Climate Change Adaptation in the 1854 Ceded Territory RISING VOICES 6 4/11/18 Tyler Kaspar: Environmental Biologist tkaspar@1854treatyauthority.org Tansey Smith: Climate Change Specialist tsmith@1854treatyauthority.org 1854 Treaty Authority is an inter-tribal NRM organization. We protect and enhance off-reservation treaty rights and related resources for the BF and GP bands of Chippewa in the 1854 Ceded Territory. Going to talk about the process and partnerships we used to develop our vulnerability assessment and adaptation plan and status of implementation.

Project Area 1854 CT, northeast MN, 5.5 million acres. Chippewa bands with off-reservation rights here are BF, GP, and FDL.

Approach Project Goal Collaboration Hired contractor assistance Identified project team (meetings, calls) Shared tribally collected data/information, collected outside information to fill gaps

Process Rapid Climate Assessment Vulnerability Assessment Adaptation Strategies

Rapid Climate Assessment 1854 CT covers portions of two US (NOAA) climate divisions- NEM: MN Northeast ECM: MN East Central

TEMPERATURE CHANGES When you look closer, overnight lows have warmed faster than daytime highs. E.g. Winter lows have warmed 2 degrees more than highs.

OBSERVED CHANGES Changes in precipitation can have impacts. E.g. Increases in the intensity of extreme precipitation have been observed at the Cloquet (14.2%) and Grand Rapids (10.2%). No significant change in intensity or frequency of extreme precip events was detected for Duluth (remember, June 2012). Note: Analysis was done by GLISA

Projected Changes: Temperature Spring +3-4.5°F Winter +5-6°F Annual +4-5°F Summer +4-5°F Fall +4-5°F Projected change in seasonal temperature for 2041-2070 (compared to 1971-2000) under an emissions scenario that assumes continued increases in emissions (A2). (Figure source: NOAA NCDC / CICS-NC). -North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) climate model.

Projected Changes: Precipitation Winter +10 to 20% Spring +5 to +15% Annual +3 to 12% Projected change in seasonal precipitation for 2041-2070 (compared to 1971-2000) under an emissions scenario that assumes continued increases in emissions (A2).Hatched areas indicate that the projected changes are significant and consistent among models. White areas indicate that the changes are not projected to be larger than could be expected from natural variability. In general, the northern part of the U.S. is projected to see more winter and spring precipitation, while the southwestern U.S. is projected to experience less precipitation in the spring. (Figure source: NOAA NCDC / CICS-NC). Summer 0 to 5% Fall +10 to +20%

Vulnerability Assessment Process Purpose: ID key resources and their vulnerability to climate change Resource categories Identify experts Workshop: 10/20/2015 Follow-up calls Resource categories, list of experts from each entity for each category.

Vulnerability Assessment Over 30 species/groups/habitats, 11 were included in a workshop

Developing Adaptation Strategies Goal: develop strategies for all resources, detailed strategies for a subset (11) Workshop: May 10, 2016 Reviewed strategies Five categories

Strategy Categories

Current Status: Implementation Plan finalized in August, 2016 More information: http://www.1854treatyauthority.org /environment/climate-change.html Hired Tansey Smith, Climate Change Specialist, to develop program and implement plan Thank you Tyler. Neah nadavinien (My name is Tansey Smith). I want to give you a little background about myself and where I come from. I am originally from Northern Nevada. I am Western Shoshone, Paiute and Navajo. I am a member of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. What brought me to Minnesota is that I have been visiting my family in Northern Minnesota for the last several years and wanted to be closer, so here I am working on climate change adaptation with the 1854 Treaty Authority.

Climate Change Program Conduct: Conduct outreach and education in relation to climate change impacts to natural resources Conduct Develop and implement: Develop and Implement a monitoring plan to assess impacts of climate change on natural resources Develop and implement Engage: Engage by expansion of partnership effort with other management entities Engage Implement and update: Implement and update Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan Implement and update

Implementation: Review, Ranking, Prioritization I will be talking about the Implementation Process, which was divided into 3 phases. I will highlight the current/future implementation project and conclude with next steps.

Current Implementation Projects Wild Rice (Manoomin) Phenology Sugar Maple Phenology Moose Breeding Activity Frog/Toad Calling Temp Loggers Rain Barrels Ice Thickness Climate Summary That brings us to our current/future implementation projects: Wild Rice (Manoomin) phenology or timing of nature’s events Purpose is to monitor the growth stages of the wild rice Receiving good information on ice on/off the lake Waterfowl presence Weather events Harvesters on the lake Sugar Maple Phenology Have been connecting with sugar makers/harvesters Met with Tribal Producer who is a Fond Du Lac Tribal Member, where their family has been harvesting for many generations. We learned about the ins./outs of a the sugaring business. We also have connected with the Nett Lake School Sugarbush, which is a part of the Bois Forte Band community. There we learned the traditional Anishnaabe methods of harvesting maple sugar and learned about how the Anishnaabe were gifted maple sugar Moose Breeding Activity Set recorders out from Sept-Nov in two known browse sites to see if we could get some moose calls, so far I have heard 1 Frog/Toad calling-they are known for being the barometers of climate/clean water Set the acoustic recorders out by 2 of our wild rice lakes in frog/toad habitat started April 1st this year-go till beginning of July Temp Loggers-surface water temps, in 20 of our walleye assessment lakes, one logger/lake. Rain Barrels-have given out 75 to Band members from Bois Forte and Grand Portage (helps reduce runoff and water use, most people use them for gardens). Ice thickness- 10 lakes in 1854 CT, monthly Dec-April Climate Summary- selected 14 existing weather stations in the Ceded Territory, where we have gathered information from Minnesota Climatology such as climate normals, temperature departures-rankings, and precipitation. We also include significant events such as storm surges and record making events.

Miigwech!! (Thank You) 1854 Treaty Authority 4428 Haines Road Duluth, MN 55811 (218) 722-8907 http://www.1854treatyauthority.org/