SE Alaska Native Perceptions of Change

The Federal Government has a unique relationship with federally–recognized tribal entities and a responsibility to consult with Tribes on programs and policies.

The Forest Service and the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative work with tribes to identify projects that further the work of government agencies and benefit tribes. Local and traditional knowledge is transferred through networks and from generation to generation. Some tribal members have lived in the same area for generations. Stories that include information about the environment and environmental change are passed down from one generation to the next. Those living today are experiencing changes first hand. We can learn from stories and first hand experiences that people share with us.

Western Science has accepted the legitimacy and value of traditional, indigenous and local knowledge. Local, indigenous, and traditional knowledges add substantial value to what we can learn and know. Bridging across ways of knowing – the scientific and local and traditional knowledges – increases what we can learn.

Native rights are primarily place-based rights, dependent on a longtime attachment to local tribal territories. Climate change shifts and disrupts plant and animal habitats, and in doing so forces tribal cultures to move (in more extreme cases) or adapt to new conditions. Eliciting personal observations provides a more complete picture of changes, including changes in the availability, quantity and quality of traditional foods and medicinals and plants and animals important for ceremonial or spiritual uses. We present insights from interviews with Alaska Natives from Southeast Alaska.