WISCONSIN – As a climate change specialist with the Forest Service Northern Research Station, I often get asked to talk about what gives me hope. These questions sometimes take different forms like “What keeps you getting out of bed every morning?” or “How do you stay positive?” After ten years working in outreach and science delivery on the world’s thorniest environmental issue, I understand why people are compelled to ask. People are worried. They’re scared about what the future will bring. They’re wondering if the world we’re passing to future generations is still salvageable.

Until recently, my reply to these questions would have been focused on the resilience of the natural world. Forests are tough and resilient, and our planet has a remarkable capacity to heal itself. I’m the kind of person who took great comfort in the long view, as presented in the book “The World Without Us,” so my underlying message was usually, “If we can just reduce some of the harm we’re doing to ecosystems and shrink our environmental footprint, most things will continue to cope with a changing climate.”

I haven’t entirely abandoned this notion, but my work in recent years also reminded me that we humans are more than just passengers on planet Earth, and we don’t have to view ourselves only as agents of environmental harm. What helped change my mindset? Getting out and learning from people who see the world differently!

In my work with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, a multi-organizational partnership led by the Forest Service, I’ve been fortunate to spend an increasing amount of my time working with partners from tribal communities and organizations. One recent outcome of this work is Dibaginjigaadeg Anishinaabe Ezhitwaad - A Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu. This product was the result of a large team, including folks from the Forest Service and NIACS alongside the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, 1854 Treaty Authority, Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, College of Menominee Nation and others. Our goal was to express climate change adaptation concepts through Ojibwe and Menominee perspectives and culture. Now our team is fortunate to be able to work with tribes from around the country to help integrate indigenous and traditional knowledge into climate adaptation efforts.

This work with tribal communities has added a new dimension to my thinking on climate adaptation. It’s also given me new reasons to be hopeful about how our agency can be part of the solution. Some of the key concepts that underpin our climate adaptation work with tribal communities, such as the importance of relationships, respect and reciprocity, are also reminders that humans have an active - and positive – role to play in helping ecosystems cope with the changes that lie ahead. The recently announced USDA-DOI Tribal Homelands Initiative is an opportunity to reflect indigenous perspectives and priorities more directly in our work as an agency.

Working with tribes as co-stewards of public lands will be a learning experience for all of us, but I think it will help us leave the places we manage in better shape for the challenges of tomorrow.