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TNC’s Knowledge Base for Climate Change Adaptation

DOI Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)

The United States has a unique legal and political relationship with American Indians, Indian tribes and Alaska Native entities as provided by the Constitution of the United States, treaties, court decisions and Federal statutes. Within the government-to-government relationship, BIA is responsible for the administration and management of 55.7 million acres of land held in trust by the United States for these entities and provides services directly or through contracts, grants, or compacts to 572 federally recognized tribes with a service population of about 1.9 million. While the role of Indian Affairs has changed significantly in the last three decades in response to a greater emphasis on Indian self-governance and self-determination, Tribes still look to Indian Affairs for a broad spectrum of services.

Programs administered through BIA include social services, an extensive education system, natural resources management on trust lands representing 55 million surface acres and 57 million acres of subsurface minerals estates, law enforcement and detention services, housing improvement, and repair and maintenance of roads, bridges, and high hazard dams. BIA responsibilities include developing forestlands, leasing assets on these lands, directing agricultural programs, protecting water and land rights, and developing and maintaining infrastructure and economic development. Through Indian Affairs programs, Tribes improve their tribal government infrastructure, community infrastructure, education, job training, and employment opportunities along with other components of long term sustainable development that work to improve the quality of life for their members.

  • http://www.bia.gov/, for BIA homepage; select ‘Who We Are', ‘What We Do', ‘News' and other topics from top menu bar for more information; type ‘climate change' in search window in top right corner of homepage for related references and resources and go to Choose a Service window on right sidebar for overview of different BIA services; also, go to Region Selector on right sidebar to view agencies and tribes served in each of the 12 regions in the U.S.

BIA Budgets for Fiscal Year 2010, 2011

The FY 2010 BIA budget highlights the Department of Interior (DOI) Secretary's commitment to Protecting Indian Country, Advancing Indian Education, Creating a New Energy Frontier, and Tackling Climate Impacts initiatives while maintaining the Department's commitment to trust management reform. The FY 2010 budget empowers Native American communities through initiatives directed at improving safety, education, and energy resources, while addressing the impacts of climate change. The Tackling Climate Impacts initiative consists of increases totaling $6 million to make new investments in adaptive land management, invasive species and noxious weed eradication, and the fish hatchery program. The holistic framework of this initiative supports the tribal goals of planning, conservation, restoration, and management of tribal lands. These investments will allow the BIA to better understand and manage for impacts of a changing climate.

The FY 2011 BIA budget request supports the Administration's goals for developing the nation's energy resources and addressing climate change. The request funds three major DOI initiatives - Empowering Tribal Nations, the New Energy Frontier and Climate Change Adaptation. The FY 2011 budget request for the Climate Change Adaptation Initiative reflects the essential role Indian Affairs will play in the Department's response to the impacts of climate change given its special role in protecting tribal trust resources and Alaska Native subsistence harvests. The request includes $200,000 to support Landscape Conservation Cooperatives in the Northwest to improve understanding of and address the impacts of climate change on Indian lands.

The proposed FY 2011 BIA budget supports Tribal priorities as defined by Tribal Budget Advisory Committee (TBAC): public safety, education, economic development (including energy), natural resources management, and overarching: contract support.

 

> Strategic Plan  

DOI Strategic Plan FY 2007-2012 sets out specific goals for Interior's four mission responsibilities: Resource Protection, Resource Use, Recreation, and Serving Communities. The Plan is used as a roadmap for the Department and establishes measurable performance targets in each area along with targets for Departmental management initiatives. With population growth and the continued expansion of our economy, the pressures on our resources have never been greater and will continue to grow. This picture is further complicated by global economic, environmental, political and other factors. The DOI response to mounting pressures must be a constant focus on efficient use and careful management of diminishing resources. Only by effectively measuring the results can DOI adjust the tactics and strategies used to meet its goal of management excellence. DOI is in the process of revising and streamlining the current Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2011-2016.  Tribal consultation has been held in a series of meetings across Indian Country to ensure tribal concerns and recommendations are heard.

As required by the Government Performance and Results Act, the BIA developed a strategic plan in FY 1997 as a component of the DOI Strategic Plan. Based on a number of statutes, court rulings and treaty obligations, the BIA Strategic Plan defines the Bureau's long-term mission and general goals. Performance goals reflected in the annual performance plan will support these broad goals. The achievement of these annual performance goals will determine the BIA's progress in meeting its mission as set forth in the strategic plan.

It was the understanding at the time this TNC page was created that BIA does not have a current overarching strategic plan. References indicate that BIA has not updated the Strategic Plan since 2004 and is reliant upon the DOI Strategic Plan FY 2007-2012. In a March 2010 Tribal Budget Advisory Council (TBAC) meeting the DOI Strategic Planning Coordinator recalled a TBAC resolution or statement of intent that a BIA plan be developed. A discussion at a prior TBAC meeting indicated that about a half-dozen BIA regional-level strategic/operational plans have been developed.

 

> DOI Strategic Response to Climate Change

As the nation's primary land, water and wildlife manager, DOI has an obligation to address the impacts that climate change is having on America's resources. The DOI response to climate change includes investing in scientific research to better understand climate-change impacts, designing science-based integrated adaptation strategies to protect people and resources from climate change, developing mitigation strategies that decrease greenhouse-gas emissions into the atmosphere, and finding solutions to address water shortage and water-use conflicts that will help ensure water supplies for future generations and our resources. The chief climate change policy development of DOI was the issuance of Secretarial Order 3289 that launched DOI's first-ever coordinated strategy to address current and future impacts of climate change on America's land, water, wildlife, cultural-heritage and tribal resources. It provides the strategic framework to coordinate efforts among DOI bureaus and to integrate science and management expertise of the Department with that of DOI partners. The order created the Energy and Climate Change Council, eight regional DOI Climate Science Centers (CSCs), and a network of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) that comprise the framework through which DOI bureaus will coordinate climate-change science and resource-management strategies. The CSCs and LCCs initiatives form the cornerstones of an integrated approach to climate-change science and adaptation.

National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC or the Center)

NCCWSC, located at U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) headquarters, responds to the research and management needs of partners and provides science and technical support regarding the impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife and ecological process. The Center is designed to increase understanding of the impacts and to help address critical management questions to ameliorate those impacts.

From the outset, the USGS understood the need for the Center to have national coverage. Because the needs of managers will vary across the landscape, the NCCWSC was conceived as a network comprising a central office linked to some number of regional CSCs or Hubs. In turn these Hubs would work with one or more collectives of natural resource partners that would include agencies, universities, tribes, NGOs, and other stakeholders engaged in on-the-ground resource management or other conservation-related activities in that region. Five CSCs were officially established in 2010 in the Alaska, Northwest, Southwest, North Central and Southeast regions. Three other CSCs are planned for 2011 in the Northeast, South Central and Pacific Island regions, but that will completely depend on additional appropriations. To date USGS, specifically the Center, has taken the lead on establishing CSCs and providing initial staffing.  Ultimately, funds and staff from multiple DOI bureaus including BIA will be pooled to support these centers and ensure collaborative sharing of research results and data.  Together, regional CSCs and LCCs will assess the impacts of climate change that typically extend beyond traditional jurisdictional boundaries and identify strategies to ensure that resources across landscapes are resilient.

Climate and Land Use Change Programs

In addition to NCCWSC the following sub-activities or programs are within the global climate change and land use change activity area of the USGS: Carbon Sequestration, Climate Effects Network/Science Applications, Earth Resources Observation and Science Center, Geographic Analysis and Monitoring, Land Remote Sensing, Research and Development, and Science Applications and Decision Support (providing climate change science support for DOI land management bureaus including BIA).

Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs)    

LCCs are applied, self-directed conservation partnerships among DOI agencies, notably USGS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), other federal agencies, states, tribes, non-governmental organizations, universities and others to address the challenges of climate change, land use, and other stressors across broad areas in an integrated fashion. LCCs link science and management and are fundamental units of planning and science capacity in carrying out the functional elements of FWS strategic habitat conservation (SHC). They provide scientific and technical support for on-the-ground strategic, landscape-scale conservation in an adaptive management framework that emphasizes science-based biological planning, conservation design, research, inventory and monitoring. The products that LCCs develop help to inform and improve conservation delivery efforts on the ground.

Guided by DOI's newly created Energy and Climate Change Council (formerly Climate Change Response Council), LCCs will provide new science capacity for FWS and partners and will complement USGS Climate Science Centers (CSCs) from a FWS mission and partner-based perspective. As indicated above, regional CSCs and a LCC network were established by DOI Secretary Ken Salazar via Secretarial Order 3289 to develop strategies for managing climate change and other impacts on natural resources. Efforts will focus on impacts that typically extend beyond traditional jurisdictional boundaries, such as the effects of climate change on wildlife migration patterns, wildfire risk, drought, or invasive species.

