Vol. XVIII, No. 1 - www7 - Northern Arizona University

I nstitute for Tri bal Environ mental Professionals
Vol . XVI I I No. 1, Spri ng 2011
ITEP Has a New Director
as a child. Being around her jars, learning
where to pick the plants and how to pick
them—all of that was very important. She
TEP is pleased to announce that we have a new director. Ann Marie C
­ hischilly,
always had a reverence for
a member of the Navajo (Diné) Nation and a longtime
the earth. It was an influence
­environmental attorney, took the helm at ITEP on April 1. Ann
I never forgot.”
Marie comes to us from a ten-year stint with the Gila River Indian
Ann Marie’s ties to
Community, where she served as Senior Assistant General Counsel
the
Diné
landscape would
and assisted the Community in a landmark legal struggle to regain
strongly influence her
their water rights (Arizona Water Settlement Act).
eventual career path. She
Ann Marie is from Shonto/Kayenta, Arizona, and is Red Streak
earned a Masters of Law
into the Water Clan, born for Bitter Water Clan. Her maternal
(LL.M.) in Environmental
grandparent clan is One Who Walks Around, and her paternal
Law from Vermont Law
Ann Marie Chischilly
grandparent clan is Coyote Pass People. Her mother, Marie, was a nurse
School.
Before pursuing her
for over 30 years; her father, Thomas, was a rancher and coal miner.
legal education, she worked
She spent most of her youth outdoors around her hometown and on the ranch, where she
as
an
Environmental
Specialist with the
helped with livestock, planting and other activities.
Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, developing
“My mother and grandmothers have always been major influences on my spiritual
curricula on the National Environmental
upbringing,” she says. “My maternal grandmother is an herbalist. I spent time with her
Policy Act and Tribal Environmental
Assessments and addressing several tribal
councils on those topics.
She began as Water Counsel at the
Gila River Indian Community in 2000,
when the Community was in the midst
n many Native American communities, indoor air quality is
See CH ISCH I LLY o n pa ge 4
a significant health issue. Faulty home/ventilation design,
inadequate maintenance, cigarette smoke in the home, poor
woodstove exhausts, overcrowding, and other issues too often
understaffed health and environmental
translate to air that is harmful to residents. Asthma rates are
departments— ­aggravate the problems even
high in many Native communities, a condition closely tied
more.
to IAQ, and existing allergies are aggravated by unhealthy
In recent years, tribes as well as U.S.
conditions in tribal homes and offices, including carpeting
EPA have increased their focus on IAQ.
that contains moisture, dust mites, and other threats. Radon
EPA counts it as one of its primary focuses,
infiltration into dwellings and other structures contributes
although the EPA funding structure doesn’t
to lung cancer rates, and toxic cleaning substances can
necessarily support that emphasis—unlike
create significant problems. Intractable social conditions in
ambient air, IAQ is not regulated, and
many Native communities—poverty, substandard housing,
regulation is one of EPA’s primary roles.
I
Northwestern Tribes Grapple
with Indoor Air Quality
I
See I AQ o n pa ge 3
From the Interim Director
Mehrdad Khatibi
I
TEP enters an exciting new phase with
the arrival of our new executive director,
Ann Marie Chischilly. Ann Marie brings
a wealth of knowledge and experience as an
environmental attorney focused on issues that
have included, among other things, water
rights and renewable energy. Her focus and
unique history come at a great time for ITEP
as we continue to move forward as a training and education organization for
the tribes.
Ann Marie will spend the coming months expanding her general
understanding of national tribal environmental issues, and learning more
about ITEP’s role in responding to those issues. Her presence will certainly
lead to new and exciting directions for the Institute. We couldn’t be more
pleased to have her on board. Please welcome her to her new position at
ITEP, and feel free to contact her to introduce yourself, tell her about your
tribe’s programs, and express your needs and issues.
< >
Because this year’s National Tribal Forum takes place in Spokane,
Washington, we’ve dedicated much of this issue of Native Voices to the indoor
air quality concerns of tribes in the Northwest region of the U.S. However,
the IAQ problems they describe aren’t all that different from those found
in tribal communities across the country. Indoor-air pollution is a growing
concern in Indian Country. Asthma rates have increased throughout the
nation, the performance of schoolchildren has been tied directly to the quality
of the air they breathe, and tribes have increased their awareness of the
importance of indoor air to the health and quality of life of tribal individuals.
