Building Tribal Capacity
Planning for the worst is a vital part of our work to protect our communities, our lands, and all of our relations. In the face of increased natural disasters (wildfire, flooding, storms, etc.), human-caused disasters (oil spills, pipeline leaks, train derailments, etc.), and systemic concerns (legacy toxins, environmental injustice, etc.), this planning process can be terribly daunting!
On this page we are gathering a variety of online tools we think may be useful as you develop your own resilience and create plans of action suited to your Tribal Nation, Native Village, or circumstances. If you have suggestions for tools that might be helpful to your other Tribal colleagues, please let us know!
And we want to give a special thank you to the TWAR Steering Committee members, who have helped US EPA over the years to improve and expand many of the tools listed here.
Environmental Resilience Tools Wizard
US EPA’s Office of Research and Development has created a simple to use “wizard” that helps you find the right planning tool for your situation. On this page you can search through nearly 120 online tools, and use a variety of filters (by Keyword, Audience, Topic, Disaster Stage, and Resource Type) to narrow your search and make sure you find the best tool for the job. Some of the tools include the “All-Hazards Waste Management Tool”, the “Disaster Debris Recovery Tool”, and the “Incident Waste Assessment and Tonnage Estimator”.
FEDFacts: Federal Facilities affecting Tribal Nations and Native Villages run the gamut – from laboratories to radioactive waste repositories, from old proving grounds to military bases. Some of these are on the National Priorities List (NPL), while many are not. The Federal Facilities Reuse and Restoration Office at US EPA has a mapping tool and database called FEDFacts that helps you find Federal Facilities in your area, and learn more about them. You can access it here (along with a lot of helpful tips on using the tool as well as background information): EPA’s FEDFacts website. Also see the Federal Facility Sites and the FEDFacts Tool video providing an overview and tutorial below.
UST Finder: UST Finder is a national mapping tool that containing information on USTs and LUSTs. It is a very helpful tool for everyone dealing with these tanks, and as of 2020-2021 it includes information from Tribal lands as well. This page allows you to access the tool as well as a lot of other helpful information if you are working on UST issues: EPA’s UST Finder website. Please see the two recorded trainings on the UST Finder below.
Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJSCREEN): The US EPA’s EJSCREEN is a helpful tool that pulls in data from multiple sources – and that list is growing! Tribal environmental professionals, leaders, and community members can use this tool as a first step toward understanding potential issues in their area. And one of the nice things about it is that since it draws its data from many different EPA programs you can look at a variety of environmental media at one time. You can access the tool at EPA’s EJSCREEN website, where you will also find some useful background information, guidance, and tips on how to zero in on the environmental issues your community is facing.
Superfund Redevelopment Mapping Tool: Redevelopment of Superfund sites can be an extremely complicated situation. Some Tribal governments are exploring this option, and the US EPA has a tool to assist in planning and understanding the issues. You can find the tool here, along with a video on how to get the most out of the tool, by visiting: EPA’s Superfund Redevelopment Mapper website.
Emergency Operations Center Guidance and Tools: FEMA has created a toolkit for senior leadership along with over 20 guides that are centered around differing skillsets for various emergency operations center personnel. You can access these guides at FEMA’s page on Emergency Operations Center Guidance and Tools.
Presentation and Training Videos
Toxics Release Inventory Data and Other EPA Information to Support Tribes
This presentation was delivered as part of the Tribal Lands and Environment Forum: Virtual Gathering in August 2021 by Sarah Swenson, Mitchell Sumner, Charlotte Snyder, and Steve Witkin with US EPA. This training provided several presentations from various speakers covering Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program information tools, including a new interactive resource for communities, as well as other agency resources. We will discuss: how to access and analyze TRI data, and leverage specific data including TRI’s Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model; TRI pollution prevention information activities implemented to reduce TRI chemicals; and data analysis of chemicals/industries commonly found on or near Tribal lands. This training included presentations, a live demonstration of the tool, and discussion.
Tracking Chemical Releases to Tribal Lands through EPA’s Improved Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Tools
This presentation was delivered as an On Demand session at the Tribal Lands and Environment Forum: Virtual Gathering in August 2020 by Shelley Fudge, US Environmental Protection Agency. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program provides annual information about toxic chemicals managed at or released from industrial facilities. The TRI provides comprehensive data about chemical releases to air, land, and water, and includes information specific to facilities located on or near tribal lands. Recently, EPA has expanded its use of online interactive tools available to the public for finding and accessing this data. This presentation will cover the basics of TRI reporting and the information most relevant to tribal communities, as well as how tribal communities can easily search TRI data directly from the TRI website homepage or the TRI for Tribal Communities webpage.
Federal Facility Sites and the FEDFacts Tool
This presentation was delivered as part of the Tribal Lands and Environment Forum: Virtual Gathering in August 2021 by Emerald Laija, Emily Royal, and Jonathan Tso with US EPA. This first part of this session will focus on providing an overview of federal facility cleanups under Superfund. The roles of federal agencies, and tribal governments in federal facility Superfund cleanups and EPA’s Federal Facility Tribal Program, will be discussed. For the second part, the FFRRO subject matter expert on Cleanups at Federal Facilities Mapping Application (FEDFacts) will provide an overview of the tool and tutorial on how it can be used to drill down details on cleanups and other related information. The tutorial will provide a step-by-step approach on how to use the tool effectively.
UST Finder: Overview
The UST Finder is an online tool that is immensely useful not only to Tribal UST staff, but also for climate resiliency, land acquisition, housing, emergency preparedness programs. In this recording Alex Hall, with EPA’s Office of Research and Development, gives you an overview on how this GIS tool can help you protect your communities, lands, and waters. You can find additional resources about the tool at the UST Finder website, and you can also reach out directly to Alex Hall at hall.alexander@epa.gov with any additional questions.
UST Finder: Walkthrough
In this video Alex Hall, with EPA’s Office of Research and Development, provides a concise walkthrough of the UST Finder. He uses a real life emergency situation faced by a Tribal Nation to show the tool can be used by you to better prepare for your own emergencies and disasters. Features he covers include:
- Selecting layers (such as facilities, releases, wildfires)
- Adding filters (such as Tribal lands, floodplains, land use)
- Accessing details about USTs at each location (such as number, age, capacity, contents, wall type)
- Accessing details about the surrounding area (such as nearby wells, population, groundwater protection area)
- Pulling in external available data (such as USGS flood data, stream gauges, wildfire, soil hydric class, river flow lines)
- Adjusting the basemap (aerial imagery, roads, geography, topographic)
- The ‘Near Me’ tool
You can find additional resources about the tool at the UST Finder website and you can reach out directly to Alex Hall at hall.alexander@epa.gov with any additional questions.