About

Grace Bulltail is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research encompasses water resource engineering, natural resource management, land use, water quality science, and environmental justice in Indigenous communities. She has conducted research on water quality impacts resulting from natural resource extraction on tribal lands and is interested in exploring the relationships among water, energy, and land use. Her studies focus on tribal lands and federally reserved lands where water resources are governed by sovereign tribal nations.

Research topics

• Environmental science
• Geography
• Water resource management
• Psychiatry
• Waste management
• Geology
• Environmental engineering
• Environmental protection
• Engineering
• Psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Ecology

Selected publications

• Enhancing water protection on Tribal lands

  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · 2024 · 2 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Environmental science
  • Geography
  • Environmental protection

  Multiple rulemaking iterations have led to variable definitions of the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS), a rule that determines which waterbodies receive federal protection under the Clean Water Act. The rulemaking process has incorporated American Indian Tribes as “stakeholders” rather than as sovereign peoples, compounding a colonial legacy that limits the ability of Indigenous peoples to choose appropriate strategies for water protection on Tribal lands. For example, protecting waters for Tribal beneficial uses requires applying both Western science and Indigenous knowledge to document patterns of waterbody connectivity and permanence, which underpin WOTUS policy. To honor the federal trust responsibility (a legal obligation) of the US Government to Tribes, policy should incorporate a parallel set of scientific standards for determining WOTUS on Tribal lands. These standards must recognize culturally distinct uses of waters and account for place‐based Indigenous knowledge. Examination of the intersection of the science supporting water protection, Indigenous sovereignty, and US policy has relevance to similar issues around the globe.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Psychological Development in Pediatric

  Journal of Forensic Psychology · 2021

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Psychology
  • Developmental psychology
  • Clinical psychology

  Pediatric Psychology addresses the behavior of youngsters and their physical and psychological development, health, and illness issues affecting children, adolescents and their families. It is the various developments in the children like Physical Development, Cognitive Development, and Cognitive Development.

  Publisher

• Impacts of Coal Resource Development on Surface Water Quality in a Multi‐jurisdictional Watershed in the Western United States

  Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education · 2020 · 8 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Environmental science
  • Water resource management
  • Environmental engineering

  Abstract This study focuses on water quality and quantity impacts from natural resource development on watersheds originating on Crow tribal lands in southeastern Montana. Field research analysis will focus on the surface water quality in three adjacent watersheds. This study will determine impacts to water quality from reclaimed coal mine spoils surface runoff and produced water discharge from coal bed methane wells within the watersheds. A secondary research objective is to determine a baseline assessment of surface water in watersheds prior to proposed mine development, particularly on tribally owned and allotted tracts. Historical data from state agencies will also be compared to data collected within watersheds on tribal lands. Water quality impacts from mining development may be more pronounced than that of coal bed methane as the reclaimed mining sites have demonstrated lasting impacts on the nearby surface water quality in the study area. Historical and current samples have demonstrated increased sodium absorption ratio and sodium levels downstream of a mine site in a tributary to the primary watershed. A sample from a pond in another reclaimed mine site contained the highest sodium adsorption ratio levels of all surface water samples. Coal bed methane development impacts may have been transient in the primary watershed surface water based on sample results. Historical oil and gas development appears to be impacting surface water quality within the southernmost watershed. Analysis has shown the increasing degradation of water quality in watersheds downstream and across the state boundary of Montana into Wyoming where natural resource development has occurred.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Produced Water Management in the Arid West: Assessing Effectiveness of Management Regimes and Impacts to Tribal Waterways

  AGUFM · 2018-12-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• Native American Student Perspectives of Challenges in Natural Resource Higher Education

  Journal of Forestry · 2017-01-20 · 17 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Managing Water Resources and Water Quality: A Tribal Perspective

  Digital Commons - Montana Tech (Montana Tech of the University of Montana) · 2016-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Grace presents her doctoral research work and discusses professional engineering experiences that have influenced her research interests. Grace’s research work has focused on water quality impacts associated with natural resources extraction in tribal communities. In addition, her research work examines how land use, water rights, and federal trust status frame tribal water resource management regimes. Grace served as the lead engineer on behalf of the Crow Tribe, working on water resource projects associated with the tribe’s historic water rights settlement. Grace has also served as an engineering instructor at United Tribes Technical College.

  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Chase R. Voirin

  University of Arizona

  2 shared

• Kimberly C. Yazzie

  Stanford University

  2 shared

• Serra Hoagland

  2 shared

• Jessica J. Lackey

  Pacific Northwest Research Station

  1 shared

• Stephanie Cowherd

  1 shared

• Natalya C. Robbins Sherman

  Navajo Nation Division of Health

  1 shared

• Royale Wilson

  Navajo Nation Division of Health

  1 shared

• Breanna K. Gervais

  Portland State University

  1 shared

Labs

• Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment Administrative TeamPI