At ITEP, we’re pleased to be able to offer resources to tribes to address
their indoor-air concerns with a new program that we’re calling “Indoor Air
Institute for Tribal
Environmental
Professionals
Ann Marie Chischilly
–Northern Arizona University–
Mehrdad Khatibi
Quality in Tribal Communities.” Mansel Nelson is
heading up this program, which zeroes in on important
IAQ issues such as asthma, radon, and IAQ in schools.
The program will support tribes in Alaska and the
lower 48 states with technical assistance, educational
support for staff, and online training. Complimentary
to these efforts will be ITEP’s ongoing IAQ training
courses through the American Indian Air Quality
Training Program, as well as the TAMS Center in Las
Vegas, Nevada, which offers IAQ technical assistance
to tribes, including radon test canisters and other
resources to assess IAQ conditions.
Tribal concerns about IAQ are also reflected in
activities we’re pulling together for this year’s National
Tribal Forum. We’re organizing a major IAQ track at
the NTF, utilizing a number of tribal experts to share
their experience and expertise with attendees. The
growth of tribal experts in this and other air-related
areas is another example of the changes we’ve seen
in Indian Country since tribal air programs began to
develop more than two decades ago. Since the early
days, the make-up of both NTF and ITEP classroom
presenters and instructors has shifted steadily from
non-tribal to tribal staff. Each year’s Forum provides
a telling example of how far tribes have come in
developing air-management expertise. As the articles in
this issue demonstrate, tribes are becoming more and
more skilled in tackling and addressing IAQ concerns
for their communities.
This year’s National Tribal Forum in Spokane,
WA (June 14–16), co-sponsored by the National
Tribal Air Association, should be another great
gathering. Climate Change, IAQ, technical
information, tribal success stories, and policy updates
Executive Director
Associate Director
Assistant Professor &
Curriculum Coordinator
EEOP Coordinator
Mansel Nelson
Solid Waste Program Coordinator
Roberta Tohannie
Sr. Program Coordinator
John Mead
Patricia Ellsworth
Prof. Assistance Program Manager
TAMS Center
Co-Director (ITEP)
Climate Change Program Manager
TAMS Center
Co-Director (EPA)
Lisa Begaye
Solid Waste Prog. Sr. Program Coordinator
Dennis Wall
Chris Lee
Native Voices is published by NAU with
a grant from the U.S Environmental
Protection Agency
See DI RECTOR o n pa ge 5
Farshid Farsi
Todd Barnell
2
Lydia Scheer
Sue Wotkyns
Budget Manager
Editor
I AQ – fro m fro nt pa ge
She says mold can be a challenging issue for the community to
resolve. Tribal buildings have been assessed and repaired, only to
Ambient-air pollution, a major EPA concern, naturally pushes
suffer recurring mold contamination, probably resulting both from
funding to that side of the equation.
ongoing structural problems and less-than-successful mitigation
Still, EPA has made efforts to address IAQ. For example,
in years past. As with most tribes, EPA funding strictly covers
the agency provides limited IAQ funding in some grants; both
IAQ assessments and educational outreach—mitigation is not
CAA 103 and 105 grants can fund IAQ assessment as well as
funded. Lacking resources to fix the problems they uncover, the
education and outreach, but neither supports repair, mitigation,
or installation of equipment such as ceiling fans. The agency has Air Quality staff has found that by increasing knowledge and
awareness of IAQ topics, and working collaboratively with tribal
also created informational resources and training opportunities,
departments such as Housing and Health, they can help prevent
which includes support for ITEP’s air-training program. In
IAQ issues from arising in the first place.
addition, EPA recently launched a tribal IAQ website (epa.gov/
In conjunction with the University of Montana and the
iaq) that provides valuable information and links to tribes and
Tribe’s
Ni Mii Puu Health clinic, Boulafentis is presently involved
others.
