Environmental Program
OVK funds one full-time and one part-time environmental staff under the GAP program. They are supervised by the OVK Executive Director, who is supervised by the OVK Council.
OVK has been the recipient of EPA-GAP grants since October, 1998 for a total of 18 years. Under our GAP program, staff and council have received training through attending conferences such as those sponsored by EPA, Alaska Native Health Board, Alaska Forum on the Environment. Additionally, staff has also received training in Contaminant Survey and the NEPA process, Grants Management, Tribal Air Quality, GIS programming, sponsored a Train-the-Trainer workshop and attended workshops specific to Southeast environmental issues. Community members have received training and certification in Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) through 40-hour, 25-hour, and 8-hour workshops, and had the largest team in Southeast Alaska for a number of years. Most recently, we had a class in Refrigeration removal & a 24-hour HAZWOPER class.
OVK has been the recipient of EPA-GAP grants since October, 1998 for a total of 18 years. Under our GAP program, staff and council have received training through attending conferences such as those sponsored by EPA, Alaska Native Health Board, Alaska Forum on the Environment. Additionally, staff has also received training in Contaminant Survey and the NEPA process, Grants Management, Tribal Air Quality, GIS programming, sponsored a Train-the-Trainer workshop and attended workshops specific to Southeast environmental issues. Community members have received training and certification in Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) through 40-hour, 25-hour, and 8-hour workshops, and had the largest team in Southeast Alaska for a number of years. Most recently, we had a class in Refrigeration removal & a 24-hour HAZWOPER class.
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Our major back hauls include:
In 2014, we back hauled the following:
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In 2013 we shipped a connex container of batteries, coordinating with the Petersburg Indian Association.
We coordinated with OVK’s Roads crew and back hauled over 100 vehicles so far. The vehicle back haul is on hold since the community still has vehicles as well as heavy equipment to be back hauled when the weather improves. In 2011-12, we shipped out 20,000 pounds of used motor oil. We have also collected car & boat batteries and back hauled a total of two connex containers. We back hauled 18 junk vehicles, 1 old skiff, 1 old crane and misc. junk metal. In 2010, we shipped out 20,000 pounds of used motor oil. |
We have yearly community-wide clean-ups and try to open our hazardous waste building periodically except in winter. We ship out our Household Hazardous Waste every 2 or 3 years. In the 16 years of our GAP program, OVK has provided community education through:
- Household Green Clean kits for every household and Green Clean bags for households that have boats,
- culturally relevant signs and environmental flyers/handouts
- community education through tribal newsletters and/or monthly updates to the community
- participation in local Fairs Festivals, Bike rodeos, kids fishing derbys
- education activities with the youth both at the school and outside of school.
- Education activities with the youth at our tribe’s annual Culture Camp