Solid Waste Solutions in Rural Alaska::
Additional Success Stories from Rural Alaska:

Agdaagux Tribe of King Cove Environmental Department

Contact:
   Desirae Roehl
   907/497-2648
   des_atcenvironmental@yahoo.com

The Agdaagux Tribe Environmental Department has been extremely successful over the last three years in developing their program to make a difference in protecting the health of the environment and the residents of King Cove. Desirae Roehl, Charly Bendixen, Sunshine Gould, and Joyce Gould have worked together to advance environmental public education, promote sound scientific practices in managing natural resources in King Cove, and collaborate with the many entities needed to successfully implement environmental projects in rural Alaska.

The Agdaagux Tribe Environmental Department has fostered coordination and cooperation among professional, scientific, educational, and non-profit organizations having leadership responsibilities for Alaska's environment and natural resources by facilitating the development of a comprehensive community environmental plan. This plan was developed over many meetings in collaboration with city council, community members, school representatives, and local businesses. Ms. Roehl and her staff's recycling efforts to collect aluminum, paper, plastic, and cardboard, lead-acid batteries, and household batteries required cooperation with school, businesses, and community members. Their mission to eliminate plastic shopping bags in the community of King Cove included meetings between the Agdaagux Tribe, City of King Cove, Youth Litter Patrol, and the community. The Agdaagux Tribe Environmental Department has consistently ensured that all parties are included when an environmental issue needs addressing.

Projects include: used oil storage program complete with tanks, a safe oil filter burner and educational materials, ink jet and toner cartridge recycling, household battery collection (over 8 gallons in the first 5 months), creation of watershed maps to help identify water resources with potential threats, collecting water quality data in water sites with potential threats, providing baseline data and identifying current problems, creation of a comprehensive community environmental plan, creation of a recycling plan and a recycling center to be opened when connexes arrive (anticipated December 2005), ordered household and business collection receptacles for recyclables which will be distributed free-of-charge, working to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags which results in litter and health hazards to wildlife, ordered bear-proof/wind-proof dumpsters which will arrive in December 2005, hosted a solid waste training for all Aleutian Pribilof Tribes to attend and work collaboratively on larger issues.