Despite limited federal support for IAQ management, many in a study on the health impacts of woodstoves. Monitoring
indoor air and asthmatic children in tribal homes, the study
tribes have developed innovative approaches to dealing with the
evaluates the effectiveness of different interventions to reduce
issue. To get a better picture of how some Native communities
wood smoke levels in the homes. Two homes in the study have
are meeting the IAQ challenge—and to make a regional
newly installed, EPA-certified woodstoves, two are using advanced
connection as we approach this year’s National Tribal Forum
air-filtration units with high quality filters, and another two
in Spokane, Washington—Native Voices editor, Dennis Wall,
use air-filtration technology with lower-quality filters. The Nez
recently spoke with environmental staff at several Northwestern
Perce study is part of a larger, five-year project sponsored by the
tribes about their IAQ challenges and responses.
University of Montana (with funding by the National Institute
of Environmental Health Sciences) that is examining woodstove
Johna Boulafentis, Environmental Outreach
pollution in several Montana communities as well as in Fairbanks,
Specialist, and Julie Simpson, Air ­Quality
­Coordinator with the Nez Perce Tribe’s Environ- Alaska. The study comes two years after the tribe was funded by
EPA to replace sixteen poorly functioning woodstoves with new,
mental Restoration & Waste Management—Air
EPA-certified units.
Quality Program, Idaho
The Nez Perce ERWM Air Quality Program is
As with many tribes, members
also
involved
in a collaborative effort with EPA Region
of the Nez Perce community in
10 and the Makah, Puyallup, and Swinomish tribes to
Idaho suffer high rates of asthma
develop an informational “tool” that helps teach proper
and allergies, conditions that may be
woodstove burning techniques. “We’ve realized that many
caused or aggravated by indoor-air
people don’t really know the steps involved in burning
pollutants such as mold as well as
dry wood,” Boulafentis says. “Basically, you can’t just
particulates from leaky woodstoves.
go out and cut wood and burn it; you’ve got to stack it
The Nez Perce Tribe’s ERWM Air
Johna Boulafentis
correctly, cover it, and store it properly. Dry wood burns
Quality Program has grappled for
better and hotter than wet wood, so less creosote builds
years with indoor air issues. Through
up, particulate emissions are lower, and it lasts longer. We’re still
EPA section 103 funding, staff perform IAQ assessments
working on that tool.”
of tribal structures, on request. “Usually people have specific
Radon is another issue that Boulafentis would like to explore
complaints,” says Air Quality Coordinator, Julie Simpson. “They
at
Nez
Perce. “We know the TAMS Center has test kits and
have headaches or allergic reactions. They see mold, or they smell
analysis available,” she says. “We’re looking into finding funding
it, and they ask us to come in and do an assessment. The mold
to pay for my time to do it.”
problems often aren’t so much weather-related as the result of
structural problems, like broken pipes and poor drainage around
Tony Basabe, Air Quality Program ­Manager,
buildings.”
­Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, ­Washington
Environmental Outreach Specialist Johna Boulafentis, with
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s Air Quality
training from people such as indoor air quality expert Rich Prill
Manager,
Dr. Tony Basabe, has been involved in air-management
of Washington State University and ITEP’s Mansel Nelson,
work for the tribe for more than 13 years. Much of that effort has
has learned to identify existing and potential IAQ problems.
See I AQ o n pa ge 6
3
CH ISCH I LLY – fro m pa ge 1
of an epic struggle. The historically agricultural tribe, located in
central Arizona, had always had access to regional water until
settlers arrived more than a century ago and began depleting the
precious resource for their farms and other uses. “Gila River was
the breadwinner for the entire valley,” she says. “They are a very
generous, very kind people. After the water was diverted, they
experienced what they call the ‘Hundred years of Starvation.’
During that time, they lost many of their people.” In the 1980s, the
Community decided they would start fighting back and created the
Office of Water Rights.
When Ann Marie arrived at Gila River, the long legal
wrangling was proceeding at a high pitch, with literally thousands
of interests struggling for their share of a limited resource.
Working in a small office in the desert away from the tribe’s
population center, Ann Marie helped to shepherd the case
through a complex web of interests large and small. In 2004, the
Community signed the Arizona Water Settlement Agreement
allotting them 365,500 acre-feet of water per year from a variety
of regional sources. In 2007, the Agreement was implemented,
though she says that given the number of interests, the
Community’s struggle may not be fully put to rest for many years.
The case set precedent that could help other tribes facing similar
struggles to regain lost or diminished resources.
