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WETLANDS MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
Impact/Purpose:
The intended users of these products are the people and the Tribal Council of the Blackfeet Tribe. Products include: 1) Develop an active inventory of wetland acreage within Tribal boundaries which follows standards of the Federal Geographic Data Committee to allow for comparison of data; 2) Develop a permit and restoration tracking system in order to know the location of wetland losses and gains on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation; 3) Assess the condition of Wetlands on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation based on biological, physical, chemical and landscape level information; 4) Develop a program to educate and inform the public about the condition and extent of wetlands on the Reservation; and 5) Prepare a wetlands protection grant application for fiscal year 2003.
Description:
In order to address the environmental problems associated with wetlands on the Blackfeet Reservation, the Blackfeet Tribe completed a Wetlands Conservation Strategy (WCS) for the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. In fiscal year 2002 the Wetlands Program is proposing to focus on Component One of the WCS, Inventory, Assessment, and Classification. This component is similar to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) second core element of a wetlands protection program, monitoring and assessment. Because of changes in EPA's guidance for wetlands protection programs, the overall goal of the Wetlands Program has changed from implementation of the WCS to establishing the core elements of a wetlands protection program. The overall goal of the Blackfeet Wetlands Program is to develop a fully operational wetlands protection program. In fiscal year 2002 the wetlands program would like to focus on refining the monitoring and assessment program that was started in 1994, so that it meets the standards for the second core element of a wetlands protection program.