For the period May 15, 2017 – May 14, 2018, CRITFC staff and consultants will continue to collaborate with the tribes, federal agencies and universities in developing an analytical/decision framework that will enhance the validity and increase the scientific robustness of ongoing climate change studies under the Columbia River Treaty Review and other Columbia River Basin efforts into the future. This approach will generate the most robust climate scenarios for hydro regulation, flood risk and ecosystem function (including tribal First Foods) modeling. More robust climate change projections are vital to understanding the potential impact on tribal First Foods and for future planning efforts and to begin to prepare adaptation responses to these impacts.

The main tasks will include the following:


1) Continue to assist the CRITFC tribes in climate change assessments and adaptation plans.

2) Continue to Develop Qualitative and Quantitative Tools as necessary to create Decision Framework

3) Enhance the CRITFC Information System (CIS) with climate change and ecosystem modeling development and seek peer-review of the model.

4) Continue to coordinate regional climate change modeling efforts with CRITFC’s member tribes, the NOAA Science Center, NOAA NIDIS group, Comparative Survival Study group, UW Land Surface and Hydrology Department, UW Climate Impacts Group (CIG) and other regional stakeholders to assess gaps in data collection and methodologies.

5) Continue to monitor and update assessment of regional needs and opportunities for collaborative research and analyses in climate change. Seek collaboration with the Corps of Engineers to plan and implement a Columbia Basin climate resiliency study, sponsored by the basin tribes.

6) Continue to produce reports specific to the tribal ceded areas and resources of each of CRITFC's tribes for help in climate change adaptation planning and disseminate information on CRITFC website.