Her plate as ITEP director is heaped high even as she
arrives. Along with ongoing programs in air quality and other
environmental media, the Institute has recently launched or
expanded efforts to address climate change, indoor air quality, and
waste management. But along with her legal acumen, which will
benefit ITEP’s work in a variety of ways, she also brings her own
unique interests and experience to the table. Her work as a waterrights litigator and board member of the National Tribal Water
Council will likely translate into new efforts to support tribal
water needs. She also plans to examine how ITEP might assist
tribes in their efforts to develop renewable energy, an outgrowth
of her work in that area with the Gila River Indian Community.
Ann Marie moves into her new role at ITEP with humility
and an open mind. “I want to enhance what ITEP is already
doing so well,” she says. “I want to listen. That’s something ITEP
is really good at, listening to tribal needs and working with tribes
to develop needed support. This is my passion; I’ve been training
for this, really, my entire life. I’m very honored to serve Indian
Country and Indian families.”
Former EEOP Staffer Back on the Job
I
TEP would like to welcome Graylynn Hudson back to the EEOP staff. Graylynn is EEOP’s Senior Instructor S
­ pecialist, w
­ orking with program coordinator Mansel Nelson on a variety of K–16 programs that EEOP offers.
­Graylynn is Navajo, from the Salt Clan, born for the Zuni Edgewater people.
Her maternal grandfathers are of the Manygoats people, and her paternal
grandfathers are of the Black Streak Wood people. She is from Kaibeto, Arizona, and resides in Flagstaff with her husband, Loren, a high school teacher,
and her younger brother, a student at Flagstaff High School.
Graylynn received her Bachelors of Science in Health Sciences in 2003
and a Masters of Administration in 2006; she’s now working on another
degree in counseling psychology. Graylynn’s passion is to create and assist
with programs that improve the lives of Native Americans. When she’s not
working or in school she enjoys traveling, watching movies, and learning
martial arts with her family.
Graylynn was a former EEOP student staff member and Program
Coordinator of Scholarships and Student Careers at NAU. She has been involved with many EEOP programs, such
as the Summer Scholars Program, Saturday Academy, Campus Visits, and E-mentoring programs. Since she returned
to ITEP, Graylynn has been busy, attending workshops and webinars to familiarize herself with various environmental
curricula. She’s worked with the Yavapai Apache Nation Tribal Utility Office and St. Michaels Indian School to conduct
radon and/or indoor air quality assessments and has worked to bring students from Shonto Middle School, Rocky Ridge
Boarding School, and Little Singer Junior High School to the NAU campus for EEOP’s “Saturday Academy.” She also
organized two “Engineering and Science days” that brought 93 high school students and approximately 100 middle school
students to campus, and she attended a “Family Math & Science Night” and career day at schools in the Phoenix area.
Graylynn says she’s excited to be back at EEOP and working with the tribal communities.
4
AIAQTP Cou rses
Mgmt–Alaska
Apr. 26–29
Anchorage, AK
EI-TEISS
May 17–20
TAMS Center, Las Vegas, NV
Data Mgmt.
May 24–27
Phoenix, AZ
Mgmt. Tr. Air Prog. & Grants Aug. 30–Sep. 2
Milwaukee, WI
For updates and additional information, please visit our website at www4.nau.edu/itep/trainings/.
DI RECTOR – fro m pa ge 2
will all be featured during our three day gathering at the Northern Quest Casino and Resort.
We hope to see you there!
< >
In my role as ITEP’s Interim Director, I’ve had a busy run these past few years. I’m
grateful for the experiences this role has provided me, especially opportunities to meet with you
and learn about the good work you all do for your communities. As we welcome a new leader
to ITEP, I’ll continue working to keep our efforts relevant and responsive to evolving tribal
environmental needs. I’m always an email or phone call away, so please keep in touch.
National Tribal Forum 2011
This year’s National Tribal Forum will be held
June 14-16, 2011, at the Northern Quest Hotel &
­Casino in Spokane, Washington. The conference is
­co-sponsored by ITEP and the National ­Tribal Air
­Association, in partnership with U.S. ­EPA.
