Risk concerns, land use, stewardship, and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory: Attitudes of the Shoshone-Bannock and other American Indians

This paper examines the attitudes and perceptions of 277 American Indians about hunting and fishing, risk, and future land use of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) in southeastern Idaho. Nearly half of our sample were Shoshone-Bannock tribal members living on the nearby Fort Hall Reservation, and half were American Indians from elsewhere in the western United States. We also interviewed an additional 44 White people. We examine the hypothesis that there are differences in environmental concerns and attitudes toward future land use at INEEL as a function of tribal affiliation (ethnicity), educational level, gender, and age. Such perceptions are important because of the existence of tribal treaties that [...]