands into trust to
provide communities safety from sea level rise and to provide Tribal
Nations access to species of cultural importance whose ranges have
shifted due to climate change. 21st century court cases, such as the
2009 Carcieri decision with the Narragansett Indian Tribe and the
Littlefield et al. 2016 with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, challenge the
ability of Tribal Nations to have lands taken into Trust by the Bureau
of Indian Affairs even when those lands are on cultural domains or
aboriginal Tribal territories. Thus, if a location becomes
uninhabitable or ecosystems with cultural significance shift due to
climate change Tribal Nations face difficulties if adaptation responses
mean to relocating or re-acquiring lands that provide access to
cultural resources.
Conclusion
Successful adaptation for USET SPF member Tribal Nations will rely
on use of Indigenous knowledge, resilient and robust social systems and
protocols, and a commitment to principles of self-determination.
However, it will also require the acknowledgment from federal, state,
and local governments that the impacts of early colonial and United
States history have created many of the institutional barriers USET SPF
member Tribal Nations face today in adapting to climate change. Should
you have any questions or require further information, please contact
Mr. Kitcki Carroll, USET SPF Executive Director, at
KCarroll@usetinc.org or 615-495-2814.
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