Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals Vol. XVII No. 1, Spring 2010

TAMS tour members (and a few friends) at the Church Rock spill site.

See TOUR on page 3

Isleta’s Environmental Planning Coordinator, Ramona Montoya, hosted the TAMS tour participants.

TEP has always placed strong emphasis on listening to tribal leaders and environmental staff as we shape our programs and other support efforts. In October we took that operating principle directly to Indian Country with a “listening tour “ of five Southwestern reservations. Members of ITEP’s Tribal Air

Monitoring Support (TAMS) Center Steering Committee, EPA staff from Washington, Nevada, and North Carolina, and several ITEP staff members traveled by bus to reservations in New Mexico and Arizona to learn first-hand from tribal staff about some of the issues they face in their work to protect the web of life within their borders. PUEBLO OF ISLETA

Our tour began with a visit to the Pueblo of Isleta, located near Albuquerque, New Mexico. The reservation is more than 211,000 acres, has a population of around 4000 residents and stretches more than 35 miles from the Manzano Mountains on the east to the Río Grande river valley, with desert grasslands and the Río Puerco on the west. Isleta is noted for its resistance to colonial incursions in the early centuries of European settlement. The tribe’s tenacity in recent environmental efforts bears witness to their continuing strength of will.

Our gracious host for the visit was Ramona Montoya, Environmental Compliance Manager for the Pueblo. The tribe’s Department of Natural Resources is staffed by more

than 40 individuals who deal with a variety of environmental concerns.

Montoya explained that the tribe had a 103 grant from EPA Region 6 but has no formal air program. Not that air quality is a minor issue at Isleta. Its location on the southern edge of the Albuquerque metropolitan area means the land and people are impacted by

pollution from several busy state and interstate highways, Kirtland Air Force Base, Sandia National Laboratories, a major rail route, the Albuquerque International Sunport, and a number of industrial operations located on the

reservation’s periphery. Of course, they’re also exposed to the standard urban “cloud” of pollutants, including

ground-level ozone.During our visit we drove past

a cabinet-making firm on the edge of Isleta, not far from residential neighborhoods, that emits toxins from glues and finishes—one of numerous industrial operations within polluting distance of tribal land. As with many tribes, Isleta lacks the resources to fully participate in the commenting process for air pollution emitters outside its boundary, despite the fact that sites like this pose real threats to the Pueblo community. Growth and commerce

From the Interim DirectorMehrdad Khatibi

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L ast September TAMS Steering Committee members, along with

ITEP and EPA staff, traveled by bus across New Mexico and Arizona, visiting Southwestern tribes to learn about some of the environmental challenges they face. We want to thank all

of our hosts for providing such warm welcomes and sharing so much about their work and challenges with us.

I think all of the tour participants would agree the trip was a real eye-opener. Even those already familiar with tribal issues gained new insights during the trip. Over our five-day journey across this sprawling landscape we managed to visit five tribes, but I think they share many of the environmental challenges faced by tribes throughout the nation.

Each community we visited, from the Pueblo of Isleta near Albuquerque to the Hualapai Indian Nation on the western edge of Arizona, grapples with environmental issues that impinge upon them from outside their community as well as from within. Isleta deals with urban encroachment and industrial pollution to the north. Pueblo of Acoma rests on the southern edge of a busy transit route that brings, along with economic opportunity, many of the ills of our modern culture. The Hopi people are exposed to polluted air from regional power plants and woodstoves within their community, the Navajo Nation struggles with the scourge of uranium mining, and Hualapai is hampered by inequitable water-

allotment policies imposed by nontribal interests. All are impacted by ground-level ozone, a ubiquitous problem throughout the U.S. These and many other issues—including perennial problems of staffing, resources, and a multiplicity of environmental tasks that must be prioritized and often postponed—challenge not only these five tribes but most Native American communities.

Common to each tribe we visited are cultural impacts that threaten not only the health but the core identities of the people. Isleta, Hopi and Navajo struggle with dwindling sacred springs and surface water; uranium contaminates plants sacred to the Navajo people; and Hualapai tribal members see the relentless forces of climate change threatening not only their tribal community but livestock, deer, elk, and other creatures important to the tribe’s culture and economy.

