Climate Vulnerability
What is a Climate Vulnerability Assessment?
Overview
The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho conducted a climate vulnerability assessment and environmental planning process from fall of 2024 through summer 2025. Findings from this assessment were used to develop an updated Environmental Plan to guide the Tribe’s future programs and to identify and explore areas of vulnerability.
Process
Multiple factors are reviewed to determine which human, plant, and animal systems are at risk due to climate change including the probability of a climate hazard occurring and the magnitude of consequence if that hazard occurs.
A single climate driver may have multiple impacts and may affect people and species differently. For example, increased heat may have impacts on land, health, and infrastructure. These impacts affect people and species at varying rates. High heat events may have greater impact on health for children and elders than it has on the general population:
It has been determined that children and the elderly have a greater health risk from high heat, and that high heat events are projected to increase. This projected change in weather patterns signals a potential action to be included in the Environmental plan. In this example, we would outline a plan for cooling centers during high heat events.
The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho has already implemented many projects and programs that will support the Tribe’s long-term resilience to climate change. Some of these risks are already being addressed by work the Tribe is doing. For example, river restoration projects will help aquatic species better adapt to increased temperature trends. These strengths are taken into account in the Climate Vulnerability Assessment and help to prioritize actions where the Tribe has not already made significant progress.
The seasons tell the story of how climate change will impact plants, animals, and people throughout the region. Click StoryMap to read and see these impacts.
All living beings within Ktunaxa Territory may be impacted as the climate continues to change. The climate vulnerability assessment completed tells the story of how this may affect plants, animals, and people throughout the region. See that story here: Kootenai Tribe of Idaho Climate StoryMap
