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WA – New Technologies and Industries: Hanford

Lesson Plans – Middle School

2 | New Technologies and Industries

Hanford Nuclear Reservations Effects on Indian Country

Washington State History Curriculum
OSPI Tribal Sovereignty Curriculum for the Social Studies

Historical Era

1854 – 1889 The Treaty Era | 1889 – 1930 Removal and Assimilation | 1930 – 1945 Assimilation to Termination |

1945 – 1980 Self-Determination | 1980 – Present Nation-Building | Territory and Treaty Making

Social Studies GLEs:

Grade 6: 2.1.1, 2.4.1, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.3.1, 4.2.1, 4.2.3, 4.3.2, 4.4.1

Grade 7: 2.1.1, 2.4.1, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 4.2.1, 4.2.3, 4.3.2, 4.4.1

Grade 8: 2.1.1, 2.4.1, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.3.1, 4.2.1. 4.2.3, 4.4.1

Corresponding CBA:

Humans and the Environment

Essential Questions:

5


Asset List

Multimedia

Multimedia

Video Content

Corresponding Chapters from the Regional Learning Project’s Required Curriculum Materials:

Ch. 8 and 9

DVD: Tribal Perspectives of American History in the Northwest

Study Guide

DVD Chapter List

The DVD (75 minutes total running time) is divided into nine chapters that range from 3 to 27 minutes in length, listed here with time codes for each:

Chapter 1: Introduction (4:15 minutes)

Chapter 2: History Through Oral Tradition (7:20 min)

Chapter 3: Before Contact (6:55 min)

Chapter 4: First Contact (10:00 min)

Chapter 5: Advent of the Fur Trade and its Consequences (7:20 min)

Chapter 6: Missionaries and Early Settlers (6:50 min)

Chapter 7: The Treaties (27:00 min)

Chapter 8: Treaty Aftermath – Nez Perce Story (5:30 min)

Chapter 9: Reflections (3:55 min)

Corresponding Chapters from the Regional Learning Project’s Required Curriculum Materials:

Ch. 1, 4 and 5

DVD: Contemporary Voices Along the Lewis and Clark Trail

Study Guide

DVD Chapter List

The DVD (28 minutes running time) is divided into five chapters that range from 3 to 10

minutes each, as follows:

Chapter 1: Introduction (9:10 minutes)

Chapter 2: Early Contact and its Consequences (3:00 min)

Chapter 3: Language (3:45 min)

Chapter 4: Respect (7:00 min)

Chapter 5: Continuity (5:00 min)

Corresponding Chapters from the Regional Learning Project’s Required Curriculum Materials:

Ch. 1, 6 – 9

DVD: Native Homelands Along The Lewis and Clark Trail

Study Guide

DVD Chapter List

The DVD (35 minutes) is divided into nine chapters that range from 2 to 8 minutes each, as follows:

• Chapter 1: Introduction (2:00 minutes)

• Chapter 2: Homelands of the Mandan-Hidatsa (4:10 min)

• Chapter 3: Homeland of the Blackfeet (3:05 min)

• Chapter 4: Homeland of the Shoshone (3:05 min)

• Chapter 5: Homeland of the Salish (3:10 min)

• Chapter 6: Homelands of the Sahaptin-speaking Tribes of the Columbia River (8:10 min)

• Chapter 7: Homelands of the Upper Chinookan Tribes (3:30 min)

• Chapter 8: Homelands of the Lower Chinookan Tribes (5:00 min)

• Chapter 9: Close (0:45 min)

Handouts/Documents

Primary/Docs

 Lesson Outline

Level 1: PNWHanfordNewsletter.doc
Level 2: http://questgarden.com/91/12/6/091115121653/
Level 3: PNWTribesandHanfordLevel3.docx
Materials
Russell Jim–Beeson Award.doc
Student Task Inquiry.docx
Note Taking Sheet.docx
Student Examples/projects

Team 1 Youth Summit PowerPoint 2007

Group 8 PP Presentation 2007

Team 9 Presentation 2007

Lesson Overview

Since we all depend on the health of the environment, responsible citizens need to understand how humans affect and are affected by the environment. You will choose and study two groups of people living in the same or similar environments, and compare and contrast how those groups interact with their environment.