The challenges for tribes can seem intractable, especially considering the limited resources available to address them. But two spots of light help brighten this gray landscape. One is the strength and resiliency of the tribal environmental staff we encountered. At each community we visited we found dedicated employees, primed to further a struggle that for many has continued for years or decades. Their passion and good spirit in the face of these challenges are amazing to witness. None of these folks is in it for the big bucks; most do the work because they are a part of the mix—these are their homes, their communities, their families. They’re fighting for their worlds, for their ways of life. It’s an inspiring struggle to witness.

The other promising factor is a new effort by the Obama administration and EPA administrator Lisa

see DIRECTOR on back page

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Please join us at Isleta Pueblo, NM, July 13–15, for the ITEP/NTAA National Tribal Forum/NTAA Conference. Topics will include:• Tribal air-program activities• Poster presentations• Climate change• Monitoring issues• EPA air-trends and policy updates• And much more!

Early (online) registration ends April 30. Visit our website for more

information:

www4.nau.edu/itep/

National Tribal Forum 2010

Isleta’s casino has brought needed revenue to the community and has also increased vehicle traffic on the reservation. (Photo by Monica Rodia).

continue in the area as well, including heavy metropolitan growth on Isleta’s northern and southern borders. Dust in this arid region contributes its share of pollution and is aggravated by development. We invited Isleta staff participate in ITEP’s December 2009 State Implementation Plan classroom course to help them better understand some of their options in dealing with off-reservation sources.

A source identification project was prepared for the Pueblo’s use in 2009 by Evelyn Martinez of Taos Pueblo, through her work with the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council, with funding from EPA.

Water quality is an important issue for the tribe. Isleta is well known nationally for its successful claim of Clean Water Act authority in a 1990s lawsuit lodged with resistance from the City of Albuquerque. After successfully pressing that suit to the U.S. Supreme Court, Isleta’s authority to set its own water quality standards was affirmed. The Pueblo has its own surface water quality standards for water bodies on the reservation, including the Pueblo portion of the Rio Grande. Isleta was the first tribe in the nation to establish its own standards and gain treatment-as-state status, providing an effective model of perseverance and legal strength for other tribes.

Among the land-based problems with which Isleta must cope is an industrial facility on the reservation formerly leased to a nontribal corporation, which presently is a hazardous waste site

that lies unused and in need of cleanup. For now the Pueblo has fenced off 30 acres, and the area is avoided except for twice-yearly groundwater monitoring. (After the Pueblo

terminated the corporation’s lease, the owners built a state-of-the-art facility in an adjacent community.) At least five identified areas on Isleta land are contaminated with ordnance from military activity dating back as far as World War II. Future generations of Isleta’s people will likely be cleaning up these areas for decades to come.

ITEP staff assured the Isleta environmental team that we will assist them in any way we can, which includes offering courses on issues such as GIS mapping, data management, and monitor-audit support. We also let them know about gravimetric-lab (air-filter weighing) services available to the tribes through the TAMS Center in Las Vegas. PUEBLO OF ACOMA

The Pueblo of Acoma, our second stop, has deep roots in the central New Mexico region, sheltering one of the

TOUR—from page 1

Air Quality System May 25–27 Las Vegas, NVIAQ in Tribal Communities June 15–18 Minneapolis, MNBAM 1020 Aug. 3–5 Las Vegas, NVClimate Change on Tribal Lands Sep. 28–Oct. 1 Flagstaff, AZEI/TEISS Oct. 19–22 Chicago, IL

For updates and additional information, please visit our website at www4.nau.edu/itep/trainings/.

