Empowering Tribal Climate Adaptation Through Data
Learn more about the first-of-its-kind Climate Data Portal for US Native Lands—designed to strategically support tribal climate planning.
Because of their close relationships with their lands and nonhuman relatives, Indigenous peoples are among the first to experience the direct consequences of climate change. These impacts are further exacerbated by political and economic marginalization, loss of land and resources, and other regional challenges.
In the United States, the lack of access to data specifically aggregated at the reservation level further compromises the ability of Native American communities to prepare for and respond to the environmental, economic, demographic, social, and political changes driven by climate change. There is an urgent need for accessible data that supports tribes in securing and managing their lands using Indigenous practices, knowledge, and ethics.
One of the attributes of our inherent sovereignty is our ability to have a decisive say when it comes to our land, territory, resources, and people.
In response to these needs, the Native Lands Advocacy Project recently launched the Climate Data Portal for U.S. Native Lands . This free, public resource is designed to grow as tribal climate concerns evolve over time. Read on to learn more about the Climate Data Portal & how it can be used to support sovereign tribal climate planning.
The Native Lands Advocacy Project (NLAP) is a project of the 501(c)(3) Village Earth . Founded in 2019, NLAP provides strategic data support to Indian Country through two primary activities: creating custom data products for Native groups through private consultation, and maintaining the Native Land Information System , a free, public repository of data to empower sovereign tribal decision-making.
In 2022, NLAP received funding from the Native American Agriculture Fund to develop a first-of-its-kind Climate Data Portal for U.S. Native Lands. As with all of NLAP's work, this portal's creation would be guided by our ecosystem of relationships within Indian Country. Early stages of development involved consulting the latest academic climate research (especially from Native voices), building a Tribal Climate Advisory Committee (which includes distinguished members such as Kyle Whyte , Joseph Brewer , and Michael Kotutwa Johnson ), and conducting a literature review of public tribal climate adaptation plans (more on this below).
Our development of this portal was guided by three core principles:
Interested in more information about the Climate Data Portal's background and development? See here to learn more, or watch the recording of our launch webinar.
NLAP's Literature Review of Public Tribal Climate Adaptation Plans
In the summer of 2023, NLAP conducted a literature review on public tribal climate adaptation plans to identify:
- climate trends, projected changes, and conditions on tribal lands to date,
- key areas of concern that Native Nations have for the future of their lands and peoples, and
- tribal data gaps and data needs for effective climate mitigation and adaptation.
To conduct this literature review, NLAP performed a meta-analysis of 23 public climate change adaptation plans from across the U.S. (These plans represent more than 23 Tribal Nations, as some of them were collaborative efforts.) 1
Use this map to learn about the climate adaptation plans included in NLAP's literature review. Click any pin on the map to view the title of the tribal climate adaptation plan, the year it was published, and what tribes, villages, or inter-tribal groups published it—or use the buttons below to view the plans by region.
Explore the Plans by Region:
1 These plans were acquired from the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) database for completed tribal climate change adaptation plans. NCAI’s database is by no means an exhaustive list of tribal climate change adaptation plans, but they are publicly available and provide useful insight into the current status of climate change adaptation planning across Indian Country.
Across all reviewed plans, tribes shared many concerns. This figure displays the frequency of data topic discussion across every plan reviewed. As you can see, Water, Temperature, and Weather are the three most frequently mentioned concerns.
Plans also shared many discussions in common, such as:
- Infrastructure needs for extreme weather conditions
- Health concerns linked to climate change
- Loss of cultural and traditional resources, foods, and habitats
- Invasive species and pests which threaten both community health and native flora and fauna species
NLAP's full literature review also contains regional analyses, which highlight the distinct and specific concerns of tribes by region.
Tribal Nations are already experiencing climate change in their communities, regardless of where they are in their climate change planning process. By using regional data and projections in addition to traditional ecological knowledge for monitoring their local environments, they are adapting to their changing environment as they have done for generations and will continue to do for generations more.
Read NLAP's blog post sharing key findings from the literature review, or download the full 22-page review below.
Informed by these streams of research and relationships, NLAP launched the first-of-its-kind Climate Data Portal for U.S. Native Lands in the fall of 2024.
