Download Teaching Notes: Impacts of Global Climate Change on Tribes in

Teaching Notes
Impacts of Global Climate Change on Tribes in Washington
Part 2 Impacts on Salmon
By
Robert S. Cole1
Issues/Topics Case Includes:
This case is the second of a two-part series that was designed for each part to be completed within
a fifty-minute class period. It was designed to raise awareness of the threats to coastal and Puget
Sound Tribes that have land adjacent to these bodies of water, and depend on the salmon whose
life cycle is so connected with the rivers and streams that flow into Puget Sound and coastal
regions. The case is based upon the scientific reality of global climate change, and the topics
include the projected impact of climate change on the hydrological cycle in Washington State.
These impacts will have a major impact on the salmon life cycle by making the rivers and streams
less hospitable to the anadromous fish that have been in this region for thousands of years. The
impacts on salmon will have direct effect on coastal and Puget Sound Tribes that have interacted
with salmon for thousands of years. The case is based upon research, field measurements and
thinking of many local scientists in various state agencies, and in the University of Washington
Climate Impacts Group http://cses.washington.edu/cig/ (accessed May 20, 2011). The conclusions
of multiple scientists concur on the following points: (1) temperatures are rising throughout the
Pacific Northwest, including stream temperatures, and increased water temperature is potentially
fatal to salmonids; (2) winter seasons are apt to see more rain, with less snowfall in the mountains;
(3) summer seasons are apt to see a dramatic decline in stream and river flow because of decreased
summer precipitation, and decreased snowpack in the mountains; (4) flooding and scouring in
streams during the winter season is likely to increase, with potential major impact on salmon
redds; (5) the alteration of the existing hydrological cycle will affect salmon, agriculture,
hydropower generation, and drinking water availability throughout the region. The need for Tribes
to be paying attention to the potential impact of global climate change on salmon is obvious.
Learning Objectives:
Students will:
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Understand that there is clear scientific evidence that humans are significantly affecting the
Earth’s climate.
Understand the current data trends in winter snowpack accumulation, stream water
temperatures, and in spring runoff dates.
Rob Cole is a member of the faculty at The Evergreen State College. This material is based upon work supported by
the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0817624.Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Science Foundation. Copyright held by The Evergreen State College. Please use appropriate attribution
when using and quoting this case. Cases are available at the Enduring Legacies Native Cases website at
http://www.evergreen.edu/tribal/cases/
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Understand that the hydrological projections for the remainder of the century are that
stream temperatures will rise above historical values in the twentieth-century.
Understand that the hydrological projections for the remainder of the century are for
decreased snowpack in the Cascade Mountains.
Understand that the hydrological projections for the remainder of the century are increased
rainfall during the winter season, along with decreased rainfall during the summer season.
Understand that this decreased summer stream flow will exacerbate the stream water
temperature rise due to increased air temperatures.
Understand that increased rain during the winter will result in increased flooding of
streams and rivers, with the related impact on salmon eggs deposited in redds in stream
gravels.
Be able to describe the impacts of climate change on the different stages of the salmon life
cycle.
Intended Audience: This case is intended for lower division college undergraduate students. It is
suitable for almost any class that is looking for an introduction to climate change impacts on some
of the Tribes in Washington State.
Implementation:
This case was also designed as a ‘clicker’ case, to be used in conjunction with an interruptedlecture format, or an interrupted-workshop format. The clickers allow students to select responses
from an array presented them, and to electronically record their responses. The clicker software
allows the instructor to immediate feedback regarding student understanding of the array of
questions the instructor poses for the students, or to have students participate in a decision-making
process, or to have the students vote on some issue. The aggregated student responses are useful
measures of student understanding or sentiment, and enable the instructor to adapt presentation
content to the topics about which the students may be exhibiting some confusion. This case has
clicker questions scattered throughout the case as material is presented, and again as a concluding
set of questions. This affords the instructor the opportunity to assess the “before-and-after” levels
of understanding each student had.
Excellent background on clicker cases can be found at in an article by Clyde F. Herreid (Herreid,
C.F., 2006, “’Clicker’ Cases,” Journal of College Science Teaching 36(2): 43-47).
This case is the second of two parts regarding the impacts of global climate change on Tribes in
Washington State. The focus here is on the effects of climate change on the salmon life-cycle.
My intent in this case was to make students aware that global climate change is already having an
effect on the hydrology of the Pacific Northwest. The alteration of the existing hydrology will
have serious consequences for salmon (to say nothing of agriculture, hydropower generation, and
drinking water availability). Rising air and water temperatures, increased winter rains with
attendant scouring and flooding of streambeds, decreased summer stream flows coupled with
rising air and water temperatures all spell trouble for salmon and the salmon life cycle.
This case presumes the students have a minimal awareness of the salmon life cycle, but the case
affords a superb opportunity to study in more depth the effects of stream hydrology on the wellbeing of salmonids. Excellent resources on the salmon life-cycle are the books by Bell and by
Quinn listed in the Reference section below.
This case is intended as an introduction to some of the climate change implications for the Tribes
of Washington State. Part 1 was designed to be offered in a fifty-minute class session. Part 2 was
designed for a second fifty-minute class session. Both parts are obviously not an in-depth survey
of climate change science, or climate change policy, or what various Tribes are doing with their
adaptation and mitigation plans.
