Pesticides and Toxics: Pacific Southwest Tribes regulate pesticides on over 22 million acres

Tribal Program Quick Finder
Tribal Home Tools & Training Resources & Links	Tribal News Archive Clean Water Act Safe Drinking Water Act	Torres Martinez Solid Waste Collaborative Tribal Area Maps Visiting the Region 9 Main Office

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

Farm workers on the Navajo Nation

Many tribes took action to protect their lands and people from exposure to pesticides and radon, including:

The Navajo Nation EPA worked with the USDA and U.S. EPA to remove hazardous fumigants and "M-44" Sodium Cyanide capsules from improper storage on Navajo land.
The Hopi Environmental Protection Office held a series of workshops on integrated pest management. With EPA's assistance, the Hopi agency also began identifying former livestock dip vat sites, where pesticides have contaminated the soil, and prioritizing them for cleanup.
Big Valley Rancheria, on Clear Lake in Northern California, worked on pesticide drift issues, since many tribe members swim or collect tule reeds at the lakeshore near crop fields that have been sprayed. The tribe compiled pesticide use reports from the Lake County Agricultural Commissioner on the types and quantities of pesticides used near the tribe'land. The tribe also developed a plan to test for pesticides drifting from crops, and reviewed documents on groundwater and wells for evidence of pesticide residues.
The Pala Band of Mission Indians completed an Integrated Pest Management Assessment of their land.
In conjunction with the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, the Hopi Indian Radon Program held training sessions about the risk of lung cancer from naturally-occurring radon gas rising from the soil into buildings. The Hopi Program also installed radon mitigation measures at two homes and two schools, lowering their radon gas levels to within EPA standards.

Plan for 2004: Pesticides and toxics regulation

EPA will work with 13 tribal pesticide programs in the Pacific Southwest to regulate roughly 22 million acres of tribal land.
EPA will assist six tribal communities in testing blood lead levels of 539 children.