Blue Lake Rancheria 

Case Study 

Impacts of Preparedness Grant Funding 

May 2023 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

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Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

Contents 

I. Overview ........................................................................................................................2 

II. Background...................................................................................................................2 

About Blue Lake Rancheria ............................................................................................2 

Assessing Risks and Capabilities ...................................................................................3 

III. Grant Funding and Priorities .......................................................................................5 

Grant Allocation .............................................................................................................5 

Grant Programs ..............................................................................................................5 

IV. Capability Impacts ........................................................................................................6 

Blue Lake Rancheria Resiliency Training and Innovation Center (RTIC) .......................6 

Tribal Emergency Response Team (TERT)....................................................................9 

Additional Impacts ..........................................................................................................9 

Energy Resilience and the Microgrid ............................................................................10 

V. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................12 

Future Plans .................................................................................................................12 

VI. Appendix A: References ............................................................................................14 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

I. Overview

In 2022, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Preparedness Assessment 

Division (NPAD) conducted a grant effectiveness case study with the Blue Lake Rancheria to better 

understand the effects of preparedness grant funding investments made by the Tribe. To conduct 

this case study, FEMA personnel held a virtual interview with Blue Lake Rancheria’s Office of 

Emergency Services (BLROES) in September 2022. During the case study, participants discussed the 

Tribe’s use of preparedness grant dollars to invest in community resilience, investment and 

allocation strategies, and recommendations for improving FEMA’s administration of its preparedness 

grant programs. The case study resulted in the following findings: 

 The geographic isolation of Blue Lake Rancheria has shaped the Tribe’s emergency management

and investment strategies.

 The Blue Lake Rancheria’s resourceful investment of funding from multiple federal and state

grant programs significantly improved its ability to advance community and energy resilience for

its members and whole community stakeholders in the greater North Coast region of California.

 Investments using FEMA preparedness grant funding in planning, training, exercises, and

equipment play a critical role in Blue Lake Rancheria’s emergency management approach,

supplement investments using other FEMA, federal, and state grant funds in technology to

ensure energy resilience, and result in positive impacts to the Tribe’s response and recovery

outcomes during disaster incidents.

 In particular, the Blue Lake Rancheria’s investment of 2016 Tribal Homeland Security Grant

Program (THSGP) funding to create the Resilience Training and Innovation Center (RTIC) filled an

important gap in the North Coast region’s resilience framework by providing trainings to local

emergency managers, including from other tribal nations and remote areas, and helping build

relationships between the Tribe and other federal, state, local, and tribal stakeholders in the

emergency management community.

II. Background

About Blue Lake Rancheria 

The Blue Lake Rancheria is a federally recognized 

tribal government in northwestern California that 

was established in 1908 within the aboriginal 

territory of the Wiyot people. The Tribe includes 

about 50 enrolled members and has 100 acres of 

land located in rural, geographically isolated 

Humboldt County, which is 300 miles north of San 

Francisco. The Tribe has economic enterprises 

Image 1: Acorns are a cultural food of 

the Wiyot people 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

that support hundreds of local jobs, government 

operations and programs, economic diversification, 

resilience and sustainability efforts, environmental 

protection, and a wide array of social services.1 These 

enterprises and programs include the Blue Lake Hotel, 

Blue Lake Casino, PlayStation 777: Gas and Convenience 

Store, biodiesel manufacturing, and local food production 

which helps support local students and meal delivery 

programs in the community. 

Though the Tribe is small, it has played an important role in building and sustaining the 

preparedness of the larger North Coast region and the State of California. In recent years, Blue Lake 

Rancheria has been recognized as a leader in sustainability and resilience due to efforts to combat 

climate change, as well as for individual and community preparedness.2 

Assessing Risks and Capabilities 

THREATS AND HAZARDS 

Tribal lands are situated in Humboldt 

County, California near the city of Blue 

Lake and many geographically high-risk 

areas, including Matthew’s Dam and the 

Mad River, a natural historical floodplain. 

It also sits near many geological fault 

lines, including the Cascadia Subduction 

Zone. This puts the Tribe at risk for 

impacts due to flooding and earthquakes. 

