GSS Assists with Clean Water Act Training for Tribal Staff

During the first week of March, Executive Director Andy Robertson and Natural Resource Analyst Kathy Allen traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for a Clean Water Act (CWA) training that GSS helped plan, along with partners at the National Association of Wetland Managers (NAWM) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The training was attended by 92 staff members from 58 different tribal communities across the country. The first three days consisted of presentations from the EPA and partner groups, as well as tribal staff themselves, on topics ranging from water quality monitoring and data management to establishing water quality standards and proposed regulatory changes. Andy gave a presentation on using wetland functional assessments to develop a Section 404 monitoring and assessment program, while Kathy presented on what geospatial approaches can do for a CWA monitoring and assessment program. The training concluded with four options for a half-day field trip, where attendees had the opportunity to see and hear about local water quality issues firsthand. The field trips, all to current or historical local indigenous community sites, were coordinated by GSS. The planning team hopes to conduct similar trainings in other regions of the country in the next few years.