Research

Campus Native Advisory Council Member and Team Win National Leadership Award

Climate scientist and educator Casey Thornbrugh, a Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal member who also serves on the UMass Amherst Native Advisory Council, and his colleagues at United South and Eastern Tribes Office of Environmental Resource Management (USET), have received the 2020 Climate Adaptation Leadership Award from the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Network, the organization announced this week.

The award selection committee recognized Thornbrugh for his outstanding performance by crediting him with “bringing awareness, climate science resources, planning tools and bridge-building” skills to his position. The committee also praised the team for “filling an important void...with respect to building the capacity of Tribal Nations in the eastern U.S. with planning for conservation to their lands, water, fish and wildlife while also building important bridges with universities, NGOs and state and federal agencies.”

Thornbrughand his group were selected from a national pool of nominees and one of only six individuals or groups to be honored this year. The award was established in 2016 and recognizes outstanding leadership by individuals, organizations, businesses and agencies in supporting the resilience of America’s vital natural resources and the many people, businesses and communities that depend on them in the face of a changing climate.

Thornbrugh says, “It has been an honor to work with the Northeast and Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Centers, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Resilience Program, and the USET Office of Environmental Resource Management for the past three years. I am grateful to have collaborated with many colleagues who have been instrumental in helping Tribes develop adaptation plans that will better position them to adjust to a changing climate.”

Thornbrugh is also the Climate Adaptation Science Center Tribal Climate Science Liaison. 2020 marks the second consecutive year NE CASC personnel have claimed a Climate Adaptation Leadership Award.

Last year, NE CASC Principal Investigator Chris Caldwell and Tribal Liaison Sara Smith were honored along with their collaborators for developing the Tribal Adaptation Menu, a groundbreaking document that provides a framework for integrating climate adaptation science with Indigenous and traditional knowledge, culture, and language.

The 2020 Climate Adaptation Leadership Awards ceremony was recently held via Zoom.