Welcome

Welcome to the Alaska Tribal Resilience Bulletin from the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center. This e-bulletin is a quick read of climate related news, resources and forthcoming opportunities. We encourage Alaska tribes to take advantage of these opportunities, share this information, and send us any news that may be of interest to others across Alaska or tribal communities. If you haven't already, subscribe by clicking here.

Events & Conferences

TOMORROW - Health and Climate Solutions will be holding a webinar on Health Equity and Climate Change: Indigenous Local Traditional Knowledges on Tuesday, April 28th at 11am AKDT. The webinar is free to attend and will feature four speakers including Jacqueline Schaeffer of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Patricia Cochran of the Alaska Native Science Commission.

TOMORROW - The Center for Arctic Policy Studies will host a webinar on the future or Arctic Seaways on Tuesday, April 28th at 10am AKDT. The webinar is free to attend and will focus on the topic of Arctic Ocean Transit with Dr. Brandon Boylan and Dustin Elsberry, co-authors of a recent paper on the topic. Register at the link above.

Just Transition Alaska webinar series continues with a conversation on Responding with Care in a Time of Change on May 6th at 11:30 AKDT. Native Movement is working in partnership with various local and state-wide organizations, groups, and individuals to build solutions. This second webinar in the series will be a conversation around health, healing, and how we can work together to transition our economy to better reflect these values.

The Arctic Futures 2050 Conference will be presenting two webinars on May 14th at 9am AKDT and May 18 at 12pm AKDT. The webinars will focus on discussions of Arctic research needs in the context of the recently released Arctic Futures 2050 report. Read the 4-page executive summary here.

Funding & Opportunities

The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals Hazard Mitigation Plan training course registration deadline has been extended to May 1st, 2020. The course is scheduled to take place from October 2020 to September 2021 and will be based on FEMA requirements. Teams of one to four people can participate. The training will include bi-weekly online meetings as well as one in-person meeting. There is no course fee.

The 2020 Climate Change in My Community workshop applications are due May 10th, 2020. This project is for educators, youth group leaders, and/or community members interested in braiding multiple ways of knowing and discovering more about the impacts and feedbacks of a warming Arctic. Community teams including at least one educator (teacher or youth group leader) and one person with significant long-term knowledge of the land, such as an Elder, are encouraged to apply.

Resources

Fresh Eyes on Ice, a UAF citizen science project, is recruiting community members to provide observations on river conditions during spring breakup. Fresh Eyes on Ice is an observing network, with a focus on community-youth partnerships, that monitors frozen rivers and lakes and their role in the environment and Alaskan's lives.

The National Indian Health Board's Climate Ready Tribes Initiative provides resources for increasing tribal capacity to mitigate health risks. Funding, training opportunities, and materials are available at their website and funding is available for health work and research is available.

The Spring 2020 Alaska Arctic Observation Knowledge Hub Newsletter is complete and available online now. The newsletter highlights indigenous observers across Northwest and North Slope communities in Alaska who report local environmental observations such as ice presence and marine mammal sightings to understand the rapid changes in our Arctic ecosystem.

Climate Signals

“Monitoring and collecting data today may allow us the opportunity to derive a plan to replace the subsistence resources we may lose to climate change." ~ Bobby Schaeffer, AAOKH observer in the Spring AAOKH newsletter.

Air temperatures showed a mild autumn across Alaska. October on the North Slope was the second warmest on record. Late January to early March was the coldest period, but not a record. Milder than average temperatures have prevailed since mid-March - AAOKH newsletter Issue 3, Spring 2020.

ABOUT THE TRIBAL LIAISON

Malinda Chase is the Tribal Resilience Liaison for the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center and the Alaska Pribilof Islands Association. She is an Anvik Tribal member. Her role is to serve as a link between tribes and the climate science community in working together to increase tribal capacity to prepare for and respond to climate impacts and change.

Contact: iarc-tribal-liaison@alaska.edu or (907) 474-2768

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