OES Historical Background
The Office of Environmental Services (OES) was established by the Iowa Tribe in September
of 1997 to pursue environmental capacity building and to develop environmental initiatives
necessary to protect and preserve the air, land, and water for the benefit of present
and future generations. The OES has been funded since 1997 through the EPA's General
Assistance Program Grant (GAP) and has aggressively developing environmental strategies
in solid wastes management, emergency response, pesticide use, groundwater/surface
water quality, subsurface minerals evaluation, and wetlands management/restoration.
General Assistance Program (GAP)
The Office of Environmental Services is in our 5th project year of our General
Assistance Program through the USEPA Region 6. The Iowa Tribe made its initial
Tribal Environmental Agreement (TEA) with the USEPA Region 6 in 1997. This last
funding year (2001) we have submitted for review our second tier TEA that reflects
our progress to date and expresses our current priorities and goals. Also under GAP
funding, the OES is developing Water Quality Standards, important for the Tribes
ultimate goal to monitor, regulate, and protect our natural water resources. The
first draft of this document has been submitted to the USEPA Region 6 for review
in January of 2002. We anticipate that our final draft will be ready to submit
for approval before September of 2003.
Groundwater monitoring studies are a part of our current GAP Workplan. This year
the OES will test 20 groundwater wells within the Tribal Jurisdictional Area for
the presence of nitrates, fluoride and arsenic. The development of our
surface/groundwater monitoring capabilities is a number one priority for the
Iowa Tribe. Self-regulation of the Tribes water resources cannot be accomplished
without extensive monitoring capabilities.
The OES has assembled a water lab based around a Hach DR/2010 Spectrophotometer.
Individual Grant programs such as GAP allows us to assemble equipment as needed
to perform specific grant tasks, increasing our in house capabilities. Our
future goal is to use in house lab facilities extensively for all OES grant
programs and activities.
GAP funding has also allowed the Tribe to acquire and develop Geographical
Information Systems (GIS)/Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies vital to
modern spatial mapping, land use planning, and land utilization projects. A
Comprehensive Land Use Plan is being coordinated by the OES with input from
Tribal leadership and individual departments of the Tribe. Our GIS/GPS
capabilities will allow us to provide professional mapping and analytical
skills for the Tribes planning needs.
Treatment as State Status (TAS)
Under GAP funding, the Iowa Tribe assembled and submitted the documentation needed
to successfully gain "Treatment as State" status during funding year 2001. TAS
opens many grant opportunities and is essential for the development of surface
water and groundwater monitoring capabilities. In particular, TAS allows the
Tribe to receive funding available to assist in planning, developing, establishing,
and improving water quality programs. The Iowa Tribes attainment of TAS status
has allowed the OES to successfully receive funding under a 106 Grant designed to
monitor and restore the health of a local wetland. As part of this restoration,
water quality studies and biological assessments will be conducted that will
provide information valuable for the eventual development of wetland water quality
standards to be included in the Iowa Tribes Water Quality Standards currently
under development.
Wetland Programs
Our initial wetland grants were used to promote wetland education and awareness
plus the building of an outdoor Wetlands Educational Exhibit and Nature Center at
the Iowa Tribal headquarters. The center is designed to provide examples of various
wetland types and to educate Tribal and community members about our regional
wetlands and the many cultural ties wetlands have with Native American Peoples.
Fieldwork for our wetland-monitoring grant is scheduled to begin in spring of 2002,
and will be a first step in the development of water quality standards for
wetlands. Towards that goal, our second year 106 Grant has been submitted
requesting funding for the water quality monitoring of several additional wetlands
in the area. These monitoring activities will allow us to begin a "consensus"
database that will compare biological diversity to water quality.
Clean Air Capacity Building Project
The Iowa Tribe's Office of Environmental Services (OES) has just recently
begun a new program called "The Clean Air Capacity Building Project". This is the OES first year of
funding for an air pollution grant. The purpose of this project is to determine if an air quality
problem exists within the Tribe. The OES has recently expanded the staff to include another environmental
specialist, Amy Lay. The program goals are to (1) investigate any possible connections between health
problems and air pollution occurrences within the Tribal community (2) identify and list all air pollution
sources impacting tribal lands (3) to provide community and tribal members with education materials on air
pollution and ways to keep our air clean.
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