The Tribal Climate Resilience Liaisons are a multi-regional support network to assist Tribes in addressing science-based needs available to them at Department of the Interior's Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASC) for improved climate adaptation planning efforts. The Liaisons are stationed throughout Indian Country and help respond to diverse challenges Tribal communities are facing by serving as extension agents, facilitating research, and coordinating forums and exchanges. ICRN works closely with the Liaisons to achieve our shared goals of supporting Indigenous climate resilience.​

The Liaisons are funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Branch of Tribal Climate Resilience and each Liaison has a unique partnership linking them to Tribal resources. United South & Eastern Tribes (USET) works in partnership with Liaisons for the Northeast and Southeast CASCs. The College of Menominee Nation's Sustainable Development Institute (CMN-SDI) works in partnership with Liaisons for the Midwest CASC.

​Tribal Climate Resilience Liaison Network Map and Info-graphic 

Meet Our Liaisons

Sara Smith - Midwest Region
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Sara Smith is the Midwest Tribal Climate Resilience Liaison hired by the College of Menominee Nation as part of the Sustainable Development Institute (CMN-SDI). Sara is a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology (Ecology and Conservation) and First Nation Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay as well as a Master of Science in Ecology from the State University of New York-College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Her position is connected to the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (Midwest CASC) and is stationed in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

As the liaison for this region, Sara works with tribes to build capacity and provides support by helping identify tribal needs with adaptation efforts. She also serves as a point of contact between Tribes in the Midwest, federal agencies, and climate science researchers to match those needs with tools and resources that can be used for Tribal strategic planning, management plans, and resilience projects. ​

Contact: ssmith@menominee.edu

Casey Thornbrugh - Northeast/Southeast Regions

Casey Thornbrugh is a Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Citizen originally from Massachusetts. He spent much of his youth and college years in the U.S. Southwest where he studied climate and worked with communities of Tribal Nations on climate monitoring and climate education.

After working at Tohono O’odham Community College, a Tribal college on the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona, Casey moved back to the East Coast to be closer to family and to work with his Tribe. He now works for the United South and Eastern Tribes Inc. (USET) to serve as the Tribal Climate Resilience Liaison between eastern Tribes and the Northeast and Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Centers (Northeast and Southeast CASCs). His role is to work with the Northeast and Southeast CASCs to provide current climate science information, identify climate research needs and priorities, and to provide climate adaptation planning support for Tribal Nations in USET’s service area.

Ultimately Casey will be working with Tribal Nations to connect the climate science with traditional knowledge for supporting climate adaptation planning within these Nations.​

​Contact: cthornbrugh@usetinc.org

Ally Scott - Midwest Region​

Steph Courtney - Northeast/Southeast Regions

Ally Scott is the Deputy Midwest Tribal Climate Resilience Liaison hired by the Sustainable Development Institute at the College of Menominee Nation (CMN-SDI). Ally holds a Master of Science in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Conservation with a minor in Environmental Policy and Planning from Virginia Tech. 

Her position is connected to the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (Midwest CASC) and stationed in Madison, Wisconsin.

Ally works to advise the Midwest CASC and address Tribal climate science needs in the Midwest region. She serves as a direct liaison between the Tribes in the Midwest region, the respective Bureau of Indian Affairs regions, and climate researchers to increase capacity and address research gaps in climate, natural, and cultural resources disciplines to guide strategic adaptive planning and implementation of Tribal resiliency projects.​

Contact: ascott@menominee.edu

Steph Courtney is the Northeast and Southeast Assistant Tribal Climate Science Liaison with United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc. (USET). She seeks to connect Tribal Nations and their staff with relationships, tools, and opportunities to improve their adaptation to climate change from the northern Woodlands to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Appalachians to the Everglades. She collaborated with the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (Southeast CASC) throughout her graduate studies at Auburn University, where she studied climate change communication. Her Ph.D. research examined how different audiences interpret and apply climate change science by applying social scientific methods to physical science subject matter.

Contact: scourtney@usetinc.org