NCAI

1
NCAI Tribal Participation in the Exchange
Network

• National Congress of American Indians
• April 30, 2008

2
NCAI/EN Partnership

• Cooperative Agreement signed in November 2005
• Primary objective was increasing awareness
  throughout Indian Country about the EN and
  thereby develop tribal capacity for environmental
  data sharing and participate in the EN.

3
National Congress of American Indians

• Founded in 1944 by tribal leaders in response
  to assimilation policies by the United States

4
Indian Country
5
American Indians in the United States

• 563 (and counting) federally recognized tribes
• Approximately 230 are located in Alaska
• 4.1 million people identify as American Indian or
  Alaska Native
• Over 70 tribal governments employee 300 or more
  employees.
• Tribes have jurisdiction of over 55 million acres
• Reservation land bases range in size from over 15
  million acres to less than one acre.

6
Difficulties for Tribes

• Limited staff resources
• Small departments
• IT staff
• Often old infrastructure
• Dial-up internet
• Old computers
• Multiple data formats

7
Why Tribes Care

• Allows them to be in compliance
• Sec 106 grants
• Build infrastructure
• Broadband penetration rates under 10 on Indian
  Reservations
• Build environmental programs
• Make smarter decisions
• Get to go to fun meetings

8
Why Tribes Are Hesitant..

• Cumbersome start-up
• Steep learning curve
• Maintenance
• Network doesnt always fit into tribes
  immediate needs (time, projects)
• Operation costs post-grant
• Internal capacity
• Who runs the program internally?
• Tribal/Federal government relations

9
Tribal Exchange Network Participation

• To date 92 Tribal Grants (through 2007) have
  been awarded (13.3M Total)
• 53 tribes involved
• 28 tribes intend to use the Network to exchange
  information
• Eight tribes have established nodes (data
  exchange hardware/software)
• Several tribes are close to having working nodes
  (5 in development, 16 planning)

10
Tribal Exchange Network Partners
11
NCAI EN Accomplishments

• Hosted three (3) National EN Tribal Meetings
• Coordinated tribal meeting to discuss the Draft
  EN Tribal Strategy
• Created webpage on NCAI site to host information
  about the Network
• NCAI staff began participation as member of
  Network governance through the Exchange Network
  Leadership Council.

12
EN Tribal Users Meetings

• First tribal-specific meetings, held on tribla
  lands, to discuss the Network
• Meeting 1 April 6-7, 2006 Seminole Indian
  Nation, near Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• Meeting 2 March 20-21, 2007, Cherokee Nation,
  near Tulsa, OK
• Meeting 3 April 9-10, 2008, Agua Caliente Band
  of Cahuilla Indians, Palm Springs, CA

13
Tribal EN Initiatives

• Coeur dAlene Tribe, ID
• Uses
• Agricultural burning, smoke management
• Pesticides
• Purchased and set-up ArcIMS Web Server and Data
  Server
• Allowed data exchange within and outside of
  Tribe
• Exchanged data with EPA in Seattle, USGS in
  Spokane
• Providing metadata out to USGS Geospatial One
  Stop

14
Tribal EN Initiatives (cont)

• Southern Ute Tribe
• Peer-mentoring program
• Combat contractor costs, employee turn-over
  problems
• Tribe-Tribe training

15
Tribal EN Initiatives (cont)

• Cherokee Tribe
• Open dump schema
• The Web Sanitation Tracking and Reporting System
  (wSTARS)
• Sanitation data required by regional Indian
  Health Service office, and reported to Congress.
• Frequent, redundant data submissions to IHS
• Detailed database of IHS sites Includes
• Solid Waste Sites
• Water Projects
• Sewer Projects
• Official Open Dumps in Indian Country Database

16
Future NCAI Work

• Tribal Baseline Assessment
• Fourth Tribal Users Meeting
• Continue to assist Network governance board
• - ENLC participation, support tribal
  representation on NPRG, NTG, NOB
• Network briefings and presentations at NCAI
  meetings

17
The Future of Tribes and the Network

• Intertribal/Multi-tribal nodes hold promise
• Often one tribe not able to manage a node/client
• Spread resources
• Create partnerships
• Environmental data will only become more
  important for tribes
• GIS, land-use, water

18
Conclusion

• NCAI has achieved relative success in reaching
  the proposed goals and benefits wanted from the
  NCAI/EPA EN partnership. There is still much
  work to be done. NCAIs efforts will lead to
  better EPA/EN tribal relations and increased
  Exchange Network tribal participation.