Level 1
Washington State History – 1940-1980 Self Determination: The Impact of Hanford Nuclear Reservation on Pacific Northwest Tribes.
When you hear the word Hanford, what do you think of? Nuclear power? Toxic waste cleanup? Contamination? Would you be surprised to think about Northwest Indians? You should.
The Hanford nuclear facility was created as the final processing site for the Manhattan project – the project that created nuclear materials for the United States military’s weapons projects. Hanford was the site of the B reactor, the world’s first fully functioning plutonium production reactor. Among other uses, materials created at Hanford went in to the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the conclusion of World War II.
With this in mind, it may surprise you to know that the swath of land Hanford sits on has been the hunting and fishing grounds for a number of Northwest tribes, including the Walla Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla, since time immemorial. The waters of the Columbia running through Hanford are Chinook spawning grounds, and, prior to Hanford, provided bountiful salmon that these nations harvested in abundance without the fear of being poisoned by radioactive materials. While settlers now occupy much of the land once home to many Northwest tribes, 1855 Treaty rights guarantee Native people “usual and custom” access to much of the land and river that Hanford occupies.
Sadly, today the 586 square miles of land known as Hanford Nuclear Reservation, including a number of tribe’s “usual and custom” hunting and fishing grounds, is the largest toxic waste clean-up site in the world. Hanford contains millions of gallons of toxic waste that the Unites States government is now charged with cleaning up and removing. The waste created over the history of Hanford has been leaked by wind, land, and air into the eco-system over the nearly 70 years of Hanford’s existence. While most Hanford’s reactors were shut down by 1971, the devastating effects of nuclear contamination to the environment continue today.
The negative impact of Hanford on the surrounding tribes and communities is hard to fully measure. For decades Hanford funneled water directly from the Columbia River to cool its reactors, then, returned the water, without treatment directly to back into the river. This practice was finally ended in 1972, but its devastating effects are still being measured. In addition to contamination of the water, communities in the surrounding geographical regions, known as “down winders,” suffer high rates of thyroid disease and, some suggest, elevated leukemia levels in children born to fathers living near Hanford in the early years of its nuclear production.
Many Northwest tribes rely on the Columbia River for their sustenance, both physically and spiritually. The effect of Hanford on the Columbia’s Salmon population has especially affected the Indian people whose livelihoods and spiritual life are centered on the Salmon. Members of the Umatilla, Yakima, and other fishing communities along the Columbia have a higher exposure to Hanford’s toxic byproducts do to their Salmon consumption. In a 1992 article, the New York Times reported that, “[a] Governmentcontractor’s preliminary study of radiation released over the years from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation into the Columbia River has found that the radiation reached the Pacific Ocean 200 miles away, contaminating fish and drinking water along the river and exposing as many as 2,000 people to potentially dangerous doses.” The report continues, “most of those exposed to such doses were subsistence fishermen, primarily Indians who live along the river.”
Many of the Tribes of the Columbia are now engaged with the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency to develop strategies to restore the habitat of the Columbia basin devastated by the Hanford facility. In the words of the Nez Perce’s Environmental Restoration and Waste Management organization, “[e]nhancing the expertise of our people will ensure that the Nez Perce people will outlive radioactive and hazardous materials.
Reflection Questions
1. Discuss the affects of Hanford’s waste materials on the Indian people of the Columbia? What do you think you would do if the source of your physical and spiritual self were contaminated?
2. The 1855 treaty guaranteed tribes usual and accustomed access to the area occupied by Hanford for hunting, gathering, fishing, and religious customs. Based on what you know, do you think that these promises were honored? Why or why not?
3. It has been nearly 40 years since Hanford stopped releasing water used to cool reactors into the Columbia, yet Hanford’s long term affects have yet to be measured, and the clean-up process has been slow and difficult. If you were a member of one of the affected tribes, how would you want the government to respond?
Level 2

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation was an important part of the development of nuclear materials in the middle part of the 20th century.  Most of the nuclear materials created at Hanford were used in the making of nuclear weapons.  The affects of Hanford on the Tribes whose lands are on or near Hanford have been nothing short of devastating.  Despite most nuclear reactors being shut down by the early 1970′s, the toxic waste from Hanford continues to affect the physical and spiritual life of Native people.

Proceed to WebQuest: http://questgarden.com/91/12/6/091115121653/

Level 3

Washington State History – 1940-1980 Self Determination:  The Impact of Hanford Nuclear Reservation on Pacific Northwest Tribes.

5.4.1 Analyzes multiple factors, generalizes and connects past to present to formulate a thesis in a paper or presentation.
3.2.1 Understands how human actions modify the environment and how the environment affects humans in Washington State and world history.
5.4.2 Creates annotated bibliography, or works cited page using an appropriate format. (7th Grade)(EALR 5.4. Creates a product…)

 

Lesson Introduction:

 

Since we all depend on the health of the environment, responsible citizens need to understand how humans affect and are affected by the environment. You will choose and study two groups of people living in the same or similar environments, and compare and contrast how those groups interact with their environment.

Level 3 of  “1940-1980 Self Determination:  The Impact of Hanford Nuclear Reservation on Pacific Northwest Tribes” asks students to complete Washington State’s middle school Classroom Based Assessment “Humans and the Environment”.

Process:

In Level 3, students will:

Complete the “Humans and the Environment” CBA in which they are required to:

  • State a position on two groups’ uses of the environment that includes

An analysis of how the two groups’ uses are similar or different.

  • Provide background on your position by:
    • Explaining one or more plausible alternatives to the groups’ uses of the environment that addresses costs and benefits.
    • Provide reason(s) for your position that include:
      • An analysis of one or more significant similarities or differences related to groups’ uses of the environment.
  • Make explicit references within the paper or presentation to three or more credible sources that provide relevant information AND cite sources within the paper, presentation, or bibliography.

Take time to explore the OSPI CBA page for “Humans and the Environment”  Make copies of the provided rubric and graphic organizer and make yourself familiar with the materials on the OSPI site.

If students have already completed levels 1 and 2, level 3 will require little introduction.   Students will simply use the information they gathered in their group research project to formulate a personal essay incorporating prior knowledge.  If students have not completed previous levels, they can be found here:

Students should then use the resources to explore the impact of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation on the Northwest Tribes whose homelands lie on or near the Hanford site.  Students should have a printed or digital copy of OSPI’s “Humans and the Environment” CBA and use the provided questions to create their presentation or paper.  A link to OSPI’s CBA page is provided above.

Additionally, students should use the CBA Guide and graphic organizer presented here to formulate their paper: CBA Guide and Graphic Organizer.

Resources:

There are many resources on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation available.  Below are the resources used in the Level 2 WebQuest.  If your students have already completed Level 2, these will simply allow them to review the information to be included in their paper.

Internet Resources:

 

Tribal Perspectives


Hanford’s History

 

Hanford’s Land and Wildlife

 

Effects of Hanford’s Nuclear Waste on Humans


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