The rural, isolated North Coast region of 

California faces other hazards like tsunamis, severe storms, wildfires, drought, floods, and 

landslides. Impacts of these hazards include air quality reductions and disruptions to fuel and 

electricity

Image 3: The Mad River 

, which can last from hours, to weeks, to months. In addition, non-tribal hazardous 

infrastructure is located on and adjacent to tribal lands, 

including a wastewater treatment plant, decommissioned 

landfill, and large biomass power plant. In 2016, the Tribe 

identified a cyberattack and severe storm/high winds as 

threats and hazards. In 2021, the top three biggest local 

hazards facing the Blue Lake Rancheria community were 

earthquakes, wildfires, and infectious disease outbreaks. 

Starting in 2022, the Tribe conducted an Emergency 

Management Performance Grant (EMPG)-funded seismic 

assessment, which provided important insight prior to the 

December 2022 Ferndale Earthquake. 

Image 2: A traditional Wiyot hat 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

APPROACH TO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY RESILIENCE 

Due to the threats and hazards faced in the region, the Tribe’s ancestors engaged in natural hazard 

mitigation which includes the use of cultural burning practices to renew the earth. Families in the 

community share in conducting these controlled burns. Each family also participates in local 

harvests and food storage to mitigate future drought, crop failure, and other environmental 

challenges. Blue Lake Rancheria continues to build on ancient practices, and in both ancestral and 

modern cases, the Tribe’s primary goal remains the same: to reduce or eliminate loss of life and 

property and environmental damage resulting from disasters.3 

The Tribe promotes a whole community 

approach to engagement and emergency 

management, focusing on emergency planning 

efforts that better prepare the entire Tribe for 

emergency incidents. The Tribe also focuses on 

protecting its most vulnerable community 

members, such as tribal elders, when 

undertaking planning efforts and considering 

the community’s preparedness. Additionally, the 

Tribe is focused on building resilience across 

five sectors: energy, water, food, 

communication/IT, and transportation. In 2010, 

the Tribe established the Blue Lake Rancheria 

Office of Emergency Services (BLROES) in response to identified capability gaps and ongoing 

emergency preparedness needs. BLROES leads emergency preparedness and disaster mitigation, 

response, and recovery across a wide array of planning, training, exercise, and certification efforts. 

BLROES works with multiple external partners to lessen the severity of impacts from disasters and 

secure adequate resources to continually improve resilience and preparedness within the tribal 

community and across the North Coast region. These partners include emergency planners and 

responders at the local, regional, state, and federal levels.4 

The Tribe’s low-carbon community resilience projects have earned them national and international 

recognition, including the DistribuTECH/PowerGrid International’s “2018 Distributed Energy 

Resource Project of the Year” and the 2017 U.S. FEMA “Whole Community Preparedness Award” for 

proactive efforts to address emergency preparedness challenges, where the Tribe was selected as 

one of 11 Individual and Community Preparedness Award recipients from around the country. The 

White House also recognized the Tribe as a climate champion due to its pioneering commitment to 

cutting carbon pollution and preparing for the impacts of changing climate.5 

In addition, the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe is a resource during disaster incidents for the larger North 

Coast region. When disaster strikes, the tribal community serves as an unofficial gathering spot for 

neighboring communities, including Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. Tribal lands are located at the 

junction of two main routes, SR299 and Hwy101, and are one of the only places on SR299 that is 

inland from the Pacific Coast and out of the tsunami zone that also has the capacity to operate for 

Image 4: A whole community approach 

to hazard mitigation helps the tribe 

combat flooding from the Mad River 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

multiple days to weeks.6 Given its critical infrastructure and emergency power, the region serves as a 

refuge for those evacuating from surrounding regions. The Tribe received as many as 10,000 people 

on their tribal lands during the 2019 public safety power shutoff. In 2011, the Tribe also served as a 

stopping point for neighboring residents who self-evacuated from low lying areas because of a 

tsunami threat. In the past, the Tribe has also established memorandums of understanding with the 

Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services (OES). For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 

the Tribe provided Humboldt County OES with $25,000 worth of frozen meals to support the 

quarantining of residents experiencing homelessness in local hotel rooms. The Tribe’s ability to 

support evacuees from the North Coast region and work collaboratively with its neighboring county 

illustrates continued community resilience and major contributions to regional preparedness. 

