EPA Tribal Program in New England

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Natural Resources Department
Mashpee, Mass

When the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe formed its Natural Resources Department in March 2008, water quality was the most pressing environmental problem of nearby waterways, including the Popponesset Bay. Three years earlier, the bay had seen a major fish kill as a result of nutrient overload. The tribe viewed the fish kill as imminent threat to their traditional way of life. With grant funding, the Natural Resources Department planted 200,000 oyster seeds in 2009 in partnership with the Town of Mashpee and developed a bay restoration project. This was just one of the many accomplishments of the tribe's Natural Resources Department that merit recognition. With help from water quality partners, the department also collected water quality data that led to improved water quality and inspired other communities to develop large aquaculture projects in similar estuarine systems. The environmental health and quality of the bay waters has stopped declining, an indicator of the success of the oyster farming operation thus far. The department also sought to establish a biomass environment in the bay big enough to sustain a wild population of oysters, since wild oysters had been absent for a decade. There is evidence now of a wild oyster population in the bay. The Natural Resources Department's commitment to Popponesset Bay by way of this innovative and sustainable environmental project is a monumental achievement.

Penobscot Indian Nation Receives Grant of nearly $149,000 to Improve Water Quality

(Boston, Mass. – July 25, 2012) – The Penobscot Indian Nation has received a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for $148,924 to help reduce nonpoint source water pollution on their tribal lands.  The grant was selected in a competitive review process among 52 proposals.  A total of 20 grants were funded by EPA.

The grant will be used to improve and protect water quality in the Penobscot River and Little Alder Stream. The Penobscot River watershed consists of approximately one-third of the state of Maine.

“EPA is very pleased to provide much-needed funding to help the Penobscot Nation do some very important work that will have a real impact improving water quality and habitat within the Penobscot River,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England regional office.

“Clean water and protection of aquatic habitat is of great importance to the Penobscot Nation,” said Dan Kusnierz, Penobscot Nation’s Water Resources Program Manager. “The Tribe greatly appreciates this commitment from EPA that will enable us to significantly reduce eroding soils and thereby protect the quality of waters on and adjacent to tribal lands.”

The EPA funding will assist the Penobscot Nation to reduce sediments and nutrients from entering the Penobscot River by stabilizing portions of an eroding riverbank and re-establishing nearby vegetation. This portion of the project will also complement ongoing efforts by the Penobscot Indian Nation to restore and improve habitat for migratory fish (including the federally endangered shortnose sturgeon and Atlantic salmon, and 10 other species).

The Tribal government will also use EPA funding to reduce sediments and nutrients from entering Little Alder Stream and its tributaries by installing “best management practices” (BMPs) on an all-terrain vehicle trail system leading to a sensitive high elevation lake with a native brook trout fishery.  Installing BMPs on portions of the trail that are in close proximity to streams leading to Little Alder Stream will help protect water quality in these sensitive waters.