This Climate Data Portal is thoughtfully designed to align with the often non-linear, holistic approaches tribes take when addressing climate adaptation. The portal allows users to explore data through five interconnected themes (Air, Water, Earth, Fire, and Life), acknowledging that climate adaptation is a complex and multifaceted challenge. For instance, a dashboard in the ‘Fire’ category might also be found in the ‘Air’ category, reflecting the complex and interwoven realities of climate adaptation. This thematic structure supports a non-linear exploration of information, enabling tribes to find the data that resonates most with their unique perspectives and needs.
This portal is organized into five thematic categories—Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Life. These themes represent the essential resources that sustain life and communal well-being, and they guide our organization of data in a way that mirrors the interconnected and interdependent nature of climate systems.
The Climate Data Portal hosts over 30 data dashboards and maps, plus an array of informational resources like blog posts and storymaps. As with all of NLAP's data tools, these dashboards and maps have been thoughtfully and carefully designed to make public climate data more accessible for Native American tribes.
In this section of the storymap, we highlight five data tools—one from each of the five thematic categories—and discuss what makes them such valuable resources for Native tribes, citizens, and advocates alike. This is intended to familiarize users with the structure of the portal and to highlight the vast potential that these tools, and those like them, hold. We encourage users to visit the Climate Data Portal to explore the full scope of resources within.
Click on one of the following thematic categories to jump to that section of the storymap, or scroll to see all five:
.
The effects of atmospheric change are seen in wind and air current changes, increases in natural disasters like flooding and drought, rapid temperature fluctuations, and many more changing climate factors. To respond effectively to these changes, Native Nations require access to relevant data for their lands.
The Air category of our Climate Data Portal aims to help meet these needs.
Temperature Change Patterns on U.S. Native Lands
One example of the data tools users can find in the Air section of the Climate Data Portal is this map of Temperature Change Patterns on U.S. Native Lands .
This tool allows users to examine temperature fluctuations using the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s report on Climate Change Indicators in the United States. The map displays three separate temperature indicators (see the layer list in this image) combined with reservation-specific geospatial data layers. This means that users can retrieve information about temperature change patterns for the Native American reservation(s) relevant to their interests.
The first indicator, titled Climate Indicator for U.S. Temperatures, displays data for annual average air temperatures and how they have changed across the U.S. since 1901. See the legend on the right to identify the rate of temperature change by color.
This data is aggregated by climate division. Clicking on the map generates tooltips for the selected area, allowing users to see the rate of temperature change in the climate division(s) relevant to their lands. For example, this image shows the Northwestern Climate Division selected, showing a 1.93° F/Century increase in temperature. Multiple Native lands are within this climate division, including the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation.
The next indicator, titled Climate Indicator Unusually Cold Temperatures, 1948-2020 (EPA 2021), displays trends in unusually cold temperatures at individual weather stations (in the contiguous 48 states) that have operated since 1948.
In this context, "unusually cold" refers to a daily minimum temperature colder than the 5th percentile temperature between the years of 1948 and 2020. Therefore, a day’s minimum temperature at a particular station is considered “unusually cold” if it falls within the coldest 5 percent of measurements at that station during the 1948–2020 period.
In this image, we selected a data point for a weather station on the Cheyenne River Reservation, represented by an upward-facing blue arrow.
According to the legend, this means that in the selected area there was a 5 to 15 day decrease in the number of cold days between 1948 and 2020. The tooltip for the selected point provides the exact value for the change in number of cold days, which in this case is 13 days. This decrease in the number of cold days in this area indicates a general increase in temperature between 1948-2020.
You'll also notice that the map displays data for weather stations reporting an increased number of cold days. These data are represented by yellow, downward-facing arrows. For this example, the data point highlighted in this image reports a 13-day increase in unusually cold days, indicating a general decrease in temperature.
The final indicator in this tool is titled Unusually Hot Temperatures, 1948-2020 (EPA 2021). This data layer's function is analogous to that of the Unusually Cold Temperatures data layer. Using data from individual weather stations in the contiguous 48 states, this layer focuses on unusually hot temperatures.
In this context, “unusually hot” refers to a daily maximum temperature that exceeds the 95th percentile temperature during the 1948–2020 period. Therefore, a day’s maximum temperature at a particular station is considered “unusually hot” if it falls within the warmest 5 percent of measurements at that station during the 1948–2020 period.
