AFTER BIGFOOT LEAVES INDIAN COUNTRY, EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH MUST CONTINUE

The EarthScope project has benefited greatly from permission to deploy USArray and Plate Boundary Observatory geophysical instruments on American Indian lands. Some instruments were sited near K-14 schools with expectations that (1) in the short term, students and teachers would be able to monitor “their” station online, and (2) long after deployment, the school would benefit from a continuing outreach association with the EarthScope project and the greater geoscience research community. A cross-cultural workshop (NAPP-ES) held in 2005 yielded a number of specific recommendations for follow-up education and outreach activities. As USArray moves out of tribal lands in the intermountain West and traverses Indian country in the Rockies and Great Plains, while PBO stations remain in some of these places, it is time to re-engage with Native schools and communities. The activities and outcomes of an early fall 2009 workshop in Northern Arizona, sponsored and co-facilitated by EarthScope's education/outreach and research units and aimed at American Indian K-14 educators, will be presented along with plans and new recommendations for maintaining an effective partnership.