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ARTICLE ABOUT HIGHWAY 12 Flood:
Learn more about the HIghway 12 flood
WINTER IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER
There are steps you can take in advance for greater wintertime safety in your home and in your car.
Emergency Supplies List:
- an alternate way to heat your home during a power failure:
- dry firewood for a fireplace or wood stove
- kerosene for a kerosene heater
- furnace fuel (coal, propane, or oil)
- electric space heater with automatic shut-off switch and non-glowing elements
- blankets
- matches
- multipurpose, dry-chemical fire extinguisher
- first aid kit and instruction manual
- flashlight or battery-powered lantern
- battery-powered radio
- battery-powered clock or watch
- extra batteries
- non-electric can opener
- snow shovel
- rock salt
- special needs items (diapers, hearing aid batteries, medications, etc.)
Winter Survival Kit for Your Home
Keep several days’ supply of these items:
- Food that needs no cooking or refrigeration, such as bread, crackers, cereal, canned foods, and dried fruits. Remember baby food and formula if you have young children.
- Water stored in clean containers, or purchased bottled water (5 gallons per person) in case your water pipes freeze and rupture.
- Medicines that any family member may need.
If your area is prone to long periods of cold temperatures, or if your home is isolated, stock additional amounts of food, water, and medicine.
How to Prepare Your Home for Winter
Although periods of extreme cold cannot always be predicted far in advance, weather forecasts can sometimes provide you with several days’ notice. Listen to weather forecasts regularly, and check your emergency supplies whenever a period of extreme cold is predicted.
If you plan to use a fireplace or wood stove for emergency heating, have your chimney or flue inspected each year. Ask your local fire department to recommend an inspector, or find one in the yellow pages of your telephone directory under “chimney cleaning.” Also, if you’ll be using a fireplace, wood stove, or kerosene heater, install a smoke detector and a battery-operated carbon monoxide detector near the area to be heated. Test them monthly, and replace batteries twice yearly.
Your ability to feel a change in temperature decreases with age, and older people are more susceptible to health problems caused by cold. If you are over 65 years old, place an easy-to-read thermometer in an indoor location where you will see it frequently, and check the temperature of your home often during the winter months.
Insulate any water lines that run along exterior walls so your water supply will be less likely to freeze. To the extent possible, weatherproof your home by adding weather-stripping, insulation, insulated doors and storm windows, or thermal-pane windows.
If you have pets, bring them indoors. If you cannot bring them inside, provide adequate shelter to keep them warm and make sure that they have access to unfrozen water.
How to Prepare Your Car for Winter
You can avoid many dangerous winter travel problems by planning ahead. Have maintenance service on your vehicle as often as the manufacturer recommends. In addition, every fall:
- Have the radiator system serviced, or check the antifreeze level yourself with an antifreeze tester. Add antifreeze, as needed.
- Replace windshield-wiper fluid with a wintertime mixture.
- Replace any worn tires, and check the air pressure in the tires.
During winter, keep the gas tank near full to help avoid ice in the tank and fuel lines.
Winter Survival Kit for Your Car
Equip your car with these items:
- blankets
- first aid kit
- a can and waterproof matches (to melt snow for water)
- windshield scraper
- booster cables
- road maps
- mobile phone
- compass
- tool kit
- paper towels
- bag of sand or cat litter (to pour on ice or snow for added traction)
- tow rope
- tire chains (in areas with heavy snow)
- collapsible shovel
- container of water and high-calorie canned or dried foods and a can opener
- flashlight and extra batteries
- canned compressed air with sealant (for emergency tire repair)
- brightly colored cloth
Outdoor Safety
When the weather is extremely cold, and especially if there are high winds, try to stay indoors. Make any trips outside as brief as possible, and remember these tips to protect your health and safety:
Dress Warmly and Stay Dry
Adults and children should wear:
- a hat
- a scarf or knit mask to cover face and mouth
- sleeves that are snug at the wrist
- mittens (they are warmer than gloves)
- water-resistant coat and boots
- several layers of loose-fitting clothing
Be sure the outer layer of your clothing is tightly woven, preferably wind resistant, to reduce body-heat loss caused by wind. Wool, silk, or polypropylene inner layers of clothing will hold more body heat than cotton. Stay dry—wet clothing chills the body rapidly. Excess perspiration will increase heat loss, so remove extra layers of clothing whenever you feel too warm. Also, avoid getting gasoline or alcohol on your skin while de-icing and fueling your car or using a snow blower. These materials in contact with the skin greatly increase heat loss from the body. Do not ignore shivering. It’s an important first sign that the body is losing heat. Persistent shivering is a signal to return indoors.
Avoid Exertion
Cold weather puts an extra strain on the heart. If you have heart disease or high blood pressure, follow your doctor’s advice about shoveling snow or performing other hard work in the cold. Otherwise, if you have to do heavy outdoor chores, dress warmly and work slowly. Remember, your body is already working hard just to stay warm, so don’t overdo it.
Understand Wind Chill
The Wind Chill index is the temperature your body feels when the air temperature is combined with the wind speed. It is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by the effects of wind and cold. As the speed of the wind increases, it can carry heat away from your body much more quickly, causing skin temperature to drop. When there are high winds, serious weather-related health problems are more likely, even when temperatures are only cool. The Wind Chill Chart below shows the difference between actual air temperature and perceived temperature, and amount of time until frostbite occurs
Information courtesy of CDC Web site
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While looking to a future of promise and positive potential, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska  also honors the past when it was the steward for and dependent upon the resources of more than 126,000 acres of land and water in northeast Nebraska. Those resources sustained the Ponca Tribal people for hundreds of years.
While the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska recognizes that the environment will never return to the near pristine condition it enjoyed in pre-contact time, the Tribe also realizes that the survival of its culture is directly linked to the health of that environment. Because of that, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska uses its Tribal Environmental Plan (with the approval of EPA Region VII) to assist in protecting and enhancing its current Tribal environment.
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Environmental Protection Department of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is to promote, maintain, and protect the health of the water, land, and air within the Service Areas of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska to ensure the continued health and welfare of its Tribal Members and culturally relevant plants and animals.
PTN COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL PROFILE
| Presentations |
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ABOUT RADON - RADON PRESENTATION
Radon is a radioactive gas found in homes across the U.S., including Nebraska.
ABOUT RECYCLING - "RECYCLING AND YOU" PRESENTATION
For recycling to work, everyone needs to participate in every phase of the loop. From government and industry to organizations, small businesses, and people at home, every American can make recycling a part of their daily routine.
| Helpful Links |
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Start with a light bulb: http://www.onebillionbulbs.com/
Find your local Extension Office: http://lancaster.unl.edu/office/locate.shtml
OTHER LINKS:
| Contact Information |
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Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, Environmental Protection Department
P.O. Box 288
Niobrara, NE 68760
402.857.3391
julias@poncatribe-ne.org | 
