EPA Research: Working with Native American Communities
EPA researchers work in close partnership with Native American communities to advance science that helps address the local needs of Tribal Nations and their respective communities across the lower 48 states and Alaska while also strengthening public environmental health, resiliency, and environmental justice across the nation. Below are some recent examples of that work.
National EPA-Tribal Science Council
The National EPA-Tribal Science Council (TSC) was created in partnership with Tribal representatives to help integrate agency and Tribal interests, specifically with respect to environmental science issues. The TSC provides a forum for Tribes and EPA to identify priority science and research needs and collaboratively design effective solutions. The Council seeks to increase Tribal involvement in EPA’s scientific activities—building bridges between Tribal and agency programs.
- Learn more about EPA’s Tribal Science Council
Addressing the Impacts of Wildfires
Increasing wildfire activity is having significant impacts on Tribal communities. Accordingly, our researchers are working in partnership with these communities to help them monitor local air quality, inform and prioritize Agency research strategies, and advance accessible, low-cost technologies to lower public health risks.
This work includes:
- Working with the Hoopa Valley Tribe and community partners in California and Montana to study how air cleaning and ventilation practices impact indoor air quality during wildland fires. Learn more about research on DIY air cleaners for addressing wildlifre smoke.
- Inviting Tribal nations to participate in a series of listening sessions to share their top challenges and science needs related to wildland fires and smoke, helping shape the Agency’s wildland fire research program.
- Partnering with the Nez Perce Tribe, Heritage University, and the Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals to increase availability of low-cost PurpleAir air sensors for Tribal community use.
Protecting Ecosystem Benefits
Our ecologists and other researchers are partnering with Tribes to better understand and assess local ecosystems and work to sustain the important benefits—cultural, economic, and subsistence—that these resources provide to Tribes and other local communities.
This work includes:
- Sharing modeling tools with the Nisqually Community Forest (NCF), a novel collaboration of communities, to support their salmon-recovery planning in the Mashel River watershed, a once prime salmon producing sub-basin of the Nisqually River.
- Working with Tribes to address challenges related to ocean acidification and the risks it poses to oysters, bay clams, and Dungeness crabs—staples to recreational and commercial fisheries important to Tribes and the State of Oregon.
- EPA worked with Chemehuevi and Colorado River Indian Tribes to research ways to eliminate or reduce the negative effects of harmful algal blooms. The study revealed native plant populations on the floating vegetated islands had reduced the nutrient concentration to a safe level and demonstrated useful tools in alleviating harmful algal blooms in water.
- EPA partnered with the Maliseet Tribe on two projects aimed at restoring Atlantic salmon, an important part of the Tribe’s subsistence practices. In one, they restored a portion of the Saint John River to maintain and restore critical cold water aquatic habitats. They also joined EPA and other partners to develop a cloud-based Population Diversity Database. Learn more in the EPA Science Matters articles "Working with Tribal Partners to Restore Fisheries in Northern Maine" and "One Health Assessment: Fish Returning to the Penobscot River."
Restoring Contaminated Lands & Water
Our researchers are working with Tribes and other local communities to remediate and clean up contaminated land, soil, and water to inform actions that improve public health and restore these resources to safe and productive assets. Recent examples include the following:
- Our researchers worked with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe, located in a Great Lakes Area of Concern impacted by contamination left by past industrial activity, on a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) to better understand how environmental quality relates to tribal community health. One important area of inquiry examined how water quality rules impact wild rice.
- EPA scientists worked with three socially vulnerable neighborhoods to provide recommendations on how the clean-up of Kingsbury Bay and Grassy Point natural areas could improve access to high-quality green spaces along the St. Louis River. They found that Tribal and community members wanted these restored spaces to provide safe, healthy spaces that offer recreational, spiritual, and cultural opportunities, leading to a wide array of proposed solutions that are aligned with community concerns.