Project Resources - Search Results

7 Generations, Addressing Environmental Issues for Future Generations of Native American in New Mexico

The New Mexico Environment Department Pollution Prevention Program understands the diverse needs of the 21 pueblos and tribes in our state. Our program has worked with several tribes and pueblos to reduce their environmental impacts. We have resources to assist pueblos and tribes with environmental community surveys. Through our “7 Generations, Addressing Environmental Issues for Future Generations of Native American in New Mexico” pueblos and tribes can prioritize and determine environmental needs specific to their communities.

For more information: http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/Green_Zia_website/pdfs/7%20Generations.pdf

Baca/Dlo'ay azhi Community School

The LEED Certified Baca Dlo'ay azhi Community School, on the Navajo Nation reservation in Prewitt, New Mexico, serves students in kindergarten through grade six. The 78,900 ft2 building incorporates Native American cultural concepts, including an orientation that reflects the meanings associated with the four cardinal directions. The school employs daylighting, low-emissivity windows, shading, an efficient mechanical system, and a sophisticated energy-management system; energy use at the school is expected to be 20% below that of a minimally code-compliant facility. The school is also expected to use 30% less water than a conventional facility. Materials were selected for their recycled content and proximity to the building site. Daylighting, air filtration, a track-off entryway system, and a green housekeeping plan contribute to a healthy indoor environment.

For more information: http://leedcasestudies.usgbc.org/overview.cfm?ProjectID=387

Building and Buying Green in Indian Country: A Practical Guide for California Tribes

157 page(s). This guide provides tribal project decisionmakers and planners with an overview of "green" building practices to help them evaluate and choose sustainable options as they develop projects with architects, contractors, suppliers, or other building professionals.

For more information: http://CalRecycle

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Brownfields State and Tribal Response Program

Montana State University provided the necessary training and educational guidance to successfully inventory and lab-pack hazardous chemicals at 5 schools on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. This work was accomplished in collaboration with the Cheyenne River Sioux Environmental Protection Department, Cheyenne Eagle Butte High School, Dupree School, Takini School, Timber Lake High School, and Tiospaye Topa School. Chemicals lab-packed include neurotoxins, carcinogens, suspected carcinogens, strong oxidizers, corrosive, caustic, toxic, ignitable, flammable, and potentially explosive chemicals. The schools’ total student population is 668 and 84% Native American. A total of 1,750 pounds of chemicals were lab-packed by a hazardous waste broker and removed from the school system to a proper disposal/storage facility.

For more information: http://www.peakstoprairies.org/library/healthy_schools/chemcleanout/inde x.cfm?Page=Appendix&Appendix=case_studies#head

Connected to the Earth

A do-it-yourself risk assessment tool for homeowners to evaluate environmental and health risks in and around their homes. From keeping drinking water safe to avoiding household hazards like lead-based paint, this series of 11 fact sheets tells how to detect hazards and get started on reducing or eliminating them. (Full text available in pdf format.)

For more information: http://peakstoprairies.org/library/connectedtoearth.cfm

Energy Home Weatherization Assistance and Rebates

From energy efficiency initiatives - such as residential weatherization and state capitol retrofits - to renewable energy projects and financial innovations, Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program projects are making a difference throughout the United States, its territories and tribes. This website is the gateway to finding weatherization programs in each state.

For more information: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/wip/project_map/

Environmental Assessment Worksheet

Though a Commissioner's Order, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe began an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) review process, in order to have coordination between programs and departmetns with projects around the Reservation. Each EAW is assessed by different individuals with technical expertise regarding Air Quality, Archaeology/Cultural Resouces, Forestry, Land Leases/Titles, Solid/Hazardous Waste, Water Quality (both surface and ground) and Wildlife/Fisheries. Each category are then reviewed against both with Tribal Laws and Customs, and with Best Available Practices in environmental management. Often during this process, the short-coming of the community planners are flushed out so that they can better serve the public and the tribal resources. However, the process still lacks the ability to review for overall safety and with potential O&M costs impact to the tribe, so the DNRE is now working together with the other departments to try to close up these review loop-holes that can cause approvals of projects that negatively impact tribes' environmental and resource access. A recent change for the EAW process was to bring in a public comment period for all public infrastructure projects, in order to enpower the community with a voice on their resouces and environmetal access.

