Cherokee Nation also operates an air monitoring station that is sometimes referred to as the IMPROVE-Newkirk station. The Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) program is a cooperative measurement effort governed by a steering committee composed of representatives from Federal and regional-state organizations. The IMPROVE monitoring program was established in 1985 to aid the creation of Federal and State implementation plans for the protection of visibility in Class I areas (156 national parks and wilderness areas) as stipulated in the 1977 amendments to the Clean Air Act.

The Cherokee Nation was selected to participate in the program to evaluate “natural background” levels of pollution for the western IMPROVE program. This site is located on Cherokee Nation tribal lands near the old Chilocco School north of Newkirk Oklahoma.

Cherokee Nation is a member of the Mercury Deposition Network (MDN). This National monitoring network measures total mercury in one-week precipitation samples at 80 sites across the United States. The objective of the MDN is to develop a national database of weekly concentrations of total mercury in precipitation and the seasonal and annual flux of total mercury in wet deposition. The data will be used to develop information on spatial and seasonal trends in mercury deposited to surface waters, forested watersheds, and other sensitive receptors. Weekly precipitation samples are collected in a modified Aerochem Metrics model 301 collector (pictured below). The "wet-side" sampling glassware is removed from the collector every Tuesday and mailed to the lab for analysis by cold vapor atomic fluorescence. This project is sited at the Stilwell CastNet and Newkirk IMPROVE sites.

For mercury deposition data and more site information click the links below: Mercury Deposition Network