Grand Challenges and Research | Urban Studies & Planning

Improving Tribal Environmental Health

Area of Concentration

Tribal Policy and Planning

Grand Challenge Overview

Indigenous communities in the United States are among the most vulnerable to exposure to toxic chemicals, in part due to poverty, unique exposures associated with diet and tribal lifestyles and gaps in infrastructure and institutional capacity to address the impacts of dumping and other polluting activities that disproportionately impact Tribes. The U.S. Constitution and treaties recognize Native American communities as separate and independent political communities within the territorial boundaries of the United States. Presently, Tribal Nations maintain a government-to-government relationship with the federal government, the origin of which flows from treaties, federal statutes and U.S. Supreme Court decisions. At the regional level, tribal governments have been frustrated by the complexity of working with various local entities and not being involved in regional planning processes that affect their communities.

San Diego County is home to the largest number of Native American reservations per county in the nation, with 18 federally recognized reservations and an estimated population of about 6,800 tribal residents. In spite of important economic gains for some gaming Tribes in recent years many important gaps remain. As an example, some San Diego county tribes are non-gaming, with residents that live far below poverty level. To this date, some reservations are completely lacking or have insufficient access to basic services such as clean water, proper solid waste removal and adequate sewage treatment. This lack of basic services creates environmental health issues within these already at risk communities. Presently, many tribal communities are disproportionately impacted by health problems such as asthma, digestive and circulatory problems and metabolic disorders that could be in part related to exposure to environmental toxicants.

Grand Challenge Solution

The UCSD Superfund Research Program (UCSD SRP) has partnered with regional Tribes to systematically inventory, prioritize and address issues impacting the environment and human health on Tribal land. Simultaneously, UCSD is working with Tribal institutions to build the capacity of Tribal communities to utilize new biomolecular technologies that will significantly increase their ability to detect hazardous chemicals in the environment.

References 1

Books, Articles, Papers

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health Protection Goals. Atlanta, GA: Department of Health and Human Services. Oct 2005.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A National Strategy to Revitalize Environmental Public Health Services. Atlanta, GA: Department of Health and Human Services. Oct 2003.

National Tribal Science Council. 2006. National Tribal Science Priorities. Washington, DC: USEPA. April.

Osaki, C., eds.. 10 Essential Services of Environmental Health. Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, Universtiy of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Seattle; 2004.

Sarabia, H. 2008. Indigenous Peoples and Toxics in the U.S.-Mexico Border and Latin America. GPEIG: Newsletter of the Global Planning Educators Interest Group. Summer. Available: http://www.gpeig.org/index.php/resources/newsletters

Stigler, P. 2008. Establishing a Tribal Environmental Health Collaborative in San Diego County 2007 - 2008. [Document written by Stigler while she was a Environmental Public Health Leadership Institute Fellow at the National Environmental Public Health Leadership Institute. (See attached file)

References 2

Web Resources - Links and Data

To learn more about environmental health visit:
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/index.cfm

To learn more about the Tribal Environmental Health Collaborative:
http://www.naepc.com/tehc.html

References 3

Key Organization / Institutions

Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association (SCTCA)
P.O. Box 1470
Valley Center, CA 92082
Contact: Mr. Denis Turner, Executive Director
(760) 742-8600; .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG):
401 B Street, Suite 800
San Diego, CA 92101
Contact: Jane Clough-Riquelme, Tribal Liaison
(619) 699-1909; .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Reservation Transportation Authority (RTA)
28860 Old Town Front St, Suite C-1
Temecula, CA 92590
(951) 308-1442
Contact: Kevin Siva, Chairman of the Board

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Tribes_regional_planning_ReaderChap8_2008.pdf

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