Three Indigenous Tribes Given $755K for Coastal Protection

Juan Hernandez
·2 min read

Three Indigenous American tribes will receive a total of $755,000 under the new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to establish projects aimed at protecting their respective coastlines. The three tribes include Washington’s Makah Indian Tribe, California’s  Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians, and the Penobscot Indian Nation from Maine.

“Tribes have a long history that we do not have in terms of having been through some of these changes before, so it’s an incredibly meaningful relationship. It takes funds to have the capacity to maintain that participation,” Betsy Nicholson, the north regional director for NOAA’s office for coastal management, told the Guardian when elaborating on the effort to include native tribes in coastal preservation efforts. “In many cases, we are using data and tools to make decisions on where to site aquaculture, where to site offshore wind projects. Those tools don’t necessarily include the traditional ecological knowledge and their perspective.”

According to the Guardian, the NOAA has already been working with various indigenous communities on coastal and ocean management efforts for years. This Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, however, establishes specific funds designated tribes can use to hire staff and establish programs consistent with their traditional ecological knowledge and values. Therefore, how the cash is used among the three awardees will vary.

The Makah Indian Tribe are being given $288,482 to build on their ocean data and coastal/ocean mapping work that began with a previous BIL award.

The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians will get $266,473 for establishing a partnership with the West Coast Ocean Alliance. Their work together will prioritize the protection of marine mammals while upholding the tribe’s values around ocean and coastal management.

On the East Coat, the Penobscot Indian Nation is receiving $199,998 for a similar partnership with the Northeast Regional Ocean Council. The Guardian reports that they’ll be conducting research on submerged archeological sites that were once tribal lands before sea levels rose. Their work will then be shared with four other tribes in the area — the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Mi’kmaq Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkomikuk and Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik.

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