Senate Bill 1 Sea Level Rise Tribal Cultural Resources Funding Program Grant

The Senate Bill 1 Sea Level Rise Tribal Cultural Resources Funding Program aims to support California Native American tribes in addressing the challenges posed by sea level rise (SLR). This initiative provides funding for tribes to assess and plan for the impacts on their ancestral lands and cultural resources, ensuring the preservation of their identities and practices. Eligible projects include community visioning, data collection, and the development of strategies to protect culturally significant sites threatened by SLR.

Sea level rise (SLR) poses unique and profound challenges to California Native American tribes, many of whom are deeply connected to the coast and ocean. Tribes with ancestral lands and ties to the coast and ocean face impacts to their lands due to rising seas. This may include loss or degradation of culturally significant sites and ecological resources and restricted access to these sites. This poses risks not only to physical landmarks but also the preservation of tribal identities, practices, ways of life, and traditional knowledges.
The purpose of the SLR Tribal Cultural Resources Funding Program is to provide funding for tribes to assess and plan for the impacts of SLR on their ancestral lands, cultural sites, lifeways, and resources in a manner that is beneficial to the tribe. This program is an alternative and more flexible funding pathway within OPC’s broader SB 1 Grant Program. Eligible project types include both pre-planning activities (community visioning, education and outreach, data collection, and vulnerability assessments) and planning activities (setting adaptation priorities and developing culturally appropriate strategies to preserve and protect tribal cultural resources threatened by existing coastal hazards or future impacts of SLR).