Kristi Eaton
The Daily Yonder
A study from the University of Oklahoma showed that tribal lands in the state face higher rates of heavy rainfall and floods and Indigenous populations are the most vulnerable to the conditions.
The study looked at the 39 tribal nations in Oklahoma and examined heavy rainfall, two-year floods and flash floods. Based on the report, these events were expected to increase in risks for tribal nations.
“We urge proper attention … to address climate injustice issues as a whole with the acknowledgment of their distinct relationships to their homelands as sovereign peoples,” the report stated.
Theresa Tsoodle, an enrolled member of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, worked on the study. Tsoodle said the study looks at sacred sites for Tribal Nations along with population data.
Population data “is notoriously unreliable due to under- and over-reporting,” she told the Daily Yonder in a Zoom interview.
The study found that heavy rainfall in Indigenous communities in Oklahoma was projected to increase by more than 500 percent, two-year floods by more than 630 percent and flash floods by nearly 300 percent.
“Those risks are 68 percent, 64.3 percent, and 64 percent higher than the state average for the general population, respectively,” the study said.
Tsoodle had earlier said that one reason flooding is worse for tribal communities is that citizens and members live in what some may deem undesirable locations.
“We’re on these lands where the soil might be poor, and wetlands — that would help drain surface water — are missing,” she said.
James LeClair is the emergency manager for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma, which has lands located in the north-central part of the state. He said the nation has seen a lot of change over the years on its land.
“The changes in the environment from species of animals and insects have changed,” he wrote in an email. “The changes of the environment are changed from man-made issues as well, such as fracking. The fracking has put the rivers in a place where it is hard to fish. I do not know anyone who fished the rivers due to the high salt content. The water issue has also caused many water wells to be contaminated. Water is the most crucial to a person for sustained living.”
He has been reviewing grant funding to do analysis and scoping.
“By analyzing the soil, [it] will help in seeing why [the] species of trees are not growing anywhere,” he said. “The scoping will also look at plant life for better air quality that may impact the area for helping the ecosystem.”
LeClair said he has started applying for grants for nature-based solutions and flood plain management from FEMA. FEMA’s website details nature-based grant programs designed to restore community infrastructure, increase resilience and reduce risk.
For example, a study shared by FEMA relates how the grant was awarded to a California community to store critical water supplies underground in an existing natural aquifer by constructing a 200-acre recharge basin.
In another instance, in the remote Alaskan community of Kwigillingok, a project was geared toward moving or elevating homes to save them from melting permafrost, increased flooding and severe erosion caused by climate change..
LeClair said that climate change is affecting not just Indigenous communities in Oklahoma.
“It is impacting the world,” he said. “We must make changes now. I think of grandchildren and yes, my babies. I want to leave them a world that was better than I came into. We do not have another world to move to.”
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality referred questions to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A representative from the EPA said they could not comment on studies conducted outside of the agency.
