User:Tac20/Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians

Tribal Environmental Sustainability
The Sault Tribe have finished a number of sustainability projects, with many still ongoing, to reduce the tribe's own environmental impact and the impact of others that threaten tribal land. In 2005 the tribe underwent a wind feasibility study of several tribally owned sites, conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy. The energy generated would have gone to multiple economic, government, and residential buildings. However, the U.S. Department of Energy ruled that none of the sites would provide sufficient wind power and the initiative was ceased. In order to reduce their current impact and understand the feasibility of future sustainable energy projects the Sault Tribe underwent energy audits also done by the U.S. Department of Energy, of all of tribally owned government buildings, as well as some of the tribe's low-income residential housing. The first of several grants being awarded by the D.O.E in 2010. These audits would help the Sault Tribe understand the capabilities of their buildings to be powered by renewable energy sources, as well as to evaluate the building's current energy inefficiencies. Initiatives in energy are not the tribes only priority, as programs for recycling, waste management, invasive species control, outdoor cleanups, air and water quality monitoring, habitat reconstruction, and native species reintroduction continue to be done by the tribe. The tribe also seeks to improve the land within their community by surveying and monitoring it through their Brownfields Program started in 2019. The program seeks to renew unused land and to detect hazardous chemicals that may be present. For their many achievements in sustainability the Obama Administration awarded the tribe first place in the Climate Action Champions Competition, allowing the tribe greater access to extra funding and government advisors.