University of Arizona

Karletta Chief, an associate professor and Extension specialist in the University of Arizona's Department of Environmental Science, pounds a soil sample tube into the Hogback irrigation canal near Waterflow, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation in 2017.

Climate change impacts us all now, but for those living on Native American reservations, the environmental impacts are often more extreme.

From access to water and drought to the lack of infrastructure to deal with extreme weather, Indigenous nations are on the front lines of the climate crisis.

Now, the University of Arizona is starting a new center aimed at helping them address those challenges.

The Indigenous Resilience Center will work directly with tribes on projects like solar power, off-grid water resources, agriculture and food resources and native plant adaptation, to name a few.

Extension specialist Karletta Chief, who is Dine, will lead the effort.

The Show spoke with her to learn about the center and its goals.

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