Montana tribes combine traditional knowledge and Western science in climate plan

Mike Durglo Jr. has devoted his life to preparing his home and his people for climate change. As the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes climate change coordinator he wrote one of the first tribal climate action plans in the country over 15 years ago. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

NPR is dedicating a week to stories and conversations about how communities are moving forward on climate solutions despite significant political headwinds. As the federal government halts plans to address climate change, states, cities, regions, and even neighborhoods are trying to fill the gap by cutting climate pollution and adapting to extreme weather.

RONAN, Montana — On a crisp April morning, Mike Durglo Jr. stood on a hillside overlooking a stretch of the 1.2-million-acre Flathead Indian Reservation — the home of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. He pointed out the mountains where his father taught him how to track deer, and then to a peak in the distance where a lone whitebark pine stands against the snow.

He calls the tree Ilawya: "It means my great, great, great, grandparent," he said, explaining how the massive, ancient tree represents resilience in the face of change.

Montana, like much of the west, had a record-breaking warm spring this year, with snowpack well below average across much of the state. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

Warmer temperatures, beetle outbreaks, and an invasive fungus have killed half the population of the sacred trees since the 1990s . But whitebark pines are a symbol of hope to Durglo. The Tribes have been harvesting cones from healthy trees to regrow seedlings resistant to the fungus. Restoring whitebark pine forests will also help keep snow on the landscape longer and stave off drought and wildfires.

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Durglo is inextricably tied to this landscape; his ancestors have lived on this land for centuries. He's devoted his life to preparing his home and his people for climate change.

Greenhouse manager Matthew Ogden inspects the whitebark pine seedlings at the Forestry Tribal Nursery. The Tribes have been harvesting cones from healthy trees to regrow seedlings resistant to the deadly fungus. Restoring whitebark pine forests will also help keep snow on the landscape longer and stave of drought and wildfires. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

At the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' Department of Forestry Nursery they are working to propagate whitebark pine trees. Warmer temperatures, beetle outbreaks and an invasive fungus have killed half the population of the sacred trees since the 1990s. The Tribes have been harvesting cones from healthy trees to regrow seedlings resistant to the fungus. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

Building climate resilience with limited state, federal support

Durglo has been the tribes' climate change coordinator for nearly 20 years; he wrote one of the first tribal climate action plans in the country over 15 years ago. Tribes, cities, and some states have created these plans to map out actions they can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to a warming world.

Until recently, Montana even had a climate plan that was drafted in the early 2000s, but under the current Republican governor , it's been shelved, and some projects have been abandoned. Montana lawmakers also passed legislation that bars the state from regulating planet-warming emissions, unless the federal government does so first.

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But as sovereign nations, tribes can move forward with climate action even when state efforts have stalled, and federal funding has been severely cut.

The current Trump administration has halted federal funding for many renewable energy projects. Durglo and the tribes received a $20 million grant from the Biden-era Solar for All program, which was canceled earlier this year.

Durglo is no stranger to the ebbs and flows of federal dollars and has always pieced together funding from multiple sources, including state government, nonprofits, and federal agencies, to carry out climate work. That's just what Durglo intends to keep doing.

Durglo ensured that Traditional Ecological Knowledge was woven throughout every facet of the climate plan. The plan outlines how the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are preparing for a warming world that includes longer wildfire seasons, heat waves, drought, and shrinking snowpack. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

Heading into the projected hot, dry summer, Durglo is particularly worried about wildfires. Smoke from as far as Canada, Washington, and Oregon can blow in and settle over the reservation, which sits in a glacially carved valley. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

A holistic approach to building resilience

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' plan maps out myriad projects, including wind energy development, water conservation efforts, and ecosystem restoration to improve climate resilience. This year, the plan is focusing on reducing wildfire risk and creating safe havens from smoky air for the reservation's 33,000 residents.

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"It's really hard for me and for a lot of people to even come up with a list of priorities, because it's, it's all a priority. It all impacts us. It's all connected," Durglo said.

"You can't say, well, the grizzly bear is the most important, or the eagle is most important, or the salmon or the trout, or whatever, because everything depends on everything else."

