The Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People (PTYP; Tribe) invites the public to review and comment on the Tribe’s draft Water Quality Standards (WQS) and accompanying Justification Document. WQS are science-based criteria describing the conditions necessary to sustain healthy human and aquatic life within the Tribe’s waters. These WQS apply only to waters within the boundaries of the Tribe’s trust and reservation lands and are not applicable to public or privately owned waters of the State of California.
The PTYP Department of Natural Resources (NR) will hold a public hearing at 6:00 PM Pacific Time on Wednesday March 18th, 2026 for the purpose of hearing comments and recommendations on the development of Tribal Water Quality Standards.
Topic: PTYP Water Quality Standards Public Hearing
Date & Time: March 18,2026, 6:00 PM Pacific Time
Contact: Hans Voight, Director, PTYP Natural Resources Department
Phone: 707-482-2431, ext. 205
Email: hans.voight@puliklatribe.gov
There will be time during the public hearing allocated to commenters who wish to make statements, as well as time for unscheduled comments. Written comments will continue to be accepted until 5 pm on Friday April 17, 2026. To sign up for a scheduled time to speak at the public hearing, submit written comments, or for questions, please email: hans.voight@puliklatribe.gov . Comments may potentially limited to no more than five minutes depending upon the number of speakers interested in participating.
Once the comment period ends, DNR will review the comments and revise the WQS draft to create a final version. Tribal Citizens will then have an additional opportunity to comment when Tribal Council considers the final version for adoption into the Tribal Code before submission to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for review and approval.
Background
Section 518 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) allows federally recognized tribes to implement and administer water quality programs within tribal land in the same manner as states, provided that the tribe is first determined to be eligible by the EPA. The Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People was granted treatment in a manner similar to a state (TAS) under Section 518 of the Clean Water Act by U.S. EPA on August 31, 2021. This status makes the Tribe eligible to administer a water quality standards (WQS) program for Clean Water Act purposes.
The PTYP Water Quality Standards were developed using the best available science and existing EPA-approved state and Tribal water quality standards. The document contains an anti-degradation policy and implementation plan, designated use categories, and narrative and numeric water quality criteria. The anti-degradation policy and implementation plan can be found in sections 506, 507, and 508 of the WQS document. Together, they are meant to ensure that Tribal water quality is maintained sufficiently to meet the existing needs of plants, animals, and humans that utilize the Tribe’s waters.
The designated uses of the waters of the Tribe, as defined in sections 502 and 508 describe the types of activities the Tribe’s waters are used for. Multiple designated uses frequently apply to a single water body. For example, Junior Creek, which flows through PTYP lands is designated for Groundwater Recharge, Cold Freshwater Habitat, Non-Contact Water Recreation, Area of Special Biological Significance, Wildlife Habitat, Habitat for Threatened and Endangered Species, Fish Migration Corridor, Cultural Contact Water, and for Tribal Subsistence Fishing. The table of designated uses and what Tribal waterbodies they apply to can be found in section 503.
Finally, the draft WQS document contains narrative and numeric water quality criteria. Narrative criteria use descriptive language describing the proper conditions of the Tribe’s waters and can be found in Section 504. For example, the narrative criteria in section 504-C defines protection of cultural and traditional uses: “All waters designated for cultural and traditional uses (CUL-1, CUL-2, T-SUB) shall be free from contaminants at levels that cause or contribute to an impairment in water-based activities essential to maintaining the Tribe’s cultural and traditional practices.” Numeric criteria use numbers, measures and values to express water quality standards, and can be found in section 505. For example, the numeric criteria addressing dissolved oxygen for areas designated as Cold Freshwater Habitat state that “the daily minimum objective (milligrams/liter) for dissolved oxygen is 6.0 mg/l.
