Employing bioassessment parameters to monitor mine-impacted streams flowing onto the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation

部落学院和大学计划（TCUP）的一个目标是提高为美国土著学生服务的特定高等教育机构的科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教学和研究能力。在这些机构扩大STEM课程的范围，可以扩大学生在STEM领域追求具有挑战性、回报丰厚的职业的机会，为可能具有文化意义的领域提供研究，并鼓励社区和世代对科学和数学教育的欣赏。该项目直接符合这一目标，而且将增加关于未经补救的采矿作业对水健康影响的知识体系。A'aniiih Nakoda学院（ANC）将对蒙大拿州中北部两个氰化水蛭金矿的持续污染所影响和未影响的两种河流的健康状况进行比较分析。这将使用国家批准的底栖大型无脊椎动物和周围植物快速生物评估方案来完成。项目人员将利用定期从5条保护区河流中采集的样本，使用多度量方法对样本进行分类、识别、计数和分析，该方法包括分类群丰富度、群落组成、污染耐受/不耐受指数和其他参数。分离样品将在经过认证的独立实验室进行分析，以确保质量控制。

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to increase the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of specific institutions of higher education that serve the Nation's indigenous students. Expanding the STEM curricular offerings at these institutions expands the opportunities of their students to pursue challenging, rewarding careers in STEM fields, provides for research studies in areas that may be culturally significant, and encourages a community and generational appreciation for science and mathematics education. This project aligns directly with that goal, and moreover will increase the body of knowledge on the effects of unremediated mining operations on water health.A'aniiih Nakoda College (ANC) will conduct a comparative analysis of the health of two types of streams, impacted and non-impacted by the lingering contamination of two cyanide-leech gold mines in central northern Montana. This will be accomplished using state-approved rapid bioassessment protocols for benthic macroinvertebrates and periphyton. Using samples collected from five reservation streams on a periodic basis, project personnel will sort, identify, count and analyze samples using a multi-metric approach that will include indices for taxa richness, community composition, pollution tolerance/intolerance, and other parameters. Split samples will be analyzed at a certified independent laboratory to ensure quality control.