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St. Louis County has been awarded a federal grant totaling $1,849,228 to help address climate change impacts on the coastal region surrounding Lake Superior. The grant is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Commerce Department and will be paid over four years.
The funding will help the county and project partners establish a regional resilience collaborative incorporating Indigenous knowledge, and then create a regional resilience plan while also providing resources and technical support to communities. In addition to St. Louis County, the project area includes Carlton, Cook and Lake Counties, and the Tribal Nations that co-reside within the area.
As noted in the grant application, "Observed and projected climate changes have significant implications for communities and the region as a whole. Temperature and precipitation pattern changes contribute to fluctuating lake levels, less ice cover, shoreline erosion, water quality issues, shifting weather patterns, more frequent droughts, changing forests, and more non-native species."
St. Louis County will be working with the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission (ARDC), the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Program (MCAP), Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, the 1854 Treaty Authority, and others.
Incorporating Indigenous knowledge in this effort is considered a critically important component. The grant application states, "To the Ojibwe/Chippewa (Anishinaabe), natural resources are cultural resources. There is no separation between how the bands manage and interact with a resource and how their culture endures: one is dependent on the other. Climate change, however, is threatening the very viability of many natural resources important to the Ojibwe."
Other project collaborators include cities and townships throughout the region, and agencies including Minnesota's Coastal Program, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Sea Grant, NOAA’s Great Lakes Climate Adaptation Partnership/Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments Center (GLISA), the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS), and the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.
"We are grateful for the funding from NOAA, which supports our efforts to better prepare our communities, infrastructure, economies, and ecosystems for climate resilience," said Karola Dalen, Sustainability and Capital Planning Coordinator for St. Louis County. "We know that collaboration is key to making a positive difference, and we look forward to partnering with ARDC, MCAP, and our neighboring Tribal Nations, counties, and local governments in Northeast Minnesota, to be proactive and adaptable to projected climatic conditions."
St. Louis County's grant application was entitled Advancing Regional Climate Resilience for Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Region. It was one of two Minnesota-based projects awarded funding through the Biden Administration’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge, a competitive, $575 million program funded through the nearly $6 billion total investment under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
