The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Branch of Tribal Climate Resilience (TCR) was established in 2011 to enable Tribal and BIA Trust resource managers to incorporate climate considerations into their programs' planning and decision-making.

As resource managers identify climate resilient strategies, they can improve outcomes for existing operations and identify unmet needs to ensure systemic climate resilience for efficient use of existing resources. Tribes can leverage TCR programs to further support their existing operations, program planning, project design, and integration of Indigenous and Traditional Knowledges into their management and protection of trust resources and Tribal economies.

Several TCR programs are supported through partnerships with other government agencies. Some of these partnerships are highlighted below:

Tribal Climate Resilience Liaisons

The Tribal climate resilience liaisons are a multi-regional support network to assist Tribes in addressing science-based needs available to them at Department of the Interior's Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASC), for improved climate adaptation planning efforts.

Tribal climate resilience liaisons technically assist Tribal Nations and Alaska Native Villages in response to specific, yet diverse challenges faced from increasing environmental hazards and extreme weather events due to a changing climate. Tribal liaisons serve as extension agents, facilitating research, linking Tribal needs to available resources, and coordinating trainings, workshops, forums and exchanges.

To establish the regional Tribal climate resilience liaison positions, each liaison has a unique partnership which links them to Tribal resources. Many of these liaisons engage with Tribal Nations through BIA partnerships with the following non-profit Tribal organizations:

Native Youth Climate Adaptation Leadership Congress

TCR partners with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to support Native youth in an annual congress for high school and college-aged students, called the Native Youth Climate Adaptation Leadership Congress.

Climate Adaptation Training

TCR partners with the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) Tribes and Climate Change Program at Northern Arizona University to host regional and national climate adaptation trainings and other trainings for Tribes, in addition to the bi-annual National Tribal and Indigenous Climate Conference (NTICC).

Contact Us

Branch of Tribal Climate Resilience
1001 Indian School Rd NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. MST, Monday–Friday.