The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Branch of Tribal Climate Resilience (TCR) was established in 2011 to enable Tribal and BIA Office of Trust Services Programs to incorporate climate considerations into their programs' planning and decision-making. The TCR’s purpose is to fulfill trust responsibility to Federally recognized Tribal Nations by supporting and building Tribal capacity for climate resilience efforts through both technical and financial assistance. That financial assistance includes the TCR Annual Awards Program in which over 700 awards have been distributed totaling more than $74 million as of September 24th, 2021. The TCR has funded over 250 adaptation plans and vulnerability and risk assessments over the last 11 years. Tribes can leverage TCR programs to further support their existing operations, program planning, project design, as well as incorporate Indigenous and Traditional Knowledges into their management and protection of Trust resources and Tribal economies.

Due to the availability of TCR awards and other funding, many Tribes now have climate adaptation plans. Thus, both TCR and Tribes are at a new stage compared to a decade ago and have new needs related to implementation of climate adaptation and resiliency projects. This assessment aims to evaluate the effectiveness of TCR’s Annual Awards Program and technical assistance and incorporate direct Tribal input to meet Tribal needs and priorities. To provide more effective assistance to Tribal communities moving forward; BIA staff, in partnership with staff from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), interviewed 16 Tribal employees to gather their feedback on their approaches to climate adaptation as well as their experiences with TCR services. This report aims to summarize guidance from participating Tribes to inform future changes to BIA TCR.