III. Grant Funding and Priorities 

The Tribe uses multiple federal, state, and local incentives, policies, and programs to help fund and 

structure its preparedness efforts. Within this portfolio of resources, the Tribe’s preparedness grantfunded investments amplified the impact of the Tribe’s previous efforts by building and sustaining 

existing capabilities in community resilience and outreach. This section summarizes these 

investments by grant program, and the following section describes their impacts, which center on 

Blue Lake Rancheria’s engagement and work with state, local, tribal, territorial partners (SLTT) and 

whole community stakeholders. 

Grant Allocation Priorities 

The Tribe engages SLTT partners and federal stakeholders in planning meetings to solicit input 

regarding the feasibility and prioritization of potential mitigation measures and projects to inform 

funding allocation decisions. Blue Lake Rancheria evaluates available resources and community 

needs that are outlined in the Hazard Mitigation Plan to determine which projects to fund, including 

for preparedness priorities. The Tribe achieved a majority of the projects in the most recent 2021 

Hazard Mitigation Plan, with several in progress or near completion. The Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe 

has used FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance in the past to develop and update its Hazard Mitigation 

Plan. 

Grant Programs 

The Tribe leveraged multiple grant programs to invest in preparedness capabilities and community 

resilience, which included FEMA’s Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) program, 

Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program (THSGP), and State Homeland Security Program (SHSP). 

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services provided the Tribe with SHSP funding from FY 

2017 through FY 2019 and EMPG funding from FY 2015 through FY 2019 to support the Tribe’s 

preparedness goals. The Tribe applied for and received THSGP funding in 2016, which allowed for 

the Tribe to invest additional preparedness grant funds. Since FY 2015, the Blue Lake Rancheria 

Tribe invested 74 percent of its total grant project funding in three primary Core Capabilities: 

Community Resilience, Operational Coordination, and Planning. Table 1 displays the Tribe’s EMPG, 

SHSP, and THSP grant funding since FY 2015. 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

Table 1: FEMA Preparedness Grant Program Funding by Program Since FY 2015 

Grant 

Program 

Award Amount 

FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 

SHSP $0 $0 $96,157 $158,786 $337,782 

THSGP $0 $430,800 $0 $0 $0 

EMPG $108,686 $124,066 $107,025 $33,358 $152,926 

Total $108,686 $554,866 $203,182 $192,144 $490,708 

IV. Capability Impacts 

Since FY 2015, Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe’s investments using FEMA preparedness grant funding 

have primarily consisted of the creation of the Blue Lake Rancheria Resiliency Training and 

Innovation Center (RTIC), which greatly enhanced the opportunity for collaborating among 

surrounding communities and tribal partners; establishing the Tribal Emergency Response Team 

(TERT); investing in planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercises for emergency 

management; and promoting energy resilience and microgrid use. In addition, the BLROES operates 

entirely on funding from grant programs, including FEMA preparedness grants. Blue Lake Rancheria 

uses EMPG funding and HSGP funding to fund both specific staff positions and other staff salaries to 

support all hazard emergency management duties. Each of these grant-funded projects has played 

an important role in building and sustaining the Tribe’s emergency preparedness capabilities in 

service of the goals identified in the Tribe’s Hazard Mitigation Plan. 

Blue Lake Rancheria Resiliency Training and Innovation Center (RTIC) 

Though Blue Lake Rancheria has conducted training 

and exercises since 1983, the Tribe’s remote location 

often makes traveling to pursue training outside of the 

region time-intensive and costly. Cost and travel time 

are increasingly significant obstacles as the need for 

self-sufficiency during disaster incidents increases, and 

the trainings that support self-sufficiency become more 

important. Additionally, Blue Lake Rancheria 

community members noted a lack of trust as a 

deterrent for some members to attend trainings in 

venues outside the reservation. These challenges 

inspired the Tribe to create the Blue Lake Rancheria 

RTIC, a training venue located within the BLR 

reservation, using 2016 THSGP funding. The RTIC 

Image 5: Blue Lake Rancheria 

conducts trainings for the 

whole community at the RTIC 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

ensures a cost effective, accessible, and trusted option for the Tribe and surrounding communities 

to conduct trainings. 

