Climate Resilience Planning for Indigenous Self-Governance
Project Summary
Integral Consulting partnered with the Uchucklesaht Tribe Government to develop a comprehensive climate vulnerability assessment and action plan, supporting the nation’s return to ancestral lands while safeguarding cultural keystone species for future generations.
Location: Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
Uchucklesaht’s Climate Action Hiłmihsaqin (Vision)
Integral was just one of many contributors to this climate action plan.
Read the full report here: Uchucklesaht Tribe Government Climate Action Plan April 2025
Key Personnel
Matthew Jamieson Consultant
David L. Revell, Ph.D. Principal, Coastal Climate Risk and Resilience
A First Nation preparing for climate challenges while reclaiming sovereignty over traditional territory.
UTG faced a complex challenge: develop a comprehensive climate action plan that would both reduce emissions and build resilience to climate impacts, while remaining deeply rooted in traditional values and governance structure.
As a self-governing First Nation under the Maa-nulth Treaty, UTG needed technical expertise to assess climate vulnerabilities and develop actionable strategies, and ensuring that the plan authentically reflected community voices and the sacred principles of Hishuk’ish tsawalk (everything is one), Iisaak (respect), and Uu-a-thluk (taking care of).
Our Role
Integrating climate science with Indigenous knowledge to create culturally-grounded adaptation strategies.
Integral Consulting developed the technical and scientific backbone of this year-long planning process, providing interpretation of climate and ecosystem models and a framework for UTG to make informed, strategic decisions on adaptation planning.
Our multidisciplinary team provided:
- Climate vulnerability assessment examining risks to valued ecosystems, infrastructure, and community wellbeing
- Ecosystem impact assessment for culturally significant species including salmon, western redcedar, and understory plants
- A framework for adaptation planning that aligned with community values.
In the long run, if we are going to be successful, we need a vision that goes beyond humans. We need a vision that goes multiple generations into the future, and we really need to write out a plan to make this possible.
UTG Tribal Citizen
What We Delivered
A comprehensive climate vulnerability assessment and adaptation plan using a nature-based approach to climate change adaptation.
Working closely with UTG’s Lands and Resources Department, we interpreted input from community outreach events and the Nation’s vision into a technical roadmap for climate change adaptation
Key Technical Contributions:
Climate Science Translation: Our team analyzed regional climate change projections for UTG’s treaty settlement lands, finding:
- Water temperatures in critical salmon habitat could exceed the critical temperature threshold of 20°C by 2070
- Western redcedar will face increasing drought stress, with potential dieback events accelerating towards 2070
- The community faces heightened risks from coastal flooding, with many homes and critical infrastructure at risk by 2100.
Ecosystem Vulnerability Analysis: We interpreted detailed habitat suitability modes to assess how climate change would impact cultural keystone species. This included analyzing salmonids, forest composition, and understory plant distributions under various climate scenarios.
The Result
UTG now has the technical foundation to protect what matters most.
UTG used our vulnerability assessment as the scientific foundation for their comprehensive climate action plan, which was adopted in 2025. The plan establishes clear adaptation priorities that directly address the climate impacts we identified.
Immediate Actions to Protect Keystone Species
- Installing climate and marine monitoring stations to track the changes we projected
- Addressing rising stream temperatures through riparian restoration in critical salmon habitat
- Developing forestry policy to maintain diverse, heterogeneous landscapes that sequester carbon and support forest health
- Mapping forest cover and establishing carbon sequestration targets across the 3,067-hectare territory.
Building Community Resilience
- Creating youth involvement programs that connect the next generation to traditional stewardship practices
- Developing heat safety programs and cooling centers to address the health impacts of increasing heatwaves
- Upgrading coastal protection and studying sea level rise impacts to Hucuktlis Lake
- Implementing wildfire risk reduction programs in response to projected increases in fire weather.
Long-term Transformation
- Establishing a salmon hatchery to enhance populations of climate-vulnerable species
- Employing nature-based strategies (clam gardens, living driftwood levees) to improve coastal resilience
- Developing sustainable businesses in clean energy and food security
- Pursuing authority over entire watershed management to enable landscape-scale adaptation
Integral’s vulnerability assessment provided UTG with the scientific credibility and detailed projections needed to pursue funding for critical adaptation projects, including renewable energy systems, coastal protection studies, and ecosystem monitoring infrastructure.
Most importantly, it provides UTG with the technical foundation to pursue their vision of managing their entire watersheds to ensure ecosystem resilience for future generations.
Key Project Highlights
- Territory Size: 3,076-hectare treaty settlement lands on Vancouver Island’s west coast
- Cultural Focus: Protection of salmon, western redcedar, and traditional food plants central to tribal identity
- Climate Modeling: CMIP-6 projections through 2100 across multiple emission scenarios
- Methodology: “Two-eyed seeing” approach integrating Western science with Indigenous knowledge systems