For more information: http://www.millelacsband.com/

Environmental Assessment Worksheet

Though a Commissioner's Order, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe began an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) review process, in order to have coordination between programs and departmetns with projects around the Reservation. Each EAW is assessed by different individuals with technical expertise regarding Air Quality, Archaeology/Cultural Resouces, Forestry, Land Leases/Titles, Solid/Hazardous Waste, Water Quality (both surface and ground) and Wildlife/Fisheries. Each category are then reviewed against both with Tribal Laws and Customs, and with Best Available Practices in environmental management. Often during this process, the short-coming of the community planners are flushed out so that they can better serve the public and the tribal resources. However, the process still lacks the ability to review for overall safety and with potential O&M costs impact to the tribe, so the DNRE is now working together with the other departments to try to close up these review loop-holes that can cause approvals of projects that negatively impact tribes' environmental and resource access. A recent change for the EAW process was to bring in a public comment period for all public infrastructure projects, in order to enpower the community with a voice on their resouces and environmetal access.

For more information: http://www.millelacsband.com/

EPA Green Homes website

The EPA's green home website: Provides information on a wide-range of options for greening a home; Provides information for all types of residents and circumstances, including renters; Provides information for homeowners who want to "green" their homes to different degrees, with varying levels of resources and effort, from minor changes to major renovations; Aims to help residents prioritize among environmental and health issues and options; Has no commercial interests or advertising; Provides science-based information primarily from federal government sources. All information provided on this site has been reviewed by EPA experts.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/greenhomes/index.htm

GreenScapes - Environmentally Beneficial Landscaping

The U.S. EPA’s GreenScapes program provides cost-efficient and environmentally friendly solutions for large-scale landscaping. This web site provides information on the benefits of GreenScaping, how to implement GreenScaping, the GreenScapes Alliance, success stories, and publications/ resources.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/greenscapes/index.htm

Healthy School Environment Resources

Healthy School Environment Resources is your gateway to on-line resources to help facility managers, school administrators, architects, design engineers, school nurses, parents, teachers and staff address environmental health issues in schools.

For more information: http://cfpub.epa.gov/schools/index.cfm

High Performance School Design On-Line Training

Helps architects and engineers design more sustainable, cost-effective, and energy-efficient K-12 school buildings. The 25-course curriculum includes an online curriculum with CHPS and LEED® design criteria. Areas covered include: site design; lighting and electrical systems; energy efficient building shell; water conservation; recycling systems, waste management; health and productivity; and more. Learning Units in Health, Safety and Welfare under the American Institute of Architects’ Continuing Education System are offered. Registration is required but the courses have been underwritten through state and federal support and are currently offered free of charge. The courses were developed by the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC), Building Media, Inc., the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Architectural Energy Corporation, and the Collaborative for High Performance Schools. The program is based on the U.S. DOE Rebuild America program’s National Best Practices Manual for Building High Performance Schools.

For more information: http://www.nyserda.org/hps/designcommissioning.asp

Hopi Nation Straw Bale Home

Red Feather Development Group is a nonprofit whose mission is to educate and empower American Indian nations to create sustainable solutions to the severe housing crisis in reservation communities. They teach affordable, replicable and sustainable approaches to home construction. As part of Red Feather's Elder Housing Initiative, a strawbale home was recently completed on the Hopi Reservation. It was built as a replicable model to introduce straw bale homes as a viable solution and provide housing for one family and a learning tool for others. Straw bale construction, especially when built with a frost-protected shallow foundation, provides an affordable and energy-efficient house. The home was constructed with community involvement, transferring straw bale construction skills to tribal members. This home also demonstrates efficient layout in a small footprint, the use of low-impact products (on both health and environment), and barrier-free design.

For more information: http://homes-across-america.org/search/details.cfm?who=161&Feature=all&a ction=showDetails&Query=byState

Montana Weatherization Training Center

The training center's goal is to train the professionals who are on the ground weatherizing homes every day. Working closely with Montana's Human Resource Development Councils and Tribal associates, they focus on safe, efficient, cutting-edge techniques to address the health, safety, and energy efficiency issues present in low-income housing. The site offers valuable information on weatherization, including the newly-launched WXTV - online training modules.

For more information: http://www.weatherization.org/

National Environmental Compliance Assistance Clearinghouse - Tribal Sector

A compendium of resources (many are on-line) dealing with tribal compliance issues. Subject areas include: schools, public water systems, solid waste, hazardous waste, construction waste, munitions waste, mining waste, wastewater management, general compliance, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), pesticides, regional tribal contacts, federal agency resources, and tribal organizations.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/assistance/sectors/tribal.html

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 environmental science issues and collaboratively design effective solutions. The Council seeks to increase tribal involvement in EPA's scientific activities - building bridges between tribal and Agency programs. The TSC is composed of a single tribal representative from each of the nine EPA Regions with federally recognized tribes, with an additional tribal representative designated in Region 10 to represent Alaska Native communities. There is also a single Agency representative from each Headquarters Program Office and Region. Agency representatives are designated by Assistant Administrators from the EPA Program Office and Regions. Tribal representatives are nominated by their Regional Tribal Operations Committees through the National Tribal Operations Committee. All TSC members must have an adequate scientific background to understand and work on tribal science issues effectively.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/osp/tribes/who.htm

Opportunities for Green Building Funding

A summary of various federal, state and local programs providing funding for green building projects (including internet hyperlinks).