A primary function of the RTIC is to facilitate training and certifications of additional emergency 

managers and emergency preparedness personnel within the Tribe and surrounding communities. 

According to the 2019 Blue Lake Rancheria Resiliency Training & Innovation Center Annual Report, 

the RTIC has hosted at least 40 free training courses offered by 13 different federal, state, local, and 

higher education training agencies and graduated over 1,000 students. The largest event hosted by 

the RTIC was the FEMA National Emergency Management Advanced Academy (NEMAA), which 

occurred over an eight-month period in 2019 and included students from all over the Pacific, 

including six California tribes, and 33 graduates, 41 percent of whom were from tribal nations. The 

RTIC does not charge fees to students or training agencies for its use and advertises trainings in 

classroom and virtual environments using a monthly bulletin. Figure 1 highlights the types of training 

accessible through the RTIC. 

Figure 1: Training Courses Offered by the RTIC 

BLROES also uses the RTIC as a base of operations, which proved especially useful during the 

COVID-19 pandemic.7 During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the RTIC was able to host county 

officials who discussed best practices to mitigate the outbreak and provided continued guidance 

throughout the pandemic. In addition, due to trainings offered by the RTIC prior to the COVID-19 

pandemic and the relationships built in the greater North Coast region during these trainings, 

BLROES staff were trained in the Incident Command System, understood FEMA programs, and felt 

more comfortable and knowledgeable interacting with other partners in the North Coast region. The 

RTIC was also able to continue hosting its grant-funded trainings virtually when public health 

conditions necessitated closing the facility to the public. 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

As part of its role in providing training to the Blue Lake and larger North Coast community, the RTIC 

has played a critical role in facilitating partnerships and providing a meeting place between the Tribe, 

its neighbors, and federal stakeholders. For instance, in 2019 alone, the RTIC provided nearly 600 

hours of training to 710 students from the community and surrounding region. In addition to its 

primary function, the Tribe also describes the RTIC as a place of networking between governments, 

agencies, non-profits, and the public, as well as a venue for cultural education and understanding 

between tribal and non-tribal citizens, which can help break down barriers that limit collaboration. 

For example, the Tribe has increased collaboration with Humboldt County as a result of the RTIC 

serving as a forum for community leaders to discuss and address challenges posed by emergency 

incidents. In 2018, the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services (HC DHHS) was 

able to offer their employees just-in-time trainings at the RTIC. The HC DHHS provided critical training 

in writing emergency operations plans for rural jurisdictions, which better prepared the county for 

emergency incidents. 

The RTIC serves as a venue for information sessions, including those that focus on the use of grant 

funding to better prepare attendees’ communities. One example is the RTIC’s hosting of a session 

which detailed the process for applying to FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities 

(BRIC) Hazard Mitigation Assistance program. Because the RTIC is located on tribal lands, the BRIC 

information session experienced higher attendance from tribal leadership in surrounding 

communities and was able to provide more awareness of FEMA’s grant opportunities to regional 

stakeholders. This increased contact may serve to create a more collaborative relationship between 

FEMA and its tribal counterparts by building trust, increasing visibility, and creating a deeper mutual 

understanding of preparedness grant program guidelines and community needs. In the future, the 

Tribe hopes to expand the trainings offered at the RTIC, continue to grow its pool of emergency 

preparedness experts, and better equip the community for future emergency incidents. 

Images 6 and 7: Blue Lake Rancheria hosts whole community listening sessions at the RTIC 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

Tribal Emergency Response Team (TERT) 

Blue Lake Rancheria’s TERT was founded in 2017 and its 

six current members work closely with the Tribe’s fire 

department and provide training and support for community 

members. In 2022, Blue Lake Rancheria’s TERT received 

$15,000 as part of California’s Office of Emergency 

Services (OES) emergency response grant funding to aid in 

establishing trainings to improve community resilience. 

