Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (TMBCI) Wetland Program Development and Outreach

Background

Since 1999, Houston Engineering, Inc. (HEI) has been serving tribal communities with environmental solutions, infrastructure services, natural resource management, grant writing, planning, and more. Our experts are eager to serve tribal communities across the region with cost effective, environmental solutions that improve people’s quality of life. One of the tribal communities we have a history of partnering with is the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (TMBCI).

The Project

Recognizing the ecological significance of the Turtle Mountains’ rich wetlands, lakes, and forested areas, the TMBCI applied to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Wetland Program Development Grant program for funding to establish a Wetland Program Plan (WPP). One part of the plan is to update the National Wetland Inventory for the TMBCI and develop a functional assessment model [DJ6.1] for wetlands and their surface water connections. Another part of the plan is to develop a program for monitoring program for wetland conditions and water quality. These plans will be part of a larger, growing program to maintain and improve the Tribe’s wetlands and waters.

TMBCI contracted HEI to manage these plans and develop their components. This project includes:

• Scoping
• Designing monitoring plans
• Providing educational opportunities (i.e., workshops and outreach events) and communicating project progress
• Identifying applications for the monitoring data
• Field surveys and data collection, training for TMBCI EPA staff
• Producing reports, and presentations, hydrologic and functional assessment models, and Esri StoryMaps
• Project administration

HEI is working closely with TMBCI EPA staff and an Advisory Committee to determine which aspects of wetlands are important to the Tribe, and to customize appropriate methods for monitoring and reporting wetland quality.

An important part of this program was public outreach. To help engage the community and to learn about the program, HEI, along with the EPA department, developed two story maps: A Functional Assessment of the wetlands within Turtle Mountain, and a Wetland Protection Plan for the reservation.