NTF 2011 will include four main tracks:
—Indoor Air quality
—Climate Change
—Technical issues
—policy and programs
along with a variety of other activities
For information and registration, visit our
website at
www.nau.edu/itep/
5
TAMS Center
Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals
a
Technical courses
a
Professional ­
Assistance
a
Filter weighing
a
Audit services
a
Equipment loans
a
Info resources
a
APDLN courses
www4.nau.edu/tams/
U.S. EPA Regional Tribal
Air P­ rogram Contacts
For contact information on
U.S. EPA's ­r egional tribal
air staff, visit the web at:
www.epa.gov/air/tribal/
coordinators.html
I AQ – fro m pa ge 3
I know people who have several. It’s stuff like that I’d like to
address with more outreach.”
related to IAQ—although IAQ is covered by just 5% of the tribe’s
current air grant. He says the Washington tribe has made substantial
Kermit Snow, Air Quality Specialist/
progress over the years on IAQ. Working closely with the Housing
Dept., Basabe says, “We’ve ­Environmental Liason, Fort Belknap Indian
Community, Montana
mostly curtailed the mold
At this reservation in north-central Montana, the air
issues here, many of
quality
program is now being rekindled after folding two years
which were related to the
ago due to a loss of EPA funding.
structure of our buildings.”
Last year at Region 8 Headquarters in Denver, says Air
He also administered a
Quality Specialist Kermit Snow, EPA staff decided they
woodstove change-out
wanted to get something going on tribal indoor air quality.
program that brought new
stoves to nearly every home The region chose two regional tribal air programs to launch
on the reservation. Follow- the effort. Late last year they sent Snow and air staffer John
German from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Reservation
up work on that project
(SD) to the
involved air
Air Quality
toxics and PM2.5
Tony Basabe
Symposium in
studies, which
Washington
revealed some old
D.C. to learn
and new problems in those homes. He’d like to do more
more about
studies, but funding isn’t available for such research.
IAQ. With
Air toxics from the new stoves were alarmingly high
that training
immediately after the change-outs (a few years ago), largely
under their
due to combustion of stove paint, a problem that has
belt, the two
likely receded. “We were looking at milligrams per cubic
initiated
meter, rather than micrograms,” he says. “That’s mostly
a limited
burned off, but when you let stoves settle [during the warm
program to
season], you get smaller bursts that could last a day or two
Kermit Snow checks the air flow of an oven
address indoor
if the house is locked up. Now we’re a few years into the
hood in the kitchen of a Headstart facility on the
air issues in
program, and the issues are pretty much minimized.”
Ft. Beknap Rseservation.
tribal schools
New stoves, he’s found, are superior to most of the
and provide
substandard older units used by tribal residents but can
IAQ outreach to tribal residents.
present programs of their own, including, ironically, over-efficiency
Snow says his role right now is to help identify indoor-air
in their seals. “When you turn them down, the possibility of creosote
issues in three schools and one Headstart facility on the Ft.
buildup and fires, compared to older stoves, can be greater.” Basabe
is also mindful of wood quality in tribal homes; the level of dryness in Belknap reservation. ITEP’s Mansel Nelson visited with Snow
in early March to help launch the new effort. Meanwhile,
wood impacts its burn efficiency, which is also a factor in home-air
German is conducting IAQ outreach and education at
quality.
Sisseton. At some point, Snow says, the two will switch roles,
To address problems like these, he says, outreach and education
and EPA Regional staff will evaluate the program and decide
are crucial. “We don’t have education and outreach in our grant,” he
how to proceed.
says, “so we do what we can. This month, for example, we have an
Although his former position as Environmental Liaison
article in the tribal newspaper offering assistance for tribal members
kept him busy, particularly with mining and oil-and-gas
who might have problems with the new stoves. So we’ll go out and
interests on the reservation, Snow says he would like to see
maybe check a gasket, and if it’s bad we can replace it.”
a full-scale air program at Ft. Belknap up and running again
Considering there are several hundred homes and tribal
soon. Among his IAQ concerns for the community are radon
buildings on the reservation, Basabe sees the need for significantly
and mold. “There’s a lot of radon in this area,” he says, “but
more IAQ-related work. Outreach is one area in which he feels
we’ve never tested for it.” Education and outreach on both
a little could go a long way. For example, he says, the new air
issues, he feels, would benefit the community. Other air
fresheners that plug into wall sockets can create PM2.5 levels that
concerns he believes are important to address include minor
exceed 100ug/cm. “You can trace the emissions right back to those
little air fresheners,” he says, “and those things are going 24/7, and
see I AQ o n pa ge 7
6
I AQ – fro m pa ge 6
sources (the new rule will be finalized this year) and particulates
from nearby highways.
