U.S. EPA's Air Quality System (AQS) database is a computer-based information data management system for handling the storage and retrieval of information pertaining to ambient air pollutants and related meteorological data. This refresher will provide information on how to access the database, establish a site and monitor, load and retrieve and correct data in AQS.

If you are not aware of QREST, it stands for Quality Review and Exchange System for Tribes and it is a data management tool that helps Tribes automatically retrieve data from their logger, stores it in the cloud for data quality review, and can be used to submit data to EPA’s AirNow and AQS database. Come learn the basics of dataloggers and how to connect to QREST. We will also demonstrate how to program a Campbell Scientific logger and establish communication between your modem/router to the outside world.

Understanding Indoor Air Quality is critical to creating and maintaining a healthy home. Based on the building blocks of healthy housing, we will explore indoor air from the “house as a system” framework, utilizing an integrated approach to assess the sources, characteristics and interactions of indoor air hazards. Topics will include the key principles of healthy housing, such as keeping the home dry, ventilated, clean, and contaminant free. Participants will also acquire a basic proficiency with selecting and utilizing indoor air diagnostic tools and equipment.

This presentation gives an overview of the EPA side of the Tribal Air program. It is designed for new tribes beginning to work on air quality issues and new staff members in the tribes that have traditionally worked on air quality. It will go over the areas of responsibilities and interest of EPA offices in OAR and the regions and introduce some of the newer faces within the EPA organization.

The STACC Report seeks to honor the voices of Indigenous peoples across the U.S. to increase understanding of Tribal lifeways, cultures, and worldviews, the climate change impacts Tribes are experiencing, the solutions they are implementing, and ways that all of us can support Tribes in adapting to our changing world. The report was convened by ITEP's Tribes and Climate Change Program and written by the STACC Working Group. For this session, ITEP staff will provide an overview of the report and provide specific content, including Tribal narratives, from the Air chapter. In addition, staff will discuss plans for future reports and would welcome ideas for future content and contributors.

For many tribal communities, exposure to smoke from wildland fires, prescribed burning, and agricultural burning is an ongoing challenge that can be expected to continue and potentially worsen in coming years due to climate change. Fortunately, Tribes, agencies, and other community partners have developed and deployed a range of programs and tools to prepare communities for these smoke situations. Join this session to learn about Smoke Ready tools and activities that you can tailor and share in your community. Social media resources, smoke ready toolkits, and community outreach campaigns will be shared, and participants are encouraged to bring and share their ideas and experiences with smoke preparedness.

Indoor air pollutants can sometimes be addressed through source control, but many, such as woodsmoke or wildfire smoke, require technologies to filter and capture pollutants, such as MERV and HEPA filtration, UV-C and many others. In this session we will review the range of current, evidence-based technologies available for the home environment, discussing their efficacy, cost, user considerations and maintenance factors.

The Nez Perce Tribe (NPT) Air Quality Program has a robust partnership with nine public libraries on the Nez Perce Reservation. Our partnership started in 2012 with AQ staff and ITEP interns participating in a few of the libraries annual Summer Reading Program. In 2021, we expanded our collaboration to promote Smoke Ready Communities and each library received a PurpleAir sensor and an AQI flag kit. In addition to hosting a PM2.5 sensors for the tech-savvy, library staff took on flying the AQI flags outside for everyone in the community. Libraries purchased supplies, built, and displayed DIY Box Fan Filters to improve their buildings’ indoor air and demonstrate a proactive step residents could take to protect themselves from wildfire smoke. Additionally, our ITEP summer intern developed a science activity, instructional video, and assembled 140 DIY kits for youth library patrons. Most recently, two libraries are piloting a Moisture Meter Loan Program for firewood users. We will also share our evaluation of sensor performance comparing library data with our NPT Ambient Network PM2.5 sensors (BAM 1022s and EBAMs). Our librarians have become AQ ambassadors. It’s a win- win partnership, one you can adapt and implement on your reservation.

