The United States Government has allegedly mismanaged Individual Indian Money and Tribal Trust Fund accounts since their creation over 150 years ago. Despite what appears to be a well-documented and incontrovertible body of evidence: extensive governmental and private sector audits, as well as congressional and executive level reports and hearings confirming chronic mismanagement, the BIA continues to lose, misplace, and often fails to collect millions in royalty payments belonging to Indian people without an equitable solution. Consequently, this thesis examines the most recent reform effort, the 1994 American Indian Trust Fund Mismanagement Reform Act offered by the 103rd Congress, the Strategic Plan created by the Office of Special Trustee, and finally, federal and tribal responses to the proposed Strategic Plan. The impact of these varied responses has elucidated several hindrances to effective reform, thus generating key questions which necessitate closer examination in order to advance effective reform.

Native nations are at the forefront of the climate change crisis and one of the most vulnerable populations to the impacts, but they also possess the most knowledge and experience with adaptation. A growing number of Native nations and tribal institutions are preparing for climate change and developing strategies, formal plans, and initiatives to increase the resiliency of their communities. Moreover, many American Indian tribes are considered models for climate change adaptation because they are tackling complex climate change problems across multiple scales with fewer resources to increase the resiliency of their communities. Previously published research shows that Native nations that exercise sovereignty and self-governance while maintaining cultural continuity are having greater success at managing their land and natural resources (Jorgenson 2007). There is, however, limited understanding of tribal climate change adaptation and additional information is needed to understand how tribes are exercising self-governance and approaching climate change issues to advance adaptation planning and implementation. The purpose of this research is to identify and consider some of the challenges of tribal climate change adaptation and the strategic approaches that tribes are using to manage and protect their land, natural resources and communities. This research involves a limited review of the tribal natural resource planning and climate change adaptation literature, and a case study with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) of the Flathead Reservation to assess the strategies and resources utilized by their communities to support adaptation planning. A total of 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted with CSKT leaders and department representatives to consider tribal perspectives and experiences in the adaptation planning and implementation process. Additionally, a small group discussion was conducted with CSKT Elders to understand how climate change is affecting the Tribes’ communities and cultures. This research and the case study findings demonstrate the transformative potential for tribal community development and climate change adaptation when aspects of tribal sovereignty, self-governance, and strategic and sustainable natural resource management are embedded into tribal planning and decision-making processes. While there are varying challenges and complexities associated with tribal climate change adaptation that must be considered, the findings offer examples and insights that may help other tribes further develop existing strengths, protect cultural and spiritual values, and increase community resilience. This research also considers future research needs and next steps to support tribal climate change adaptation.

Native American tribes in the Western United States experience persistent socio-economic challenges that impede economic development and improved standards of living within their communities. In this study, U.S. Census Bureau data on tribes is linked with additional data sources to perform econometric analyses to better understand how “tribal presence” explains economic well-being. This study finds, as expected, that “Tribal Presence” (created from percent of tribal land and percent of Native American population ) has a significant negative relationship with Per Capita Income at census tract and county spatial scales. Consistent with the findings on income, the Tribal Presence variable has a significant negative relationship with Percent Families Above Poverty. Variables for education, internet access, urban population, and climate were also significant determinants for income and family poverty. The climate variable results were interesting as they infer that the more unusually dry or wet it is, the more income and more poverty there is. Further analysis of counties with “tribal presence” was conducted to better understand how counties with tribes who have quantified water rights compare to counties with tribes who have yet to quantify water rights.