American Indian Solutions to Environmental Challenges

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  Toggle Favorite The Campo EPA monitors water quality on the reservation, ensuring that there is a supply of clean fresh water for community members. 2010
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  Toggle Favorite “And so in 1990, when the Campo EPA was created, one of the tasks given to CEPA was to find a permanent solution to this. And so what was done at CEPA was to look back in the records, and look at what was done traditionally. What was done in our villages, and what was done in our environment.”
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  Toggle Favorite The Campo Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1990 to preserve and protect the environment on the Campo Kumeyaay reservation. They perform a variety of tasks to make the environment as healthy as possible. 2009
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  Toggle Favorite “So there was techniques that were taught to us by our what we call Kuseyaay. On our reservation, . . . we use an old technique that was recorded through an anthropologist. And she asked them about a lot of different things, and one of things they talked about was how to slow water down.”
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  Toggle Favorite Kumeyaay people long ago dropped rocks in areas where they wanted water to stay at the surface. Today, the Campo EPA is building modern versions of traditional rock-drop structures to counter the effects of environmental damage. ca. 2008
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  Toggle Favorite “One of the things that came out was that the building of rock-drop structures — placing rocks in the channels and rocks and brush — was something that was commonly done to try to enhance the wetland areas. And so we took that and adapted it.”
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  Toggle Favorite The Campo EPA grows a variety of native plants that they replant in repaired wetlands and community landscaping. These native plants are important not only to the environment, but also to the culture of the Campo Kumeyaay people. This yucca plant has many uses, and can even be made into a kind of soap. 2010
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  Toggle Favorite “The whole area that had once been on its way to becoming a desert became a lush habitat. Many different types of animals have been seen there. It was also a place where we could harvest our traditional medicine plants and traditional food plants.”
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  Toggle Favorite The Campo Kumeyaay people are looking for new ways to sustain the environment. This wind farm takes advantage of the high elevation and strong winds that are common to that part of the reservation to generate alternate power and provide additional income for the community. 2009
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  Toggle Favorite “What we did on Campo reservation is eliminated commercial cattle grazing. It just got to be too hard to try to preserve our wetland areas.”
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  Toggle Favorite The map shows the many locations where Campo EPA has placed rock-drop structures to stop erosion and hold water. 2010

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