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/tools/funding.htm

OPPT Tribal News

EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics publishes a newsletter approximately twice per year including articles featuring tribal initiatives and issues. The publication "...seeks to provide an opportunity to promote a two-way dialogue with EPA and American Indian Tribes, including Alaskan Native Villagers, regarding a vast array of environmental issues and concerns that affect Indian country. The mission and hope of the publication is to maintain an open, constructive exchange of information between the federal government, Tribal governments, and Tribal organizations...."

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/tribal/pubs/

P2Rx Residential Construction Topic Hub

Introduces the importance of resource efficient construction or “green building” practices for builders, designers, architects and pollution prevention assistance providers. Describes considerations for the pre-design, site analysis and building design phases of residential construction. Discusses consumer preferences and trends with information to help builders manage costs, market resource-efficient homes and find assistance.

For more information: http://www.peakstoprairies.org/topichub/toc.cfm?hub=31&subsec=7&nav=7

Profile of Tribal Government Operations

The Tribal Profile presents information on many aspects of tribal government operations affecting the environment. It provides tribes with key information about environmental regulations and can also help tribes build their environmental compliance programs. The Tribal Profile contains material on an array of available EPA technical and compliance assistance tools as well as financial and pollution prevention opportunities applicable to tribal operations.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/assistance/sectors/ notebooks/tribal.html

The Enterprise Foundation - Native American Program

The Enterprise Foundation has invested more than $80 million in Indian Country since 1996 to create more than 1,000 affordable homes. Enterprise’s New Mexico program serves as a model of other emerging Native American programs. Lessons learned are applied to the development and execution of work in California, Alaska, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, North Dakota and South Dakota.

For more information: http://www.enterprisecommunity.org/programs/native_american/

Tribal News - Echoes of Green in Indian Country

This 64 page newsletter includes news and events, discusses new technologies with case study examples, and referes to new resources. Some of the specific topics covered in this issue include: wind and solar power; green agriculture; green buildings, facilities and landscaping; green chemistry; green cleaning; green energy and lights; green engineering; green labels and purchasing; green meetings; and green tourism.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/tribal/pubs/t-news-fall2004.pdf

Tribal Water Quality Accomplishments

Tribes in the American southwest have made great strides in their efforts to monitor and control nonpoint source (NPS) pollution on reservation lands. Many of these tribes’ projects were recently highlighted in this publication. The document describes how the Indian tribes have used Clean Water Act Section 106 funds for water quality monitoring, thus enabling them to develop NPS pollution runoff control and management programs that ultimately improved environmental quality. The document describes the long-term results of water quality monitoring from the NPS management programs and other management efforts by 12 tribes in California, Nevada, and Arizona. Thanks to EPA and the other federal agencies that offer training and environmental program development and project support, increasing numbers of tribes are managing comprehensive water quality programs to protect, improve, and enhance natural resources for the benefit of all Tribal members.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/tribal/pdf/tribal-water-quality-accompl ishments.pdf

Tribal Web Resources for Green Buildings & Pollution Prevention

Tribal environmental professionals and facility operators can access comprehensive material on environmental stewardship and regulations that may apply to tribal government operations. Find material on building and funding tribal environmental programs and contact information on federal, tribal and other organizations.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/tribalcompliance/index.html

Tribes Supply Green Building Market with Certified Lumber

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) provides third-party certification for environmentally sound forestry operations. Supplies of sustainably managed and harvested timber are important for green building programs like LEED.

The First Nations Development Institute reported (2002) that tribes have gained increased control over their forests in recent years, and tribal foresters are seeking exposure for their sustainable forestry practices which are part of their traditional way of life.

Tribes completing certification assessments include; The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs in Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho, the Confederated Salish and Kootneai Tribe in Montana, the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona, the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico, the Spokane Tribe of Washington, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians in Minnesota and the Ft. Bidwell Indian Community in California. Several of these have obtained full FSC certification. Twenty-seven more tribes have gone through scoping assessments.

For more information: http://www.fsc.org/north-america.html

U.S. EPA Green Building Resource Guide

A short fact sheet defining green building and outlining the resources which are available through U.S. EPA’s Green Building Programs (including internet hyperlinks).

For more information: http://www.abc.org/res.ashx?p=files/Education_and_Training/GreenBuild/AB C Green Building Resource Guide.pdf-WbCA&usg=AFQjCNGtSKiuTROIDN

U.S. EPA Green Building Web Site

This web site provides a wealth of information pertaining to green building, including an overview, a discussion of environmental issues, resources for specific building types, internet hyperlinks to other online resources, news briefs, and information on the U.S. EPA implementation of green building.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/