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CASE STUDY
The Fort Peck Tribes Use Biological Criteria
Tlieir Water Quality Standards*
For. Peck Tribes, used biological
s [o identify degraded
bodies on the reservation. Damage to
. {siudi as erosion and loss of vege-
tation) resulting from heavy Hveseock grazing is
a oamtnOfl cause of degradtUion to reservation
waters. Hie Tribes have obtained federal grants.
to restore the streams,. Integrating biological cri-
teria into their water quality standards program
helps the Tribes -detect problems in reservation
waters that other regulatory approaches cannot
al ways find, POT example, a type of fish may
disappear because erosion has destroyed its
spawning sites, Chectieal criteria would not
identify Ehish but an assessment of the planes
and animals, living in the stream, could
these impacts.
Why use biologfcaf information and
biological criteria?
More than 25 years aflur il was passed, the OCAD
Whtcr Act still chtillengt's us to answer erUidal
t|uu^itons nbuut the phviital, chemical, and biolugi-
.. ,il •;ns is lo observe ihe
pkiiii>; ;md anirnub then live in htxlies ofwEiler, The
tind Lypcs ofai|uaiic planlS iirnl niiininU MI-,-
by
:irul
•:-:IM
'h:ii
Tlit:y
be missed
W:LUT <|LKil5ly
un: 11:111 ;..i vv or nilinerii:
• h;ii cle^fibe iht liiuljjgical i.-inii]iiunii.v
should live in a w:iu:.i'bni1y. Biological tiaia are
the LOit J'oi1 setciiiji pmtectinri -.n- resume! tin f?ti:i3N,
for determining what: io waieb and how 10 uiu.i.'i
iitand wliai is found, for I'miking vvliich pmblain
ureas get worked t:n lirst. jnd for judging ihe effec-
tiveness of management actions.
Biologiotl crilsaia allow a. tribe to set goat for
walerbotJits twsed.
The Trilies.' Office rsfEnvimnmenial Pk-otection introduced llie concept of including iMologjcal
criteria in the Tribes' waEcr quaiily management strategy, Incorpocating biological criteria inlo (heir water
qnality standards completnented the chemical and physical criteria die Tithes had been using.
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* EovlroQiflenHl Iralos used in [hte tas* studj are defined in ihe cfldoSed glossary.
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In 1991, the Tribes began collecting data on macroinvcrtebnttes fcrg,, crayfish, clams, insects} and
fish cmnmunidcji at 16 sites un streams across the reservation. They used this biological coramuni-
iv i^it:i l<> develop jiumeric biological crhcrm for the Iribul sin::-mis ':i:iswl mi ihij Lyp£. of or^anism^.
living there and (heir habile, Using the macroitivetrebmts data, the Office of Environmental
Protection developed a scoring system (die- Biological Condition Rating) to assess a stream.
Successful Application
By using biological information, the Fort Pcuk Tribes Office of Environmental Protecdon identi-
fied and addressed specific environmental problems within the reservation. By using the Biological
Condition Rating system, they have been, able Ei> determine wliat slream segments on die reserva-
tion art mosicfegradedaiid therefore, require immediate attention. TKi-y i"i" -i^' irl'c-rmiLLnn col-
lected through the Biological Condition Rating system in funding requests to federal agencies to
specific problems.
The Tribes have used a S3SO,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the
Environmental Qualily Incentives Program., and a $16£,OQQ giant from me U.S. Enviiotuneniiil
Protection Agency through the Noopoint Souret PfOgtam to build sources of water away from
^tfcambanks, install a pipeline, and establish cross-fencing to improve riparian habitat along the
stream. The biological assessment program is s:niip'in^ ;:iicl analysing aquatic organisms at the
sites where the improvements were, made to see if the Biological Condition Rating is delecting a
change in the euvitonmeEt.
Monitoring chemical and! physical parameters alone may not be enough to document water
[]iiality problems. For example, one station downstream .&om an area where grazing cattle were
eroding strcambanks recunkd chemical daLawitliin normal ranges, However, [he Biological
Condition Rating system showed impacts to aquatic- orgacisoflS, indicating damage to stream habi-
tal. In this type of situation, measuring the hiological commum'Ey is a. muth better tool for identify-
ing problems,
insights to Share with Other Tribes
Fort Peck Tribes believe that biological assessment tools ate especially useful for environmental
management programs with limited staff and resources. For example:
4- Office of Environmcnrdl PruCecMion used one fall-Lime, staff person, plus 10 percent
of a nearby college biologist's tirnek and a summer intern.
4? Start-up and maintenance, costs for equipment for biological assessment were
relatively low,
4- They did all sampling and analysis in-house, eliminating me cost of sending
samples out for analj-sis.
4- Because biological technique detect degraded biological conditions regardless of the
cause, they can be more effective than other approaches at identifying problems caused
by agricultural noupoini sources, which are common on many Indian reservations,
For Further Information Contact
Deb Madison
Office- of Eflvirooment&l Protection
Fort Peck Tribes
PopJar, MT
Phone 406=763-5155
E-mail: twohorses@nemontel,net
www.fbrtpecktribes.org
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