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Summary of Great Plains Region Native American Program
Highlights in Fiscal Year 2004

The Great Plains Region's Native American Affairs Program works directly with Tribes and partners to help address many sever water quantity and quality problems on Reservations within the region. Working directly with Tribes has prove to be an effective way to provide technical asistance to rural Indian communities in the Great Plains Region.

The following new projects for FY 2004 have been funded under the Native American Technical Assistance Program:

• Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Water Assessment. This project will assess the water supply of the Clinton Reserve of the Souther Cheyenne and Arapaho in west-central Oklahoma. It will identify and characterize issues with the current system, and will recommend measures to assure an adequate water supply through 2023.
  
• Sac and Fox Nation Constructed Wetlands. The Sac and Fox Nation in Kansas is experimenting with culturally appropriate water treatment methods. Reclamation will assist in finishing the engineering plans and conduct construction inspections and contract oversight. The project will result in a wastewater treatment wetland that will be used to propagate native plants and provide an educational opportunity for the Sac and Fox reservation.
  
• Prairie Band of the Potawatomi Aquifer Assessment. Reclamation will prepare a draft plan of study, coordinate with study partners, develop cooperative agreements, and start developing a database on the reservation's groundwater aquifer. If needed, an exploratory program for the reservation in northeastern Kansas will be designed.
  
• Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas Water Supply Assessment. Reclamation will give technical assistance to the Tribe by reviewing existing data, identifying problems, and recommending alternative solutions to resolve the reservation's chronic water shortage.
  
• Omaha Tribe Surface Water Drainage. The Tribes powwow grounds suffer from poor surface water drainage that poses a community health risk. Reclamation will assess the problem and develop preliminary drainage plans and designs. The Omaha Reservation is in eastern Nebraska on the banks of the Missouri River north of Omaha.
  
• Blackfeet Stream Restoration. Streams in the central part of the reservation have been affected by farming and grazing over the past century. The Blackfeet Tribe in north-central Montana will design stream bank restoration designs using a non-traditional method of engineering such as the Rosgen method. This work will be done by the Tribe through an agreement authorized by section 638 of the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act.
  
• Fort Peck Reservation Delineation of Brine Contamination. Water supplies in the southern part of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana suffer from brine injected into the ground during the extracion of oil and natural gas. Fifty years of brine disposal now threatens the drinking water supply. The Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation will work with the U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies to delineate the contaminatoin and evaluate the threat to the City of Poplar. This work will be done by the Tribe through an agreement authorized by section 638 of the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act.
  
• Fort Peck Reservation Irrigation Project Investigations. This project will survey existing drains and laterals and prepare designs to improve water delivery and removal. This work will be done by the Tribes through an agreement authorized by section 638 of the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act.
  
• For Peck Reservation Water Treatment Plant. The part of the water treatment plant for the City of Frazer that removes excess iron and manganese has broken down. City residents are purchasing bottled drinking water and using the discoloed and distasteful water from the water treatment plant for non-culinary needs. Reclamation is finding parts and will provide advice and assistance on repairing the dated treatment unit.
  
• Northern Cheyenne Reservation Drought Planning. The Tribe will develop a Drought Contingency Plan for the reservation in south-central Montana. The plan will provide an effective and sytematic means of monitoring, identifying, and responding to drought conditions. This work will be done by the Tribe through an agreement authorized by section 638 of the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act.