Indigenous tribes are at the forefront of climate change planning in the U.S.

A Nez Perce tribal member fishes for Chinook Salmon in Idaho in May 2001. This story has been updated to correct the spelling of a source’s first name. Temperatures in Idaho’s Columbia, Snake, and Salmon rivers were so warm in 2015 that they cooked millions of salmon and steelhead to death. As climate change leads to consistently warmer temperatures and lower river flows, researchers expect that fish kills like this will become much more common. Tribal members living on the Nez Perce reservation are preparing for this new normal. “The biggest and most poignant impact for Nez Perce tribal members has been the loss of fishing and fish,” said Stefanie Krantz, the climate change coordinator for the tribe. “For tribal peoples, they are absolutely essential for survival.” Get Grist in your inbox Always free, always fresh Ask your climate scientist if Grist is right for you. See our privacy policy After the 2015 fish kills, the tribe decided to hire Krantz to work full-time to assess the many ways that a warming planet threatens their way of life. The tribe has about 3,500 enrolled members, and its reservation spans 750,000 acres. For the last three years, Krantz has been […]

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