Risk concerns, land use, stewardship, and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory: Attitudes of the Shoshone-Bannock and other American Indians

This paper examines the attitudes and perceptions of 277 American Indians a bout hunting and fishing, risk, and future land use of the Idaho National E ngineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) in southeastern Idaho. Near ly half of our sample were Shoshone-Bannock tribal members living on the ne arby Fort Hall Reservation, and half were American Indians from elsewhere i n the western United States. We also interviewed an additional 44 White peo ple. We examine the hypothesis that there are differences in environmental concerns and attitudes toward future land use at INEEL as a function of tri bal affiliation (ethnicity), educational level, gender, and age. Such perce ptions are important because of the existence of tribal treaties that gover n the legal and cultural rights of the Shoshone-Bannock. Returning INEEL to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, and a Nati onal Environmental Research Park ranked as the highest preferred future lan d uses, whereas continuing nuclear materials reprocessing and increasing th e storage of nuclear wastes ranked as the lowest. There were tribal differe nces in land use preferences, with those of the Fort Hall Indians being mor e similar to those of the local Whites than to other American Indians. All groups ranked storage of nuclear material, storage of additional nuclear ma terial, and spills and accidents as the most serious of a list of concerns provided about the site. Fort Hall Indians answered an open-ended question with concerns for population levels and migration routes of game animals an d other wildlife, more than hunting and human health. The Shoshone-Bannock from Fort Hall showed an environmental sensitivity for the well-being of wi ldlife and the health of the ecosystem and were interested in long-term ste wardship, in addition to concern for human health. (C) 2000 Academic Press.