Environmental stressors such as climate change and human development impact every community and ecosystem on Earth, but the effects are not equally distributed across the globe.
The Community Resilience Program works to promote landscape connectivity and support communities in planning for climate change and sustainable land use to protect cultural and natural resources and build environmental resilience.
From 2018 to 2019, the Ksik Stakii Project explored how beaver, a spiritually important species to the Blackfeet, are a powerful tool to moderate the impacts of drought brought on by climate change. The partnership included Blackfeet Tribe resource management agencies and the Blackfeet Community College Native Science Field Center’s program to engage high school and college students in fieldwork experiences. As our climate warms and glaciers melt, beaver play a critical role in promoting natural water storage on the landscape by building natural dams that improve water quality and riparian habitat. Water behind beaver dams is released more slowly so it can be used throughout the summer. Students worked with mentors to build semi-permeable mimic dams which will behave like beaver dams by slowing water flow over time and increasing natural water storage.
Outcome: Mimic dams will cultivate healthier landscapes and increased climate resiliency, while demonstrating that climate adaptation can be an affordable and fun activity that brings people together in the outdoors and advances science education.
Learn More: Visit our Resource Library to view a variety of community-planning tools and resources, including The Ksik Stakii (Beaver) Climate Adaptation Project and the Beaver Mimicry Field Program Report.
In partnership with Blackfeet Nation, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation, and Fort Belknap Indian Community.
For more information about our work in Indian Country, please contact Vice President for Conservation Programs Melly Reuling or Vice President for Conservation Operations Deb Kmon Davidson.
Whether implementing a pilot project to restore riparian habitat or helping with geospatial analysis, we are committed to partnerships that advance conservation goals and create platforms for sustained decision-making and action. Some of our partners include the Aaniiih and Nakoda tribes of Fort Belknap Indian Community who are currently implementing climate adaptive practices in the Little Rocky Mountains while also completing a Climate Change Adaptation Plan. The Amskapi Piikani people of Blackfeet Nation are currently implementing their Climate Change Adaptation Plan while expanding and developing their Agricultural and Integrated Resource Management Plans. The Center is also pleased to support the Salish, Qlispe, and Kootenai tribes of the Flathead Reservation in their work to update climate adaptive goals and strategies to protect plants, animals, and the customs and traditions of their people.
In partnership with Blackfeet Nation, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation, and Fort Belknap Indian Community.
For more information, please contact Vice President for Partnerships & Advancement Deb Kmon Davidson.
In October 2018, the Center published a new guidebook titled, “Healthy Landscapes, Healthy People.” This publication, prepared for the first-annual Faith, Science, and Climate Action Conference, serves as a guide to human health and climate change, with a specific focus on faith communities. The guidebook examines how the impacts of climate change threaten human health, and how we can better protect ourselves by protecting landscapes.
Outcome: The guidebook makes the case that protected landscapes protect our health and offers a set of strategies for communities and individuals to take.
Learn More: View our Guidebook for Montana Communities Preparing for a Changing Climate and recent presentation on protecting landscapes to protect human health.
For more information, please contact Vice President for Partnerships & Advancement Deb Kmon Davidson.
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