OLYMPIA, Wash. — Nearly half a billion dollars will help Native American tribes fight climate change, following the passage of federal funding bills.
A federal infrastructure package is providing $466 million to the Bureau of Indian Affairs over the next five years, according to the Department of the Interior.
The money will be spent over five years to help tribes deal with rising sea levels, increasing temperatures, and potential drought conditions.
“As the effects of climate change continue to intensify, Indigenous communities are facing unique climate-related challenges that pose existential threats to tribal economies, infrastructure, lives and livelihoods. Coastal communities are facing flooding, erosion, permafrost subsidence, sea level rise, and storm surges, while inland communities are facing worsening drought and extreme heat,” said Interior Secretary Deb Halland.
Lummi Nation Councilwoman Lisa Wilson said the funding to fight climate change is long overdue.
”We've got a lot of issues that we're facing in order to just sustain our way of life,” said Wilson.
She said the tribe lost more than 2,500 salmon during heat waves last summer.
Wilson fears there won’t be enough money for all the projects tribes will want funding for.
“We're having to compete to fix the habitat of a problem that we didn't create in order for our fish to survive,” said Wilson.