Projects

Abstract

Nearly half of the Indigenous Peoples of the United States lives in 13 western states in proximity of an estimated 161,000 abandoned hardrock mines, with more than 4,000 being abandoned uranium mines. Because of their reliance on natural resources to maintain traditional diets, lifestyles, customs and languages, these tribal communities have direct and frequent contact with metal mixtures from abandoned mine sites, creating exposures through multiple pathways including inhalation, drinking water, and ingestion of foods either directly or indirectly contaminated by migration of the wastes. Exacerbating these exposures are disparities in infrastructure, including services like safe drinking water and solid waste management. Lack of effective solid- waste management resulted historically in burning and open dumping of solid waste, but with the ever- increasing amounts of plastic entering the waste stream, the low-temperature, incomplete combustion of this process, and the environmental degradation through weathering, our tribal partners are increasingly concerned about the emissions of toxic degradation products of plastics into their environment. We have found metals mixtures result in different exposure profiles across our three partnering indigenous communities: Navajo, Apsáalooke, and Cheyenne River Sioux. And while we see commonalities in immune dysfunction across these communities that can contribute to disparities in cancer and other chronic diseases, the metals exposures alone do not account for all of the risk.

Therefore, in this Phase 2 Center we will develop an understanding of the emerging additional plastic degradation contaminant profiles, evaluating constituents and distribution of microplastics and other degradation products, along with emissions from extractive industries that could add to these classes of chemicals, in both stationary and mobile exposure assessments. We will monitor grazing patterns of livestock and their resulting exposures through air and consumption of plants and water, as well as stationary in-home and mobile monitoring on people during their normal activities to evaluate exposure components and pathways contributing the greatest risk with the ultimate goal of developing mitigation strategies at individual and tribal levels to inform decisions and policies to reduce the risks linked to increasing cancer and other chronic disease disparities in these communities. The resulting fine-scale predictive models, ground-truthed through monitoring, and the integration of multiple exposure streams will provide a resource to not only inform policy, but aid clinicians in identifying early risks to develop prevention strategies as well.

Our Group’s Work

Research Project – Evaluating Cumulative Environmental Exposure to Metals and Non-metals and Community-level Health Using Geospatial Modeling and Personal Exposure Assessment (Co-Leads Hoover and Lin)

• This research project will address the challenge of integrating multiple exposure routes for Native communities through modeling combined environmental exposure potential. We will adapt an existing GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis approach that can integrate air, water, and soil pathways previously used by our group. Our modeling framework enables integration of novel soil, water, air, and plant data on microplastics and other chemicals produced by low-temperature trashing combustion. We will (1) develop predictive and validate combined environmental exposure models based on GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis, which considers chemical sources, topography, infrastructure, and land-use practices; (2) ground truth model predictions through measurement of combined exposures for people and cultural resources (such as livestock and plants) using silicone wristbands, human biomonitoring, and immunology studies; and (3) collect community-scale health survey data to begin assessing exposure :disease relationships (e.g., cancer, autoimmunity, and cardiovascular disease) in collaboration with RP3. SA1 will generate the first combined environmental exposure spatial products for Apsaálooke (Crow) and Crow and CRST reservation lands and a refined product for Navajo Nation. These spatial products will support environmental health research among Tribal communities and provide policy-makers with critical information to address Tribal health disparities.

Community Engagement and Dissemination Core (Co-Leads Erdei and Hoover)

• The Community Engagement and Dissemination Core (CEDC) leverages established relationships among academic and tribal partners (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Crow and Navajo Nations) in support of tribal environmental health equity. The CEDC expands sustainable, culturally-informed practices to enhance EH literacy, increase tribal EH research capacity, foster community engagement in EH research, and implement multi-directional translational strategies for disseminating the Center’s research. To enhance EH literacy, foster engagement in research projects and build tribal EH research capacity, the CEDC will conduct regular location-specific EH symposia and an ongoing webinar series covering such topics as incorporating traditional ecologic knowledge (TEK) into the research process; environmental, biological and social determinants of health; collection and quality control of environmental and survey data. The CEDC will seek collaboration from the community to 1) refine strategies to support environmental sampling (e.g. identifying locations and frequency of trash burning activities for monitoring micro-plastics and chemical exposures in environmental media), and participant recruitment for surveys, 2) identify and support research liaisons, and 3) identify and support promising pilot project topics and community collaborators.

Key Publications

• Girlamo C, Lin Y, Hoover J, Beene D, Woldeyohannes T, Liu Z, Campen MJ, MacKenzie D, Lewis J. Meteorological data source comparison-a case study in geospatial modeling of potential environmental exposure to abandoned uranium mine sites in the Navajo Nation. Environ Monit Assess. 2023 Jun 12;195(7):834. doi: 10.1007/s10661-023-11283-w. PMID: 37303005; PMCID: PMC10258180.
• Lin Y, Hoover J, Beene D, Erdei E, Liu Z. Environmental risk mapping of potential abandoned uranium mine contamination on the Navajo Nation, USA, using a GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis approach. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2020 Aug;27(24):30542-30557. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-09257-3. Epub 2020 May 28. PMID: 32468361; PMCID: PMC7387200.
• Hoover JH, Erdei E, Begay D, Gonzales M; NBCS Study Team; Jarrett JM, Cheng PY, Lewis J. Exposure to uranium and co-occurring metals among pregnant Navajo women. Environ Res. 2020 Nov;190:109943. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109943. Epub 2020 Jul 17. PMID: 32750552; PMCID: PMC7530024.
• Hoover J, Erdei E, Nash J, Gonzales M. A Review of Metal Exposure Studies Conducted in the Rural Southwestern and Mountain West Region of the United States. Curr Epidemiol Rep. 2019 Mar;6(1):34-49. doi: 10.1007/s40471-019-0182-3. Epub 2019 Feb 12. PMID: 30906686; PMCID: PMC6429957.
• Hoover JH, Coker E, Barney Y, Shuey C, Lewis J. Spatial clustering of metal and metalloid mixtures in unregulated water sources on the Navajo Nation – Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, USA. Sci Total Environ. 2018 Aug 15;633:1667-1678. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.288. Epub 2018 Apr 15. PMID: 29669690; PMCID: PMC6051417.
• Hoover J, Gonzales M, Shuey C, Barney Y, Lewis J. Elevated Arsenic and Uranium Concentrations in Unregulated Water Sources on the Navajo Nation, USA. Expo Health. 2017;9(2):113-124. doi: 10.1007/s12403-016-0226-6. Epub 2016 Aug 23. PMID: 28553666; PMCID: PMC5425493.

Funding

National Institutes of Health – National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities & National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (5P50MD015706)

Partners

• University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
• University of Arizona
• Oklahoma State University
• Montana State University
• Missouri Breaks Research Industries
• Crow Environmental Health Steering Committee

For arid regions across the globe, water is an essential resource for all communities, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike. In the face of drought and desertification, generating and managing water resource solutions becomes increasingly important. The intersecting challenges of climate change and potential environmental contamination from naturally occurring and legacy human activity (such as mining) create a need for sustainable land/water management planning and solutions. These interventions necessitate accessible and available water resource data and community involvement and training. This project will be a collaboration between the University of Arizona Indigenous Resilience Center, Southwest Research Information Center, and local communities in the Eastern Agency area of Navajo Nation. We will 1) collect and compile water information into a comprehensive assessment; 2) train community members to collect groundwater samples and interpret results; and 3) carry out a series of community discussions with residents to discuss water resources information, sustainable land use planning and challenges to water access and affordability. Products from this project will include a water assessment (emphasizing water quality), a summary of comments/ideas generated during community meetings addressing the water assessment and improvements to rangeland management, and a list of co-created climate adaptation recommendations for the community.

