Education for the Protection of Water Resources on the Pine Ridge Reservation PDF Download

Author: Nicholas M. Marnach
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fresh water
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
To promote sustainable water resource management on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSMT) and Oglala Sioux Tribe Environmental Protection Program (OSTEPP) partnered together on a U.S. EPA Environmental Education grant for the protection of water resources on the reservation. This partnership and the fruits of its labor represent an innovative co-management approach towards the protection of water resources through education. Fostered through collaborative development was the creation of a multi-tiered environmental education project with the aim of advancing critical watershed management components. Collaborative participation throughout watershed management activities has added resilience to watershed management on the reservation. Solutions were met through sustainable localized adaptation strategies and provided for the integration of numerous organizations' resources while facilitating the mission objectives ofeach. Project members and organizations included: over 250 students and staff members of the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduates Program (GEAR UP), Oglala Lakota College/SDSMT/SDSU Pre-Engineering Educational Collaborative (OSSPEEC) students, OSTEPP staff, SDSMT staff and students, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) personnel, Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) Land Office personnel, and OST Natural Resource Regulatory Agency (OSTNRRA) personnel. The successful completion of project objectives was supplemented with land owner interaction, United States Geological Survey (USGS) involvement, United States Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) guidance and U.S. EPA guidance. Collaborative efforts coalesced with the assembling and dissemination of data, implementation of practice, and the building of capacity required for effective watershed management. The OSTEPP has monitored and assessed surface water quality on the reservation for over 20 years and faces challenges with the implementation of solutions to improve water quality. This project addressed these challenges with the installation of two automated stream monitoring locations to provide for: flow and load regime characterization, cooperative educational field module delivery for GEARUP students, and the development of Best Management Practice (BMP) implementation strategy to improve surface water quality. GEARUP education modules were created to follow the US EPA's environmental monitoring and assessment protocol, and their delivery was scheduled to coincide with OSTEPP field monitoring. Cooperative execution of project components had the effect of addressing educational component delivery requirements within the tribe's Non-Point Source (NFS) management plan and providing for the plan's augmentation through the implementation of process that allowed the Total Maximum Daily pollutant Load (TMDL) of stream reaches to be determined. Collaborative efforts employed included: field module delivery, installation and operation of stream monitoring equipment, instrument calibration, flow measurement, stage discharge relation creation, and flow and load duration curve development. Communication with tribal agencies throughout the one and a half year project culminated in the collaborative assembly of a competitive 319 surface water quality improvement grant, which outlined a path to defining and implementing solutions to improve water quality in impaired areas.