Vulnerability & Injustice

The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Fair treatment means that no population, due to policy or economic disempowerment, is forced to bear a disproportionate share of the negative human health or environmental impacts of pollution or environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies.

 EPA Environmental Justice 

The degree to which a community exhibits certain social conditions may affect that community's ability to prevent human suffering and financial loss in the event of a disaster.  These factors describe a community's social vulnerability.

 The Social Vulnerability Index  or SVI is a ranking in decimals from 0 to 1 based on sixteen (16) social factors grouped into four (4) themes.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Agency for Toxic Substance & Disease Registry (ATSDR), Geospatial Research, Analysis & Services Program (GRASP) created the index to predict community disaster resilience.

U.S. Census tracts are subdivisions of counties containing demographic statistical data.

Inserting  ATSDR/CDC  SVI data into  U.S. Census TIGER /Lines (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding & Referencing) creates a map demonstrating the relative ranking of the social vulnerability of every U.S. Census tract.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency or  FEMA National Risk Index  or NRI uses U.S. Census tract data to create a national relative ranking that helps identify the communities most at risk for eighteen natural disasters.

Y Axis: Social Vulnerability

X Axis: Coastal/River Flood

Overlap: Vulnerability+Flood

The Nehalem is the longest river in the Oregon Coast Range, winding through four counties for nearly 120 miles. The headwaters spring from the mountains in northern Tillamook County at an elevation of 3,200 feet. The river then flows through Washington, Columbia and Clatsop Counties before winding back into Tillamook County as it reaches sea level at Nehalem Bay, which drains into the Pacific Ocean.

The major tributaries of North Fork Nehalem and Salmonberry creek flow through the wet coastal forest, while Rock Creek runs through the town of Vernonia.

Wheeler and Manzanita dot the banks along the mouth of the Nehalem River at Nehalem Bay near Oswald West State Park at the Oregon Coast.

"The Nehalem Basin Partnership is committed to honoring and learning from the Tribes of the Nehalem Basin as we live and work in this watershed. The sovereignty, well-being, cultures, and languages of Indigenous People are born of their homelands, making these lands and waters cherished by Native communities. As a partnership of many organizations and agencies, we bear responsibility to respect the lands and waters and steward them for future generations"

"We recognize the Indigenous People and Tribes that persist today and honor their resilient spirit as they continue to preserve their cultures, spiritual practices, and languages for themselves and their children. This is a living statement meant to grow and evolve as our understanding grows and evolves."

The Nehalem Basin was home to many Indigenous peoples dating back 11,000 years including Chinook, Clatskanie, Clatsop, Cowlitz, Grand Ronde, Nehalem, Salish, Siletz & Tillamook.

Ne is a common prefix for place in the Salishan language spoken by Tillamook people.

Chinook people called the Upper Nehalem itack 'ani, meaning those of the regions of the small oaks

Athapascan-speaking Clatskanie lived near the Upper Nehalem River within the Old Growth Forests that provided abundant resources By the time of Lewis & Clark's 1805 arrival, their advanced society conducted frequent trade with their Clatsop and Chinook neighbors. Their descendants are now enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of the Siltez Indians.

The Lower Nehalem was inhabited primarily by Nehalem and Clatsop Peoples. According to the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes, "when Lews & Clark visited our territories in the Winter of 1805-06, the Clatsop and Nehalem people were inseparable and often indistinguishable. The journals of Lews & Clark make frequent reference to the presence of the Nehalem-Tillamooks in Clatsop villages and Clatsops in Nehalem-Tillamook villages."

I created this Story Map to take you on a journey. Here's hoping you enjoyed the ride. ~lpk

• Lecturer/Facilitator, Environmental Justice
• Commissioner, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife