The Hoh Tribe is producing a climate change assessment combining the stories and knowledge of tribal members with hard data.
The tribe used Climate Commitment Act funding to hire recent University of Washington graduate Hannah Tennent on a one-year Hershman Fellowship through Washington Sea Grant.
Her role is to explore potential vulnerabilities and goals, adding to the work the tribe has been doing to battle and mitigate the effects of climate change, from protecting fish to moving sites vulnerable to flooding to higher ground.
“The tribe is already doing a lot in terms of climate change,” Tennent said.
While Tennent’s role in compiling climate measurements and projections is crucial to the assessment—which may help the tribe pursue grants and projects to mitigate climate change—another aspect excited her as well: The opportunity to interview tribal members, including elders, about their own knowledge, observations and history.
With the assistance of tribal historic preservation officer Kelly Rosales, Tennent interviewed 13 tribal members. The tribal members were paid an honorarium for their time and brought with them a storehouse of memories and observations.
“I got to sit down with them and learn from them,” Tennent said. “It came across loud and clear how impactful the decline in fish is. There’s a huge economic decline, a decline in cultural resources, a change in availability of what people want to eat. It was striking how fast that decline was. People talk about, when they were young, catching 50-pound salmon—now they’re lucky to catch one that weighs in at 15 or 20 pounds.”
The Climate Commitment Act is a state law passed in 2021 that caps and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the act, funds from emission auctions support climate resiliency programs such as the tribe’s climate change assessment. Unfortunately, an initiative on Washington ballots this fall seeks to repeal the act at the expense of these programs.
Tennent hopes her work supports the tribe’s efforts to battle climate change.
“My personal hope is this provides a foundation for the tribe to engage in whatever tribal resiliency projects they want,” she said. “Climate change will affect cultural institutions, economic resources and treaty rights. Any projects the Hoh Tribe can do to preserve access to resources or create connections between members—anything that can increase well-being for people and the resources they care about—would be incredible.”
Hoh tribal fisher Michael Sampson pulls in his net in this file photo. Fishing is one of the primary concerns of a climate change assessment study undertaken by the tribe and funded by the state Climate Commitment Act. Photo: Debbie Preston. Story: Trevor Pyle