Summary

In Tribal and rural areas of Montana and New Mexico open dumping and trash burning is common practice. Human exposures to particulate matter (PM) from incomplete combustion at these trash burning sites, which may contain microplastics and volatile, semi- and non-volatile components, are largely understudied. To address this research gap, an established partnership (5+ years) of researchers from the University of New Mexico (UNM), Little Big Horn College (LBHC), and Montana State University propose to develop a physical process model using AERMOD to better predict PM concentrations at the community scale. Project specific aims include – 1) Establish five co-located meteorological stations and particulate matter sensors in communities on the Crow Nation; and 2) Implement an Air Quality Dispersion Model for particulate matter. To accomplish these aims the study team will deploy a meteorological station in each on the five sites where community trash dumping occurs, sites previously identified by the community partner. Once sited, meteorological data would be collected on an hourly basis for 6-9 months including 1) wind direction; 2) wind speed; 3) air temperature; 4) relative humidity; and 5) rainfall. Particulate matter data will be collected using the PurpleAir PA-II SD air-quality sensor, which measures real-time PM2.5 concentrations. To accomplish Aim 2 the study team will implement an Air Quality Dispersion Modeling – AERMOD-which is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s preferred tool for atmospheric dispersion modeling in both simple and complex terrain. PM data collected for Aim 1 and a mobile PM sensor to collect data at different locations at each site of study during the time/period of active trash combustion will be used for model validation. This project increases collaboration between two state universities (MSU and UNM) for the purpose of addressing environmental health challenges on reservations and rural communities. Partnership with the University of New Mexico enables students to work with spatial modeling experts on issues of critical environmental and human health importance for tribal communities. Anticipated project outcomes include 1) enhanced infrastructure for assessing environmental influences on human health in Crow communities; 2) development and validation of an air pollution process model to identify Crow community areas at greatest PM exposure for future environmental health studies; and 3) enhanced community capacity to address environmental health issues. The framework developed for this project may be applied in partnership with other tribal communities in Montana and New Mexico. The proposed approach may also enable development of a tool well equipped to inform future environmental health research with Indigenous communities.

Relevance

Solid waste disposal is largely unavailable in rural and tribal communities resulting in trash burning for refuse disposal. Human exposures to particulate matter (PM) from incomplete combustion at these types of trash burning sites on tribal lands, which may contain microplastics and volatile, semi- and non-volatile components, is largely understudied. Limited information about these practices and identification of communities at greatest risk for exposure remains a critical barrier for improving Indigenous community health. 

Major Accomplishments

• Girlamo C, Lin Y, Hoover J, Beene D, Woldeyohannes T, Liu Z, Campen MJ, MacKenzie D, Lewis J. Meteorological data source comparison-a case study in geospatial modeling of potential environmental exposure to abandoned uranium mine sites in the Navajo Nation. Environ Monit Assess. 2023 Jun 12;195(7):834. doi: 10.1007/s10661-023-11283-w. PMID: 37303005; PMCID: PMC10258180.

Funding

Funding provided by Institutional Development Awards (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under grant P20GM103474 and P20GM103451.

Abstract

Overall Arid lands are home to one in three people, totaling a population of more than 2 billion spanning the globe. Arid land communities are facing multiple climate change-exacerbated threats impacting health including extreme heat events, wildfires, dust storms, biodiversity loss, emerging pathogens, poor air quality, and drought. The Southwest Center on Resilience for Climate Change and Health (SCORCH) brings together transdisciplinary research groups to conduct team-science projects addressing the health needs of arid lands communities adapting to climate change. The Center’s overarching mission is to improve health equity across the lifespan by enhancing community partnerships and supporting adaptation efforts by Indigenous, Latinx, low-resource urban, and rural communities in the Southwestern United States and globally.

Based at the University of Arizona (UArizona), home of internationally recognized climate science and adaptation researchers and Centers, SCORCH will serve as a foundation for expanding UArizona campus initiatives aiming to increase health research at the intersection of climate change science. The three-year planning phase will be used to identify researchers whose expertise align with climate change and health across UArizona and the region, build transdisciplinary teams, identify priority research areas for community adaptation planning, and implement two research projects to develop our initial Research Focus Group (RFG) themes. Our initial three RFGs build on the expertise of the current SCORCH team members and are purposefully broad to encompass evolving research priorities. These three themes include:

• Health impacts of extreme weather events;
• Forecasting and early warning of climate change health outcomes; and
• Adaptive responses in the built environment.

Through community engaged activities founded on respect and trust, led by the Community Engagement Core, and novel data visualization services, led by the Integrated Data Visualization Core, we will deepen existing and develop new partnerships with academic and community entities with diverse lived experiences and knowledge frameworks. The geographic location of SCORCH in the Southwestern United States provides unique research opportunities to support adaptation and resilience efforts of Indigenous, Latinx, low-resource urban, and rural communities in the region as well as addressing the unique circumstances found in borderland areas. The potential international reach of SCORCH enables high-impact climate change and health initiatives that will translate globally.

Our Group’s Work

Integrated Data Visualization Core (Core Lead – Hoover)

• The Southwest Center on Resilience for Climate change and Health (SCORCH) will bring together transdisciplinary research groups to conduct solutions-oriented team-science projects responsive to the health needs of arid lands communities adapting to climate change. The Integrated Data Visualization Core (IDVC) supports the overall Center mission through the provision of data science, visualization, and management expertise. The IDVC structure is organized around three services providing 1) data management, sharing, and analyses support, congruent with scientific data management and stewardship best practices; 2) data visualization; and 3) training and workshop opportunities to develop and enhance team member and partner capacity to manage and visualize integrated health and climate data. Coordinating with the Administrative and Community Engagement Cores, the expertise and technical support offered through the IDVC will enhance institutional capacity to conduct climate change and health research tailored to the needs of Arid Lands communities.

