Relationship Building with Central California's Tribal Governments via a Tribal Summit

Building a relationship with a customer or end user of a product is important to a product's success. The key to building this relationship is developing an understanding of that user individual needs and concerns. Native American Tribes present a unique set of needs and concerns compared to other local, state, and federal partners.

The National Weather Service (NWS) San Joaquin Valley Forecast Office (HNX) has multiple tribal lands, and even more federally recognized tribes within their jurisdiction. To help build a relationship and gain the much needed understanding of tribal affair, the HNX office in partnership with the American Red Cross, United States Forest Service, and several tribes have developed a emergency management summit for tribes across Central California. The initial purpose of this summit was to bring all core partners together and discuss the needs of the tribes as well as to address expectations set by the tribes.

The purpose of this presentation is to highlight findings from the summits. Also, focus will be given to showcase the success these relationships have had on NWS Impact Decision Support Services and supporting tribal governments in HNX’s forecast area.