Dianna Hunt
ICT
The United Houma Nation of Louisiana – battered by hurricanes and rising sea levels that are threatening their homelands – will receive more than $56 million in federal funding for special projects aimed at building coastal resilience to climate change.
The funding, announced Friday, July 26, by the U.S. Department of Commerce, will help the tribe fund its Hazard Mitigation and Tribal Resilience Plan as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge.
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The award to the Houma Nation is among $59.8 million awarded to three projects in Louisiana to help make the state’s coastline more resilient to climate change. Additional funding in Louisiana includes nearly $2 million to the ByWater Institute at Tulane University and $1.2 million to the New Orleans Community Support Foundation.
“As part of this historic investment in our nation’s climate resilience, the Biden-Harris Administration is investing $59.8 million to help underserved communities in Louisiana develop and implement new strategies to protect themselves from flooding, storm surge, and extreme weather events,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement released Friday.
Principal Chief Lora Ann Chaisson of the United Houma Nation told a crowd gathered for an afternoon press conference that the funding is for the future.
“This is not for me,” Chaisson told the crowd. “It’s not for my generation. It’s for the younger generation. This is going to impact the future for the younger generations.”
Tribal leaders said they worked closely in partnership with the Community Resilience Center at The Water Institute, the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the law offices of Michael J. Billiot and the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability to win approval for the federal funding.
The grant will serve the United Houma Nation and residents in six Louisiana parishes (the equivalent to a county in Louisiana ) – Lafourche, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Mary, St. Bernard and Terrebonne.
Republican U.S. Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana said the funding will help protect the communities.Republican U.S. Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana said the funding will help protect the community.
“We are excited about this investment in the United Houma Nation community,” Graves said in a statement released by the Department of Commerce.
“The historical area of the tribe is one of the most vulnerable in the nation,” he said. “These funds will help to protect the connectivity of the tribe’s members, economy, and culture. Importantly, this is an investment in the safety and resilience of the region that complements hundreds of millions of dollars of other project funding we’ve secured to protect South Louisiana.”
The Biden administration’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge is a $575-million effort aimed at making coastal communities more resilient to climate change as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Houma tribal citizens are among tens of thousands of Indigenous people facing widespread devastation from climate change, ranging from flooding, hurricanes and rising sea levels along coastal areas and waterways to unprecedented drought, wildfires, heat and depleted waterways in the Southwest and Plains. Many are being forced to relocate.
The United Houma Nation, which has fought for years for federal recognition, has no official tribal territories, but its 19,000 citizens are concentrated in southeastern Louisiana in six parishes, the Louisiana equivalent of counties. Most live in the areas around the towns of Dulac, Jean Lafitte and Houma, named in the 1830s for the tribe.
Nearly 11,000 Houma citizens suffered damage when Hurricane Ida pushed ashore near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on Aug. 29, 2021 — 16 years to the day that Hurricane Katrina struck the Louisiana coast. A number of tribal citizens – particularly elders – said they likely would relocate to other areas to escape the constant threats of storms and floods.
The tribe’s Hazard Mitigation and Tribal Resilience Plan is designed to address impacts from increased storm activity and sea level rise by bolstering resilience through cultural, environmental, economic and emergency responses, according to the press release.
According to federal officials, the five phases of the plan include efforts to enhance a central community hub, establish hubs in satellite communities, strengthen and expand communications, build capacity for economic development and provide guidance for migration.
Other Louisiana projects receiving funding include one by the ByWater Institute aimed at community-based regional planning and governing to address impacts from storms and sea level rise. It would also set up a regional collaborative that would include tribal leaders.
The funding to the New Orleans Community Support Foundation will support what is described as a “holistic, adaptive water management vision centered on the leadership of Black, Indigenous and people of color communities.”
The Climate-Ready Coasts initiative is administered by the Department of Commerce and NOAA.
“Equitably and effectively strengthening a community’s ability to address climate change means enabling the leadership of those who have been most affected by climate impacts, and actively working with them to address these impacts,” NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said in a statement. “This funding provides Louisiana communities with the resources that empower local leaders, building their capacity for coordination and resilience now and into the future.”
*Update: This story has been updated to include comments from an afternoon press conference held by tribal leaders.
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