GTC projects & programs: environmental page
[ What is IGAP | GTC IGAP | goals & successes | staff appreciation ]

We are all responsible for our environment and we are entrusted with its preservation so that our children and grandchildren can benefit in the same way we have.

The Georgetown Tribal Council IGAP progam will continue building capacity for their environmental programs, to include: watershed research, research into alternative waste disposal methods, establishment of baseline water quality data, making applications for construction of landfill, and involvement in the Kuskokwim Watershed Council.

Our projects help GTC in assessing the condition of the tribal environment, help in building tribal capacity to develop programs where needed to improve tribal health and environment, and implement programs for our members where needed to address environmental issues.

news flash!! GAP is starting to go paperless

Click here to check out “GAP Online".

The GAP Online System provides EPA grantees and Project Officers with centralized tool for creating work plans and reporting process. The designs are based on the format of the most current EPA strategic plan. GAP Online Processes are primarily performed inside GAP online with a couple of expectations: final approval of work package and grant dispersion.

GAP Online Processes:

Tasks performed “in” GAP Online

• Creating Work Plan
• Reporting Work Progress
• Negotiating Work Plan Acceptance
• Generating Summary Reports

Tasks performed “outside” GAP Online

• Final Approval of Work Package
• Dispersion of GAP Grant

Click here to open a PDF of the Tribal GAP Online User Guide

The GAP Online Tribal User Guide is a reference for Tribal Grantees and Project Officers. It provides the Tribal Grantees and Project Officers with the ability to enter their work plans. The tribal user may also update and edit the work plan prior to submitting the work plan to the Region. In addition, the tribal user may edit the work plan if requested to do so by the Regional Project Officer. The tribal user may delete the work plan, if necessary.

So check it out!

georgetown is thinking reusable bags

Plastic Bags:  Facts and Figures
Top Facts - Consumption

"The one that got away, plastic bag."

• Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.
  
• According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.
  
• According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)
  
• According to the industry publication Modern Plastics, Taiwan consumes 20 billion bags a year—900 per person.
  
• According to Australia’s Department of Environment, Australians consume 6.9 billion plastic bags each year—326 per person. An estimated .7% or 49,600,000 end up as litter each year.
   

Top Facts - Environmental Impact

• Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.
  
• Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.
  
• As part of Clean Up Australia Day, in one day nearly 500,000 plastic bags were collected.
  
• Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags. According to the BBC, one group harvests 30,000 per month.
  
• According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone "from being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78° North [latitude] to Falklands 51° South [latitude].
  
• Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.
  

Top Facts - Solutions

• In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.
  
• July 2003, ReusableBags.com goes live, advancing the mainstream adoption of reusable shopping bags.
  
• Each high quality reusable shopping bag you use has the potential to eliminate hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic bags over its lifetime.
  

mapping the heartbeat of the kuskokwim region

One of 2008 goals of the Georgetown’s Environmental Program is to map the heartbeat of the Kuskokwim Region in partnership with The Kuskokwim River Watershed Council.  The Kuskokwim River is the heartbeat of the Kuskokwim Region because it not only provides a substantial portion of subsistence food, but it also nourishes plants and other wildlife that live in the Kuskokwim area. Due to the level of dependence of the subsistence way of life that many Kuskokwim River residents require, the quality of the River water affects every aspect of life – from drinking water to the health of the wildlife that they consume.  Also, maintaining safe water quality levels is essential to ensuring that future development does not have adverse efforts to the environment.  This is especially true with the impending development of the Donlin Creek gold mine and associated economic development in the middle Kuskokwim area. 

Many villages are beginning to perform water quality analyses at various points along the River and its tributaries.  In order to gather this water quality data into one location and view it as a collective, Georgetown Tribal Council (GTC) in partnership withThe Kuskokwim River Watershed Council will create a GIS database and map. GIS (geographic information system) is a collection of computer hardware, software, and geographic data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced formation.

These water quality testing sites and data will be uploaded onto the internet for use by a widespread population. This information can be used to track the changes that occur naturally in river habitats, as well as, tracking pollution and potentially determining its origination to limit the impact on the environment.

The project has great future potential because it creates the framework for mapping all types of information villages, organizations and entities collect or currently have.  For instance, the map might eventually be used to track village profiles, environmental programs and projects, historical subsistence use areas, types of health issues or disease, and fish and wildlife populations.

This is a community wide effort and we strongly encourage all communities to participate in the project by providing their water quality data.  For more information please feel free to contact Helen Traylor at 888.274.2195 or via e-mail gtc.envc@gci.net.

for the record

IGAP - what's it for?

Indian Environmental General Assistance Program. In 1992 Congress passed the IGAP Act which authorized the EPA to provide General Assistance Program (GAP) grants to Tribal governments and intertribal consortia for planning, developing, and establishing the capability to implement environmental protection programs in Tribal communities. The goal of the program is to assist Tribes in developing the capacity to manage their own environmental protection programs which are tailored to each Tribe’s individual needs.

GTC IGAP

Georgetown Tribal Council will continue building capacity for their environmental programs, to include: watershed research, research into alternative waste disposal methods, establishment of baseline water quality data, making applications for construction of landfill, and involvement in the Kuskokwim Watershed Council.

Our projects help GTC in assessing the condition of the tribal environment, help in building tribal capacity to develop programs where needed to improve tribal health and environment, and implement programs for our members where needed to address environmental issues.

click here for more on our goals and successes