The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe established by resolution the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in August of 1990 and placed the responsibility to provide guidance and direction under the Water, Energy and Environment Committee of the Tribe, to develop the framework necessary to protect the Environment and Natural Resources of the Tribe for generations to come. We first started with the Pesticide Enforcement Program in the late 1980's. This was accomplished through a Cooperative Agreement with the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Region (8) and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. The Program allowed the Tribe to monitor and regulate the general and restricted use of pesticide activities from the Commercial and Agriculture Pesticide Applicators on the reservation. Through this process and the submission of grant applications, we compete with 26 other tribal governments located in the U.S. under the Environmental Protection Agency's Region (8) for the necessary funding to protect our respective environments and natural resources.

The other programs under the Department currently consist of the following: the General Assistance Program which enables the Department to develop and draft codes. We have continued to build the Administrative and Technical capabilities that are essential in building the Department of Environment and Natural Resource's presence on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation from other Federal Agencies. These programs are the ANA/DOD Mitigation Program which is presently referred to as the Armstrong County Gunnery Range Project, the ANA/SEDS Program, the ANA/Regulatory Enhancement Program, and the BIA Water Resources Program.

We have extracted and reviewed other Tribal, State and Federal Agencies codes and statutes from surrounding jurisdictions to compare with our regulations. This has assisted the Tribe in developing regulations, codes and statutes that strengthen our enforcement capabilities thus protecting the Tribes Sovereignty and Jurisdiction. This has been made possible through Cooperative Agreements, 638 Contracts, Memorandums of Understanding and Negotiations with the United States Environmental Protection Agency Nationally and Regionally, the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs both Nationally and Regionally and Health and Human Services, Indian Health Service and Administrative for Native Americans Programs, the Federal Emergency Management Administration and various other funding sources.