Gay Head Lighthouse and Aquinnah Cliffs, Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
New England Tribal Engagement Active
By New England Water Science Center
December 15, 2023
The USGS New England Water Science Center (WSC) is proud to provide science support to Tribal Nations as part of our Federal Trust Responsibility to honor the government-to-government relationships that the United States has with 574 Federally-recognized Tribes.
Tribal Nations have ancestral ties with the environment. Natural resources are inextricably connected to sustenance, traditional practices, and cultural identity. The WSC strives to work together with Tribal partners to identify and address each Nation’s science needs, priorities, and resilience issues and to offer science support and training.
Projects
The WSC endeavors to conduct research in cooperation with Tribal Nations. Currently, a project with the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the USGS Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center is integrating a watershed model with Indigenous Knowledge (IK) to understand the response of culturally-important wetland plants in the face of climate change. The collaboration also provides capacity-building opportunities for Wabanaki students and is an example of participatory science with the Maliseet government. Tribal Data Sovereignty is honored in this project, keeping culturally-important or sensitive information classified.
Monitoring Gages
In cooperation with Tribal Nations, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), or the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the WSC currently maintains three monitoring locations on or near Tribal lands, including:
- Libby Brook in Northfield, Maine maintained with the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township (seasonal streamflow)
- Meduxnekeag River in Houlton, Maine operated in cooperation with the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians (streamflow)
- Popponesset Bay in Mashpee, Massachusetts, associated with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (tidal and meteorological)
Programs, Outreach and Training
The WSC has developed an internal website for Tribal members to access seminar recordings and other USGS resources and has offered seven advanced water-quality seminars and a training on field methods and data management. In 2022, USGS staff collaborated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a Clean Water Act Training for northeastern Tribes in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
The WSC engages in outreach activities with Tribal partners, participating in local projects and youth camps such as the Mashpee-Wampanoag Tribe’s Native Youth in Science, Preserve Our Homeland (NYSPOH) summer camp. One of the longest-running Native youth summer camps in the country, NYSPOH is also one of the first camps to pair USGS science alongside Tribal language and story keepers. The WSC has also attended the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians’ Skitkomiq Summer Camp in Maine. Moreover, the WSC builds upon existing work where Tribal Nations live. For example, Falmouth and Mashpee high school students support ongoing collaborative USGS projects with the Mashpee Wampanoag Natural Resources Department.
Additionally, the WSC participated in the USGS’s pilot year with the Native American Research Assistantship Program (NARA). The NARA program was developed by The Wildlife Society to facilitate assistantships for undergraduate and graduate students from Tribal Nations interested in becoming wildlife managers, scientists, or policy makers. The Tribal students work on USGS and U.S. Forest Service research programs. In the summer of 2023, a student from the Pawnee Nation in Oklahoma worked alongside USGS staff in New England and New York as part of the “Tribal Data-Network Infrastructure Plan – Transfer of U.S. Geological Technology to Tribal Nations” project.
Hydrologist Jason Sorenson began as a Tribal coordinator for the WSC in 2021. He has served the as the USGS Northeast Region Tribal Liaison since 2022.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
The Impact of Climate Change on Culturally Significant Wetland Plants and Their Habitat in the Meduxnekeag River Watershed in Maine
Wetland plants are important to Wabanaki people in Maine and are central to Houlton Band of Maliseet Indian (HBMI) identity. HBMI peoples have harvested culturally important plants within the Meduxnekeag watershed for generations. Basket making and medicinal plant harvesting are forms of cultural preservation that are also important to Tribal economies. Projections for climate change in the no
Assessment of Nutrient Transport and Discharge to Coastal Embayments, Wickford, Rhode Island
In 2020 the USGS began a partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1 Southeast New England Program for Coastal Watershed Restoration (SNEP) and EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD), Atlantic Coastal Sciences Division, Narragansett, RI in support of water-quality and ecological monitoring being conducted by ORD in the coastal waters around Wickford, RI. The USGS...
Gay Head Lighthouse, Aquinnah, Massachusetts
Gay Head Lighthouse and Aquinnah Cliffs, Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Piscatiquis River at Medford, Maine
A photograph taken near USGS 01034000 Piscataquis River at Medford, Maine on June 6, 2022 when the river was experiencing below average flow conditions as a result of a continued drought.
A photograph taken near USGS 01034000 Piscataquis River at Medford, Maine on June 6, 2022 when the river was experiencing below average flow conditions as a result of a continued drought.
Gay Head Lighthouse
The Gay Head Lighthouse sits atop the coastal cliffs in Aquinnah, Massachusetts - a town located on the western tip of Martha's Vineyard.
The Gay Head Lighthouse sits atop the coastal cliffs in Aquinnah, Massachusetts - a town located on the western tip of Martha's Vineyard.