By displaying a color-coded flag every day, the Air Quality Flag Program helps communities better understand their local air quality, what to do when the air is polluted, and protect public health- especially that of the most sensitive populations (children, people with lung and heart conditions like asthma, and older adults). Learn more about the fun picture books, educational outreach materials and easy lesson plans you can share in your community!

In many areas affected by wildfire smoke, air monitoring data may be limited. To increase the amount of data available to understand air quality impacts during wildfire smoke episodes, EPA’s Office of Research and Development initiated the Wildfire Smoke Air monitoring Response Technology (WSMART) Pilot in 2021. The program accelerates moving technologies from research to field use to assess smoke impacts, loaning non-regulatory air monitoring technologies to requesting state, local, and tribal air organizations and to Air Resource Advisors with the Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program. The air monitoring systems include two stationary air sensor devices and a Vehicle Add-on Mobile Monitoring System (VAMMS). This presentation will describe the technologies and field activities of WSMART over 2021-2022.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership with the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP), the National Park Service (NPS), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), propose a session on persistent environmental contaminants to inform tribes on tools available to monitor and assess atmospheric mercury and health risks for wildlife and people and to update tribes on progress in measuring PFAS in wet deposition. We propose a 90-minute session featuring four talks followed by questions and discussion:

1. An introduction to mercury monitoring under the National Atmospheric Deposition Program: lessons from a continental-scale monitoring network

David Schmeltz, U.S. EPA, Office of Atmospheric Programs, Washington D.C. David Gay, NADP, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin

2. Flying high with the dragonfly mercury project as it reaches new communities through partnerships

Colleen Flanagan Pritz NPS, Air Resources Division, Denver, Colorado Collin Eagles-Smith, USGS, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Corvallis, Oregon

3. An analysis of mercury data collected on tribal lands of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Wisconsin

Doug Burns, USGS, New York Water Science Center, Albany, NY

4. Initial assessment of a pilot program for measuring Per and Poly-fluorinated Substances (PFAS) in wet deposition in the eastern United States.

John H. Offenberg, U.S.EPA, Office of Research and Development, Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling, Durham, North Carolina

The Ute Indian Tribe Air Monitoring team will give some insight on how they maintain and operate their four regulatory air stations on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation.

Since the COVID pandemic began, we have heard much from the scientific community about viral particles and their fate and transport in enclosed spaces. We've also heard about indoor risk reduction strategies, from masking to air filtration and improved ventilation. But new research about COVID and 'capturing' or 'killing' the viral particles seems to be in the press weekly. Misinformation abounds, sometimes from manufacturers of unproven technologies. In this session, a building science professional will also help us separate fact from fiction and recognize the false claims about ventilation and filtration technologies.

Grants are the first step of the relationship between EPA and Tribes in many cases. This panel presentation will cover the changing relationship of key tribal air grants options and how they relate to each other. This is increasingly important as recent changes have been made to grants oversight hat potentially benefit tribal air programs.

Many tribal communities are exposed to smoke from wildfires, both wildland and controlled burns, for days, weeks, or even months in a given year. With that smoke comes the potential for high concentrations of fine particles (PM2.5) and other pollutants that may cause adverse health risks. A common recommendation during smoke episode is to stay indoors to reduce smoke exposure. However, smoke can infiltrate indoors and may not be effectively removed by the building heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Additionally, building characteristics and occupant behavior can translate to indoor air quality conditions is not well understood. To better understand how these building-related factors impact indoor air quality during a wildfire smoke episode the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is partnering with the Hoopa Valley Tribe which experiences air quality impacts on an annual basis due to wildfire smoke as well as residential woodburning stoves.

A summary of updates in the current release of AirVision and AV-Trend software, updates on connectivity to Small Sensors, as well as Q&A session for users. Please take advantage of this opportunity to allow us to partner with you on your ambient data monitoring needs.

On December 13, 2021, USEPA announced the availability of $20 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding through competitive grants to enhance ambient air quality monitoring in and near underserved communities and to promote partnerships between communities and tribal, state, and local governments. We will award these grants this Fall. USEPA is committed to helping these communities share and use data collected under ARP Grants. This presentation will outline USEPA principles to facilitate respectful data sharing, promote data trust, and respectful use of the data from these grants to empower communities to improve their air quality.

