Chickaloon Native Village - 2010 Project

NOTE: Project pages are being updated regularly to reflect changes, if any; however, some of the information may be dated.

Summary

Chickaloon Native Village's (CNV's) Uk'e koley Project will conduct a feasibility study to assess the potential of producing green energy to heat and power all tribally owned buildings. Chickaloon's project has multiple locations, all of which are tribally owned. The tribe has office locations spread throughout Sutton and Palmer, Alaska, along the Glenn Highway, as well as a small, low-income housing development in Sutton, Alaska. The feasibility study will be conducted at 5 locations, for a total of 14 buildings. The following buildings are included in the feasibility study: a health and social services department government building, a school, low-income housing units, and multiple tribal program offices.

Project Description

Background

Chickaloon Native Village (Nay'dini'aa Na' meaning: a log across the river) is a resilient, innovative, and culturally rich (Dena') Ahtna Athabascan tribe, located in Sutton, one of the most picturesque communities in south central Alaska. CNV is located in south central Alaska, approximately a 90-minute drive from Anchorage, Alaska's largest city.

The Chickaloon Village Environmental Stewardship Department (CVESD), formed in 1995 with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding, operates under the direction of CVTC. CVESD applies traditional knowledge and modern science to promote the health of living things and their environments within the Chickaloon Traditional Territory. CVESD envisions a future with functioning ecosystems, flourishing fish and wildlife populations, and a healthy, prosperous community. Current and future projects focus on the restoration of what has been lost due to industrial development in the area, and the preservation and protection of what is still intact for future generations. The focus is on sustainability, which is defined by the tribe as living in such a way that the current generation's needs are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. CVTC is continually evolving the approach in terms of ensuring that offices, projects, programs, and future developments are sustainable by the tribal definition of sustainability.

Project Objectives

The tribe's long-term energy vision for CNV is to produce enough clean, renewable energy to power and heat all existing buildings and rental housing units, and become a green energy supplier to the regional utility company. The long-term energy goal is to protect, enhance, and restore ancestral lands, water, and air and ensure respectful, healthy development by reducing reliance on fossil fuels. The goal for this project is to conduct a feasibility study to assess the energy uses, loads, and efficiencies for all current tribally owned and operated buildings and rental housing units in order to determine whether it makes economic and environmental sense to install renewable energy systems on each building to reduce carbon footprints and decrease dependence on fossil fuels.

Scope

The following will be completed as part of the project:

• Conduct an energy audit documenting current energy consumption and heating loads, including a pollution audit to measure carbon dioxide emissions associated with current energy systems.
• Determine the energy systems best suitable for tribal needs based on the availability of natural renewable energy resources in the region.
• Develop a written plan to install renewable energy systems in all of CNV's tribally owned buildings.
• Train the CNV Uk'ekoley project manager through formal and informal methods to build the capacity of the tribe to manage new green energy systems.

Project Location

Chickaloon Native Village, Nay'dini'aa Na', is located in Sutton, one of the most picturesque communities in south central Alaska, about a 90-minute drive from Anchorage, along the Glenn Highway Scenic Byway. Surrounded by snow-capped mountains, glaciers, and lush boreal forests, the tribe has occupied this area for the past 10,000 years. The tribe's traditional homelands cover a vast area that is roughly bounded by the Talkeetna Mountains to the north, the Copper River to the east, the Chugach National Forest to the south, and Cook Inlet/Gulf of Alaska to the west. The land in this region is striking in its beauty, so much so that the highway that passes through CNV was recently declared a National Scenic Byway.

Project Status

The project is complete. For details, see the final report.

The project was competitively selected under the Tribal Energy Program's fiscal year 2009 funding opportunity announcement, "Assessing the Feasibility of Renewable Energy Development and Energy Efficiency Deployment on Tribal Lands," and started in January 2010.

The November 2009, October 2010, and November 2011 project status reports provide more information.