Research on the Blackfeet reservation

 This summer I had the pleasure of working with Kimberly Paul on her research project on the Blackfeet reservation. It was the perfect student/mentor match I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor! Not only did we share the same names but also the same passion for our culture, land and our people. Another thing that connected us was something unfortunately dark; Hanford nuclear site. As you know the Hanford site is located on the ceded land the government had given the Yakama’s for hunting, gathering and fishing purposes. The Hanford contamination unfortunately leaks into the surrounding areas and some Yakama members were unknowingly being exposed to the cancerous waste. I knew that Hanford had effected Yakama and Nez Perce tribes but I never imagined it could also effect the Blackfeet nation which is located all the way in Northern Montana. In 1961 the Atomic Energy Commission approached the Blackfeet tribe about dumping radioactive waste on their land. Although they turned it down a non-native who owned land allowed no less than 50 million gallons of irradiated waste (the reactor coolant that was used to drop the Hiroshima bomb) to be dumped on their reservation. My mentor had heard stories and warnings from her elders growing up about “something bad” being dumped on their land. After my mentor got her hands on a telegram that had the confession of the whistle blower saying his boss had allowed dumping to take place, she made this her research project to find and prove their land is contaminated with radioactive waste. I help her collect her water and soil samples in the areas of the suspected dumping sites.