Modeling Community Trust: A Collaborative Approach to Scoping Water Forecasting Needs and NOAA Product Use in Indigenous Communities of Northeast Oklahoma

This collaborative project addresses flood risk management challenges within Underserved Indigenous communities in Northeast Oklahoma (NE OK). The primary objectives of the project are to assess risk perceptions, tribal responses to NOAA forecast products, and to enhance NOAA products to better align with the needs of Indigenous communities in the region. The approach is distinctive as it prioritizes an Indigenous perspective, diverging from existing methods applied to non-Indigenous communities. The project intends to establish a scalable framework for NOAA to bolster Indigenous community resilience concerning water-related issues and amplify the decision-making capabilities of tribal leaders. The outcomes of the research encompass various products, including tribal community needs assessments, tribal use of NOAA data, gap analysis reports, dynamic flood inundation simulation models, visualization exercises tailored to tribal needs, and an exploration of the utilization of Indigenous perspectives to inform forecast design nationwide.

The backdrop for this project underscores water-related challenges, especially flooding, faced by Indigenous communities in NE OK due to historical colonization and ill-informed development. These communities, comprising multiple tribes, have limited resources and technical capacity to effectively manage flooding, necessitating the use of NOAA forecast products. However, inadequate coverage of tribal territories in federal datasets and the absence of tribal needs in forecast development hinder the documentation of these needs. The project seeks to bridge these gaps, enhancing tribal data access, risk perception understanding, and response to forecasting products, thereby empowering NE Oklahoma tribes to invest in water-related infrastructure and climate adaptation.

The overarching goal is to exhibit a collaborative approach towards addressing water resource management challenges in underserved Indigenous communities. This methodology revolves around co-development to make data and forecasting accessible to tribal decision-makers, offering localized input for water-related hazards. This initiative not only strengthens Tribal sovereignty and community resilience but also aligns with NOAA’s equitable research goals and integration of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge into decision-making processes. The research plan encompasses communication strategy establishment with tribal partners, exploration of new Indigenous community research methods, and the co-development of hydrologic decision-making pathways and supporting social and governance structures. This project represents a significant step towards fostering Indigenous community resilience and incorporating Indigenous perspectives into NOAA’s forecasting product development and uses.