This case study investigates climate-related environmental vulnerabilities and their interaction with conflict dynamics in Nevada County, California, USA.

The NCRNT case study was developed in collaboration with the NCRNT’s non-profit arm, the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), and members of the local community of Nevada County, CA. Findings are in part based on oral history interviews conducted by the lead researchers with members of the NCRNT and non-native community members. Findings are also informed by data that emerged from a day-long workshop with Tribe members and elders, community members, researchers, and local civil society to define and elaborate on the links between climate impacts, conflict, capacities for social cohesion, and climate resilience. This report also engages with existing secondary literature on the Tribe and climate vulnerabilities, as well as key literature regarding political ecology and Indigenous people, climate change and indigeneity, Indigenous forest management and burning practices, peacebuilding and Indigenous people, and more specifically Indigenous environmental peacebuilding.