Yurok Tribe of the Yurok Reservation, California – 2017 Project

NOTE: Project pages are being updated regularly to reflect changes, if any; however, some of the information may be dated.

Summary

The Yurok Tribe will produce a Strategic Energy Action Plan that includes an implementation strategy and a prioritized list of energy projects. The plan will be used as a roadmap for the Tribe to increase its energy efficiency, independence, and resilience; develop local renewable energy generation potential; reduce energy costs; and meet energy needs on the Yurok Reservation.

The Yurok Tribe is the most populous Tribe in California, with about 6,113 members. In an effort to promote energy self-sufficiency, environmental sustainability, and economic opportunity, the Tribe has conducted numerous studies over a number of years. These include a needs assessment; a resource assessment; feasibility studies examining biomass, wind, and small hydropower; a tribal utility feasibility study; and an assessment of building internal staff capacity. Although this work has helped to build the Tribe’s knowledge base, it has not allowed the Tribe to achieve its larger energy vision.

The Tribe now plans for a well-organized, overall, strategic planning document that identifies, screens, and prioritizes their opportunities and lays out a proposed plan with achievable goals and objectives for moving forward to implement high-priority projects. The goal of this study will be to take a “big picture” planning approach that will examine the Tribe’s energy needs and opportunities and develop a credible action plan to achieve the Tribe’s goals and objectives.

The key objective of this project is to develop a Yurok Tribe Strategic Energy Action Plan that will empower the Tribe to achieve its sustainable energy vision. Project activities will include: 1) Review the Tribe’s past energy projects and studies; 2) Assess the Tribe’s current energy landscape (demand, resources, needs, infrastructure); 3) Identify and assess the Tribe’s energy options with an eye toward availability, cost, and environmental footprint; 4) Engage the tribal community and leadership to review and renew the Tribe’s energy vision; 5) Develop a set of screening criteria, with stakeholder input, for the Tribe’s energy options; and 6) Develop a Strategic Energy Action Plan that prioritizes the Tribe’s energy options and positions the Tribe to take action.

A fundamental outcome of this project will be a Yurok Tribe Strategic Energy Action Plan that documents the historical energy work the Tribe has performed, lays out the Tribe’s energy needs and opportunities, identifies specific energy options the Tribe can pursue, assess the cost and benefits of those options and ranks them according to criteria specific to the Yurok Tribe, and recommends a path forward to implement the preferred energy options. Specific outcomes from this project include a baseline load assessment for tribal electricity needs; assessments of demand-reduction opportunities, options for renewable energy development opportunities, and evaluation of electrical system infrastructure.

The Yurok Reservation is located in northwestern California and spans Del Norte and Humboldt Counties. The geographic location presents many energy challenges and opportunities. The Reservation is 104 square miles, over 63,000 acres, and is about 53 miles long and one mile wide on each side of the Klamath River. The physical topography is mountainous, with heavily forested hillsides, and narrow, one- to two-lane roads. This project will encompass the entire Yurok Reservation, including the residential, remote upriver, and downriver areas.

The project is complete. For details, see the final report.

The project was competitively selected under the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy Fiscal Year 2016 funding opportunity announcement “First Steps Toward Developing Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency on Tribal Lands – 2016” (DE-FOA-0001621) and started in September 2017.

The November 2017 and December 2018 project status report provides more information.