Gillian Mittelstaedt, Coordinator, Tulalip Tribes
Indoor Air Quality Program, Tulalip Tribes,
­Washington
The Tulalip Tribes reservation in Washington State has
had an IAQ program for close to ten years, addressing issues not
uncommon to neighboring Northwestern tribes, including mold,
particulates from woodstoves and other sources, and asthma caused
or aggravated by many forms of indoor-air pollution.
Located on the humid edge of Tulalip Bay off Puget Sound,
the 2500-member community faces an ongoing challenge with
mold. The IAQ staff addresses mold and other IAQ issues through
a variety of 105-funded efforts, including demonstration projects
and a cross-tribal effort in EPA Region 10, the Tribal Healthy
Homes Working Group (see
accompanying article).
Master Home
Environmentalist Gillian
Mittelstaedt, a former Tulalip
Tribes air-department employee
who now serves as an independent
contractor, oversees Tulalip’s
IAQ program. Conducting mold
assessments—usually based on
resident complaints—is one of
her primary duties. “We won’t
Gillian Mittelstaedt
sample for mold,” she says, “but
we’ll do visual inspections to
determine if it’s in floorboards or drywall, and we’ll use a moisture
meter. Unfortunately, many times I’m called in after a mold
problem is already severe. So then we consider the threshold: Is the
contamination over 10 square feet? Can we remediate internally or
do we need to hire out?”
She provides ongoing technical education on IAQ issues
to staff, working to develop the broadest possible resource base
for addressing the community’s IAQ issues. In early March, for
example, she held a mold-remediation workshop (the second
workshop in two years) at Tulalip whose participants included
numerous members of the Housing and Health and Safety
departments.
After 19 years at Tulalip, Mittelstaedt is aware of both the
tribe’s IAQ problems and some of the opportunities that, with
adequate support, could greatly assist the tribe. She’s on a missions,
she says, waiting for the right opportunity to facilitate a new
approach to IAQ-remediation on Native lands. “I’d really like to see
tribal crews trained professionally, with appropriate certification,
so a) they can provide services to their own tribe and b) if someone
needs remediation they can hire a tribal crew, instead of going to
a nontribal company.” She says funding options do exist for that
kind of training, for example through
DOE and HUD grant funding.
Randy Ashley, Air Quality
Manager, C
­ onfederated
Salish and Kootenai Tribes,
Montana
Salish and Kootenai is one of
many tribal communities across the
nation that receives no IAQ funding.
The tribe’s Air Quality Manager,
Randy Ashley, says they’ve never had
Randy Ashley
indoor-air funding, though the tribe
did manage to conduct a radon study in the late ‘90s. Radon-related
problems discovered at the time were limited, but Ashley points out
that with recently raised federal standards for radon, a new round of
testing might reveal a more significant problem.
“But there’s no money for mitigation anyway,” he says, “and
I don’t think the Housing Department has funding, either. So the
air department would have a hard time responding if we did find a
problem.”
Dana Sarff, Sustainable Resources Coordinator,
Makah Nation, Washington
“We have huge issues here with mold and mildew,” says Dana
Sarff, former Air Quality Specialist (and now Sustainable Resources
Coordinator) for the Makah Tribe in northwest Washington.
“We’re in the Coastal Temperate Rain Forest, and we get 100+
inches of rain a year. Some of the building materials used out
here are basically mold and mildew food.” Carpets in this humid
environment are a huge problem, Sarff says. He encourages people
to eliminate them completely from tribal homes, a move he says
would make a big difference in keeping indoor environments
cleaner and less prone to mold.
Sarff, who was the air quality staff at Makah for five years
before changing jobs, says Makah’s one-person air staff (the tribe
recently hired Doug Sternback for the position) could probably
spend all its time and effort on indoor air. The focus for several
years, however, has been on ambient air—the result of EPA
funding and the relatively recent FARR rules that have gone into
effect for Northwestern tribes.