Additionally, the Tribe also received $100,000 in funding 

from the Listos California Tribal Grant Program. These funds will be used to help establish 

preparedness academies and resiliency fairs so that residents can better prepare for disasters.8 The 

academies will provide education on a wide variety of topics and will be used to discuss disaster 

preparation, medication storage, and evacuation strategies for multiple disaster scenarios. In 

addition, the Tribe will conduct tabletop exercises using the disaster toolkit to simulate different 

scenarios and determine additional community needs and response gaps in the future. 

Additional Impacts 

PLANS AND EXERCISES 

Blue Lake Rancheria partnered with FEMA to create the Tactical Interoperability Plan, which resulted 

from multiple meetings between the Tribe and FEMA stakeholders and helps to outline Blue Lake 

Rancheria’s current capabilities and identify preparedness gaps. While creating the Tactical 

Interoperability Plan, the Tribe also encouraged 

neighboring tribes to join to witness the planning process 

and begin creating a working relationship with FEMA 

points of contact. These increased interactions help to 

build trust and spread awareness of the opportunities 

available to tribes and the community through FEMA 

preparedness grant programs. 

In addition to the Tactical Interoperability Plan, the Tribe also used preparedness grant funds to 

prioritize planning and exercising for four key annexes to the Tribe’s Shelter Operations Plan and 

Tribal Emergency Operations Plan. These annexes include an Evacuation, Shelter, and Care Plan; 

Sheltering Supplies Plan; a TERT Response Plan; and a Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) Response 

Plan. Additionally, the Tribe used preparedness grant funds in FY 2019 to develop a cybersecurity 

plan. After Blue Lake Rancheria established its IT department, the Tribe used approximately 

$300,000 in HSGP funds to hire a new director whose planning and expertise are used to help the 

Tribe combat cyber threats, which numbered over 12,000 hits per day at their peak. HSGP funding 

has also allowed Blue Lake Rancheria to include cyber protocols in its mitigation planning in addition 

to furthering the training of IT personnel. The Tribe has also used preparedness grants to fund 

exercises that test equipment for its local fire department, sponsor an active shooter drill, practice 

the execution of sheltering plans, and conduct tabletop exercises. Each of these grant-funded 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

planning, training, and exercise activities has contributed to the Tribe’s readiness for emergency 

incidents. 

EQUIPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 

Blue Lake Rancheria used pass-through EMPG funding from the state of California to purchase 

equipment that enabled the Tribe to better respond to community members during disasters, 

including the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tribe utilized Zumro inflatable tents during the pandemic for 

drive-up testing.9 These tents were preparedness grant funded and aided the Tribe’s response to 

COVID-19. The Tribe also used additional EMPG grant funding to provide community members with 

resources for disaster preparedness, such as solar blankets, Red Cross “go bags,” and food and 

water supplies. Additionally, Blue Lake Rancheria used EMPG funds to purchase a Public Safety 

Pickup, which is shared by both the fire and law enforcement services of Blue Lake Rancheria. 

Additional investments have provided Blue Lake Rancheria with the capacity to advance search and 

rescue capabilities. For example, investing state grants in utility task vehicles (UTV) has helped 

community members find lost children on the reservation. Although the tribal reservation does not 

typically experience large wildfires, community members are still impacted by smoke inundation from 

fires and other nearby tribal communities have needed to evacuate to their lands in recent years. As 

a result of prior investments and partnerships, the Tribe developed clean air shelters by retrofitting 

existing facilities to ensure that elders and others with health issues had a healthy air environment 

available to them.10 Although Blue Lake Rancheria does not currently have formal evacuation plans 

or agreements with surrounding tribes or counties, the Tribe has participated in discussions with the 

Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) regarding future possibilities for formalized 

collaboration.11 

Energy Resilience and the Microgrid 

Since 2002, Blue Lake 

Rancheria has accelerated the 

transition to a zero-carbon 

community for its economic, 

environmental, health, and 

overall resilience benefits.12 To 

achieve zero-carbon 

sustainability resilience by 

2030, the Tribe takes a “lifelong 

sector” approach to 

sustainability and resilience 

goals, which are outlined in 

Figure 2. 

