Integrating oral histories to enhance contamination risk assessment on a native American reservation

/abstract “Open dump” landfills near Indigenous lands can create risks to wildlife and tribal health, yet contamination footprints are often poorly documented. We present a community-informed framework integrating oral histories and participatory mapping with environmental sampling to improve contamination discovery on and adjacent to the Mattaponi Reservation in Virginia. We collected oral histories and sketch maps which were georeferenced to identify critical sampling zones. Surface water and sediments were analyzed for semi-volatile organic chemicals, petroleum hydrocarbons, and trace metals. Results were interpreted using the Heavy Metal Pollution Index, lower tier benchmark-based Hazard Index, Geoaccumulation Index, and Improved Potential Ecological Risk Index. Contaminated sites closely aligned with oral history data, underscoring the value of community knowledge for identifying contamination. Our findings demonstrate how community-based participatory research can strengthen preliminary risk screening on Native lands.