The upward-facing orange arrows mean that those unusually hot days are increasing in a given area, while downward-facing blue arrows means the number of unusually hot days are decreasing.
Finally, one feature of this map that makes it especially useful to Native users is the ability to Select Your Reservation of Interest. Using this feature, users can examine temperature trends both in and around their lands.
Explore the resources in the Fire section of the Climate Data Portal!
..
Water is essential for all life to function, and Native communities have long and storied histories of protecting their waters from contamination and misuse. As climate change affects water availability and health, Native peoples require accurate and relevant data about the waters they steward.
The Water section of the Climate Data Portal was created to help meet these needs.
Water Quality Viewer - Pesticides
One example of the water resources in the Climate Data Portal is the Water Quality Viewer - Pesticides dashboard. This tool utilizes data from the Water Quality Portal (WQP) to analyze pesticide concentrations in the groundwater and surface water of U.S. Native lands, as well as annual agricultural pesticide use.
Users have the option to filter their results by Native reservation, pesticide type, year range, and whether they want the map to display data for surface water and/or groundwater.
This example shows us filtering for groundwater, the pesticide Atrazine *, and the Caddo-Wichita-Delaware Reservation.
Each blue dot represents a groundwater monitoring station. Users can select individual stations to view their data in a tooltip. In this example, the tooltip shows that on April 1, 2015, this groundwater monitoring station measured 3.12 ug/L Atrazine.
* Atrazine is registered for use on some agricultural products (corn, sugarcane, sorghum, etc.) and has a high potential to reach ground and surface water (National Pesticide Information Center, 2020). View this Atrazine fact sheet to learn more about its effects on the human body, our non-human relatives, and the ecosystem.
An evident limitation of this dataset is that not every reservation in the United States has surface and groundwater monitoring stations. Additionally, some reservations may have only one station or have stations with very minimal data.
Recognizing this unique challenge, we've added data from the USGS Pesticide National Synthesis Project (PNSP) which offers county-level estimates of pesticide use, providing high and low application ranges for various pesticides.
In this example, we filter for the Colorado Indian Reservation. Though there are no water monitoring stations on this land, we can view the estimated annual pesticide usage data. This allows tribal leaders, agricultural producers, and climate protectors to still get a picture of how pesticide usage may be affecting their lands and communities.
Monitoring pesticide concentrations is integral to tribes' ability to effectively manage their water resources, implement conservation plans and policies, and ultimately exercise their inherent sovereignty.
Explore the resources in the Water section of the Climate Data Portal!
...
To plan and implement effective climate adaptation strategies, Native Nations require foundational terrestrial data related to land cover, elevation and topography, soil quality and health, forest density, and more.
The Earth section of the Climate Data Portal helps meet these data needs.
Soil Organic Carbon for Planning on U.S. Native Lands
One resource users can find in the Earth section of the Climate Data Portal is the Soil Organic Carbon dashboard . This tool uses data from the Soils Survey Geographic Database for past available values (2019 and 2021) and the Soils Revealed Project for future predictions (2018-2038).
This dashboard can be used as a baseline to monitor SOC on reservations based on different tribal land policies, and can provide guidelines for which land planning strategies may be most effective for carbon sequestration on each Native land.
The first tab ("Current SOC") allows users to view soil organic carbon data on their lands for 2019 and 2021. This can provide a baseline understanding of soil health on your lands, as well as whether SOC is trending upwards or downwards.
The second tab ("SOC Predictions from Agricultural Scenarios") predicts SOC based on different agricultural and land planning scenarios applied over a 20-year period (2018-2038). This can help tribes plan for future carbon sequestration.
In the example here, improved grasslands (which is a good measure for regenerative ranching) is the scenario with the highest SOC potential on the Lake Traverse reservation.
The filter can also be used to select multiple Native lands for regional analyses.
This Soil Organic Carbon dashboard uses already published estimates to provide summary data for carbon planning and to support the carbon conversation for tribes. Consistent with our data sovereignty commitments, this dashboard doesn't release any detailed or private information, or information about specific sites within tribes.
Interested in exploring the resources in the Earth section of the Climate Data Portal?
....
Research indicates that Native Americans are six times more likely than other groups to live in areas most prone to wildfires. 1 Furthermore, restrictive policies limit tribes' ability to effectively steward their lands through traditional burns and other holistic management practices.
