Tribes are involved in pertinent cleanup decisions made by the EM program and site activities through cooperative agreements, agreements-in-principle, and memoranda-of-understanding, which allow the Tribes to: establish Tribal environmental programs related to DOE sites and facilities; hire Tribal staff and scientific experts to inform Tribal leaders on cleanup efforts; examine cleanup plans at the sites; provide comments on potential and known impacts of past, present, and future cleanup work on Tribal lands; and preserve and protect Tribal cultural resources; (e.g., artifacts, fish and wildlife, native plants, and sacred sites) at the Department of Energy and on Tribal lands.
Tribal environmental programs allow EM to tap into Tribal expertise by: performing environmental protection activities such as water, soil, and air monitoring; establishing Transportation Emergency Response programs for Tribes to be "first responders" for potential incidents on reservations and neighboring jurisdictions; and conducting cultural resource surveys, wildlife monitoring projects, archeological assessments, and native plant re-vegetation in conjunction with DOE cleanup projects; and promoting educational initiatives that enhance cross-cultural understanding and student ability in the fields of mathematics and science.