U.S. EPA Regional Tribal Air Program Contacts

For contact information on U.S. EPA's regional tribal air staff, visit the web at:

www.epa.gov/air/tribal/coordinators.html

Upcoming AIAQTP Courses

a Technical coursesa Professional Assistancea Filter weighinga Audit servicesa Equipment loansa Info resourcesa APDLN courses

www4.nau.edu/itep/tams/

TAMS Center

Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals

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Tour participants gathered at Acoma’s Sky City to learn more about the tribe’s environmental challenges.

oldest continuously inhabited communities in North America. The reservation, home to nearly 4900 tribal residents, encompasses 702 square miles of starkly beautiful red-rock mesas and plains that lie just south of the San Mateo Mountains and the towering Mount Taylor, a landmark sacred to Acoma and many other Southwestern tribes.

Some of our hosts for the visit were Stanley Paytiamo, Environmental Protection Specialist; and Petuche Gilbert, Realty Officer for the tribe. Stanley’s assistant, Jacynthia Johnson, and Water Quality Specialist Laura Watchempino, provided additional information on the tribe’s environmental efforts.

On the air side, an emissions inventory is in progress, updating an earlier EI with a more comprehensive list of sources. Those sources, near and far, include interstate and rail traffic through the northern reaches of the reservation and several of the Southwest’s largest coal-fired power plants. The updated EI will be valuable in helping Acoma determine how best to marshal its limited resources.

Acoma has a small grant that, Paytiamo said, may go toward hiring an air tech and supporting the EI program, probably with assistance from ITEP’s Angelique Luedeker

and/or Sarah Kelly, who helped develop and continue to support the Tribal Emissions Inventory Software Solution (TEISS). That EI software, created especially for tribes, considerably eases the inventory process. (ITEP provides a variety of other air-management support services, including classroom courses and TAMS Center monitoring and

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Tour members gathered at the Church Rock Chapter House to learn more about the tragic history of uranium mining on Diné land.

Diné dancers entertained the group with their spirited moves. Left to right: Gypsy Pete, Jade Pete, Robin Pete.

data-related assistance.) Radon is another issue on Acoma’s radar; the tribe may choose to pursue radon measurements and possible mitigation when resources allow.

Acoma’s land base lies within a region of west-central New Mexico where aboriginal people have roamed since time immemorial. A major transit route north of Acoma now channels Interstate 40 and the Burlington-Santa Fe rail line, creating both environmental challenges and economic generators for the tribe. Their own commerce in the area includes a casino, hotel, truck stop, gas station, and convenience store. The transit route that skirts Acoma’s northern reaches also lies near the source of the tribe’s only free-flowing stream, the tiny Rio San Jose, used for irrigation by tribal farmers (beyond the reach of its flow, dry farming is the standard at Acoma). A long-term drought in the Southwest, as well as pressures from development, have depleted

the already diminutive stream to a trickle, but it’s still a crucial source of water for tribal needs, and protecting the quality of the watercourse is a foremost concern of the tribe.

The northern thoroughfares near Acoma

also bring the risk of accidents such as chemical spills and other vehicle-borne threats. To address such risks, Acoma has formed a First-Responder program. Old chemical dip-vat sites where sheep were treated with pesticides remain problems on the reservation, and a cleanup is in progress. A less-tractable, long-range concern of the tribe—especially in light of recent new interest in nuclear power—is a potential reactivation of the Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facility in Nevada. If that site goes online, high-level radioactive waste could be shipped west along the I-40 truck and rail routes, creating serious hazards for residents and the area’s natural resources.

Tourism is an important economic generator for the tribe, and Sky City, the ancient, still-occupied settlement atop 367-foot Acoma Mesa, is a major draw for visitors. Upgrades including new restrooms are now being constructed to replace portable facilities. Wisely, the tribe has limited transportation to the mesa-top to foot traffic and Pueblo-operated trams, helping protect the integrity of this priceless living community.

One inspiring element of Acoma is its children. Our hosts

showed us photos of tribal elementary-school children involved in recreation, solid waste, and anti-graffiti activities—grassroots efforts to improve the environment

in which they live and will eventually be charged with protecting.NAVAJO NATION—CHURCH ROCK CHAPTER

The community of Church Rock on the Navajo (Diné) Nation just east of Gallup, New Mexico, was our third stop on the trip. Our many hosts for that visit included Charlene Nelson, Environmental Program Supervisor for the Navajo Nation EPA Air Quality Control/Operating Permit Program of the Air & Toxics Department; Teddy Nez, a resident of uranium-contaminated land and a cleanup volunteer; and Brian Chee, Church Rock Chapter Coordinator, who generously provided the chapter house for our meeting. There, we were treated with a meal and traditional dancing by tribal members ranging from small children to one very nimble grandmother. We were honored by our warm welcome and the food and hospitality the local community provided for our visit.

The Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency comprises four departments: Air and Toxics, Surface and

Ground Water Protection, Criminal Enforcement, and Waste Regulation. One of the many duties of the agency is permitting 12 major sources on

the reservation, including two coal-fired power plants whose owners have signed voluntary compliance agreements. The Air and Toxics Department oversees five monitoring

Jed Harrison, Darrel Harmon, Stanley Paytiamo, Bill Thompson, and Chris Lee at Acoma.

Participant Comments

Laura McKelvey, EPA: “It’s always very important to get back out to Indian country. It puts real experience behind the words you’ve heard before...for example, it really hit me that 80% of tribal members at Hopi burn coal for warmth...”

Farshid Farsi, TAMS Co-Director/EPA: “Every time you step into a reservation and see how people conduct their daily lives with the environment, it’s a new lesson for you. There’s a lot of learning to be done.”

Chris Lee, TAMS Co-Director/ITEP: “Quite an adventure. Quite a journey. I didn’t know I’d be affected so deeply. for a humble native like me to be a part of that was touching, deeply emotional. And they fed us, very well. Their children, the dancers, the drummers, as well as the rattlers at Hualapai, they honored us, showing us their cultures.”

Darrel Harmon, U.S. EPA HQ: “It’s always good to get out and visit Indian country, We can never get enough of that in. Visiting tribes throughout the Southwest was an opportunity that I regret more people from both EPA and tribes couldn’t participate in. Getting to know each other by spending additional time together helps us gain a deeper understanding and insight into the priorities and backgrounds of the individuals that participated. I hope that an additional benefit was that, through increased understanding, tribal representatives will be more inclined to share issues and seek assistance from TAMS Center and EPA staff like myself, Farshid, Chris, and others.

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Diné tribal member and cleanup activist Teddy Nez has a home adjacent to the dam-breach site.

stations on the sprawling reservation, and they maintain two credentialed FIFRA inspectors who oversee pesticide use, much of it centered at the Nation’s large agricultural operation just south of Farmington, New Mexico. Navajo Nation EPA is a robust agency with a staff of 70 that oversees a wide variety of environmental concerns.

One of the Church Rock community’s most-pressing challenges stems from uranium mining and its grave legacy of contamination and health impacts. Uranium mining boomed on Dine’ land from the post-WWII era into the 1980s; some 520 mining sites, mostly abandoned mines and leach ponds, now contaminate Navajo land. Church Rock was hit particularly hard by the legacy of that mining. In 1979, a large leach-pond dam collapsed, spilling 1100 tons of uranium-

tainted mine tailings into the Rio Puerco, contaminating Diné land all the way to Holbrook, Arizona. Despite the notoriety of Three Mile Island, the Church Rock disaster is to date the largest nuclear-related accident in the United States. In 1995, the Navajo Nation banned uranium mining within its borders.

Locally, the Red Water Pond and Coyote Creek areas suffer from severe, lingering contamination. Impacts from the catastrophe have yet to be resolved despite a massive, sustained effort by the tribe and supporters and a cleanup now being funded by the General Electric Corporation, one of the principles in the mining activity there. (ITEP has provided technical assistance to the tribe on this issue in the past.) Among residents of area communities, health experts have identified increases in kidney disease and diabetes, an increase in autoimmune diseases, high blood pressure, and other problems, including water-table contamination. Even with the cleanup effort now underway, radiation risks from the mining and the spill will continue to pose problems for residents well into the future. That threat is aggravated by a recent uptick in the value of uranium, which has spurred efforts by mining interests to respond with new proposals to mine on inholdings. Despite the Nation’s

Jeremy Howe, Little River Band of Ottawa Nat. Resources Dept.: “Probably the biggest thing for me is the value of getting out there, seeing people, and really opening up communication lines between us and them and EPA and everybody else. If this is going to be a partnership, it needs to be a two-way street.”