Research Project – Greenspace to build resilience to climate change impacts on health: The good, the bad, and the future (Project Lead Shujuan Li)

• Abstract. Urban greenspaces are recognized as an effective tool for increasing climate change resilience by providing environmental, social, and public health benefits. However, unintended consequences of greenspaces have been observed, such as increased fire risks, allergens and vectors and animal hosts of infectious diseases. To effectively incorporate urban greenspaces into urban planning and design, it is critical for planners and designers to understand the broader impacts and trade-offs of urban greenspace development on public health outcomes. The study objectives are to: (1) evaluate the public health trade-offs of urban greenspaces with varying composition and morphology using a case study of heat-related illness and mosquito-borne disease risk in a large urban city, Phoenix, AZ; (2) develop a health effects assessment tool that can be used to predict the health impacts of proposed urban greenspace designs and plans; and (3) link scientific research and community engagement through greenspace design activities to co-produce knowledge, and elicit preferences and priorities in the impacts of greenspace design. To achieve these goals, we will integrate data on climate/weather, heat-related illnesses, mosquito abundance, and socio- demographics on urban greenspaces in Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas in Arizona with assistance from the Integrated Data Visualization Core. We will use the conditional spatial autoregression models (CAR) to analyze the associations between urban greenspaces (e.g., types, composition, and morphology) and heat- related illnesses and mosquito abundance. We will develop a health effects assessment tool based on a machine learning model trained with data from Phoenix metropolitan area and validated based on field collections conducted within the Tucson metropolitan area. This tool will be used to evaluate the performance of current urban greenspaces and different design scenarios of future urban greenspace development, to estimate varying levels of heat resilience, potential climate change-related health effects, and to identify inequities exacerbated by inequitable distribution of greenspace. Finally, we will develop a platform for community members to co-produce knowledge through observations of their environment and engage decision-makers and community members to develop priorities for greenspace planning.

Funding

National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Environmental Health Science (1P20ES036112-01)

Project Abstract

Residents of sovereign, Indigenous Nations intrinsically hold deep connections to their land, culture, and community, which positively affects Indigenous health and well-being. However, Indigenous health is diminished by multi-level structural factors that manifest in numerous ways including indoor environmental exposures; persistent fall injury hazards in the home needing repair/modification; and limited access to culturally competent medical specialists. A team led by the federally-designated Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center (AASTEC), in partnership with the University of New Mexico and University of Arizona, proposes a multi-part intervention to enhance the home environment and Indigenous health. This novel program will incorporate community-based participatory research principles with an approach that centers Indigenous methodologies to promote Indigenous health across the societal, community, household and individual levels. A housing repair voucher program (primary intervention) will be informed by home and participant assessments, and partnered with clinical training and referral protocol development, tribal public health workforce development and capacity- building, and a multi-sectoral Healthy Tribal Homes Coalition. Creating an adaptable framework that centers upon community values to address simultaneously environmental exposures, fall injury risk, daily stressors, and respiratory health (emphasizing asthma) will increase quality of life for participants, their families, and community. This project will yield a template and set of best practices that other Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities may adapt to address their health priorities in a manner centered upon their values and identity.

This project builds on previous activities conducted through the Tribal Healthy Homes Project (THHP). The THHP has received several awards for our work with Indigenous Peoples addressing environmental health:

• 2022 National Environmental Health Association American Indian and Alaska Native Environmental Health Recognition Awards Recipient. The winner of the Silver Award is the Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center’s (AASTEC) Tribal Healthy Homes Project (THHP). The THHP is based at AASTEC and co-led by Drs. Sheldwin Yazzie (AASTEC Deputy Director) and Joseph Hoover (Co-Director of the University of New Mexico Center for Native Environmental Health Equity Research). AASTEC partnered with tribal communities in the Indian Health Service Albuquerque Area to design community-specific home assessment tools; collect, analyze, and report housing quality and geospatial data; measure and report residential home indoor radon concentration levels; and conduct training activities. THHP tribal community partners have utilized their data to successfully administer remediation or mitigation activities in homes, such as repairing or installing carbon monoxide detectors, providing batteries for fire alarms, and providing fire extinguishers and step stools.” Citation – Wooden A, Bare G, Bliss JC, Dyjack DT. American Indian/Alaska Native Environmental Health Programs and Strategies. Journal of Environmental Health. 2022 Nov 1;85(4):32-6.
• “Best Innovative Tribal Geospatial Application” award from the National Tribal Geographic Information Support Center. Presented April, 2023

Funding

National Institutes of Health : Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society (ComPASS) program (1OT2OD035674-01).

