TCU MISSOURI RIVER BASIN CONSORTIUM

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1026671
• Grant No.: 2021-38424-34953
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $220,000.00
• Proposal No.: 2021-02855
• Project Start Date: Jul 1, 2021
• Project End Date: Jun 30, 2024
• Grant Year: 2021
• Program Code: [ZY]- Tribal Colleges Research Grants Program

Recipient Organization
FORT BERTHOLD COMMUNITY COLLEGE
P.O. BOX 490
NEW TOWN,ND 58763

Performing Department
Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College

Non Technical Summary
Multiple tribes along the Missouri River have been impacted by federal government decisions such as damming. The creation of a Missouri River Consortium through the Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) located along the Missouri River will connect those tribes and allow them to have a collective voice about the issues they face. Because this nation of the United States was founded on all Native land, it is important for Native people to have a voice in issues related to the land and resources. This project is one way of bringing some of those voices together, which is an opportunity for the local communities on and off the reservations, as well as regionally to become informed about tribal natural resource issues.The project will create research procedures that are informed by Native philosophies. The project will focus on both cultural and biological parameters to measure and monitor to inform priorities and decision-making related to the Missouri River.The ultimate goal of the project is to create a safe and powerful space for tribes to come together to identify and address common issues as they relate to the Missouri River. The project will also establish some common biological features for monitoring and establish some baseline data.

Animal Health Component

40%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

20%

Applied

40%

Developmental

40%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
112	0310	1070	100%

Knowledge Area
112 - Watershed Protection and Management;

Subject Of Investigation
0310 - River basins;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;

Keywords

community values

indigenous science

tribal water rights

water policy

watershed ecology

Goals / Objectives
Project Goal:Promote understanding and appreciation of the unique relationships with and interests in the river of the tribes in the Missouri River Basin.Project Objectives: Assess NHSC's research infrastructure to identify needs and develop any policies, procedures, and methods to address those needs (e.g., an institutional or research review board, culture committee to advise cultural components of research, data analysis and storage security and capacity).Develop and test a method for compiling comprehensive information about the past and present relationship of tribes to the Missouri River and associated resources.Develop and test a method for quantifying, summarizing, and effectively disseminating Missouri River economic and cultural benefits in tribal communities (e.g., tribal cultural practices, irrigation, drinking water, fisheries, recreation, flood control).Develop and test a method for summarizing current tribal water programs can be summarized and relating them to the Pick-Sloan program (e.g., tribal water policies, river monitoring, climate resilience / flood control planning, assertion of water rights, river access).Develop and test a method for identifying, summarizing, and disseminating current tribal water and climate information needs, especially to appropriate federal and state entities (e.g., flood control planning and flood prevention, drought planning, agriculture needs).Provide additional Student Research opportunities at NHSC and UM FCFC through participation in the collaborative development of a tribal research review board or participating in internships connecting them with cultural or water tribal programs.Share tested methods among all 15 TCUs in the MRB for input and consideration of adoption across the basin.Host a workshop with interested TCUs in the Missouri River watershed to discuss the formation of a consortium, identify common goals and research interests, and strategize next steps.Build relationships among TCUs in the MRB, and between TCUs and state climate offices standing up the Upper Missouri River Soil Moisture Monitoring Network.

