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Tips for Developing a Tribal
Environmental Response
Program
Presented at:
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301
Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington,
D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
January 23, 2009 Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - 1
Brownfield Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety
Division
Outline
• Purpose
• A little about the Oneida Nation
– Environmental, Health and Safety Division
Organizational Chart
• The 128(a) Brownfield Grant
– Workplan development and program goals
• I got the money, now what???
– Activities, outputs, measures and outcomes
• This isn’t the way I planned it!
– Overcoming Challenges
• Celebrating Success!
– Telling your story and preparing for the future
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 2
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Purpose
To provide suggestions for development
of a successful Tribal Environmental
Response Program
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 3
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
The Oneida Nation
Oneida Reservation is about
65,400 acres (approximately
100 square miles)
Tribe currently owns 32% of
the land base
16,000 members, 6200 tribal
members live on or near the
Reservation (2006)
Multi-jurisdictional issues-
Counties, Cities, Villages, and
Towns within the Reservation
Eastern portion of the
Reservation is impacted by
Green Bay/De Pere Urban
Sprawl
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 4
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Oneida Land Use
Main land use is Agriculture
Gently rolling topography
and silty-clay till soils
Remaining forests are
typically wooded wetlands
that were too wet for
agriculture
Duck Creek valley bisects in
SW-NE direction
233 miles of rivers, creeks,
& streams
Austin Straubel
International Airport is
within the Reservation
boundary.
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 5
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Oneida Facts
•Oneida Employs over 3,000 people
•Main Casino & Bingo, Mason Street
Casino, and 4 satellite locations with One-
Stop gas stations
•Tribe leases land to Walmart, Home
Depot, Sam’s Club and other Green Bay
Stores
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 6
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 7
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Measuring Grant Activities
• Plan program activities through a “logic” type
model.
• Identify opportunities that measure unique
activities and develop tools to track.
• Before undertaking an activity ask yourself
the question “How will this meet a program
goal?”
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 8
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
To Start With
Understand the intent of the grant and possible
measures
Grant Program Intent (Outcome) Measures (Output)
Brownfield 128(a) To develop Tribal -Staff
Tribal capacity to identify, -Training and credentials
Environmental respond to, oversee and -Laws, SOPs, cleanup standards
Response Program direct, environmental
response actions -Inventory of sites
-Public Record of proposed &
completed environmental response
action sites
-Number of sites cleaned up
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 9
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Grant Program Possible Activities Possible
Elements Measures/Outputs
Survey & Inventory of •Training for Excel, Access -Completed training
Sites •Review state & federal -Information from sources
databases collected, listed
•Develop list or database of -Tribal list of potential sites
sites to identify BF sites
•Confirmation field visits -Number of visits
Meaningful Opportunities •Training for developing -Written community outreach
for Public Participation outreach plans & writing, plan
publication skills -# of publications produced &
•Various publications distribution
•Community events, -Record of events and or
information sessions comments
Verify the Clean up (and •Training for assessment & -Completed training
response action) is cleanup technologies -Shadowing exercises
complete (and •Shadow practicing completed
appropriate) professionals -QAPPs are created and
•QAPP training reflect technical expertise
Establish & Enhance •Training -Training completed
Oversight & Enforcement •Shadowing -Shadowing exercises
Authorities •Needs assessments completed
-Needs are identified
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 10
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Element: Establish & Enhance Oversight and
Enforcement Authorities
Activities/Output: Develop Results/Outcome:
Resources: What
Oversight & Enforcement What change
will be invested?
Authorities occurred?
Needs assessment for laws Needs are identified
• Staff and staff skills resources are dedicated
• Grant Money
• Tribal Vehicle Training for Environmental Law, Program enhances
OSC, RCRA Inspections, Legal Tribal sovereignty
• Office Equip. Writing Skills, Judiciary Processes
Shadowing & interviewing Number of exercises
Contractors, State or Federal Staff conducted
Writing & adopting Laws, Laws & processes are
SOPs, QAPP formalized &
recognized
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 11
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Challenges to Program
Development
• Staffing
• Unclear goals and outcomes
• Lack of flexibility to address related
issues. (eg. Solid waste, petroleum,
CERCLA).
• Capacity not understood
• Limitations not communicated
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 12
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Meeting the Challenges
Time and staffing challenges
• Be reasonable with establishing goals.
• Identify possible detours in your program logic model.
• Have a back up plan. Even if it is putting grant
activities on “hold”.
• Rewrite work plans (if necessary) and communicate
with EPA program staff.
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 13
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Meeting the Challenges
Unclear goals, outcomes and measures
• Have EPA understand what a sustainable goal
or outcome is for the program.
• Identify and simplify outcomes that can be
measured.
• Communicate these measures to the Tribal
program staff.
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 14
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Meeting the Challenges
Lack of flexibility to address related OSWER
programs
• Understand limitations of the grant and how
to work within the system
• Request EPA staff assistance in overcoming
these challenges
• Communicate frustrations to the appropriate
EPA Tribal program staff.
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 15
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Meeting the Challenges
Capacity not understood
• Identify what skills and capacity currently
exists
• Define what capacity should look like
• Work on the building blocks of capacity (core
skills)
• Understand what capacity is sustainable
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 16
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Meeting the Challenges
Limitations not understood
• Identify limitations of your program to EPA
• Have EPA assist you to understand why an
activity may not be eligible
• If the program is under-funded, communicate
this to EPA
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 17
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Celebrate Success!
• Tell you story and highlight
achievements
• Record community inputs, requests and
responses
• Reports should build on each other
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 18
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Celebrating Success!
• The Tribal Environmental Response
Program has developed a database that
aids in tracking activities that occur
within the Oneida Nation’s land base.
This allows us to more effectively
identify possible environmental
concerns.
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 19
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Celebrating Success!
• The TERP provided a display and
questionnaire during a community
outreach event that encouraged
community members to assist in
deciding the future use of a property
that is being cleaned up under oversight
of the TERP. 122 people visited the
booth and provided comment!
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 20
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Celebrating Success!
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 21
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 22
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Celebrating Success!
• A tracking tool was created that allows
staff partially funded under the
program track their time and activities.
• This has allowed the successful use of
resources during the grant period.
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 23
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Final Things to Consider
Logic Models are a useful tool to sketch out activities,
results and measures of a program.
Keep track of your activities and outcomes (changes in
behavior) of the two related programs.
Have open conversations with all EPA program staff and
explain each of your goals for the Tribal program.
Tribal programs have a unique feel and characteristics
for implementation.
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 24
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Recommendations
• EPA find creative solutions to the limited
staffing of Tribes and program goals.
• EPA provide a tools and opportunities for
integration with other OSWER programs.
• EPA provide flexibility with activities to meet
the final programmatic outcomes.
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 25
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Questions?
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 26
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
Thank you!
Presented by:
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist
– Brownfields
Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin
P.O. Box 365
Oneida, WI 54155
Phone: (920)496-5328
vflowers@oneidanation.org
Victoria Flowers, Environmental Specialist - Brownfield
January 23, 2009 Oneida Environmental, Health & Safety Division 27
Forum on OSWER’s Tribal Strategy
EPA East Building, Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.
December 2 – 4, 2008
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