Partners

• Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board/Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center (lead organization)
• University of New Mexico
• University of Arizona

This project has 2 goals: the first is a short-term focus on building capacity for the Indigenous Resilience Center and developing trust-based relationships with Indigenous Peoples; the second goal is to sustain current people and deepen and expand key Indigenous community-based programs including:

• Indigenous Food, Energy and Water Security and Sovereignty;
• Native FEWS Alliance;
• IndigeSEEDS; and
• Indigenous Mapping and Data

Funding

Waverly Street Foundation

Abstract

The presence of abandoned uranium mines in many Navajo communities has caused concern about human exposure to metals found in abandoned mine waste, soil, water, and vegetation on the Navajo Nation. The accumulation of uranium in meat and organs that are part of the traditional Navajo diet has also been observed in livestock that grazed in historic uranium mining areas. Our ability to interpret concentrations of uranium and other metals in animal tissue, and thereby to assess potential human exposure and risk, is limited however by our understanding of the source, mobility, and points of exposure for animals. To date there remains limited knowledge about how animal behavior patterns influence mine waste exposure. For members of the Cove Community (Cove Chapter, Navajo Nation) there remain unanswered questions about human exposure to uranium by consuming organs and meat from animals that grazed in a watershed with abandoned uranium mines and waste. Members of the Cove Community, located in the Lukachukai Mountains in Arizona, have requested a study investigating the accumulation of uranium in animal tissue because there remain 51 abandoned uranium mines in the watershed. In response to this request researchers from University of New Mexico are collaborating with researchers from Dine’ College and Northern Arizona University to investigate human exposure to uranium via consumption of animal meat and organs that are part of a traditional Navajo diet. A targeted investigation of Bos taurus (cattle), Ovis aries (sheep), and Capra aegagrus hircus (goat) movement and grazing patterns is necessary to inform risk analysis for human exposure to metals and radionuclides from consumption (or other uses) of animal tissue. This study will use geospatial technology to determine the frequency and duration of livestock grazing in proximity to abandoned mines and waste. Additionally, we will identify the environmental and land cover factors that are associated with livestock grazing patterns and identify what environmental and animal grazing factors are associated with metal and radionuclide accumulation in animal tissue. Addressing these questions enables us to quantify and model livestock grazing on or near abandoned mine waste, better interpret inter-animal chemical uptake in animal tissue, calculate more accurate chemical transfer rates from animal tissue to humans, and inform a broader risk assessment of human exposure to metals and radionuclides in the Cove Wash Watershed. Over the course of the project 27 students, and four faculty contributed to this project.

Major Accomplishments

Publications

• Book chapter for the 2020 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers titled, “Partnering with Indigenous communities to address the environmental health legacy of abandoned mines in the western United States.” In the chapter we mention the Cove Livestock Study as an example of integrated, collaborative community engaged research with Tribal communities.

• Liu Z, Lin Y, Hoover J, Beene D, Charley PH, Singer N. Individual level spatial-temporal modelling of exposure potential of livestock in the Cove Wash watershed, Arizona. Ann GIS. 2023;29(1):87-107. doi: 10.1080/19475683.2022.2075935. Epub 2022 May 30. PMID: 37090684; PMCID: PMC10117392.

Theses

• Irvin Ledezma, Northern Arizona University Chemistry masters student, graduated in August 2021. His thesis title was “Quantification of Heavy Metals and Metalloids in Soil Samples Collected from Grazing Sites and Streams around Cove, AZ”.
• Zhuoming Liu is completed, Thesis Title: “Individual Exposure potential Assessment for Livestock Based on Spatial-Temporal Analysis of GPS Data and Behavior Patterns Classification in Cove Wash Watershed, Arizona”.
• Marissa Mares graduated in August 2022. Her thesis title was “Uranium and Arsenic Accumulation in Plants:  The Impact of Abandoned Uranium Mines on the Plant Community on the Navajo Nation.