Project Methods
NHSC will develop and offer a course co-taught by faculty in the NAS and Science department that prepares students for the multidisciplinary project in fall semester 2021 that will focus on research, data collection, global climate change and water, and the cultural significance of water with our tribe. The course will be place-based to the greatest extent possible, and assignments will require students to study Missouri River issues from the perspective of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. It is anticipated that a minimum of 8 students will complete the course.Eight students will subsequently be selected for positions as Research Interns to expand upon classroom learning and the stated goals of this project (2 each from Native American Studies and Environmental Science for each of 2 semesters). These interns will work with NHSC's project team to further develop and test methods for acquiring and summarizing existing information on Missouri River resources and issues in the Fort Berthold area/community, specifically the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribal membership. In addition, the interns will prepare poster or oral presentations suitable for audiences at a Missouri River Consortium conference.The project team will meet by teleconference bi-weekly for the first 3 months of the project, and then monthly to discuss project objectives, methods, progress, and opportunities. When possible, the Student Interns will also be included in these meetings.The Project Team will develop procedures that can be standardized to obtain background data on the Missouri River as it pertains to the NHSC community. This might include, but is not limited to:weather data from closest NWS or state mesonet monitoring station,soil moisture data,stream-flow / river gauge data,dam operations,river water quality data from USGS or USEPA database,river-dependent protected/listed species distribution in the local study area from state heritage program and also USFWS & NMFS databases,fisheries surveys,habitat and benthic invertebrate surveys,Ethnographic/oral history data collection,Cultural use surveys,recreation use surveys,irrigation,use and/or impacts by oil industry,OtherThe Project Team will also develop procedures that can be standardized to obtain information from historic documents, Tribal Elders, and Tribal records on: traditional importance of the river and associated valued resources, tribal water policies, Tribal Primacy re: water supply, tribal monitoring programs, tribal assertion of water rights, river access issues, and other legacy issues related to the Pick-Sloan Plan. These procedures will be guided by the NHSC values within the Earthlodge Model and informed by Indigenous research methods. With some of the potential forms of data collection, a formalized research review board and culturally-informed procedures may need to be developed. Once the methods have been developed by the full project team, the Project Team will engage the Student Interns to mine the relevant databases, collect the data, and file the data into the project-specific electronic and paper filing systems. Student Interns will be required to select some aspect of the project to present at a meeting with other TCUs. These presentations will showcase the ways in which the procedures developed by this project team could be used to encourage student research at other TCUs in a Missouri River Consortium. The Project Team will assemble meeting minutes, project findings, standard operating procedures, and the Case Study from their site into a Summary Report that will be shared with the 14 other TCUs in the basin. Those 14 colleges will be invited to attend an informational meeting to learn about the project; the Project Team will present their work at the informational meeting. AIHEC will pitch the idea of a TCU Missouri River Consortium at the close of the informational meeting and recruit participants for a follow-up session to formulate an Action Plan and collaborative longitudinal research projects. These meetings could occur at an annual tribal conference, via teleconference, or at some other yet to be determined venue.

Progress 07/01/21 to 06/30/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the duration of this project was students and faculty at Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College and the University of Montana, community members and residents of the Fort Berthold reservation, and other Tribal College and University Science and Native American Studies faculty. Changes/Problems:The Covid pandemic caused major challenges to the full execution of the project using the methods we had proposed. Classes and conference became challenging to host in-person and were shifted to virtual. The time required to develop online teaching methods impacted faculty's availability to participate in additional opporutunities as they prioritized teaching their current students. Similarly, it was challenging to develop very strong relationships with other TCU and agency partners in the project region. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students who participated in the Special Topics course developed through the project were provided the opportunity to work as interns to further develop their research skills. They learned about developing research questions, literative searches, developing research methods, collecting and analyzing data, and disseminating results and conclusions. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Students in the project's Special Topics course presented their research at the conclusion of the class. The presentations were open to the public and were live-streamed through Teams to allow virtual participation.Presentations about the project were also given at the Missouri River Basin Drought and Human Health Workshop and the annual FALCON conference. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Through this project, Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College has identified a need for a research review board and has put together an internal team to begin strategizing appropriate processes. Some limitations include adequate staffing to dedicate the necessary time and funding.The project team uses Microsoft OneDrive folders and a Microsoft Teams organization hosted at the University of Montana for file sharing and project coordination. Because no new human-subjects data was collected as part of this project, this off-site hub for project files has proven to be a workable solution, especially in the context of environmental research collaborations. However, community-engaged participatory research requires that NHSC develop data-hosting capacity and research protocols in order to honor privacy and Tribal data sovereignty concerns. Students at both partner institutions conducted research related to the Missouri River Basin and presented their findings within their institutions and at other public events. It was intended that one of the faculty/student research projects focus on quantifying, summarizing, and effectively disseminating Missouri River economic and cultural benefits in tribal communities through a focused project on the Nueta, Hidatsa, and Sahnish people, but this particular project did not end up being pursued. However, the student intern at UMT focused her research on these benefits. The project team felt that this objective should be addressed through Student involvement in a place-based Special Topics course focused on the Missouri River. The course was offered in Spring Semester 2022 and 3 students extended their involvement into summer 2022 Internships.Project Team members personally contacted Faculty at every TCU in summer 2022 to invite them to join the project byoffering the Special Topics course at their institution in 22/23 academic year. The course Syllabus was shared and it wassuggested that the course be offered at the same times at each institution so that students at all campuses could participate in live class discussions and work together on projects. Faculty from 3 colleges expressed interest, but over time none were able to follow-through on the timeline for a Winter 2023 course offering. NHSC offered the special topics course Spring 2023 semester, but no students registered for it. Although we were unable to host a workshop specific to the project, we were able to present the project through exisitng conferences (AIHEC and FALCON). These presentations provided an opporutnity for TCUs in the Missouri River Basin to visit about the project and possible ways to collaborate on issues and projects related to the river.

