As we head into one of the driest years and lowest flows our ancestral rivers have seen in recent memory, our staff continues to plan for the resilience of Tribal natural and cultural resources under the face of climate change and sea level rise (SLR). As the WNRD begin to wrap up the Tribe’s first Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Tribal Resilience Program (TRP) grant, we are excited to announce an important Wiyot Climate Resilience Workshop and Scoping meeting at the July 6th Community Advisory Committee meeting from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. While we had hoped to hold this meeting in person, for the safety of everyone and to encourage participation from all Tribal citizens, including those outside the area and reduce our carbon footprint, the meeting will be held via zoom, which can be accessed from the Wiyot Tribe website at www.wiyot.us or go to the meeting link here at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82553367135?pwd=QXppc0JacDBlbUFqYnJNd1ZoY3N5UT09
Along with being an opportunity to voice your knowledge and observations as well as concerns or priorities that you think the Tribe should focus on relative to climate change and SLR, this meeting will also be an opportunity to learn about the research and data the WNRD and our consultants at Greenway Partners (GWP) have collected during the BIA TRP grant, which includes traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and input from Tribal citizens, facilitated through interviews conducted by Technician, Hilanea Wilkinson. We will highlight important Tribal assets that were identified, including natural features like our sacred rivers and sites that will be first to be inundated by SLR, to modern infrastructure like the Highway 101 safety corridor and White slough, as well as opportunities for the Tribe to contribute to nature-based solutions for climate resiliency. Aldaron Laird, local SLR planning expert with GWP will highlight impacts relative to SLR. All of this data and the community scoping will contribute to prioritizing assets and resources for more focused vulnerability assessments as we transition from building capacity into officially beginning Phase 1 of the Wiyot Climate Change Adaptation Program (CCAP). Funding for Phase 1 of the CCAP was awarded through successful collaboration between the WNRD and GWP for the application of the PG&E Better Together Resilient Communities and OPC Prop 68 Coastal Resiliency grants ($350K total). We are excited to wrap up our initial scoping as part of the BIA grant and move forward with furthering our efforts toward Wiyot climate resiliency. Please come and share your voice and opinions at the July 6th WNRD CAC at 5:30 p.m. Rra’dutwas, Adam Canter, WNRD, adam@wiyot.us
If you are a Wiyot citizen please complete our SLR and climate change scoping survey, which will help guide the Wiyot's path forward as we begin to develop our Wiyot Climate Adaptation Plan.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Hwo9wYk4ibs521dumjlkfDQbICERyKnA-YXwOLM3JcY/edit