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EPA Funds White Mountain Apache Projects

Release Date: 10/11/2002
Contact Information: Wendy Chavez, Press Office, 415/947-4248

     SAN FRANCISCO   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded a $200,000 grant to the White Mountain Apache Tribe to monitor creeks and streams that have potentially been compromised by the Rodeo-Chediski Wildfire that burned over 200,000 acres on the White Mountain Apache Reservation this summer

     The Rodeo fire, which began June 18, combined with a second blaze, the Chediski fire on June 20 and burned for 20 days.  The Rodeo-Chediski fire was the largest fire in the state's recorded history.

     "Funding for tribal programs is a high priority for the EPA and we have a responsibility to help the White Mountain Apache Tribe protect its natural resources," said Clancy Tenley, the director for the EPA's Indian Program for the Pacific Southwest region.  "This action is part of a larger EPA effort over the past several years to help tribes throughout the arid Southwest protect their land, air, and water."

     The EPA funding will go to the tribe's Clean Water Act program for the following activities:

          Build a stream monitoring station on Canyon Creek

          Provide technical support to study the possible effects of ash-laden debris settling into the Cibecue Creek bottom;

          Monitor water quality of local streams and other water bodies.

     As a result of the fire and lost vegetation, there is the potential for flooding, upland erosion, stream sedimentation, airborne dust from bare slopes, and potential damage to community water and wastewater systems.

     The Rodeo-Chediski wildfire burned over 460,000 acres in Navajo, Gila and Coconino Counties, and the White Mountain Apache Reservation.

     EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman has asked Congress to increase funding for tribal environmental programs by $5 million in the upcoming fiscal year.