Traditional and historied communities along the Southeast Louisiana bayous are at high risk to the consequences of climate change. The citizens of several coastal bayou communities are partnering with local universities to examine climate change issues utilizing both traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and academic knowledge. The community members have shared their stories, adaptation measures that reflect traditional ways of knowing - gathering, analyzing, and reflection and acting on data that is collected using many methods. The ways of knowing are different for those who are trained in TEK and those who are trained in the academy. It is our experience that it is much easier for local people to learn academic methods than it is for academics to learn traditional ways of knowing. This presentation will share how academics have engaged and learned from the coastal communities so that collaboration regarding ‘ways of knowing' could take place. Through the use of both types of knowledge the communities and the academics are more readily able to understand and create more useful measures to assess, monitor and evaluate climate change tools.