Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians – 2017 Project

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

Summary

This project will create a comprehensive Environmental Resiliency Plan and increase the capacity of all Lac du Flambeau tribal program managers to incorporate environmental impact thinking into the everyday management of their departments. This will be accomplished by incorporating planning into the Tribe’s current Integrated Resource Management Plan and Emergency Management Plan and by using the Tribe's Strategic Energy Plan as guidance throughout the process.

The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians Reservation is located in north-central Wisconsin.

The Tribe has worked diligently to create components of a Resiliency Plan: Integrated Resource Management Plan, Emergency Management Plan, and the Strategic Energy Plan. The Environmental Resiliency Plan will support the Lac du Flambeau’s 2009 Strategic Energy Plan’s vision “…to utilize local energy resources that reduce the environmental and financial costs of energy use to ultimately gain Tribal energy independence.” The work that has already been accomplished will allow this project to be successful within the planned timeline.

The primary objectives of this project are to create a comprehensive Lac du Flambeau Environmental Resiliency Plan and increase the capacity of tribal managers to incorporate environmental impact thinking into the everyday management of their departments. The Environmental Resiliency Plan will comprise three main components: a Vulnerability Assessment, an Energy Reduction Plan, and an Adaptation Plan. The Adaptation Plan will include an addendum to the Tribe’s existing active Integrated Resource Management Plan and Emergency Management Plan. This goal will be accomplished by creating a working group consisting of program representatives from key tribal departments, who will meet regularly to accomplish project goals and objectives. This project will increase the Tribe’s capacity to integrate an environmental impact perspective throughout tribal departments, and reduce the Tribe’s energy use and increase energy independence.

This project is the first phase of a planning–prioritization–implementation project within the Tribe. The goal is to bring together key tribal leaders, tribal department heads, and elder and youth representatives to form a Tribal Environmental Resiliency Planning Committee that will engage interested partners in resiliency planning. Capacity building is a core goal of this project. Public outreach and education events will also spread knowledge throughout the community. 

The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians Reservation is located in north-central Wisconsin and spans Vilas, Iron, and Oneida Counties. The reservation covers about 86,500 acres, which include 41,733 acres of forested uplands, 24,000 acres of wetlands, and 17,897 acres of lakes and rivers.

The project is complete. For additional 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.