Still, he says, a lot has been accomplished in the past decade
on Makah’s indoor-air issues, much of it by former air quality
staffer Jim Woods, who focused heavily on indoor-air during his
time with Makah’s air department. Among his accomplishments,
Woods—who has taught IAQ at several of ITEP’s classroom
courses)—wrote an IAQ Quality Assurance Project Plan for a tribal
see I AQ o n pa ge 10
7
Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Group
Holds First Planning Meetings
I
TEP’s new four-year, EPA-funded project to assist tribes in their efforts to plan for climate change impacts began to take shape on
April 13–14, when members of the Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Committee met in Flagstaff, Arizona, to h­ ammer
out specifics of the multi-part project. The four components of the project will include:
Training
Capacity-building courses designed to meet the diverse needs of the tribes will be held in various locations around the country.
Determining specific content for those classes is one of the planning committee’s tasks. Curricula will likely include: assessing
vulnerabilities to climate change impacts, shaping responses to those threats, and developing priorities that reflect risk levels and
available resources. An estimated three courses each year will be offered in years 2–4 of the program. Courses will complement and
expand on existing climate-change classroom training offered through ITEP’s American Indian Air Quality Training Program.
Tools and Technical Assistance
Another goal of the project is to present tribes with “tools” they can use in their climate-change planning and response efforts.
ITEP staff have already developed a climate-change adaptation planning template to assist tribes in designing plans that address the
needs of their individual communities. ITEP will examine the efficacy of existing adaptation-planning tools; we’ll also organize regular
conference calls on which participants can discuss planning issues and seek guidance.
Tribal Profiles
To help tribes share information on their individual climate-change challenges, responses, and lessons learned, the project will
generate profiles from tribes who are actively addressing climate change impacts on their communities. The profiles will be posted on
ITEP’s climate change website, adding to a growing body of tribally focused information already available on the site.
Outreach and Communication
Finding ways to help educate and motivate tribal communities and leadership on climate change is the fourth goal of the project.
Through ITEP’s climate change website and online newsletter, the project will provide information on adaptation-related events,
funding sources, and other useful resources. ITEP staff and Climate Change steering committee members will also attend tribal
conferences and conduct outreach to tribes and tribal organizations, sharing information on the project, adaptation planning, and
efforts by tribes to deal with their adaptation challenges.
To share your thoughts on this new project, contact Sue Wotkyns at [email protected] . Visit ITEP’s Climate change
website at www.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/.
Climate Change Adaptation Planning committee members, left to right: Mehrdad Khatibi, ITEP Assoc. Director; Darrell Kaufman,
NAU Professor of Geology; Steve Crawford, Envir. Director, Passamaquoddy Tribe–Pleasant Point, ME; Kathleen Sloan, Envir.
Program Director, Yurok Tribe, CA; Syndi Smallwood, Envir. Director, Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, CA; Rose Kalistook, Envir.
Coordinator, Orutsararmuit Native Village, AK; Sue Wotkyns, ITEP Climate Change Program Manager; Ann Marie Chischilly, ITEP
Director; Ed Knight, Sr. Planner, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, WA; Bill Perkins, U.S. EPA Project Officer. Not shown: Margaret
Hiza Redsteer, U.S. Geological Survey, AZ; and Lesley Jantarasami, U.S. EPA Project Officer.
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Tribal Healthy Homes Northwest Working Group
A
n innovative approach EPA Region 10 has developed to leverage limited IAQ funding for tribes in the Northwest is the Tribal Healthy
Homes Working Group, an IAQ collective open to tribes and others in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. The group’s purpose,
says coordinator Gillian Mittelstaedt, is to facilitate a tribally led dialogue on “the entire range of asthma in tribal communities, and what we
can do specifically to address the housing conditions and indoor air that are exacerbating it.” Another goal of the group is to help increase
awareness of the issues among federal staff who manage resources that might benefit the cause of healthy tribal indoor environments.
The Tribal Healthy Homes Northwest working group formed in 2009 and has since developed two primary modes of assistance to
members: an information clearinghouse that allows participants to learn what fellow tribes are doing to address indoor-air problems (“It’s
really designed so tribes can find each other on various issues,” Mittelstaedt says), and a series of quarterly webinars that address IAQ topics
suggested by tribal members. “We’ll
bring to the webinar four or five experts
in the field,” she says, “and they’ll be
our speakers. And then we open it up,
profile tribes that have been leaders in
a particular area, and then participants
have time to ask questions and share
information.”