The Burn Wise Program goals are to educate homeowners on potential health effects of wood smoke, how to properly use wood burning appliances and promote and support upgrades to cleaner technologies. This presentation will provide an overview of free educational materials available to Tribes, highlight new videos available & share examples of Tribal communities that have used Burn Wise materials. We will also demonstrate how to access and use the EPA’s new Residential Wood Smoke Resource Library - an online platform that facilitates information sharing across EPA and state, local and tribal programs to assist in reducing residential wood smoke.

This presentation will focus on using Low-Cost Air Pollution Monitors to Supplement Traditional IAQ-Best Practices in Tribal Communities. Traditional strategies for improving IAQ focuses on integration of source control, ventilation, and supplemental air cleaning/filtration. However, advances in IAQ-related science and increases in the availability of lower-cost tools like low-cost air pollutant monitors may provide methods to assess indoor air as a complement to these best practices and ways to determine appropriate actions to improve their IAQ. Session attendees are asked to engage in providing input and feedback on training that will make it most helpful to their communities.

Moms Clean Air Force will present information from the Indigenous People and Air Pollution in the United States factsheet and other public health resources. We will provide space in small groups for participants to talk about how they share information about health impacts with Tribal members. We will collect the participants' best practices and ideas for engaging more members in these important discussions and decision-making around air quality issues.

This study in cooperation with the Forest County Potawatomi Community, investigated the effects of ozone exposure on 12 herbaceous species commonly found throughout the Great Lakes region. Ozone concentrations were controlled to test W126 values of (7), (10), and (15). Photosynthesis and plant biomass were compared between the ozone treatments and their respective ambient controls. Our results show that photosynthesis was not negatively impacted by any of the ozone treatments. Only in the W126 (15) treatment was a negative impact to aboveground biomass detected. Our results corroborate that current ozone standards should not cause significant harm to the plants included in this study.

TAMS Center Services and Technical Needs Assessment

Technical support services on air monitoring, emissions inventories, and other assessment projects are available through the Tribal Air Monitoring Support (TAMS) Center. This session provides information on those services. Also the results of the 2021 TAMS Technical Needs Assessment will be shared.

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Air Quality Program has had instrument upgrades and added sensors to our inventory, as well as re-located the portable ozone system. We would like to share how changes were carried out, how the new devices or locations added to our data collection resources and affected the overall program. (We also may include strategies for using a screening tool for the Radiological TSP [rad] Monitoring Program using Open Refine. This technique is projected to cut down expensive rad analyses that had been performed in the past.) We also obtained an EJ Grant and would like to share the initial implementation of the AQ plans under that proposal.

Heritage University (HU) Students will present on their work implementing the Air Quality project curriculum that was developed by the EPA and Tribal Partners. Although a QAPP is not required for educational and informational outreach projects in schools, the grant requirements of tribal organizations may require a QAPP for all environmental data collection. In this presentation the Environmental Education Outreach Program and Aleut International Association will present the making of a QAPP which details the start of this type of program.

Chelsea ranks third in Massachusetts as the most intensively overburdened community for potential hazardous exposures due to the high density of environmentally hazardous industrial facilities and sites. In my proposed presentation, I will address how we, at GreenRoots, are implementing projects addressing both indoor and outdoor air quality. Our goal is to better understand what Chelsea residents are exposed to in their homes so that we can advocate for transformative policies to address indoor air quality. Information collected from our outdoor air quality work will guide us as we enforce air pollution laws and regulations in the spirit of accountability.

Atmospheric transport and processing of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) leads to deposition and accumulation of these compounds in soils and waterbodies, but measurements of flux and deposition rates remain sparse and underdeveloped. David Pfotenhauer, Air Monitoring Chemist at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will present the findings of a comprehensive PFAS in rainwater study conducted across Wisconsin in 2020. In summary, 91 precipitation samples were collected from 8 National Trends Network sites across Wisconsin through the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, including the Forest County Potawatomi Community site. The precipitation samples were analyzed for a suite of 34 PFAS compounds to provide measurements of speciated PFAS concentrations and flux values to terrestrial matrices in the Great Lakes Region.

