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TAHLEQUAH, OK - The Environmental Protection Agency has selected the Cherokee Nation for a Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative.

The initiative is designed to empower states, communities and other "stakeholders" in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to assess, safely clean up, sustain and reuse brownfields, the EPA said.

Cherokee Nation Environmental Specialists I Wayne Isaacs and Brad Asbill and Environmental Specialist II Bobby Short worked on the grant application. The Cherokee Nation is the only organization in the state to receive one of 54 brownfield grants awarded nationwide.

A brownfield is a site that has actual or perceived contamination but has an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. The tribe will receive $200,000 over two years to assess, clean up and possibly reuse land in Delaware County previously used for a hog farm, a Cherokee Nation landfill in Adair County south of Stilwell and tribal lands in Kay County.

The land owned by the Cherokee Nation in Kay County has been used for farming and includes the former Chilocco Indian School, Isaacs said. Five other tribes own land there, but the Cherokee Nation will only assess its land there, he said, unless the other tribes request assessments.

The Cherokee Nation also received $50,000 for "Greenspace Redevelopment," which will be used to assess a former landfill near the tribe's powwow grounds south of Tahlequah next to Sequoyah High School.

The property has a creek flowing through it. It is hoped that once the assessment is done the land will be incorporated for a cultural heritage park where native plants would be planted; plaques depicted the tribe's heritage. Picnic and play areas and a walking trail are also being planned, Isaacs said. The additional $50,000 includes funding to hire landscape architects for the project.

"These programs are intended to provide the EPA, states, tribes, municipalities and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup and redevelopment," officials from the EPA said.