The USGS New England Water Science Center (WSC) is proud to provide science support to Tribal Nations as part of our Federal Trust Responsibility to honor the government-to-government relationships that the United States has with 574 Federally-recognized Tribes.
Tribal Nations have ancestral ties with the environment. Natural resources are inextricably connected to sustenance, traditional practices, and cultural identity. The WSC strives to work together with Tribal partners to identify and address each Nation’s science needs, priorities, and resilience issues and to offer science support and training.
Projects
The WSC endeavors to conduct research in cooperation with Tribal Nations. Currently, a project with the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the USGS Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center is integrating a watershed model with Indigenous Knowledge (IK) to understand the response of culturally-important wetland plants in the face of climate change. The collaboration also provides capacity-building opportunities for Wabanaki students and is an example of participatory science with the Maliseet government. Tribal Data Sovereignty is honored in this project, keeping culturally-important or sensitive information classified.
Monitoring Gages
In cooperation with Tribal Nations, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), or the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the WSC currently maintains three monitoring locations on or near Tribal lands, including:
- Libby Brook in Northfield, Maine maintained with the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township (seasonal streamflow)
- Meduxnekeag River in Houlton, Maine operated in cooperation with the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians (streamflow)
- Popponesset Bay in Mashpee, Massachusetts, associated with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (tidal and meteorological)
Programs, Outreach and Training
The WSC has developed an internal website for Tribal members to access seminar recordings and other USGS resources and has offered seven advanced water-quality seminars and a training on field methods and data management. In 2022, USGS staff collaborated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a Clean Water Act Training for northeastern Tribes in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
The WSC engages in outreach activities with Tribal partners, participating in local projects and youth camps such as the Mashpee-Wampanoag Tribe’s Native Youth in Science, Preserve Our Homeland (NYSPOH) summer camp. One of the longest-running Native youth summer camps in the country, NYSPOH is also one of the first camps to pair USGS science alongside Tribal language and story keepers. The WSC has also attended the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians’ Skitkomiq Summer Camp in Maine. Moreover, the WSC builds upon existing work where Tribal Nations live. For example, Falmouth and Mashpee high school students support ongoing collaborative USGS projects with the Mashpee Wampanoag Natural Resources Department.
Additionally, the WSC participated in the USGS’s pilot year with the Native American Research Assistantship Program (NARA). The NARA program was developed by The Wildlife Society to facilitate assistantships for undergraduate and graduate students from Tribal Nations interested in becoming wildlife managers, scientists, or policy makers. The Tribal students work on USGS and U.S. Forest Service research programs. In the summer of 2023, a student from the Pawnee Nation in Oklahoma worked alongside USGS staff in New England and New York as part of the “Tribal Data-Network Infrastructure Plan – Transfer of U.S. Geological Technology to Tribal Nations” project.
Hydrologist Jason Sorenson began as a Tribal coordinator for the WSC in 2021. He has served the as the USGS Northeast Region Tribal Liaison since 2022.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
The Impact of Climate Change on Culturally Significant Wetland Plants and Their Habitat in the Meduxnekeag River Watershed in Maine
Wetland plants are important to Wabanaki people in Maine and are central to Houlton Band of Maliseet Indian (HBMI) identity. HBMI peoples have harvested culturally important plants within the Meduxnekeag watershed for generations. Basket making and medicinal plant harvesting are forms of cultural preservation that are also important to Tribal economies. Projections for climate change in the no
Assessment of Nutrient Transport and Discharge to Coastal Embayments, Wickford, Rhode Island
In 2020 the USGS began a partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1 Southeast New England Program for Coastal Watershed Restoration (SNEP) and EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD), Atlantic Coastal Sciences Division, Narragansett, RI in support of water-quality and ecological monitoring being conducted by ORD in the coastal waters around Wickford, RI. The USGS...
Gay Head Lighthouse, Aquinnah, Massachusetts
Gay Head Lighthouse and Aquinnah Cliffs, Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Gay Head Lighthouse and Aquinnah Cliffs, Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Piscatiquis River at Medford, Maine
A photograph taken near USGS 01034000 Piscataquis River at Medford, Maine on June 6, 2022 when the river was experiencing below average flow conditions as a result of a continued drought.
A photograph taken near USGS 01034000 Piscataquis River at Medford, Maine on June 6, 2022 when the river was experiencing below average flow conditions as a result of a continued drought.
Gay Head Lighthouse
The Gay Head Lighthouse sits atop the coastal cliffs in Aquinnah, Massachusetts - a town located on the western tip of Martha's Vineyard.
The Gay Head Lighthouse sits atop the coastal cliffs in Aquinnah, Massachusetts - a town located on the western tip of Martha's Vineyard.