This agreement provides funding under the infrastructure investment and jobs act (IIJA) (PL 117-58) to fond DU LAC reservation

This Project Grant award of $219,042.00 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 under the Non-State Member Support for the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan program (CFDA 66.487) provides funding to the Fond du Lac Reservation to support the implementation of its Nutrient Reduction Strategy. The key products and services to be delivered include:

1. Conducting ongoing nutrient monitoring and assessments for reservation waters to establish numeric nutrient criteria for wild rice waters.
2. Developing a Tribal Agriculture Water Quality Certification Program to promote responsible farming practices and food sovereignty.

The award will partially fund the personnel costs of three FTEs in the Fond du Lac Environmental Program to accomplish these project tasks. The grant period runs from January 15, 2024 through September 30, 2028. No sub-awards are included in this assistance agreement.

Specifically, the purpose of this agreement is to support and advance the gulf hypoxia action plan through implementation of fond DU LAC's nutrient reduction strategy. Our objectives under this gulf hypoxia program (GHP) implementation grant are to support our ongoing work to protect the aquatic resources of the fond DU LAC reservation through our delegated authorities under 303(c), 106 and 319 of the clean water act (CWA). These overarching tribal water program objectives intersect the GHP specifically regarding actions and initiatives that monitor and maintain healthy concentrations of nutrients in our reservation aquatic resources, some of which LIE in the ultimate headwaters of the mississippi river/atchafalaya river basin (marb). The GHP grant funding will go in part to support high-priority and ongoing objectives, such as lake and stream nutrient sample collection and analysis, the development of numeric nutrient criteria for wild rice waters, and the establishment of a tribal agriculture water quality certification program. These project tasks will be accomplished through partial personnel costs of three FTE in the FDL environmental program: the water projects coordinator, the watershed specialist, and the water resources specialist. Activities:- continue to conduct nutrient monitoring and assessments for reservation waters - establish and propose numeric nutrient criteria for reservation wild rice waters - establish a tribal agricultural water quality certification program for reservation producers subrecipient:no subawards are included in this assistance agreement.outcomes:the anticipated deliverables include: - QA/QC'd monitoring data - experimental data and field research on numeric criteria as a way to protect wild rice - increase emphasis on building food sovereignty through responsible farming practices. The expected outcomes include: - increasing CWA 106 water quality monitoring budget for certified laboratory analytical costs for nutrients (total kjeldahl nitrogen, nitrate/nitrite, ammonia n, total phosphorus, ortho phosphorus) in water samples collected from reservation lakes and streams. - to collaborate with a plant physiologist at the university of minnesota duluth to establish numeric nutrient criteria that are protective of FDL's wild rice beneficial use class of waters. - establish a tribal agriculture water quality certification program and engage with the gitigaanig farm as their demonstration project. - the minnesota department of agriculture's tribal liaison has a minnesota agricultural water quality certification program (mawqcp) and the development of a tribal certification program will be modeled after the state program. The intended beneficiaries include: - fond DU LAC band resident's