Their last webinar, on woodsmoke,
drew 72 participants from across the
country (Mittelstaedt says with a laugh
that although the event was to be limited
to regional tribes, information on the
webinar “somehow got distributed
nationally….”).
So far, 50 tribal members, staff
from federal, state agencies, and
academics in the region, have joined the
working group. Of its tribal members,
Portion of an outreach poster on asthma. Available at www.tribalasthmaposters.blogspot.com
says Mittelstaedt, about half are
environmental staff and half are from
tribal housing departments. That’s a good mix, she believes, as cooperative relationships between the two are crucial for solving IAQ-related
problems.
The working group takes on a wide range of indoor-air-related tasks. For example, they provided input to Makah air staffer Dana
Sarff last year on the order in which woodsheds built by interns and summer-youth participants should be distributed (see section in
accompanying article); elders and families with younger children were identified as priority recipients. The working group also helped obtain
funding from the Centers for Disease Control, which in turn funded the Port Gamble tribe to develop and pilot one of the first ever Asthma
Home Visit programs. Funds will help train Community Health Representatives to conduct in-home visits, identifying and helping reduce
any indoor contaminants and environmental triggers in the home.
Direct funding for the group’s work is limited, and Mittelstaedt has struggled to find ways to “turn this very small budget into a
successful program.” That includes the use of interns and unpaid tribal collaborators to accomplish various projects. Tribal Healthy Homes
Northwest has conducted limited classroom training, including a series of successful weatherization workshops last fall. But Mittelstaedt
says classroom training probably won’t be a major focus of the group’s future efforts. “There are already good training organizations out
there, so we don’t really want to stay in the training business.”
A more-recent effort of the collective involves identifying specific ways that various involved federal agencies, such as EPA, HUD,
Indian Health Service, USDA, and the Washington State Department of Commerce, can translate their resources into concrete modes of
support to the tribes. “That’s our next step,” she says. “If you’re a partner, what can you do to increase the support you provide to tribes, how
can you make your funding more flexible—it could be a variety of things. That’s kind of where we’re going next.”
To learn more about the work of the Tribal Healthy Homes Northwest Working Group, and to find outreach materials such as the full
poster excerpted on this page, download an informative EPA-produced video at http://www.epa.gov/iaqtribal/.
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I AQ – fro m pa ge 7
IAQ inventory in 2002. Sarff believes that during that effort Woods produced
the first comprehensive tribal IAQ report in the nation.
Makah continues to address IAQ issues. A comprehensive woodstove
change-out effort conducted in partnership with several Makah organizations,
for example, swapped old units for EPA-approved units in 55 of 300 tribal
homes that use wood heating. But indoor-air issues on Makah can be tough to
address, Sarff says, given the condition of some Makah dwellings. “Some people
here are living in substandard homes. Most of them are trailers. They really
should be condemned, but we don’t have building codes here, so there’s really no
process for condemning buildings. Unfortunately, those homes are not livable,
but people are still living in them. We’ve got a great Housing Department here
that’s working to replace them as quickly as they can [not long ago they obtained
Volunteers assemble one of more than 50 woodsheds
Makah residents have received to date.
FEMA trailers from New Orleans, which have replaced some], but there’s only so
much they can do.”
The air department maintains IAQ testing equipment that it employs on request; it then passes on its reports to Housing, which is better
equipped to provide mitigation services. Ongoing education and outreach addresses a wide range of IAQ issues, and the tribe also works with
the Tribal Healthy Homes Northwest cooperative (see accompanying article) to address a variety of indoor-air challenges.
Even after the woodstove change-out, says Sarff, some tribal members have continued to experience particulate problems. Thus was born
the “Woodsheds for Elders” program. Using interns from Northwest Indian College and summer youth workers, and drawing on a hodgepodge
of available funding, Sarff launched a program to provide inexpensive woodsheds that are distributed to elders as well as families with young
children. Increasing woodstove efficiency through change-outs, he explains, is only half the equation: burning dry, well-seasoned firewood
dramatically improves burning efficiency and decreases particulate emissions in wood-heated homes. So far they’ve been able to build and
set-up over 50 of the sheds. Sarff says they intend to build more each summer.
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