Syndi Smallwood, Pachanga Band of Luiseño Indians: “The trip was excellent. People kept saying to me I can’t believe you’re taking a bus trip and visiting tribes, it’s crazy. But I think it was the best thing. I was very impressed with all the work people are doing. Tribes are doing more with a lot less, with small staffs, just out there accomplishing huge feats.”

Mike Papp, EPA: “I think it’s great to really see where people are working, what their issues are. It’s one thing to get an e-mail saying ‘I’ve got an issue with this,’ and you answer that e-mail. You don’t see all the issues tribes are dealing with day to day. This really helps put it into perspective, and it really opens up your heart.

Monica Rodia, U.S. EPA HQ/Tribal Science Council: “Working at EPA Headquarters, and coming out to Indian Country to meet with tribes one-on-one, that’s an honor. The Tribal Science Council [which Rodia manages] has broad air priorities, so I wanted to come out and hear some of the air issues. It’s interesting talking to the tribes, some in the early stage, just setting up programs, some further along. That’s interesting. And bringing a coworker in the air program [Amanda Evans] should really help us understand how we can help the tribes.”

2005 ban on uranium mining, the legal status and force of that resolution—especially in relation to nontribal checkerboarded inholdings—has yet to be tested in court.

Chris Shuey of the Southwest Resource Information Center, an Albuquerque-based environmental organization and an advocate for tribal residents in the area, presented TAMS tour participants with a slide show on the dam breach and its impacts; later we toured the spill and cleanup sites. SWRIC provides support for a Diné-led effort to survey 1300 residents in the reservation’s southeast corner, examining demographic data, water use, social history, cultural behaviors (such as gathering local plants and the use of contaminated mine waste to build homes and corrals) that might increase exposure, and self-reported health conditions. Blood sampling is planned for the next phase of this far-reaching, multi-level risk study. Outreach and education are another major part of the long-range program.

Currently, GE is performing an “Interim Removal Action” to remove radium-contaminated soil from reservation lands. This is a temporary response until GE, U.S. EPA, and the Navajo Nation agree on a final work plan to address the cleanup for the North East Church Rock (NECR) site. Bulldozers and loaders constantly scrape and haul earth tainted by radiation as well as arsenic and heavy metals, moving it to a central location whose fate is still undecided—do they cap it? Move it again? Should people even live here at all? The debate is continues, legal maneuvering goes on, and much remains in flux. Meanwhile, area residents continue to face the invisible threat as they herd their sheep and horses, draw drinking water from area wells, and watch as their children play among the trees and rocks.

One hopeful aspect of this tragic affair is the dedication and resilience of Dine’ members such as Teddy Nez, whose home lies within Ground Zero of the spill, right next door to the NECR cleanup site. Nez, along with many other tribal members, continues the fight to clean up the mess, hold responsible parties accountable, and make sure people are aware of the gravity of the uranium-mining threat to Dine’ residents and land. It was heartening for us all to see the resiliency and resolve of tribal members such as Teddy Nez, who continue the struggle to return the land to its ancient state of balance.HOPI NATION

Our fourth stop was the Hopi Nation Tribal Government Complex in Kykotsmovi on Third Mesa,

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Bus tour participants meet with Hopi environmental staff for a look at the tribe’s air quality and other challenges.

one of three elevated strips of land that rise from the 1.5 million acre reservation. The Hopi people have lived in villages on and at the foot of the mesas since at least the 1200s, and their roots in the region go back many centuries further. Notable for their practice of dry farming, supplemented by prayer and careful placement of fields to catch precious runoff, Hopis have relied on the beneficence of the rain-bringing katsinas for centuries. Due in large part to their remote location, they were one of few Southwestern tribes who escaped the full brunt of Spanish occupation.

Not that the outside world has failed to impact Hopi; although environmental pressures on the tribe come from both in and outside the reservation, most can be pegged to the surrounding technological world.

