Wrangell’s tribal government, the Wrangell Cooperative Association, is taking the final steps to create a climate adaptation plan to inform Wrangell’s future. On Sept. 29, the WCA held its third and final public meeting for the plan.
The WCA’s Earth Branch has been working in partnership with Anchorage-based Two Bears Environmental Consulting to understand the changing environment and bolster community resilience.
Here is the tribe’s Earth Branch coordinator Kim Wickman.
The reality is things around us are changing, and that’s, I think, what people are starting to finally kind of connect to.
Two Bears, [web: founded by Dr. Ronni Wilcock in 2017, started the process with a listening session last October.
Jaimlyn Sypniewski is the spatial analyst and modeling lead for the company. She says that they always try to get the community’s input first, before diving into the data.
The way it starts is that we come in assuming that we have no idea what’s going on in the community. So one of the things I try very hard to do is not to Google or get any bias. They’re like, “Oh, I’m sure they’re having problems with this, that, and the other.
She says at community input sessions they heard concerns about future water availability, increasing storms, climate impacts on foraging plants like berries, and an increase in water lilies in ponds that seem to be blocking creek flows.
Sypniewski says that Two Bears’ process uses traditional ecological knowledge and anecdotal observations to structure the plan and inform the modelling. Then, if there’s a disconnect between the data and the observations, they can highlight those differences.]
Major findings in last month’s presentation included warming temperatures and increased precipitation. But not just any precipitation – it’s likely to include big rainburst events that can worsen potholes and create problems for flat-roofed buildings.
Wickman, with the tribe, says they’ll share the plan with the borough once it’s completed.
So we’re able to give this information to the city, then the city can use the information that we’ve passed on to them to help adapt their plans for how they’re planning to build roads or we can help link them with other information or grant sources.
Two Bears is allowing a month for any additional input from tribal members before providing their published report to the WCA.
