USACE, tribes partner to clean up tribal land through NALEMP program

Photo By Elizabeth Lockyear | ISLETA PUEBLO, N.M. – James Glover, environmental scientist with Britannia Environmental Consulting, (right), points out a feature on a practice bomb held by Mark Dixon, director of Isleta Pueblo’s Department of Natural Resources, April 17, 2018. The bomb was just one of many the military dropped on a precision bombing range on the pueblo while training pilots during the 1940s.  

ALBUQUERQUE, NM, UNITED STATES

05.15.2018

Story by Elizabeth Lockyear 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Albuquerque District

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Beginning in 1993, Congress has annually set aside money to mitigate the environmental impacts of past actions by the Defense Department on tribal lands.

The creation of the Native American Lands Environmental Mitigation Program (NALEMP) recognized that the Department of Defense has a legal obligation to address past military activity on tribal lands; that the government has Federal Trust Responsibilities (especially the government-to-government relationship with tribal nations); and the importance in engaging impacted tribes in the cleanup plans to support and build their capacity. Tribal engagement also respects the government-to-government partnership with a tribe.

While there are several Defense Department programs focused on cleaning up land impacted by past military actions, NALEMP is unique in the support; consultation; and collaboration with, and training to, the impacted tribe provided. Beyond cleaning up and reducing the environmental damage to the impacted land, the program supports the tribe in developing its capacity for independent management of future environmental projects. The program also provides training in project oversight and hazardous operations management. Through engagement with the tribe, traditional ecological knowledge can be incorporated into the project design. The tribes’ access to subsistence items, cultural activities can also be addressed.

“We sincerely enjoy working with the USACE NALEMP program because without their partnership, our lands would not be cleaned up. Although there is still much work to be done, the continued success of the program at the tribal level can only be attributed to the willingness of the USACE’s trust responsibility. The capacity building and environmental remediation on tribal lands would not be possible without this program,” said Mark Dixon, director of Isleta Pueblo’s Department of Natural Resources.

NALEMP consists of three main players: the tribe, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

Once a site has been determined eligible for the program, and funding is available, the tribe and USACE enter into a Cooperative Agreement (CA) which addresses the problems attributable to past Defense Department activities.

Nationally the Defense Department has executed more than 260 CAs with more than 55 tribes totaling more than $114 million through NALEMP. Since 2000, the USACE Albuquerque District, has executed CAs with seven pueblos in N.M. for a total amount of approximately $17 million. The result? More than 7,600 acres visually surveyed and cleared through 2017. The Albuquerque District has had CAs with the Acoma, Isleta, Laguna, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Santo Domingo pueblos and the Zuni tribe.

The first NALEMP project in the Albuquerque District was with the Laguna Pueblo in 2000. “We've had New Mexico tribes participating since,” said Monika Sanchez, the District’s NALEP program manager.

“We work more with munitions debris sites than any other [USACE] district in the NALEMP program,” said Sanchez. This stems from the many precision bombing ranges constructed by the Defense Department for training purposes during the 1940s.

According to Sanchez, only the Alaska District works with more tribes than the Albuquerque District.

The major advantage of the NALEMP over other DOD restoration programs is that rural sites can be addressed more expediently and allows the pueblo or tribe to have valuable input through consultation in decision making and the cleanup process.

“This program is very unique because our tribal partners are able to take control of their site remediation and build the technical capacity for this unique type of work within the pueblo, which I think is wonderful,” said Sanchez. “We couldn't accomplish so much without our great partners who are willing to mentor each other. They share lessons learned with other program participants, which key in the success of our program.”

Consider the case of Isleta Pueblo. “Isleta has 15 sites that have been addressed and eight sites that still need to be addressed,” said Sanchez. These sites were either formally used by the Defense Department or were impacted by undocumented Defense-related activities (such as aircraft crash sites). The amount of impacted land is estimated to be over 29,000 acres, most of which is in remote and sparsely populated areas of the pueblo.

Beginning in 2001, the Pueblo of Isleta and USACE entered into Cooperative Agreements and the pueblo has been provided more than $3.7 million for investigations and clearance activities. The remaining sites include an estimated 10,000 acres and will be cleaned up as Congressional provided funding allows.

To date, the pueblo, through NALEMP, has successfully remediated one site of approximately 6,000 acres as well as 4,200 acres of another nearly 19,000-acre site.

In addition to its successes in remediating tribal lands, the NALEMP program has also brought benefits to the Albuquerque District. “The presence of a robust NALEMP Program at the Albuquerque District, especially the program's emphasis on direct participation by a tribe in project execution, acted as a foundation for the District’s successful Tribal Program and the establishment in the District of the USACE Tribal Nations Technical Center of Expertise,” observed Ron Kneebone, director of the TNTCX.

• Date Taken: 05.15.2018
• Date Posted: 12.11.2018 18:32
• Story ID: 303091
• Location: ALBUQUERQUE, NM, US