Managing environmental concerns for 15 communities on this vast reservation is a constant challenge for the small staff of the Hopi Environmental Protection Office. The air staff, for example, is composed of just two members, Environmental Program Director Gayle Honanie, and Morris Paukgana, Environmental Specialist for the tribe.

Hopi’s environmental program was launched in the mid-90s with pesticide and solid waste programs; over the years they’ve continued to build the effort despite uneven funding. Indoor air quality is a major concern at Hopi. About 80% of tribal members heat their homes in this often cold, wind-swept region with woodstoves burning the abundant, free coal that comes from mines in and around Hopi land. Many of the stoves are old and inefficient, and with particulate-emitting coal simmering inside they pose risks of infiltration into tribal homes. Asthma and other respiratory problems have risen noticeably in recent years, says Honanie. The tribe is eager to find resources to fund a stove change-out program.Solid waste has long been an issue for this relatively remote group of Hopi communities. A BIA-funded dump near Tuba City,

on the eastern edge of Hopi, is a sore spot they’ve been trying for years to shut down with the help of an alphabet soup of federal agencies. They maintain a pesticide program as well as a Rapid Response team, which deals with emergencies on the two highways that run through Hopi but whose primary purpose is to addressing weather emergencies in a region where conditions can sometimes turn harsh. Heavy wind-storms are a constant issue for reservation residents; the dust they create can cause major problems. Ozone is likely an issue as well, and with recent tightening of ozone standards Hopi, like many other tribes, has

probably fallen significantly closer to unacceptable levels.Four major coal-fired power plants emit pollutants over

Hopi land, and wildfires—even those as far away as California—and dust stirred up from open-pit mining on the reservation,

all aggravate the problem. The tribe has conducted an emissions inventory and has submitted its data to the National Emissions Inventory database, but their air program, operating via GAP grants and other limited funding resources, remains small. They plan to start monitoring soon, a process that will begin with the installation of two miniVol monitors supplied by ITEP’s TAMS Center.

The Hopi people have survived drought and other stresses for nearly a millennia, relying on faith and ingenuity to cope with sometimes monumental challenges in this harsh, remote environment. Today’s challenges are sometimes different from those in their long past, but the resilience and ingenuity of the Hopi people remains strong, as does their reverence for the land and all living beings with which they share the world.

HUALAPAI TRIBAL NATIONClimate change impacts are constantly on the minds of

the tribal environmental staff at the Hualapai Tribal Nation, a community located in northeastern Arizona that encompasses 108 miles of the Grand Canyon and Colorado River.

Our visit Hualapai’s Dept. of Natural Resources—the last stop on our tour—was hosted by the assistant director, Clay Bravo; Alex Cabillo, the tribe’s Water Resources manager; and Ron Quasula, the tribe’s Air Program Manager; and others. We gathered at the environmental office in Peach Springs, Hualapai’s capital and home to most of its 1800+ tribal members and several hundred nontribal residents. After an afternoon

Hopi Environmental Specialist, Morris Paukgana (R), and Program Director, Gayle Honanie.

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The Hualapai Environmental team (from left): Alvin Crook, Alex Cabillo, Rachelle Mahone, Clay Bravo, Ron Quasula, Danny Powsey, and Joe Montana Jr.

Tour members gather as Hualapai Water Manager, Alex Cabillo (right), describes the tribe’s water-related concerns.

presentation and discussion, we were treated to a performance by Bird Singers and dancers (Singers: Orlondo Quasula, Amadeo Quasula, Quanah Quasula, Vinnie Quasula, Darius Quasula, Anthony Crook Quasula, Juwain Walker. Dancers: Jaylenne Quasula, Sukwanna Quasula, Donnyel Walker). We’re grateful to the tribe and the performers for sharing with us some of their ancient cultural treasures.

Hualapai’s environmental department was formed in 1992; the air program was launched in 1997. They now operate three air monitors, located at Peach Springs and also 60 miles away at Big Sandy. Data is gathered regularly from the Peach Springs site and via a once-a-week drive over long, rough dirt roads to the Big Sandy site. They’re considering the launch of a mercury-monitoring effort and have enlisted the help of the TAMS Center, which has placed them on the waiting list to receive one of two mercury monitors the Center now has on loan to other tribes.

