The Nez Perce Tribe’s Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (ERWM) division plays a vital role in safeguarding irreplaceable cultural resources and critical data related to the cleanup of the Hanford site, a former nuclear production complex.

This program’s crucial work demands robust information management to support data integrity and security, as well as promote accessibility for future generations.

To address these needs, the ERWM turned to Laserfiche. The platform’s advanced search capabilities, comprehensive recordkeeping features, and robust security controls have empowered the tribe to effectively manage critical information while maintaining data sovereignty. Through a partnership with Laserfiche solution provider Intertribal Software, the tribe uses Laserfiche to preserve its heritage and provide leadership in environmental stewardship.    

“Laserfiche is important to our function as a program, but also for storing information that relates to our culture — preserving it and making it accessible to future generations is key,” said Antonio Smith, communications specialist at the Nez Perce Tribe.  

A Data-Driven Approach to Environmental Stewardship

Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, the Hanford site occupies 586 square miles along the Columbia River in the state of Washington. While the federal government used the site to produce nuclear materials for national defense, the archaeological record of Native American habitation of the area goes back over 10,000 years.

“We have stories about the land,” Smith said. “We have names for the land that are different than the names people use today. We have purposes for that land that are different than current purposes. This information is for us and our generations to follow.”

When the U.S. government announced a Hanford cleanup effort, the tribes and additional non-governmental organizations got involved. Their role was to guarantee the cleanup respected tribal standards and, importantly, progressed toward a full ecological restoration of the land, beyond simply making it suitable for certain commercial activities.

The amount of information the ERWM has about the land is significant, and ranges from land agreements and culturally significant documentation, to the tribe’s own testing data that is vital to the division’s work with U.S. government agencies. The critical nature of the information, however, was not reflected in how it was stored.

“We had a single-wide trailer full of files from floor to ceiling,” Smith described. “We couldn’t search them, and when we needed to refer to something, the issue was locating the box it was in or even the room it was in. A lot of the documents we have are large. As a Department of Energy-funded program, we receive reports that are quite extensive and involve multiple contractors, so this method of storage was not sustainable.”

The importance of this information necessitated a storage solution that was:
  • Searchable: The ERWM needed a central repository that enabled efficient and rapid retrieval of specific documents, data points and historical records.
  • Accessible: It was critical to provide authorized personnel with timely and reliable access to the information they need to do their job.
  • Secure: The division prioritized a solution that had robust security tools to protect sensitive cultural resources, sovereign data, and environmental findings from unauthorized access, modification or loss.

“Laserfiche is the solution we needed,” Smith said. “When we looked at all the different options we had, it came out on top. We have information referencing land that goes back thousands of years. To be able to now capture all of that digitally and make it accessible for future generations is vital. Otherwise, it could be in buildings getting moldy or burnt or stolen.”

Maintaining Data Sovereignty for Future Generations

Today, the ERWM continues its essential work to restore and protect environmental and cultural resources, now with Laserfiche to support staff in retrieving the information they need, when they need it. The tribe can also rest assured that it has the tools to safeguard precious and confidential information that must be preserved for generations to come.

“Our culture is key to everything,” Smith said. “It’s not just our past; it’s our present; it’s how we function. This information is the future for our children, and we can’t lose that.” The ERWM is also exploring new opportunities to streamline processes in other areas such as human resources forms and travel forms. The effort will help the ERWM to be more efficient, and reclaim time for doing what matters most: protecting the environment.