Related Cases. There are numerous related cases in our collection to use along with this case on
climate change. There is a series of cases we call our salmon series.
The Salmon Series includes Ancestral Roots and Changing Landscapes: The Impact of Seattle’s
Development on the Salish People of Central Puget Sound; Native Fishing Practices and
Dissolved Oxygen in Hood Canal; River Flow for Riparian Health; Co-Management of Puget
Sound Salmon; Salmon contamination on the Columbia River; Salmon Habitat: The Culvert Case
and the Power of Treaties; The Restoration of the Elwha River: Tribal Rights and the Role of
Cost-Benefit Analysis; Cole Impacts of Global Climate Change on Tribes in Washington: Part 1
Sea-Level Rise & Part 2 Impacts on Salmon.
In addition there are other cases on climate change that include “Addressing Climate Change at
the Tribal Level” about the Swinomish Tribe, “Climate Change Implications for the Quileute and
Hoh Tribes,” “Is Your Tribal Land Secure?” about the Quileute and Hoh tribes, “Silak: Ice and
Consciousness: The Arctic and Climate Change” and “What are the Prospects for Energy Futures
on Tribal Lands?”
Each of these cases has a rich array of resources and references that are very suitable for further
student investigation, or student research projects.
Discussion Questions:
1. What is the scientific evidence that climate change is real?
2. What are the data trends from the twentieth-century to the present regarding stream water
temperatures?; of dates of spring runoff?; of projected frequency of ’20-year’ floods?
3. What are the projections for the remainder of the twenty-first century regarding maximum
weekly stream temperatures?; of winter snowpack?; of winter and summer precipitation?
4. What will be the potential effects of each of the above on the salmon cycle?
5. What are the potential effects of the disruption of the salmon life cycle on the Tribes in the
region?
6. What steps might federal, state and local governments take to assist the Tribes to help
offset warmer stream water temperatures in the summer?
7. What steps might federal, state and local governments take to assist the Tribes to help
offset increased flooding during the winter?
8. If humans are causing much of the global warming that we are observing, what should
humans be doing to reduce their greenhouse gas production?
9. What measures can the Tribes take to educate the rest of society about the threats to the
salmon life cycle that climate change poses?
Questions for Further Research:
1. Which species are most likely to be adversely affected by the projected warmer stream
water temperatures in late summer? Explain in detail.
2. Which species are most likely to be adversely affected by increased stream flooding during
the winter season? Explain in detail.
References
Excellent documents regarding climate change in general, and the potential effects on the
hydrology of streams and rivers in Washington in particular, can be found at the website of the
Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington http://cses.washington.edu/cig/ (accessed
May 20, 2011). Information, research results, and data bases are constantly changing, and this site,
along with the IPCC site (IPCC 2007, below) are among the most credible. Other excellent groups
that have working groups dealing with climate change and/or salmon are:
National Congress of American Indians, http://www.ncai.org/
Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, http://nwifc.org/
The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, http://www.atnitribes.org/
Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, http://www.critfc.org/
The National Tribal Environmental Council, http://www.ntec.org/
Wild Salmon Center, http://www.wildsalmoncenter.org/
Ecotrust, http://www.ecotrust.org/
Two excellent books describing many features of the salmon life cycle are Bell 1996 and Quinn
2005, both listed below.
There are many, many books regarding human impact and dependence on salmon, but some that I
have used in introductory classes with great success are: Augerot, 2005, Gordon 1995, Jay &
Matsen 1994, Lichatowich 1999, McPhee 2002, Montgomery 2003, Nabhan 2006, and Wolf &
Zuckerman 1999. All of these are listed below.
Augerot 2005, Atlas of Pacific Salmon, Xanthippe Augerot, Ecotrust, 2005, ISBN 0-520-24504-0
Bell 1996, Pacific Salmon: From Egg to Exit, Gordon Bell, Hanncock House Publishers, 1996,
ISBN 0-88839-379-2
Gordon 1995, Nisqually Watershed: Glacier to Delta: A River’s Legacy, David George Gordon,
The Mountaineers, 1995, ISBN 0-89886-453-4
IPCC 2007, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2007 – Synthesis
Report, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO), http://www.ipcc.ch/ (accessed May 22, 2011)
Jay & Matsen 1994, Reaching Home: Pacific Salmon, Pacific People, Tom jay and Brad Matsen,
Alaska Northwest Books, 1994, ISBN 0-88240-449-0
Lichatowich 1999, Salmon Without Rivers: A History of the Pacific Salmon Crisis, Jim
Lichatowich, Island Press, 1999, ISBN 1-55963-360-3
McPhee 2002, The Founding Fish, John McPhee, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002,
ISBN 0-374-10444-1
Montgomery 2003, King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon, David Montgomery,
Westview Press, 2003, ISBN 0-8133-4299-6
Nabhan 2006, Renewing Salmon Nation’s Food Traditions, Gary Paul Nabhan, Ecotrust, 2006,
ISBN 0-9779332-0-2
Quinn 2005, The Behavior and Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Trout, Thomas P. Quinn,
University of Washington Press, 2005, ISBN 0-295-98457-0
Wolf & Zuckerman 1999, Salmon Nation, Edward C. Wolf and Seth Zuckerman, editors, Ecotrust
1999, ISBN 0-9676364-0-X