Akwesasne has been affected by PCB's for many years from neighboring Industries. The Tribe has always analyzed air samples for the different Aroclors known to have negative affects. This new study analyzed air samples for all 209 congeners.

Morongo Band of Mission Indians’ Tribal Air Program collects regulatory data for O3 and informational data for PM2.5 and NO2.

This presentation will examine some of Morongo’s hurdles and discuss some of the creative solutions Morongo TAP has put into place over time to ensure their program is meeting EPA monitoring and data validation guidelines and requirements.

A compelling review of wildfire smoke management on Tribal lands in R5 (Midwest) in a responsive presentation coordinated by the Tribes, State of MN, USFS and Tribes performing duties with USFS as ARAs.

Our work analyzes total fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and PM2.5 component concentrations over time between American Indian and non-American Indian populated counties. Between 2000 and 2018, total PM2.5 concentrations decreased less among American Indian populated compared to non-American Indian-populated counties, with significantly higher total PM2.5 concentrations found in American Indian versus non-American Indian populated counties in recent years. We observed differential trends by PM2.5 component. This study highlights disparities in PM2.5 trends between American Indian and non-American Indian populated counties over time, underscoring the need to strengthen air pollution regulations and prevention implementation on tribal lands where American Indians live.

This presentation will discuss sampling projects investigating combustion related soot pollution, using an Aeth Labs MA200 portable multi-channel aethalometer. We will cover the purpose, sampler selection, methods and QAPP, meteorology, and outcomes of the studies.

Volkswagen Settlement Summary Report

Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Tribal Program Overview & FY22 RFA / Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – Clean School Bus Application process

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation updates

This will be an interactive session led by Bill Auberle and Laura McKelvey to present the Tribal Professional Development Plan 2023. Participants will be asked to provide feedback on Tribal Needs, Training Priorities and other insight on support Tribal Professional Development

The severity, frequency, and geographic impact of wildland fires and smoke are increasing rapidly due to climate change. One tool for mitigation of uncontrolled, intense wildland land fire is controlled, or prescribed burning. Historically, many indigenous communities used prescribed fire to manage the health of forests and other tribal lands. Join this session to learn the latest research on the impacts of prescribed fire versus wildland fire and remaining data gaps, to learn and share historical knowledge and experiences of prescribed and cultural burning, and to join a discussion of the complex challenge of preventing devastating wildland fires while also working to protect air quality and public health.

EPA Mobile Source Regulatory Update

Q/A for the Office of Transportation and Air Quality

Will utilize a panel comprised of regulators from US EPA, BLM, EDF, and Navajo Nation EPA to discuss federal and tribal methane regulations.

Calling all weather and gadget geeks! Presenter(s) will take you on a photographic and educational odyssey of our meteorological instrumentation checks, calibrations, and services. Join us to swap stories and compare notes on all things meteorological.

This joint presentation by EPA Indoor Environments Division (IED), EPA Regions, and tribal staff will focus on effective approaches and new resources to assist tribes in radon reduction efforts. Attendees will learn about a recent waiver for tribal cost-sharing within EPA’s radon grant program, new tribal radon resources, and successful tribal radon efforts currently underway.

Thermo Scientific's TEOM 1405 is a Federal Equivalent Method for monitoring ambient PM10 concentrations. The Gila River Indian Community's Air Quality Program has been using three of these instruments to monitor for PM10 across the reservation since 2013. In 2020, the Air Program staff discovered two historically acceptable methods of collecting the data from the instrument yielded significantly different 24-hour average concentrations. This presentation will present the results of our analysis.

This session is an opportunity for tribes to come together and begin discussion amongst themselves on the issues that have possible effects or outcomes that may affect tribal governance and self-determination. Tribal staff will have an opportunity to hear from Tribal Leadership regarding Tribal Sovereignty and also hear from Tribal program staff who are addressing issues with relevance to tribal sovereignty concerns.