Publications

Progress 07/01/22 to 06/30/23

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience was Faculty and Staff from the 15 Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) in the Missouri River Basin. Changes/Problems:The project team has made multiple attempts to engage TCU faculty in the project through emails, phone calls, and presentations at TCU conferences, but there haven't been many TCUs that have committed to continuing dialogue about a TCU consortium. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Project team contacted faculty at every TCU in the summer of 2022. A poster presentation was also made dkuring the 2022 FALCON conference. A virtual workshop was hosted in conjunction with the annual AIHEC conference in spring 2023. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Upon the submission of the annual report, we will request a no-cost extension to continue our relationship building with the other TCUs in the Missouri River Basin.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Most of the project's objectives were accomplished as part of the Missouri River-focused special topics seminar taught at NHSC by Ms. Finley, and by faculty/student research projects conducted by student interns at NHSC and UMT. Obj.1 NHSC has not had a Research Review Board since 2018; Ms. Finley is a participant in the College's process to re-establish an RRB and has kept the project team apprised of progress. However, as this project progressed, there is still not a system in place at NHSC that would allow students and faculty to undertake research projects that include interviews with community members. That has constrained student and faculty research topics. The project team uses Microsoft OneDrive folders and a Microsoft Teams organization hosted at the University of Montana for file sharing and project coordination. Because no new human-subjects data was collected as part of this project, this off-site hub for project files has proven to be a workable solution, especially in the context of environmental research collaborations. However, community-engaged participatory research requires that NHSC develop data-hosting capacity and research protocols in order to honor privacy and Tribal data sovereignty concerns. Obj 2 The student intern at the University of Montana, under the direction of Dr. Bocinsky and Ms. Harrington, completed an ESRI StoryMap project that compiled information about the past and present relationship of Tribes to the Missouri River. More specifically, the StoryMap illustrated how the Missouri River connects both Tribes and Tribal Colleges in the basin hydrologically, environmentally and culturally. The Story Map project was presented in the Student Section at the 2022 FALCON conference and waswell received.Link: https://arcg.is/19nrHy. This work has led to the development of a Basin-wide "Stolen Waters Summit" exploring Indigenous resistance to colonial theft of western rivers, to be held in Missoula, Montana in November 2023. Students in the Missouri River-focused Special Topics Course at NHSC learned how to access and use environmental / water resources data from Government databases. Course content included place-based assignments whereby students used Missouri River basin data to complete laboratory assignments. Obj 3 It was intended that one of the faculty/student research projects focus on quantifying, summarizing, and effectively disseminating Missouri River economic and cultural benefits in tribal communities through a focused project on the Nueta, Hidatsa, and Sahnish people, but this particular project did not end up being pursued. However, the student intern at UMT focused her research on these benefits, summarizing them in her ESRI StoryMap. Central to that work was the illustration of the cultural role the Missouri River has and continues to play in connecting the Tribes of the Missouri River Basin culturally, spiritually, and economically. The importance of the River (and its loss through damming) was a central topic in the special topics course taught at NHSC, which also represents effective dissemination of this information. Obj 4 The project team felt that this objective should be addressed through Student involvement in a place-based Special Topics course focused on the Missouri River. The course was offered in Spring Semester 2022 and 3 students extended their involvement into summer 2022 Internships. Research projects completed with the assistance of the NHSC Summer Interns were: 1) Oil Spills in the River - used existing databases to find out when/where these have occurred. 