Reverence and rivers: revisiting the Wind River Inter-Tribal Gathering’s Water Protection and Climate Resilience discussion

Two weeks ago, Greater Yellowstone Coalition staff had the honor of visiting the Wind River Reservation, home of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes, where we cohosted the Wind River Inter-Tribal Gathering. Just 42 miles from Yellowstone National Park and roughly the same size, the reservation is a vital part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Wes Martel, GYC’s senior Wind River conservation associate, affectionately refers to the reservation as “Indigenous Yellowstone,” cheerfully saying, “We have everything here but Old Faithful!”   

Indigenous activists, non-profit organizations, tribal leaders, state and federal agency representatives, and community members traveled from across the region and the United States to take part in the Inter-Tribal Gathering commemorating the 150th anniversary of the creation of Yellowstone National Park. The gathering included panels and discussions on topics such as tribal-federal consultation, increasing Indigenous presence on public lands, the future of buffalo on the landscape, and many more. I sat on a panel called “Water Protection and Climate Resilience,” where I shared GYC’s work on the Greater Yellowstone Climate Assessment and our efforts to secure Wild and Scenic designations for some of our region’s most precious waterways.  

(L-R) Monti Aguirre, Latin American program manager for International Rivers Network, and Termaine Edmo, climate change coordinator for the Blackfeet Nation, speak on the Water Protection and Climate Resilience panel at the Wind River Inter-Tribal Gathering. (Photo GYC/Emmy Reed)

Climate change is the greatest transboundary threat to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, impacting all resources and people. This panel examined water and water protection as a means of enhancing climate resilience.  

During the discussion, my fellow panelists told powerful stories interwoven with sobering fact-based reports for an audience of nearly one hundred participants. At the core of conversation was the idea that water is the life force connecting us all – humans, plants, wildlife, and the living landscape. Tribal members shared that water is more than a resource to be managed, it is sacred, it brings life.   

My fellow panelists emphasized how climate change and human activity have profound and wide-ranging implications for water and its future on the landscape. Monti Aguirre, Latin America program manager for International Rivers Network, is part of the international fight against dams. Rivers remain some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth, but Monti shared that a staggering 70 percent of rivers no longer flow free. In river ecosystems, there has been an 84 percent decline in wildlife since 1970, a product of dams, fragmentation, and pollution. With this decline, there has also been momentum growing to fight for the fundamental rights of rivers. This concept of nature possessing fundamental rights – equivalent to human rights – has allowed Indigenous people in other countries to protect and remain in relation to their rivers.  

Charles Drimal, Greater Yellowstone Coalition deputy conservation director, shares the Greater Yellowstone Climate Assessment and Montana Headwaters Legacy Act on the Water Protection and Climate Resilience panel. (Photo GYC/Emmy Reed)

Chad Colter, Shoshone-Bannock Fish and Wildlife director of 28 years, shared the climate and water work being done by the Shoshone and Bannock Tribes. Chad explained how their research has focused on how ambient temperature change impacts water, snowpack, and species that are important to the tribes. He emphasized that we need to all be educated on climate change and how it impacts all of our resources, not just water. He left us all with a final request: start by fixing your own backward – your watershed.  

For my piece, I highlighted the Greater Yellowstone Climate Assessment report, and shared five key findings from 1950 to 2018. 

• The growing season in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is two weeks longer. 

• The mean annual temperature has increased by 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit. 

• Below elevations of 8,000 feet, snowpack has decreased by 24 inches (a 25% loss). 

• On average, peak annual streamflow is eight days earlier. 

• Precipitation in fall and spring has increased while precipitation in summer and winter has decreased. 

These statistics are indicative of big changes over the past few decades, with even more dramatic changes to come. Right now, we have a chance to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Temperatures will continue to rise regardless, but if we take action now, we can lessen the increase and create a better outcome for all of us. The difference between taking action to mitigate climate change and business as usual is the future of this ecosystem.  Here in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, we sit at the headwaters of the west. What we do here matters. 

Panel attendees chat with (L-R) Termaine Edmo, climate change coordinator for the Blackfeet Nation; Jordan Thompson, deputy executive officer in Special Projects & Planning for Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes; and Chad Colter, Shoshone-Bannock Fish and Wildlife director after the presentations. (Photo GYC/Emmy Reed)

Termaine Edmo, Blackfeet Nation Climate Change Coordinator, shared the impacts climate change is having on the Blackfeet community and how they are responding. Termaine emphasized the connection between humans and the landscape, remarking, “what happens to the land happens to us.” One way the Blackfeet Nation is mitigating the impacts of climate change is through the Ksik Stakii Project – humans learning from and mimicking beavers by building dam structures on the landscape. Tribal youth and traditionalists spend time on rivers and streams, drawing upon Blackfeet creation stories, bringing spirit back into the water, and providing a sense of identity for participants.   

The panel wrapped up with Jordan Thompson, deputy executive officer of Special Projects & Planning for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Jordan shared how federal laws play into self-determination of Indigenous communities and the implications for resource management. On the Flathead Reservation, the Cultural Waterways Ordinance designated a stretch of the Lower Flathead River as an area of high cultural importance to the tribes. Like the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, this ordinance protects the free-flowing nature of the river and its cultural values, which is an important tool for protecting water and promoting Indigenous self-determination. 

All told, this was a meeting of many incredible minds brought together by the concept of reverence – reverence for the ecosystem, the land, wildlife, water, and people of Greater Yellowstone. To me, reverence involves a deep feeling of love, and in this context, love of place and love of homeland. Love, of course, requires being in relationship. But I would posit that for so many Indigenous and non-tribal activists working on water, climate change, and other conservation issues, the type of feeling that motivates us to action comes from a sense of intimacy with a landscape. 

Intimacy is a relationship on another level. When we are intimate with a place, we feel it and we know it like we know ourselves. There is no separation; we are one with it. Whether we look to international examples of Indigenous people granting legal rights to rivers, or we choose to elevate Traditional Ecological Knowledge’s role in supporting climate adaptation and understanding the value of keystone species like beaver, in all examples, a common theme of this panel spoke to the need to always begin each process with reverence. 

—Charles Drimal, Deputy Director of Conservation

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is the land of 49+ Indigenous Tribes who maintain current and ancestral connections to the lands, waters, wildlife, plants, and more.