Shoshone-Bannock Water Quality

Situation
Triangle was hired by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to facilitate a pilot process including EPA, the State of Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of southeast Idaho to build a working relationship for water quality standards development as the Tribes proceed through the application process for “Treatment in the Same Manner as a State” under the Clean Water Act.

Process
Throughout the process, Triangle Associates served as a neutral party, facilitating regular individual and joint check-in conference calls and meetings with EPA and the parties. Meetings were held at Fort Hall, ID, Boise, ID and Seattle, WA.

To gather initial information from each of the parties, Triangle first conducted a “Situation Assessment” and interviewed representatives from each of the parties regarding their specific interests in water quality standards and in working together. Based on the assessment Triangle reccomended a three part approach to the project including 1) informtion sharing/story telling; 2) technical reviews; 3) development of intergovernmental agreement.

To encourage relationship building, information sharing and better communications among the federal, tribal and state parties, the Triangle team worked with the Tribes to organize a field tour to the Fort Hall Bottoms, a sacred area for the Tribes. Leadership from Tribal Business Council and the Tribe’s Water Commission, leadership and staff from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality along with EPA staff and Triangle spent the day touring portions of the reservation, some of which are adjacent to Superfund sites.

Technical representative of the parties then worked together to consider the status of federal, state and draft tribal water quality standards. Triangle worked closely with EPA to develop a new tool for communicating the differences and similarities in Idaho and proposed tribal water quality standards. The parties then worked together to develop an intergovernmental agreement for how the parties will communicate and coordinate with each other to update water quality standards over time.  

Results
Upon completion of the project, Triangle provided a Case Study on the project to EPA describing the processes, objectives and outcomes achieved, and lessons learned. At the end of the last meeting, all parties agreed on the importance of having used a neutral third-party facilitator for this effort. One participant stated that while he had participated in a number of facilitated processes, this was by far the most favorable process because “Triangle Associates had great knowledge of the topic and was able to guide the participants in successful dialogue.”