Tuesday, July 1, 2025

A federal audit has found that the Environmental Protection Agency did not distribute millions of dollars on time to clean water programs for tribes. As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel reports, this comes as tens of thousands of tribal homes lack indoor plumbing and clean drinking water. The agency’s own inspector general examined more than $300 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that was supposed to go to tribal water programs over two years.  In the 2022 fiscal year, more than half of the funds allocated had not been awarded on time. And in 2023, most of the remaining water project funds did not get distributed. The audit cited that the Indian Health Service estimates about 41,000 tribal homes lack indoor plumbing – and thousands lack access to safe drinking water. Marcus Gullet is with the inspector general’s office. “So these funds are really tailored to addressing those problems. Funds for designing and constructing wastewater treatment facilities, improving drinking water systems, and addressing emerging contaminants.” The EPA acknowledged in a final report that it made mistakes in most cases and said it would work to fix them. It agreed to focus on improving the timeliness of providing funds to tribes.  Evacuation map for Klagetoh Pump Station Area/Transwestern Pipeline Road in Arizona. (Courtesy Navajo Department of Emergency Management / Facebook) Navajo Nation leaders are urging residents near the Oak Ridge Fire to remain vigilant and follow emergency protocols and evacuation alerts. The fire is burning on the reservation near St. Michaels, Ariz. Residents in at least three communities were evacuated on Sunday. As of Tuesday morning, the fire was at more than 9,000 acres with zero containment. Edith Nageak draws a bird at a sketching workshop during the Migratory Bird Festival in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, in June 2025. (Courtesy Migratory Bird Festival) More than 150 people recently gathered in America’s northernmost community for the Migratory Bird Festival, where they observed, sketched, and learned about dozens of species. Alaska Desk reporter Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more on the festival, and on the rapid growth of birding tourism in Alaska. A little brown bird walks and chirps along the still partially frozen Utqiagvik lagoon. It’s a semipalmated sandpiper — one of about sixty species that locals and visitors spotted during the Migratory Bird Festival. Lindsay Hermanns is the festival coordinator. She says avid birders often travel to the Arctic to see rare species who fly here from all corners of the world. But sometimes it’s even more exciting to see familiar birds in their breeding grounds, where they wear totally different plumage. “It’s like a glow up. They look totally different. They’re flying around, they’re doing their mating displays and exhibiting this behavior that you only see in the Arctic.” Attendees rode around in school buses for several hours, spotting different birds and talking about Inupiaq culture, Utqiagvik history, and the Arctic environment. Hermanns says that the main goal of the free three-day festival was to show how important the Arctic ecosystem is for the birds, but the highlight for her was what the participants brought to the table. The Migratory Bird Festival attendees rode around Utqiaġvik, Alaska in school buses for several hours, spotting more than 60 different species. (Courtesy Migratory Bird Festival) Several elders came to the talks and commented on what birds they harvest, how they do it traditionally, and what they call those species in Inupiaq language. “That was a major component of success, in my mind – having the elders be involved like that.” Local knowledge holders and Inupiaq speakers also participated in creating a new Utqiagvik Birding Trail, a brochure that spotlights 10 sites throughout town where you can see birds in breeding plumage. As the Arctic warms, forests shrink and hurricanes intensify, she says migrating to the Arctic becomes more difficult. Lauren Cusimano is with Audubon Alaska. “Utiqgvik becomes even more important for shorebird species, because once they get there, you know, they can do their thing and breed and be hopefully observed by us as birders and conservationists, without much disturbance.” Hermanns says she hopes more Arctic residents will get involved in organizing the event in the future.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.