2) Effects of Gas Well Flaring on Water Quality in the sub-watershed. 3) Tribal Opposition to the Construction of the Garrison Dam -- Findings from the official records. Project Team members personally contacted Faculty at every TCU in summer 2022 to invite them to join the project by offering the Special Topics course at their institution in 22/23 academic year. The course Syllabus was shared and it was suggested that the course be offered at the same times at each institution so that students at all campuses could participate in live class discussions and work together on projects. Faculty from 3 colleges expressed interest, but over time none were able to follow-through on the timeline for a Winter 2023 course offering.NHSC offered the special topics course Spring 2023 semester, but no students registered for it. Obj 5 Again, this objective was most directly addressed through the place-based special topics course offered at NHSC in 2022. Through the development and engagement with that course, students were exposed to data sources and research methodologies pertaining to managing and benefiting from the Missouri River. Ms. Finley and Dr. Plenty Sweetgrass-She Kills introduced Indigenous research methods in environmental sciences, which complement Western methods to collaborative produce more inclusive, holistic, and reciprocal environmental knowledge. In another series of lectures, Dr. Bocinsky illustrated the lack of weather, soil moisture, and water quality monitoring infrastructure on the Fort Berthold Reservation (and across Indian Country), and how that translates into a lack of Tribal input into drought, water supply, and other natural resource decision-making at the local, state, and federal level. Obj 6 NHSC provided research internships to 3 students in 2022. These students participated in the special topics course at NHSC, and completed faculty-mentored research projects on environmental and cultural impacts of energy extraction from and damming of the Missouri River. UMT provided a research internship to 1 student. In addition to the research project and StoryMap on Tribes in the the Missouri River Basin discussed above, the UMT intern was able to join Dr. Bocinsky in a visit to the Fort Peck Reservation and participate in the development of a revised Hazard Mitigation Plan for the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. The UMT Intern also helped organize and attended the "All Climate is Local" workshop at the 2022 FALCON meetings, which sought to highlight the impacts of climate change on Native Nations across the United States. All of the interns were included as co-authors on a manuscript which is currently under review by the Journal "Rural Sociology". By participating in these activities, the interns on this project gained practical research experience and meaningfully contributed to the objectives of this project. Obj 7 Dr. Bocinsky presented project findings in the Faculty Poster session at the FALCON conference in Oct 2022 and invited attendees to join future phases of the project. There were several expressions of interest, all of which received follow-up information about potentially joining NHSC in offering the Special Topics course. Coordination with these TCU faculty members is ongoing. Other presentations included a presentation by UMT intern Paige Johnson of her StoryMap and research on the Missouri River Basin. Obj 8 The Project Team put substantial effort into organizing a project workshop to be held in conjunction with the annual AIHEC meeting in Spring, 2023. Special funding was obtained to off-set costs for attendees and special invitations were sent to Faculty and Staff from the TCUs in the Basin.No one registered to attend the workshop in person.However, several faculty and staff from Oglala Lakota College, United Tribes Technical College, and Salish Kootenai College attended virtually. Obj 9 The strongest relationships between TCUs and state climate offices has unsurprisingly been between the Montana Climate Office (where Dr. Bocinsky directs climate extension activities) and NHSC. However, this project has stimulated more engagement opportunities, including coordination with [NSF FEWS NETWORK] and an incipient initiative by NOAA NIDIS to build drought resilience among Missouri River Basin tribes. We expect this foundation will continue to lead to future collaborations and coordination.