Figure 2: Blue Lake Rancheria’s Zero Carbon Community Goals 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

In line with its achievements in energy resiliency, the Tribe is a pioneer in renewable energy. In 2013, 

Blue Lake Rancheria began migrating its government fleet to electric vehicles (EV). Currently, there 

are eight Level 2 EV charging stations installed in the tribal community, including locations such as 

PlayStation 777 and the newly created Tribal Justice Center. In addition, Blue Lake Rancheria is 

developing a green commute program for its employees. The Tribe makes use of green fuels by 

manufacturing biodiesel to fuel its public transit buses and 

by using waste oil from kitchens. Green fuel, also known as 

biofuel, can play an important role in reducing the global 

energy demand due to its availability and its environmentfriendly and renewable properties.13 To date, the Tribe has 

reduced energy consumption by 35 percent and has 

reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 

their 2014 baseline using a range of approaches, including 

the use of biodiesel to power public buses and aggressive 

energy efficiency. 

In partnership with the Schatz 

Energy Research Center and 

Pacific Gas and Electric Company 

Image 9: The Blue Lake Rancheria Microgrid 

(PG&E), and with primary funding 

from the California Energy 

Commission Electric Program 

Investment Charge, Blue Lake 

Rancheria completed a $6.3 

million low-carbon community 

microgrid. The microgrid supports 

Blue Lake Rancheria tribal 

government offices, including 

BLROES, supporting infrastructure, a certified American Red Cross shelter, and economic 

enterprises—two restaurants, an event center, a hotel, and a casino. The microgrid has improved 

resilience across the Rancheria and provides secure, cost-effective forms of energy.14 Blue Lake 

Rancheria’s microgrids provide energy for medicine storage, air conditioning for the elderly and 

vulnerable, and increased cooking capacity for families. 

Image 10: The microgrid powered 

charging relief stations during the 

public safety power shutoff 

The Tribe’s microgrid is vital to providing essential 

services, such as water, food, and communication, 

during disaster incidents, which has resulted in 

multiple impacts, including lives saved in the 

community.15 When California’s largest electric utility 

provider shut off power to surrounding regions in 

October 2019, the Blue Lake Rancheria renewable 

energy microgrid aided in not only providing the Tribe 

with power, but also enabled the Tribe to provide those 

Image 8: The Blue Lake Casino 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

in surrounding communities with gas, ice, and energy to charge their phones and electric vehicles. 

For example, Blue Lake Rancheria was able to provide residents with a place to buy gas during an 

outage and supply over 100 gallons of diesel fuel to the United Indian Health Service to keep their 

medicines cool overnight. First responder vehicles received priority for refueling during the outage 

and were permitted to pump fuel without the restrictions placed on private or commercial vehicles 

during the incident. The Tribe worked with the Department of Public Health to set aside a block of 

rooms for medical patients that needed access to power for medical devices.16 The Tribe also 

continued to use the microgrids to serve the broader community during the COVID-19 pandemic, 

even when the Tribe closed its businesses to prevent the spread of the virus. The microgrid provided 

clean, controlled power so that the Tribe’s government programs, such as home meal deliveries to 

the elderly, could continue.17 

V. Conclusion 

This case study illustrates the positive impact of preparedness grant dollars on Blue Lake 

Rancheria’s preparedness and community resilience infrastructure, including the investment of 

preparedness grant funding to create Blue Lake Rancheria’s RTIC, which continues to provide a 

space to enhance preparedness and resiliency training. As a result of these investments, Blue Lake 

Rancheria has increased its ability to provide training options and increased the community’s 

capacity to prepare for and recover from disasters. All grant investments have played a part in 

building and sustaining the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe’s capability and continue to help augment the 

Tribe’s role in the community and surrounding regions. 