Durglo has shared his approach and successes with other tribes across the West; he served as the chairman of the Environmental Protection Agency's Regional Tribal Operations Committee . Durglo led the group and climate planning workshops for tribes in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and the Dakotas.

The U.S. government returned management of the National Bison Range to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in 2022. The roughly 19,000-acre range sits in the center of the Flathead Reservation and is home to a herd of 350 bison. The Tribes are working to restore the grassland ecosystem that was once the bison's habitat Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

Bison play a critical role in maintaining healthy ecosystems. Yet, their populations have been devastated by historical overhunting by European settlers and habitat loss. On the Flathead Reservation, leaders are working to restore the animals and the habitat to its traditional balance. Bison graze selectively over large areas, which helps to promote plant diversity by leaving some vegetation untouched. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

A decade of climate work

Durglo recognizes that Indigenous people have been caring for the natural world long before the term "climate change" existed. Durglo said he and other tribal leaders share knowledge about how to help communities grow more resilient and restore a healthy ecosystem.

"That's what they'll say … 'Oh yeah, we've been doing that for 20 years, now you're calling it climate change,'" Durglo said.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have seen some traction in key climate projects, Durglo said. For one, he has organized training sessions to help people build affordable and effective DIY air filters for wildfire smoke season. The Tribes are also working to restore streams for bull trout, remove invasive species, and revive native fish populations.

Durglo and other members of the advisory committee update the Tribes' climate action plan every three years to reflect the most pressing issues. They're in the midst of the latest update and are adding a focus on wildfire smoke.

This year Montana, like much of the West , had a record-breaking warm spring with snowpack well below average across much of the state . Heading into the projected hot, dry summer, Durglo is particularly worried about wildfires. Smoke from as far as Canada, Washington, and Oregon can blow in and settle over the reservation, which sits in a glacially carved valley.

Durglo spent the last several years putting up air quality sensors across the reservation. The sensors have been placed in people's homes, in schools, and in outdoor locations. They're part of a freely available global network that gathers real-time air quality measurements. Durglo also helped local schools join the EPA's program to fly colored flags corresponding to air quality, such as red when the air is unhealthy.

A Western Meadowlark perches on a sign where visitors can drive a loop through the National Bison Range. The sign is surrounded by unseasonably dry grasses near the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' Bison Range. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

"What that data has shown us is that there are days when it's really smoky out where your air quality inside your building is almost as bad or worse than it is outside," Durglo said.

Durglo has designated several buildings that already have effective filtration systems as "clean air centers." This summer, the Tribes will open three centers to serve the reservation's six towns. Much of this work was funded by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and a local nonprofit called Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate.

Mary Anderson, the wildfire smoke coordinator for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, says what Durglo is doing is a model for other rural communities.

"There's enough research now that says we've got to start looking at air quality, because it's affecting every part of our lives," Anderson said. "And I feel like Mike is on the cutting edge of that."

Durglo sits in the Salish Kootenai College's Extension Office where he pets the office mascot, a dog named Keillor. Durglo spent the last several years putting up air quality sensors across the reservation including one in this office. They're part of a freely available global network, gathering real-time measurements of air quality. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

Sharing knowledge with other tribes

The Blackfeet Nation sits in northern Montana, where the mountains meet the prairie. Gerald Wagner is the director of the Blackfeet Environmental Office. He enlisted Durglo's help to create the Tribe's climate plan in 2017.

"I had a very general, wide concept of climate change, and didn't really know how to focus that in, until [Durglo and I] sat down and really talked," Wagner said.

Wagner drew from several aspects of Durglo's climate plan and added elements relevant to the Blackfeet Nation — such as reintroducing beavers and engineering similar dam structures to keep water on the landscape longer despite earlier spring snowmelt.

With cuts to federal funding for climate work , Wagner says collaborations like theirs are all the more critical.

The sun sets over Flathead Lake on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Durglo said he and other leaders are doing their best to prepare for an uncertain future, and he's working to share successful climate approaches as far and wide as possible. "I want my great, great, great grandkids to say my Papa started this," he said. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

"Knowledge, once learned, cannot be taken away," Wagner said. Federal funds may completely disappear, he said, but "it's not going to take away the truth, and we have that knowledge now, and we will continue on our path to protect what's out there."