The department also handles the tribe’s solid waste needs. According to Bravo, the waste stream in this remote community represents one of its biggest challenges. Water is a constant issue, whether it be digging new wells, cleaning out existing sites, capturing the meager flow of various seeps and springs on Hualapai land, or dealing with water in the form of snow, which can be formidable in this high-desert location.

The tribe’s proximity to the river suggests abundant availability of water, but that proximity is misleading: not only is much of the million acres of Hualapai land on the uplands (at elevations up to 7300 feet), beyond practical reach of the river, but despite the thriving river-rafting business they operate, the tribe has no legal rights to Colorado River water—a glaring inequity that has yet to be corrected. With a long-term drought eating away at Hualapai’s water resources, new wells and water catchments are constantly in development. Drought and climate change are concerns the tribe’s environmental-protection department doesn’t take lightly—their disaster-management program is designed largely around the two related issues.

Clay and Cabillo agree that climate change has already impacted the tribe. Gradually diminishing flows at some sites, earlier spring plant growth that throws off the normal feed cycle for livestock and wild animals, and at times unseasonably late snow packs that can kill off spring buds, seem to be increasing. Ranchers on the reservation

note that they’re buying more feed than normal. Through extensive drilling (with numerous dry holes), they’ve been able to find sufficient water so far on the sprawling reservation. Cabillo says one of their more urgent needs is for an expanded

pipeline system and storage capacity to hold water and move it where they need it.

The tribe took an enlightened view early on toward their environment, developing strategies such as a Groundwater and Overlay Protection Ordinance that will help guide water management efforts and the pacing and location of development into the future. They’ve also sought out opportunities to expand their environmental knowledge and skills, including attendance at ITEP courses. Cabillo

has also given back to Native environmental staff, serving as an instructor for an ITEP Climate Change in Indian Country course in 2008.

Cabillo has strong opinions about the federal role in tribal environmental support. “Carbon trading is for city folks,” he says, only half-kidding. “From this simple Indian’s perspective, it just continues the status quo. We want to see real adaptation strategies.” Bravo weighs in on the topic, too, noting that in the West, new communities are often developed with minimal regard for the resources they need, which often depletes resources available to nearby tribes. “Look at the Lone Pine situation,” he says, referring to the Lone Pine Paiute tribe in southern California. “L.A is sucking up their groundwater. We’re looking for science to assist us as our water resources begin to be impacted. We need to take a proactive approach, rather than simply reacting.”

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The tour ended in Las Vegas, NV, with a TAMS Steering Committee meeting.

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Jackson to advocate for more tribal resources. EPA’s proposed FY11 tribal budget, for example, is up significantly at a time when much of federal funding is flat. It contains proposals for an additional GAP-funding increase of $8.5 million and a new multimedia grant program of $30 million for tribal environmental programs.

In the face of the many environmental challenges they face, tribal leadership and environmental staff should soon have new opportunities to enhance their resource toolboxes. Federal budget negotiations begin soon. Now is the time for tribal voices to make themselves heard by their congressional representatives and national tribal organizations, such as The National Tribal Environmental Council and the National Congress of American Indians.

Meanwhile, ITEP will continue to do its part, working with tribal environmental professionals to develop and offer training courses, technical assistance and other services that are attuned to the changing needs and priorities of tribes around the country.

ENDPOINT: LAS VEGASOur tour ended at the TAMS Center in Las Veags, where the

full TAMS Steering Committee met to discuss our experiences and conduct its quarterly meeting. All who took the journey agreed it was well worth the effort. Several EPA participants had never visited Southwestern tribes before, and all of us gained new insights into the challenges that tribes face every day.

The tour also strengthened our connections with those individuals in the field doing the hard work that is so important for their communities. We learned a great deal on this trip and hope to organize similar trips in the future.

TOUR — from page 9 DIRECTOR—from page 2