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Director’s Report: February, 2010

Summary:

February’s activities focused on attending the Alaska Forum on the Environment, preparing for upcoming projects, and continuing to enjoy the convenience of being able to make weekly freighting trips by truck between Napaimute and Bethel.

The Alaska Forum on the Environment (AFE):

NVN’s Director, Environmental Coordinator, and Grant writer attended the AFE held in Anchorage, February 8-12. The AFE is a huge gathering of villages, governmental agencies, private companies, and others concerned with or wanting to learn more about environmental issues from all across Alaska.

This year Napaimute had the honor of being one of the presenters. Originally, we were to give a presentation on our Briquette Making Demonstration Project, but since we only received the equipment in mid-December due to the vendor in Los Angeles not understanding the difficulties of transportation in Rural Alaska, we gave a presentation on that very subject:"The Difficulties of Transportation Logistics in Rural Alaska"

Napaimute’s presentation was well received by those in the audience from Rural Alaska and we hope that it was educational for those from more urban areas – especially vendors that we give our money to.

Beyond our own presentation, we were also able to attend other presentations on environmental issues of particular interest to Napaimute and Alaskans in general such as:

• Mineral Development (mining) and the NEPA Process
• Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Development
• Calculating Fee Schedules for Solid Waste Management (charging for dump use in villages)
• Invasive Species

The Invasive Species issue was very interesting as options for importing vast amounts of firewood into our region from different areas of Alaska are currently being considered.

Other Business in the Big City:

Time in Anchorage is always valuable for getting other business done for Napaimute. Sometimes it is still more effective to be able to talk to people and look at potential purchases in person as opposed to over the phone or on the Internet.

The following is a summary of some additional things we were able to get done while in Anchorage for the AFE:

Alternative Energy System for NVN Buildings:

A couple of years ago, we had Susitna Energy Systems come to Napaimute to do an assessment of what was needed to provide an alternative energy system to power NVN's buildings.

Our goal was to implement alternative energy early on in our community's development before we get too addicted to expensive fossil-fuel electricity generation.

With an assessment in place, we then knew what was needed and how much it would cost to set up an alternative energy system in Napaimute. With this information we could the start searching for funding.

In 2009, under the Obama Adminstration's Economic Stimulus Program, American Indian/Alaska Native Tribes were awarded funding for energy projects. Although, Napaimute's funding amount was low ($ is based on population), this valuable award allowed us to purchase the key components of an alternative energy system that would provide a solid foundation for the eventual "plug & play" of our other local energy resources: wind, solar, and hydro-kinetic power.

Being able to see the equipment first hand while in Anchorage really drove home the importance of this investment to Napaimute's future energy & community development. We met several times with Susitna Energy Representatives getting familiar with the equipment, and working out transportation details (shipping 8 - 280 lb. batteries to a remote rural village is no small thing!).

Our goal is to have all of the equipment arrive in Aniak by mid-March so that we can, hopefully, still transport to Napaimute via truck. If we lose the truck road, transport by snow machine should still be doable.

This is what was purchased from Susitna Energy:

• Large capacity batteries
• A high quality inverter
• 9 KW diesel generator that will automatically start to charge the batteries when they get low
• All the associated installation supplies

With the basic system in place, our long-term goal will be to continue working to implement each of Napaimute's local energy resources to further reduce our dependence on conventional generator power.

This solid foundation will make the implementation of Napaimute's wind, solar, and hydro-kinetic resources completely feasible.

Water Pump Research:

With so many water wells being drilled in Napaimute in 2009 & 2010 we took some time while in Anchorage to research the best type of water pump for our situation:

Relatively shallow wells on individual home sites powered by small generators.

This is what we came up with:

A high quality, compact pump, powered by 115 V with a "soft start". Generator requirements are less than 2 KW.

This pump is also available at www.backwoodssolar.com

Cell Phone Service for Napaimute:

Knowing that we are able to receive an unreliable cell signal from Chuathbaluk in Napaimute, we have continued knocking on GCI's door to see what can be done to establish good cell service to our community.

We attempted to set up a meeting in Anchorage with GCI's Rural Communications people, but couldn't connect so spent some time researching the cost of purchasing our own repeater to receive, boost, and rebroadcast the cell signal throughout Napaimute.

The technicians at Frigid North were very helpful showing what was needed to do this for distances up to a mile for about $800. This would get cell service to the orginal village and down to the airport, but not to the home sites in the Aqvaucaq Subdivision. Maybe a good start. Range can be extended through additional investment.

Since returning home, GCI has expressed a willingness to install a repeater in Napaimute if we are willing to share in the cost of installation.

Currently we are waiting for a cost estimate from GCI to see if we can give this option further consideration.

Still Trucking:

The truck road on the River between Bethel & Napaimute held up through February. As of this report we are going on 10 weeks of having an established ice road to the Middle Kuskokwim from the Lower River.

We continued to take advantage of this convenience by making weekly freight trips, moving NVN freight easier and cheaper.

Freight we moved in February included:

Over 100 pallets for the 2010 Firewood Business (donated by Frontier Alaska)

A Surplus Military 6-wheel drive flatbed truck with a boom mounted on the back (donated by Courtney's Auto) good for our logging operations.

Battery acid for our alternative energy system

A Runway Lighting System for Napaimute's Airfield (UAA Demonstration Project)

More Firewood


Napaimute Homesteaders have also been busy moving their own building materials and equipment up the River.

Stock Piling:

NVN employees took advantage of some of the relatively mild weather in February to begin stock piling timber for the sawmill & firewood business. Warm temps and longer days allowed for us to get a head start on pulling felled trees from the airport and dump sites to be stock piled at our wood processing area.

We will dedicate more time to this as spring gets nearer and the days get better.

Related to this, at our February Meeting, the Council approved the purchase of a firewood conveyor to improve the efficiency of producing firewood packages. This is another item we hope to move by truck to Napaimute before spring so we can get a good head start on producing firewood this season.

Closing:

That's the Report for February, although there were other important items considered and approved by our Council such as the 638 Contract with BLM for the Survey of Napaimute's ANCSA 14c3 Land Selections and the purchase of a piece of basic airport maintenance equipment.

We will report more on these items next month.

Thank you.