Tribes are disproportionately at risk from natural hazards, such as wildfires and flooding, compared with nontribal communities. When disasters occur, funding for recovery activities—such as rebuilding damaged roads and homes—is critical.
Presidential disaster declarations are key to unlocking federal recovery funds. Historically, declarations were available only to state and territorial governments; tribal nations could only access associated funding as subrecipients of a state.
This changed in 2013 with the passage of the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act, which enables tribal nations to lead disaster declaration requests. This shift recognizes tribes’ sovereignty to pursue declarations regardless of whether a state is interested in submitting a request or likely to receive a declaration.
Here we explore how tribal nations have requested presidential disaster declarations and opportunities for tribes to best access associated federal funding.
Preliminary damage assessments are critical to accessing federal assistance
Many factors influence whether a disaster declaration request is approved. While the president ultimately has full discretion to approve or deny a request, the results of preliminary damage assessments (PDAs) provide a standardized measurement of a disaster’s effects that informs the president’s determination.
Estimated damages, which are an indicator of whether a disaster likely exceeds a tribe’s ability to respond and recover independently, are one of the most important criteria the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) uses to evaluate a tribe’s declaration request. Other factors can include community characteristics, numbers of households displaced, and the tribe’s history of recent disasters. A full list of eligibility factors is available in chapter 6 of FEMA’s Tribal Declarations Interim Guidance (PDF).
A disaster declaration can unlock two major sources of federal recovery funds:
- Public Assistance (PA), which funds recovery activities for publicly owned assets, such as roads, water, sewer, and electric infrastructure, and
- Individual Assistance (IA), which goes to affected households.
In our analysis, we find all tribal-led disaster declaration requests with combined PA and IA cost estimates of $1,100,000 or more (n = 20) have been approved. In contrast, requests with combined costs of $500,000 or less (n = 26) have an approval rate of just 69 percent.
It makes sense that higher-cost disasters are more likely to need and receive federal assistance. But this also suggests that effectively documenting the full extent of damages—which FEMA and the president use to assess declaration requests—could increase the likelihood of approval.
Source: Author calculations based on data originally sourced from FEMA, compiled at "FEMA Preliminary Damage Assessments," via the Urban Institute Data Catalog.
Notes: Declaration requests without matching preliminary damage assessments, and those that have no amount listed for either Public Assistance or Individual Assistance, are omitted. Data for 2026 are partial.
Before a disaster hits, tribes can train and prepare (PDF) by identifying their preliminary damage assessment team, developing a standard operating procedure (PDF), and creating a list of households the tribe wants to make eligible for IA.
The predisaster period is also an opportunity for tribes to document the full costs of repairing and replacing damaged infrastructure and homes. Multiple factors (PDF)—including remoteness, labor availability, forms of land tenure, insurance availability, access to lenders, and the presence of supporting infrastructure like electricity and water—can make housing more challenging and expensive to build on tribal lands (PDF). Documenting these costs and planning with FEMA staff before a disaster could help tribes produce and validate damage estimates that better represent the true cost of rebuilding homes and infrastructure.
Tribes can navigate between tribe-led and state-led requests depending on context
Since 2013, tribes have submitted 79 tribe-led disaster declaration requests and have been included on 85 state-led requests.
The best route depends on the tribe’s specific context and the disaster. In some cases, a tribe can receive some funding (e.g., IA) under a state-led request and separate funding (e.g., PA) under a tribe-led request for the same disaster.
The ability to choose one or both approaches can benefit tribes because of how different declaration requests are assessed: a disaster with significant tribal damages but limited statewide per capita effects would be more likely to be approved as a tribe-led, as opposed to a state-led, request.
Further, as tribes gain experience with the disaster declaration request process, they could see higher rates of approval. Some early tribe-led requests were denied because of missing information or incomplete PDAs, for example. Likewise, the process could become smoother for tribes and result in more approvals as FEMA becomes more familiar with navigating tribal recovery considerations and updates declaration request processes accordingly, as it did in 2024.
Source: Author calculations based on data originally sourced from FEMA, compiled at "FEMA Preliminary Damage Assessments," via the Urban Institute Data Catalog.
Notes: Only includes requests with matching preliminary damage assessments, as these reports provide the open-ended text that allows us to identify the inclusion of tribes in denied state-led requests. The Federal Emergency Management Agency does not report such details. It is possible that some denied state-led requests included tribes but the corresponding preliminary damage assessment report did not mention the tribes. To the extent that occurred, state-led denials presented here are an undercount. Data for 2026 are partial.
Generally, a tribe-led request offers the tribe greater autonomy over the request process and—if the request is approved—the administration of funds. Tribe-led requests also benefit from lower PA damage minimums, longer windows to conduct PDAs and submit a declaration request, and higher (98 percent) cost share on PA funds (PDF).
Conversely, leading a request means a tribe must adopt more responsibility for conducting damage assessments and managing administrative reporting requirements, which can be extensive. Participating in a state-led request could be a better fit for tribes with limited disaster management capacity. In such cases, proactive preparation, learning, and relationship building with state agencies can help position tribes to receive the support they need.
Looking ahead
It is especially important that tribes are prepared for the declaration request process given current federal proposals to change the criteria for declarations and disaster recovery funds—changes that could make declarations more challenging to receive. Though specific criteria for declarations may evolve, predisaster planning and training will help tribes successfully navigate disaster declaration requests and broader response and recovery efforts.
This article was prepared using federal funds under award ED22HDQ3079185 from the Economic Development Administration, US Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the US Department of Commerce.
