We will spend two class periods learning how to use the EPA EJScreen and EPA EnviroAtlas to find data and maps describing environmental and demographic characteristics of tribal lands. These are sophisticated tools created by EPA (in collaboration with other federal agencies) to provide GIS data and analyses that are consistent throughout the US (with the exception of Alaska in some cases because of data limitations). The two tools provide tribes and communities that lack the resources to access GIS capabilities the data that they need to apply for and report on EPA grants for such things as Brownfields cleanup and remediation and Climate Adaptation planning. As such, learning how to use them effectively is a job skill that may be useful in your future careers.

We will use tribes and Alaska Native Corporations/Villages that will be featured in classes throughout the semester; Native Village of Point Hope, Standing Rock Reservation, Osage Reservation, and three reservations that are near to each other in Kansas (Sac and Fox Nation Reservation, Iowa Tribe Reservation and Kickapoo Reservation). For each of these reservations/villages you will research and report on what you consider some of the important environmental and climate impacts affecting the tribe, the ecosystem and natural setting of the reservation/village, and the demographics to the degree possible. You will then tell us about the context in which we will be exploring EJ issues in each of these case studies. Any limitations that you find in the tools and underlying mapping platform/base maps will be an important part of your findings.

Note that EPA has a separate policy for dealing with EJ on lands under the legal jurisdiction of Federally Recognized Tribal Nations and Alaska Native Villages which is different from EPA policies directed at "EJ Communities."  EJ Communities do not have legal jurisdiction, trust lands and treaty rights, and so are very different than federally recognized tribal governments CLICK HERE for EPA's policy. EPA also has a policy for dealing with Traditional Ecological Knowledge during environmental cleanups CLICK HERE. We will discuss these in lectures throughout the semester, and this will be a theme we will develop that motivates the need for the material presented in this course in addition to the more common discussions of EJ found in other courses.

The activities will involve breaking into four teams, each of which will choose one of the reservation/Alaska Native Corporations below. Each team will research the five topics below using the EPA EJScreen and EPA EnviroAtlas as your primary resources (this is not an exercise in using Google searches to find information, the data provided by EJScreen and EnviroAtlas will be considered authoritative for this activity and in your future work involving federal agencies). You will use these tools to create images and reports which will be added to a slide presentation for the second activity. Your team will present your results to the class using your shared Google Slides presentation. Each team will work collaboratively on the research and presentation. We will provide each team with a breakout room so that you can work together on your case studies, and the Google Slide presentation will be a collaborative space for you to save your work.

Please be respectful; everyone in your team will be working on the same slide presentation so you should not delete or edit work that is not your own without permission, and you should not change the overall presentation (theme, etc.) without consulting the other members of your team.

For all of your research results you will provide citations such as the name of the tool (e.g. "EJScreen") and the map layer or database telling us what was used in the analysis (e.g. "EPA Regulated Facilities"). You can put the citations in the speakers notes for each slide. 

We provide the URL for each tribe (below) and ask that you begin your research with the material that the tribes provide on their government websites. Your orientation will be as an advocate for tribal interests, similar to the role you would take as an environmental professional working for the tribe, and as such you will present the tribal perspective rather than your own.

You will each need a Google Account to work on your slide presentation; if you do not have one click here to create Google Account

Using EJScreen and EnviroAtlas research the following topics:

1. What is the percent of the population that is American Indian or Alaska Native on the area approximating the reservation boundaries? What is the age distribution for American Indians/Alaska Natives living on the reservation or Village/Corporation? Describe the income levels and any other demographic characteristics that you feel are relevant to telling us about conditions on the reservation/village, including characteristics of non-tribal residents. Be aware that this analysis will be approximate, since the Census Blocks and Tracts do not map precisely on reservation boundaries and the data may be presented at an aggregated level too large to view detailed information for smaller populations. Note limitations such as these as you do your research. Provide an image that shows the approximate area you are using for your analysis.

2. How do conditions (economic, demographic, etc.) on the reservation compare to the state and national populations?

3. What kinds of environmental degradation (water pollution or scarcity, air pollution, Superfund sites, etc.) does the reservation /village have to deal with?

4. What are some of the projected climate change issues (floods, fire, sea level rise, etc.) that the reservation/village will have to deal with? Are any of the environmental risk factors you identified in #2 potentially vulnerable to impacts from climate change?

5. Describe the ecological setting of the reservation/village and tell us about what benefits the tribe and tribal members may get from their environment (fishing, gathering, ceremonies, etc.). Are there any habitats or ecosystems in need of conservation or vulnerable to impacts from climate change? Are there opportunities for tribes to improve any of these habitats or ecosystems, or help to conserve Threatened or Endangered Species through environmental clean up and remediation? Can climate adaptation planning help with potential conservation of these habitats, species, ecosystems? Looking at the information on the tribal website, can you identify any plant, animal, natural entity, that needs to be considered for conservation or climate adaptation planning (for example, if the tribe considers a certain animal as culturally important, what is the status of that animal's population and habitat?).

This is the language that EPA uses in the reports: "These percentiles provide perspective on how the selected block group or buffer area compares to the entire state, EPA region, or nation. For example, if a given location is at the 95th percentile nationwide, this means that only 5 percent of the US population has a higher block group value than the average person in the location being analyzed."

Census Block Groups have between 600 and 3000 people per Block Group (ave. 1200); this is the number of people in 250-550 housing units. The area of Block Groups varies, so they aren't the same number of hectares in different Block Groups. 

To help us understand how EJScreen reports data, let's use a simplified example comparing four Census Blocks:

Block #1 has 1200 people,10% are over 64 years old

Block #2 has 2000 people, 25% are over 64 years old 

Block #3 has 2500 people, 30% are over 64 years old

Block #4 has 1400 people, 5% are over 64 years old

Total population = 7100 people (all ages)

How does Block #2 compare to the total population? 

Block #2 ranks third highest (25% of the population is over 64), only 1 block ranks higher (Block #3 with 30% of the population over 64).

Add the population in the Blocks that are equal to the rank or below the rank of Block #2; this would be Blocks #1,2 and 4

1200 + 2000 +1400 = 4600

Divide this by the total population to get the percentile:  

4600/7100 = 0.64788

This means that Block #2 is in the 65th percentile for the proportion of people who are over 64 compared to the entire population; only 35% of people live in a Block that has a higher proportion of older people compared to someone in Block #2. We can conclude that Block #2 has a relatively high population of older people. In contrast, Block #1 is in the 17th percentile, which means it has a very small population of older people (83% of people live in a Block with a larger population of older people).