Publications

Progress 07/01/21 to 06/30/22

Outputs
Target Audience:NHSC Students Fort Berthold community Other TCU Science and NAS Faculty Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Ms. Finley and Dr. Plenty Sweetgrass She Kills had the opportunity to attend their first FALCON conference. Furthermore, they have been able to establish a working relationship with Dr. Phillips from AIHEC, who in turn has put them in touch with additional resources. Dr.s Plenty Sweetgrass She Kills and Bocinsky were contacted by a group called the "Native FEWS Alliance" that wants to piggy-back on this project. Project Team members are staying in touch with the Alliance but at this time this team will stay focused on the discrete goals, objectives, and timeline of this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Dr.s Plenty Sweetgrass She Kills and Bocinsky gave a presentation about the project at the Missouri River Basin Drought and Human Health Workshop (April, 2022; Bozeman, MT). Ms. Finley and Dr. Plenty Sweetgrass She Kills introduced the project at NHSC Faculty meeting and invited other faculty members to join the project as co-investigators or as student project sponsors. To date, no other faculty have joined the project. Dr. Plenty Sweetgrass She Kills presented and participated in the Sensing the Earth Tribal Climate Science Partnership Summit in Boulder, Colorado, in June 2022. Staff from AIHEC briefly introduced the MRB TCU Consortium to summit participants. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Faculty and Student Research projects will continue. Results will be assembled into presentations. Results will be shared with Sister TCUs and sincere efforts made to establish partnerships and collaborations to work together on Missouri River-related research. More concerted effort will go into engaging with Mesonet to get NHSC involved with one or more monitoring stations. Ms. Finley will continue to work with MHA Nation legal department over the summer of 2022 to gain approval for the MHA Nation Research Code, which will also establish the Research Review Board. She is also working on finalizing the RRB handbook and forms. She will serve on a committee to finalize a selection process for the RRB once the Research Code is established. A fully functioning RRB is planned to be in place by Fall 2022. In the BIO 299 course at NHSC we address summarizing current tribal water programs and relating them to the Pick-Sloan program. This part of the curriculum needs more development before it is offered again, we will add more context and possibly dedicate an entire unit to this subject. One of the student research projects will be investigating opposition to the Garrison Dam and how it was documented. Those research findings will also be incorporated into the next BIO 299 course offering. Greater effort will be made to address Objective 5. Some of the student research topics chosen in Summer 2022 include some aspects of this, but we could improve in this area. Ideally, as we develop our consortium we will also develop and test methods for this area of interest. Working with the UM Director of Climate Extension, Kyle Bocinsky and other faculty and interns from the University of Montana we will further develop areas of concern and interest from the tribal perspective. At least one student intern is currently working on climate change and the effects on land use on the Fort Berthold Reservation. As this project continues, we will guide more students to develop research questions that identify, analyze and summarize the current water and climate information needs of the MHA Nation. We will invite state and federal entities to attend our research symposium and TCU gatherings, however we should also develop a plan to present directly to these entities in the future.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Obj.1NHSC has not had a Research Review Board since 2018; the current procedures at NHSC regarding research proposals is to complete a request form and submit it to the college's Administration committee for review and approval. Talks are underway with the Tribe to get a new RRB established at the college. Ms. Finley is a participant in those discussions and has kept the project team apprised of progress. More specifically, Ms. Finley has met with the MHA Nation legal department to review the current draft of the Research Code and was given recommendations on next steps. Dr. Dudley completed a training course that NICC offered in Fall 2021 that allowed her to receive IRB Basic Member certification through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Program. Dr. Plenty Sweetgrass She Kills was able to participate in some of the group discussions hosted by NICC. However, as this project has progressed, there is still not a system in place at NHSC that would allow students and faculty to undertake research projects that include interviews with community members. That has constrained student and faculty research topics. The project team has struggled to develop a workable system for storing and sharing project files. The Project Team currently sharesfolders on MSTeams folders hosted UM . Because no new human subjects data will be collected as part of this project, this off-site hub for project files has proven to be a workable solution, for now. Obj 2Dr. Plenty Sweetgrass She Kills has identified this to be her Research Topic; due to other responsibilities she has not yet started her faculty research project. However, she has established contacts at the University of North Dakota and has plans to use the historic documents of Garrison Dam Construction available through their Usher-Berdick Archive. A student interested in participating in research on this question has been identified. Through the development of the Missouri River Tribal Research course (BIO 299), we were able