Focus on relationship
with Native American tribes
helps projects get planned
and improvements completed faster

More extensive collaboration between ITD Environmental staff (at Headquarters as well as the districts) and the state’s Native American tribes is paying significant dividends by creating timely transportation projects that serve the communities where the tribes reside, as well as the regions overall.

“When interacting with the tribes throughout Idaho, relationships go a long way toward getting something accomplished,” Environmental Services Manager Wendy Terlizzi said.

To that end, the Environmental section has set up bi-annual meetings with the tribal environmental groups of the Nez Perce and Shoshone Bannock tribes.

“Tribal traditional homelands often extend throughout multiple ITD districts, making consultation with several tribes on the same project standard practice,” explained ITD Environmental Archeologist Marc Munch.

The meetings provide a platform for the groups to discuss upcoming projects and other items of concern.

Terlizzi said that developing those relationships with the tribes is already showing benefits, most recently when cultural approvals were needed for emergency repairs. The Nez Perce Tribe responded immediately and provided continual consultation, which resulted in expedited cultural resource clearance for these emergency roadway projects.

“As a result of project-level consultation and bi-annual meetings, review times by Tribes of cultural resources related documents have greatly improved,” Munch said. In addition, Munch said, response times for emergency relief requests around the state from floods or slides has also improved markedly.

Similar meetings are being established for the other Native American groups in Idaho, such as the Kootenai and Coeur d’Alene tribes in north Idaho, the Fort Hall tribe in southeast Idaho, and the tribe in Duck Valley in the south-central part of the state. Federal law requires consultation with Native American Tribes as a result of various environmental laws and regulations. ITD is taking it a step further, not just satisfying the minimum requirements of the law but going beyond in order to truly incorporate tribal needs into the planning.

In the last 10 years, ITD Environmental staff has made a concerted effort to consult with the various Native American Tribes in Idaho on both a project-by-project basis and on a regular check-in basis. The meetings have since been expanded to include the Local Technical Assistance Council and all ITD District Environmental staff.

Currently, Munch explained, District 1 is working with the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho to resolve Adverse Effects to four archaeological sites near McArthur Lake on US-95, the result of roadway realignment and bridge replacement.

 

Published 08-14-20