Feedback collected from Blue Lake Rancheria can also better enable FEMA to support the Tribe’s 

preparedness activities in the future. Suggestions highlighted that there is a need for increased 

communication from FEMA to tribal nations to expand awareness of grant funding programs and 

their applicability to tribes. FEMA could consider increasing technical assistance on cost sharing for 

tribes, with an emphasis on relevant topics, such as the use and processing of in-kind donations. 

Lastly, FEMA could further analyze the ways in which tribal emergency services managers are funded 

and consider ways that these managers can be better resourced year-to-year to build and sustain 

capabilities in these communities. 

Future Plans 

The Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe indicated that it may use future grant funds to explore expanding the 

capability of the RTIC and increasing the Tribe’s and regional community’s resilience. The RTIC has 

influenced planning for the Ta’m Resilience Campus, which the Tribe is currently in the process of 

building. Once completed, the campus will serve as a multi-functional venue that deploys programs 

to support regional resilience strategies.18 The Ta’m campus creates dedicated space for activities to 

build resilience capacity across the lifelong sectors. The Tribe plans to use the campus to further 

training, ranging from plans for emergency management to agricultural and career training, and the 

site will also be home to the RTIC upon completion. Each of these efforts will be key factors in 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

ensuring that Blue Lake Rancheria can continue to enable and lead whole community preparation 

for, response to, and mitigation of future incidents. 
Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study 2023 

VI. Appendix A: References 

1 About | Blue Lake Rancheria (bluelakerancheria-nsn.gov) 

2 FACT SHEET: 16 U.S. Communities Recognized as Climate Action Champions for Leadership on Climate Change | 

whitehouse.gov (archives.gov), ; Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe Undertakes Innovative Action to Reduce the Causes of 

Climate Change | U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit ; Recognizing Tribal Climate Action | whitehouse.gov 

(archives.gov) ; September 28, 2017 Press Release: Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe Recognized as National Leader for 

Disaster Preparedness Work, FEMA Region 9. 

3 Office of Emergency Services | Blue Lake Rancheria (bluelakerancheria-nsn.gov) 

4 Office of Emergency Services | Blue Lake Rancheria (bluelakerancheria-nsn.gov) 

5 FACT SHEET: 16 U.S. Communities Recognized as Climate Action Champions for Leadership on Climate Change | 

whitehouse.gov (archives.gov), ; Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe Undertakes Innovative Action to Reduce the Causes of 

Climate Change | U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit ; Recognizing Tribal Climate Action | whitehouse.gov 

(archives.gov) ; September 28, 2017 Press Release: Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe Recognized as National Leader for 

Disaster Preparedness Work, FEMA Region 9. 

6 U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit: https://toolkit.climate.gov/case-studies/blue-lake-rancheria-tribe-undertakesinnovative-action-reduce-causes-climate-change 

7 Resiliency Training & Innovation Center | Blue Lake Rancheria (bluelakerancheria-nsn.gov) 

8 TERT Funding: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/blue-lake-rancheria-receives-115k-for-emergencypreparedness/ar-AA104XpP 

9 Zumro Inflatable Tents: https://www.zumro.com 

10 Impacts of Wildfires: https://www7.nau.edu/itep/main/tcc/Tribes/pn_rancheria 

11Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD): https://www.humboldtcoad.org/ 

12 Sustainability and Resilience | Blue Lake Rancheria (bluelakerancheria-nsn.gov) 

13 Othman, M. F., Adam, A., Najafi, G., & Mamat, R. (2017, June 1). Green fuel as alternative fuel for Diesel Engine: 

A Review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032117307840?via%3Dihub 

14 Microgrid: https://toolkit.climate.gov/case-studies/blue-lake-rancheria-tribe-undertakes-innovative-actionreduce-causes-climate-change 

15 Reservation's Solar Microgrid Aids Community During Power Shut-offs : NPR 

16 Amid shut-off woes, a beacon of energy - The Washington Post 

17 Blue Lake Rancheria COVID-19 Efforts: https://microgridknowledge.com/blue-lake-rancheria-microgridcontroller-covid-19/ 

18 Ta’m Resilience Campus: https://www.tea.bluelakerancheria-nsn.gov/tea/tam/