Partnerships result in successful backhaul project from fish camps in the Middle Kuskokwim River in 2023

by Dan Gillikin

Discussions around backhauling hazardous materials and refuse from fish camps along the Kuskokwim River have been ongoing for several years between interested parties. This summer, through financial support from Donlin Gold and partnerships with the Native Village of Napaimute and the Delta Backhaul Company, this project became a reality.

Many questions arose among the group about how cost effective, logistically feasible and if people would participate in such a project. Yet we all knew that “what goes to fish camp, stays at fish camp.” Of course, there are many good reasons for hanging on to things, like repurposing broken, worn-out items into something useful, using bits and pieces to make some critical repair or upgrade, etc. With few stores out here, people make stuff work with what they have. In the end it was decided to do a small “proof of concept” pilot project.

The success of the “small” pilot project exceeded everyone’s expectations, as evidenced by the Little Swan (Napaimute’s 80 ft. barge) pulling into Bethel fully loaded with backhaul materials that came from just eight fish camps and two remote home sites.

In addition to the dedicated, hard-working and well-trained crew safely pulling this project off, strong committed partnerships were critical to coordinate the different phases of the project and provide sufficient funding and resources to do things the proper and safe way. Projects like this represent one of the best examples of how investing in local workforce development and capacity building for Tribal Organizations can directly benefit local stakeholders and protect the environment at the same time.

Once the green light was given and funding secured, the project began where all good projects do, by reaching out to the public to gauge their interest in participating in a Backhaul Project event. This started in early spring 2023, shortly after breakup which proved to be problematic. Thick ice and high water combined to make most of the fish camps inaccessible until late spring, so we were unable to access any to get an idea of what we might be dealing with.

Initially, many folks we contacted showed little interest, thinking they had little or no hazardous waste lying around their fish camp. Once we explained that we were also willing to remove almost any refuse they might have on-site, and that we had a crew available to collect, sort, package, inventory, stage and load it on the barge, their level of interest increased.

The crew began visiting sites in mid-June, working with owners to collect and stage materials for pickup by the barge. The owners were particularly delighted once they discovered the amount of help we were providing and began finding refuse that had been long forgotten about or written off as never being removed from the sites. Old outboard motors, appliances, batteries, four-wheelers, 55-gallon drums (lots and lots of drums), roofing tin, old fish nets, tarps and assorted plastic items, electronic devices and more just kept coming as the crew dug deeper and deeper, at times literally.

Most of the materials collected could not technically be classified as hazardous but still would not have been good to have washed into the Kuskokwim River by floods or leaching into the water table. Many folks didn’t even realize the hazards of things like old nets (lead lines, wildlife entanglement), discarded batteries, motors with oil in them, e-waste or refrigerators (containing freon), represented to the environment. Fortunately, Napaimute was able to provide a crew with the appropriate training and certification, and Donlin Gold the funding to purchase supplies and equipment to properly handle any hazardous substances they encountered.

After sorting and packaging all materials, they were staged on the riverbank for pick up by the barge. The collection crew worked closely with the barge crew to load, sort and inventory materials as they came onboard for efficient disposal once they reached Bethel.

Once in Bethel, materials were offloaded and transported to their disposal locations. About half the materials were general refuse and taken to the Bethel landfill and the remaining materials were staged for Delta Backhaul Company to crush as scrap metal and loaded into conexes for recycling. Other materials including the hazardous waste was stored in conexes, properly labeled, and sent off for disposal to appropriate facilities in the Lower 48.

The project’s intent was to determine the feasibility and value of conducting this type of operation. We focused on a relatively small area (Napaimute to Kalskag) and just a few camps/sites, ten in total. The project was limited in scope in part because of barging logistics and costs associated with transit time from mid-river to Bethel and if the amount of material collected warranted the cost.

Clearly, based on the volume and nature of the refuse collected and removed from potentially contaminating the environment, it was worth it. With the proven success of this partnership, we hope that similar efforts will be undertaken in the Lower Kuskokwim River where the density of fish camps is much greater, and the logistical costs will be less.

Dan Gillikin is the Environmental Director for the Native Village of Napaimute.

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