to incorporate possible research methodologies into the curriculum. Students who opted to continue with the Summer Internship will be conducting research projects of varying topics. Through these research projects we will be gathering some of the information about MHA past and present relationship to the Missouri River. Through the process of providing this course in the Spring Semester and moving students into the Summer Internships, we will develop best practices for our own community and several research projects that will help us compile the information we are seeking. Obj 3Dr. Plenty Sweetgrass She Kills tried to engage the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) in collaborating on research related to protection of culturally significant sites near the river. The THPO was not interested. Both PIs and student researchers will be presenting their findings at meetings attended by faculty (and possibly students) from other TCUs that may wish to participate in the Missouri River Research Consortium. Obj 4The project team felt that this objective should be addressed through Student involvement in a place-based Special Topics course focused on the Missouri River. A genuine effort was made to try to offer the course in Fall 2021 Semester, but that was unsuccessful as there was not enough time for recruitment. The project team worked together to prepare the material, recruit the students, and deliver the course: BIO 299 (Special Topics - Missouri River Tribal Research) in Spring Semester 2022. Six students took the course, and 5 completed it. Three students applied for Summer 2022 Internships on the project to support the Faculty research projects and continue their own research as well. Summer 2022 Intern Proposed Research Projects:1) Oil Spills in the River - using existing databases to find out when/where these have occurred. 2) Follow-on from previous study done a few years ago at NHSC on the Effects of Flaring on Water Quality in the sub-watershed. 3)Tribal Opposition to the building of the Garrison Dam -- Findings from the official records. In addition, two Students who are potential Interns, but not yet signed on, have expressed interest in doing projects on: * Effects of the Dam on the Social / Community structure; and * How the dam affected gathering of traditional and medicinal plants. The Montana Climate Office, in University of Montana Native American Natural Resource Program, has recruited a Student Intern in climate and environmental monitoring for summer 2022. The focus of the internship is to support NHSC faculty and student interns in completing their research projects. Coordination with NHSC interns is ongoing, but the UM intern is already developing an MRB-wide ESRI ArcGIS StoryMap illustrating how the Missouri River connects the Tribes and Tribal Colleges of the MRB hydrologically, environmentally, and culturally. This dynamic-map-based presentation will be useful as part of the outreach activities to sister TCUs during this project and beyond. Ms. Finley was the Instructor for BIO299. Many of the Modules offered were from the NIFA-funded course "Water Resources in a Warming World" hosted on the NWAL website; Dr. Dudley helped Ms. Finley adapt and customize that content for NHSC and establish the course Learning Objectives and Outcomes. Ms. Harrington, Dr. Plenty Sweetgrass She Kills and Dr. Bocinsky were all guest lecturers. Ms. Finley felt that this Special Topics course went above and beyond what they are typically able to cover in a STEM course at NHSC. The Place-Based content allowed the students to connect to the subject in a deeper way. The course covered some broad STEM topics, but did so with place-based content. Ms. Finley would like to see the course institutionalized and offered regularly going forward. Team members agreed that sharing the curriculum with other TCUs would be a good way to help engage others to broaden their college's student research offerings. Obj 5Ms. Finley, Dr. Bocinsky, and Dr. Plenty Sweetgrass She Kills discussed hosting a weather station for the Upper Missouri River Basin Soil Moisture and Snowpack Monitoring Network at NHSC. Dr. Bocinsky will contact North Dakota Mesonet personnel to find out what their plans are for new stations and gauge interest in having a site at the NHSC. Obj 6NHSC has developed a research methods course to prepare potential interns, and has advertised for student interns. There are currently 3 interns working on faculty-led research in Summer 2022. Obj 7Ms. Finley, Dr. Bocinsky, and Dr. Plenty Sweetgrass She Kills all gave presentations about the project at the 2021 FALCON conference (Virtual meeting). Faculty from other TCUs were in the audience and there were some general expressions of interest. Alexa Azure from UTTC wants to do some Drinking Water studies in Fort Berthold. Ms. Finley has discussed collaborating with her on this. Ms. Harrington has discussed the project with faculty at 3 TCUs in the basin who are interested in learning more and potentially collaborating during the next phase. Dan and Michael Kinsey and Cheryl Morales at Aaniih Nakoda TCU are interested in the project. Joanne Stewart from Fort Peck Community College is also working on research centered on water ways, including the Milk River and the Missouri River. Kim Faulkenberry, Harlem High School science teacher is also interested in the project. Internship announcements were shared with each of the TCU's in Montana near the Missouri River watershed. Obj 8This Objective will be addressed later in the project cycle. Obj 9Members of the project team have presented the project at the FALCON conference and also at the Upper Missouri River Basin Drought and Human Health Workshop to initiate some conversation about the project among potential TCU partners. We have also had informal conversations with a few sister TCUs.

Publications