Program on the Environment

To effectively address the threats posed to coastal tribal communities by climate change, actions must be Indigenous-led. Conventional methods such as participatory design or co-design—both of which rely on public involvement in planning and design processes—often fall short of their stated objectives to incorporate the lived experiences of affected communities. These shortcomings are often due to unconscious bias, extractive research processes, or implicit or explicit colonial discourse around ‘planning expertise.’ By contrast, centering Indigenous knowledge systems is critical in advancing climate justice and fostering mutually beneficial partnerships. During my internship with the Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) Department of Cultural Resources, I helped facilitate the community-led and co-designed process for the Quinault Interpretive Trails project, a proposal for a series of interpretive trails and associated educational signage for the tribal community. The Interpretive Trails proposal is part of the larger, tribal-led relocation plan that involves moving the village of Taholah to higher ground in response to sea level rise. My research included a comparative study of the applied interpretive trails process with literature on Indigenous-led projects, emphasizing the importance of centering Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). TEK includes storytelling, relationality, and collective ownership of both process and decision-making. The findings highlight that using storytelling as a community engagement method, as well as ensuring community ownership of data, is key to fostering reciprocal relationships. These elements are crucial in guiding how non-Indigenous agencies, practitioners, and researchers can work effectively with Indigenous communities on climate justice efforts that honor Indigenous sovereignty and knowledge systems.