About the TSC

The Tribal Science Council (TSC), established in 1999, is a forum for interaction between Tribal and Agency representatives to work collaboratively on environmental science issues. The Council is comprised of EPA representatives from across the Agency, a tribal representative from each of the EPA regions with federally recognized tribes, and a representative of the Alaska Native Villages. The TSC is committed to the development of sound scientific approaches to meet the needs of Tribes.

The TSC continually seeks input from Tribes on priority science issues that they may be facing and related activities being undertaken across the Agency or in other federal agencies. If you are interested in keeping up with TSC activities, or have issues that you wish to raise, please contact the appropriate TSC Tribal or Agency Representative or the Executive Secretary.

On this page:

• Goals
• Membership
• Structure & Operations
• Meeting Summaries
• Tribal Science Bulletins

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Goals

The TSC seeks to:

• Develop a better understanding of the priority science issues of Tribes from across the country, address these issues, and consider them an integral part of EPA’s formal planning processes.
• Reach consensus on collaborative approaches for addressing priority scientific issues.
• Share EPA scientific products and activities that may help address the priority scientific issues of Tribes.
• Promote partnerships between Tribal and EPA scientists in the development and application of sound science.
• Facilitate communication and coordination with other agencies and organizations to more effectively respond to Tribal issues.

Membership

The TSC is a bicameral Council comprising Agency Representatives from each of EPA’s regions and headquarters program offices and Tribal Representatives from each EPA region with federally recognized Tribes, including representation for Alaska Native villages. The membership is vital to understanding and addressing Tribal science priority issues to protect human health and the environment in Indian country. 

View the TSC Roster.

Structure & Operations

The TSC strives to address environmental science issues that are priorities for Tribes throughout the country. The process for how these issues are identified and addressed is described below.

1. Issues identified by Tribes in an EPA region are brought to the Council through the TSC’s Tribal Representative from that region. Because the Council is designed to complement the existing infrastructure that EPA established to work with Tribes across the country, scientific issues can also be brought to the attention of the TSC via the TSC’s Agency or Tribal Representative from program-specific EPA Tribal advisory groups.
2. The TSC Tribal Representatives work together to develop a set of Tribal science priorities of national significance for Tribal Caucus endorsement; these will be the focus of the Council’s activities.
3. The full Council then explores the issues and determines what should be done to address them, including: recommending more research, identifying resources available to advance the issues, or raising the profile of the problems both at EPA and within the Tribal landscape by ensuring that they are included in program-specific activities across EPA and brought to the attention of Tribes throughout Indian country.
4. Those issues that do not meet the Council’s criteria will be referred to the appropriate EPA region or Agency-specific work group that can best address the issue.
5. The TSC’s progress on addressing issues is communicated to the National Tribal Caucus of the National Tribal Operations Committee, to Regional Tribal Operations Committees, and throughout the regions.

Meeting Summaries

• TSC Fall 2023 Meeting Summary (Pala, California) (pdf) (299.28 KB, December 5-7, 2023)
• TSC Fall 2022 Meeting Summary RTP, NC (pdf) (499.1 KB)
• TSC Summer 2022 Face-to-Face Meeting (pdf) (384.39 KB)
• TSC Spring 2021 Virtual Science Meeting Summary (pdf) (397.16 KB)
• TSC Fall 2019 Meeting Summary (Narragansett, RI (pdf)(28 pp, 439K, November 13-15, 2019)
• TSC Winter 2018 Meeting Summary (Gulf Breeze, FL) (pdf)(16 pp, 309 K, December 4, 2018)
• TSC Summer 2018 Meeting Summary (Cincinnati, OH) (pdf)(28 pp, 346K, July 31- August 2, 2018)
• TSC Fall 2015 Business Meeting (pdf)

Tribal Science Bulletins