For the Quinault Nation, the impacts of climate change are personal. The tribe recently completed phase one of a multi-year project to move their entire lower village up the hill in response to sea level rise. On June 16 and 17, regional teachers toured that project and learned about the tribe’s role on the front lines of the fight against climate impacts. This is Indian Country and PEI collaborated with Quinault Nation leaders and Washington Wild for a two-day, in-person ‘Protecting the Circle: Tribes and Climate Change’ workshop.
“It’s different learning about the [impacts of climate change] when it’s coming from someone that we recognize and know who lives close by,” one participant observed in a post-workshop evaluation.
The goal was to recognize that tribes, who have had the least impact on our changing climate, are experiencing its greatest impacts, according to PEI’s Associate Director, Puget Sound Molly Griffiths. “We looked at the impacts and challenges, and how tribes are responding. When we talk about adaptation and mitigation in a non-Indigenous community, that might mean we’re not going to build a house on the coast,” she notes. “It’s a choice. But Indigenous communities have lived in these places since time immemorial, and they’re tied to the land. When it starts to erode, that impacts who they are as a community.”
“The tour on day two was amazing! I learned so much and feel so grateful to have been able to experience it. The information given on day one helped me better understand what I was seeing and the experiences helped solidify my learning from the first day.”
— Workshop Participant
On day one, a panel of tribal leaders shared information about tribal sovereignty, treaty rights and historic events like the Boldt Decision, much of which was new to participants. During lunch, Quinault Nation Communications Manager Larry Workman provided a natural history of the region. Where previously it contained three glaciers now there are just a few ice fields left. Teachers spent the afternoon exploring the This is Indian Country curriculum and planning ways to implement it in their classrooms. “We don’t want to just inform educators. The real goal is that they take their learning back to their students,” says Griffiths.
The next day, the group toured several of the Quinault Nation’s projects, including the effort to relocate the lower village. “They’ve put in a lot of the infrastructure needed for moving or building new homes such as roads, water, sewer and electrical,” says PEI’s Associate Director, Columbia Basin & Coast Megan Rivard. “They’ve also built a Generations facility that houses their early childhood programs and programs for their elders. That is fully operational.”
For lunch, Quinault Nation member Ryan Hendricks prepared and served Quinault sockeye salmon, known as ‘blueback’ to the Quinault people. “They did
a traditional salmon bake,” says Rivard. “This was super special because this is a fish they’ve been working to bring back. Bluebacks are specifically adapted to the Quinault River system and lost nearly all their habitat over decades starting in the 1950s. In 2007, the tribe declared their recovery a national priority and launched a long-term restoration plan to stabilize the Quinault River and bring back habitat.
Teachers left the workshop inspired by what they’d learned and ready to introduce their new knowledge to students. “The tour on day two was amazing!” said one participant. “I learned so much and feel so grateful to have been able to experience it. The information given on day one helped me better understand what I was seeing and the experiences helped solidify my learning from the first day.”
“I can’t decide what I enjoyed most,” another shared, “but the hands-on experience was probably the most memorable. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see the film and the history. I loved having different tribes represented to hear perspectives from other areas with different landscapes.”