As communities continue to face catastrophic wildfires, it's vital that tribal governments, policy makers, and land stewards have access to relevant and useful fire data. The Fire section of the Climate Data Portal aims to meet these needs by providing data tools related to historical fire incidence and severity, burned area, and more.
1 ( Davies et al , 2018, as cited in The Nature Conservancy ).
Extent of Fires on U.S. Native Lands
Our Extent of Fires on U.S. Native Lands dashboard presents historical fire data from 1984 to the present day. This is an important tool for understanding fire frequency, severity, and the recovery needs of tribal territories.
On the dashboard's first tab, shown here, users can filter for individual reservations or for a region.* The wildfire acreage data is presented in two ways: blue represents the total acres burned within tribal boundaries, while orange represents the acreage of fires that crossed, but were not contained within, reservation boundaries.
* Read about our decision to use the National Congress of American Indians' regions here , under the "Historic Context" tab.
The second tab of this dashboard allows users to view regional data and filter by decade (image below), while the third tab allows for a thorough exploration of the data, filterable by reservation, NCAI region, and year.
Another valuable resource within the Fire section of our Climate Data Portal is the storymap titled Good Fire: Mitigating Wildfire Risk & Healing Native Lands .
This storymap highlights three of NLAP's fire-related data tools, walks through the history of fire suppression in the United States, and features important efforts by Native communities to reintroduce good fire to their lands.
The Fire Policy Timeline
We should be the answer to our ancestors' prayers."
Interested in exploring the resources in the Fire section of the Climate Data Portal?
.....
Indigenous worldviews honor the interconnectedness of all life, from the smallest microorganism to the tallest of mountains. We aim to honor that perspective throughout our work, and the Climate Data Portal is no exception.
Humans are not separate from the natural world but interwoven with it.
The Life category is at the center of the portal's interactive menu, representing the interwoven nature of our ecosystems and communities. The resources within this section range from demographic data to renewable energy production—and more!
Demographics Dashboard on U.S. Native Lands
This dashboard displays data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5YR 2017, which collects data for tribal geographies at the Tribal Census Tract level.
This data has limitations (learn more here ), and while NLAP cannot fill the gaps in federal datasets like this, our commitment to tribal data sovereignty involves making these datasets as accessible as possible for tribal communities to use as they see fit.
There are nine categories you can select on the right side of this dashboard, plus a tenth button ("Tables") which allows users to interact with the direct data.
Each category allows you to filter by Native lands, making it especially useful to tribes wanting to examine their own demographics and/or cross reference them with those from other tribes.
The category highlighted in this example is Income by Race. This displays the mean income by race on all Native lands in dollar amounts. As you can see, Native peoples have the second lowest mean income ($18,463) on their lands compared to the other seven races included in this chart.
Filtering this data further by selecting specific Native land(s) allows for even closer examinations of this discrepancy. While this most likely does not come as a shock to people familiar with the disparities experienced by Native peoples, representing these disparities with data can be powerful for planning, education, and advocacy.
Explore the resources in the Life section of the Climate Data Portal!
At the Native Lands Advocacy Project, we remain committed to empowering tribal self-determination by creating free, accessible, and relevant data tools for Native communities. While the BIA and other federal entities collect and maintain many datasets relevant to Native lands, this data is not readily available or accessible to Native communities—despite the data already existing in the public domain, and despite the federal government’s responsibility as a Trustee to provide transparency about their performance.
Indigenous Peoples in the U.S. have a long history of taking sovereign action to protect and steward their data, knowledges, cultural heritage, specimens, and relatives through research codes, Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, and protocols. Yet, there are no national policies that address the data rights and needs for Indigenous Peoples in the U.S."
This first-of-its-kind Climate Data Portal for U.S. Native Lands is the manifestation of NLAP's determination—and that of our partners—to mitigate these significant data challenges for Native Nations and empower tribes with the data they need for sovereign decision-making. This is also why the portal is intended to be a living resource, meaning it will grow to meet the evolving needs of Native Nations.
Have suggestions? Please contact us !
We invite you to join our team for our upcoming Webinar: Agriculture on Native Lands, where we will be discussing the USDA Census of Agriculture on March 19, 12-12:45 pm EST. To register for the webinar, click here !
If you appreciated this storymap and are interested in NLAP's work, you can follow our socials and subscribe to our mailing list here !
