Such efforts are designed to prevent health problems, minimize environmental injustice, and assess the health priorities of the Native American community. The program eventually will be expanded to reach 400 tribes and 300 Indian-controlled schools. Partners with the Native American Health Clinic are the Selective Learning Network, a national on-line educational program, and the Kickapoo Nation School. The Habitat Patrol project gives students and community members the opportunity to use today's technology to expand their knowledge of environmental management. Through community-based education, the project reaches 1,437 students and more than 2,500 members of the Eastern Shawnee, Modoc, and Wyandotte tribes, as well as approximately 2,000 members of the general population.
Participants learn about the technology through media modules.
Further, the entire community participates in the construction and maintenance of a water garden. The project is intended to increase all participants' knowledge and awareness of their ecosystem. The environmental baseline investigation conducted under this project assesses and maps the environmental condition of Fulbright Springs and land use patterns in the area, which is a sensitive watershed and an important source of drinking water. The Fulbright Springs project addresses the high-priority environmental issue of urbanization and its effects on the quality of groundwater. A primary partner in the project is the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks.