Sun_Rain.jpg

piikani lodge health institute

CLIMATE CHALLENGE: HYDROLOGICAL CHANGES

GRANT AWARD: $246,000; YEAR AWARDED: 2020

The Blackfeet Nation is home to high biological diversity, containing about 50% of all known native plants, amphibians, and reptiles, 66% of native birds and fish, and 80% of native mammals occurring within the State of Montana. Over the past 70 years, climate change has altered snowmelt, resulting in spring floods and summer droughts that impact this wealth of local species. Piikani Lodge Health Institute, along with members of the Blackfeet Nation, will help improve ecosystem health and water supply by implementing wildlife friendly perimeter fencing, stock-water improvements, site-based snow fences, and bioreactor soil amendments. In addition to adaptation benefits, the 50,000 acres of wetlands within this landscape will be conserved, storing carbon and preventing its release. Wetlands store up to 40% of soil carbon globally.