Tribal Climate Leaders Program supports students in bringing science home
Article from the
Wednesday, May 22, 2024​
Shelby Ross is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and for years she searched for a way to combine her passion for science with giving back to her tribe. After completing a master’s degree in environmental science and engineering, she worked for the Tribe’s natural resources department, where she learned about its first-ever climate adaptation plan.Ěý
A personal passion for climate change led Ross to dive deeply into the plan, and she quickly found areas for improvement: The report lacked sections looking at how climate impacts the health of the Tribe’s members. She was inspired to find a way to dig into the topic — a PhD was the obvious way forward.Ěý
“I had a really broad idea of what I wanted to do, which was to look at climate change and health for tribal communities in the Great Plains Region,” Ross said. “I wanted to learn tools and skills that I could later give back to my community.”Ěý
Today, Ross is a PhD student studying geography and environmental health at CU Boulder, and she credits theĚý) for turning her research idea into practical information her tribe can use.Ěý
Ěýpiloted TCLP in 2020 as a partnership between several entities: CIRES, the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Engineering, and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies. The program aimed to provide science education and research opportunities for Indigenous students while supporting the integration of their new knowledge and experience with their tribes and on their reservations.Ěý
“It was really important for us to create a program that would give students the flexibility to design their own research projects so that the research would be useful in the students’ home communities,” said Heather Yocum, TCLP program coordinator, and NC CASC social science lead.Ěý
TCLP has supported four students. Two, William Crawford (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) and Ida Clarke (Oglala Lakota), graduated with master's degrees in 2022; Ross expects to complete her PhD in 2025. A fourth student, Violet Eagle (Sicangu Lakota), was a professional research assistant in Ecology and Environmental Biology professor Nichole Barger’s lab and is now pursuing a master’s degree in soil sciences at North Dakota State University.Ěý
Crawford studied environmental studies while working with former CIRES Fellow Lisa Dilling and Clint Carroll, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and an associate professor of ethnic studies at CU Boulder. As a TCLP fellow, Crawford blended science with his Dakota Tribal cultural knowledge while researching a threatened plant species that is culturally important to his tribe, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate.Ěý
°ä°ů˛ą·É´Ú´Ç°ů»ĺ’sĚýwhere he interviewed tribal elders and spent time digging in the dirt to learn more aboutĚýáą«ĂpsiĹ‹na (Dakota) orĚýPsoralea esculenta (scientific). He found climate change, overharvesting, and loss of traditional knowledge of the plant over time led to the plant's decline. He successfully defended his thesis in 2022.
“As far as I know I am the first, or one of the first, Oglala Sioux Tribal members to conduct climate change research on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation that involves the feedback of the tribal members.”- Shelby Ross, Oglala Sioux, TCLP Fellow
Ross is beginning to analyze results from her interviews with elders and the surveys she collected on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.Ěý
Her PhD research focuses on type 2 diabetes and how the disease is being impacted by extreme weather events induced by climate change.Ěý. Her initial questions focused on extreme weather events, like hail storms, extreme winds, and blizzards. Then she probed deeper, seeking to understand if these events create barriers to healthcare and food access. When interviewing Pine Ridge Indian Reservation elders, she documented the reservation changes they’ve witnessed over their lifetimes, including ecological, landscape, and resource changes.Ěý
“There is limited Native American-led climate change research that focuses on Native American communities in general, and of those studies, there is even less that focus on the potential of climate impacts to Native American Health,” Ross said. “As far as I know I am the first, or one of the first, Oglala Sioux Tribal members to conduct climate change research on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation that involves the feedback of the tribal members.”
Ross credits TCLP and her advisor Colleen Reid, CU Boulder associate professor of geography, and Clint Carroll with helping focus her research. What started as a broad idea — connecting environmental health impacts to climate change — became a deeper exploration of how colonization and historical trauma lead to ongoing health disparities and how climate change exacerbates these issues.ĚýĚý
“Ross’ research addresses critical questions and needs within her community in ways that honor tribal sovereignty and center Indigenous knowledge,” Carroll said. “This is the value and promise of the TCLP now and into the future, as we seek support to continue this important program: To provide insight on pressing issues that Indigenous nations confront by merging CU Boulder’s climate science programs and resources with the lived experiences, knowledge, and relationships that Indigenous students bring to the research process.”Ěý
TCLP has yet to welcome its second cohort but will continue to support Ross through the end of her research. Heather Yocum is collaborating with the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies at CU to find additional funding for the program to welcome future cohorts of students.Ěý
“Through my experience with TCLP I’ve become an expert in my area of study,” Ross said. “I feel that I’m much more equipped to reach my goals of providing practical climate action projects that can help minimize the felt impacts of climate change for my home Tribal community.”Ěý