Healing a sacred place: A tribal collaboration to restore the St. Louis River Area of Concern
Citation:
Hoffman, J. Healing a sacred place: A tribal collaboration to restore the St. Louis River Area of Concern. National EPA-Tribal Science Council Face-to-Face, Cincinnati, OH, July 30 - August 03, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
Remediation to Restoration to Revitalization (R2R2R) is an ecosystem based management framework that facilitates the inclusion of local values to maximize the public benefit of remedation and restoration projects. The framework is inclusive of all beneficiaries, and thus provides an opportunity to engage communities. For the St. Louis River Area of Concern, there is a particular need to include the values and knowledge of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa because the river is sacred to them. Numerous examples of recent collaborative research in the St. Louis River Area of Concern demonstrate opportunities for tribal collaboration to incorporate Band members values and knowledge into environmental assesssment and decision-making.
Description:
: In 1987, the St. Louis River was identified under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement as an Area of Concern (AOC) owing to a legacy of pollution from poorly controlled municipal and industrial wastes, and widespread habitat loss. From the late 1800s to present day, the lower river was recognized for an episodic dead zone, failed fish runs, and contaminated sediments. Spirit Lake, a remnant oxbow lake in the middle of the river that has unique spiritual value for the Anishinaabe, was severely impacted by legacy pollution. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has provided funding resources to address these legacy impacts. For the St. Louis River Area of Concern, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are among the four coordinators that guide and approve AOC projects. We are studying the application of an ecosystem based management framework (known as” R2R2R”) that integrates ecological decisions with public benefits at major remediation and restoration projects in the river. The term “R2R2R” refers to the process of Remediating contaminated sediments and Restoring aquatic habitat to foster Revitalization in coastal communities. In practice, this means that project goals are developed from community perceptions, inclusive of tribal values, and use of the restored ecosystem (e.g., increased wild rice harvesting). The talk will illustrate how R2R2R exemplifies collaborative research that can integrate tribal knowledge and values into both environmental assessment and decision-making in the context of large, complex remediation and restoration projects.