Our History — Indigenous Climate Resilience Network

Expanding Beyond the Northeast

ICRN was previously known as the Northeast Indigenous Climate Resilience Network (NICRN) and was originally limited in geographic scope to the Northeast region of the United States. This area was subdivided into Midwest and Eastern subregions, covering 22 states, 60 federally recognized Tribes, and more than 100 unique and self-determining peoples. In 2022, the geographic scope of the network expanded and the "Northeast" designation was dropped from the title. Currently, ICRN's activities emphasize the area within 30 states in the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest regions of the United States.

Historical extent of NICRN, displaying federally recognized Tribes in the Midwest and Eastern subregions.

Founding Partners

Founding partners of NICRN included the College of Menominee Nation's Sustainable Development Institute (CMN-SDI), the Department of the Interior's Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (Northeast CASC), the Sustainable Climate Risk Management (SCRiM) network, the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments Center (GLISA), and the Timnick Chair and National Science Foundation funded programming at Michigan State University (MSU). A detailed list of ICRN's current partner organizations is available on the Organizations & Networks page.

Forming an Advisory Council

Initially, the Advisory Council formed to guide CMN-SDI's work with the Northeast CASC to ensure that Indigenous peoples had equitable access to climate science resources. The goal was to determine how the Northeast CASC’s scientific resources and tools could serve Tribal sovereignty in relation to climate change. In collaboration with the Advisory Council, CMN-SDI developed and outlined work to support Tribal efforts to assess climate change impacts, monitor key climatic trends, and engage in different forms of adaptation planning. The development of the ICRN website is the culmination of this work.

A Growing Network for Climate Adaptation Science

When NICRN was founded, the Northeast CASC included the regions now differentiated into the current Northeast and Midwest CASCs. The Midwest CASC was established as the ninth regional CASC in 2020. The focus of ICRN has also expanded to include the Southeast region of the United States. Currently, ICRN collaborates with the Northeast CASC, Midwest CASC, and Southeast CASC in support of Indigenous climate resilience.