DOI has established 21 (22?) LCCs encompassing all 50 States and U.S. Pacific Islands. FWS is a primary lead on LCCs and has invested the most resources into establishing and staffing them. Eight LCCs received funding in FY10 through FWS. Additional LCCs are being established with support from BIA*, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service and the Environmental Protection Agency.

*FY 2011 BIA budget request includes $200,000 to support Landscape Conservation Cooperatives in the Northwest to improve understanding of and address the impacts of climate change on Indian lands.

 

> BIA Programs, Services, Resources

Tribal Budget Advisory Council (TBAC)*

A climate change update presentation at a TBAC meeting (March 2010) covered various topics, including climate change impacts, evolution of DOI climate change policy, an overview of Secretarial Order 3289 highlights (with section 5 dedicated to American Indians and Alaska Natives), a summary of what Indian Tribes need and can provide in addressing climate change, other climate policy developments and CEQ activities (Adaptation Task Force), developments in carbon sequestration, and other information. Tribal needs include increased access to expertise and scientific research of other DOI agencies, increased monitoring of climate change indicators on Reservations, and more direct participation in and government-to-government consultation of policy and initiatives regarding climate change. Tribes can provide an accumulation of traditional knowledge and acute sensitivities to their environment and a long history of experience with resource stewardship and adaptation. Many Tribes have sophisticated resource management programs; a notable example is fire management with a unique blend of traditional ecological knowledge and western science through joint fire science program collaboration.

*The Tribal/Interior Budget Council (TIBC), formerly known as the Indian Affairs Tribal Budget Advisory Council (TBAC), provides a forum and process for tribes and Federal officials to work together in developing annual budget requests for Indian programs in the Department of the Interior. It provides cooperative participation in BIA budget formulation, justification, and information. TIBC meetings also serve as an education forum to better inform tribes of the BIA budget process and advise on the status of Indian Country initiatives throughout the Federal Government.

Wildland Fire Management

The BIA Fire Use and Fuels Management Program in Indian Country manages a variety of landscapes, fuels and ecosystems across the United States. A current program priority is to treat and reduce fuel loads on landscapes historically subjected to fire exclusion to lower the risk of disease, insect infestation and catastrophic wildfires. Climate change, invasive species and other factors are increasing the complexity of treating hazardous fuels and need to be accommodated in management prescriptions on many landscapes.  

 

> Other Programs, Resources, Products

U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)

USGCRP is a Congressionally-authorized consortium of 13 federal agencies, including DOI, responsible for various aspects of global change research, including coordinating climate change research activities of the agencies. It has produced important products related to climate adaptation for wildlife and ecosystems and maintains a comprehensive website with a variety of climate change science resources and publications. Research aims to provide science-based applications and tools for sustainable natural resource management.

Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force (Task Force): meetings, reports

The Task Force is a pan-federal and pan-sectoral group co-chaired by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and NOAA. It is comprised of over 200 federal agency staff, broken into various workgroups that conducted public listening sessions throughout the country during summer 2010. By executive order the CEQ Chair, following consultation with the agencies and Task Force, provided a progress report in October 2010 to President Obama on agency actions in support of the national adaptation strategy and outlining recommendations for how Federal Agency policies and programs can better prepare the United States to respond to the impacts of climate change.

U.S. Fire Learning Network (USFLN)

The USFLN is a joint effort of The Nature Conservancy, the  U. S. Forest Service and several DOI agencies, including BIA, with a goal of accelerating the implementation of ecologically appropriate and culturally acceptable fuels reduction and fire regime restoration in high-priority habitats and landscapes. It fosters innovation and transfers knowledge acquired from numerous multi-agency, community-based projects to other landscape projects, scientists and decision makers.

Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Network

The CESU national network has been established with an overarching goal of improving the scientific base for managing federal lands by providing high-quality scientific research, technical assistance, and education to resource and environmental managers. It is a nationwide consortium of federal agencies, universities, conservation organizations, and other partners working together to support agency missions and informed public trust resource stewardship. One objective is to build capacity and enhance coordination of climate change management and adaptation efforts among management agencies.

CESUs are based at host universities and focused on biogeographic regions of the country. To date the nation had been divided into 17 biogeographic regions, each served by a distinct CESU that is structured as a working collaboration among partners. Each regional unit operates independently and in association with one national network and is directed by specific mission, vision, goals and objectives and a strategic plan.

 

 
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