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Zender Environmental Hosting Water And Sewage Workshop In Yup'ik At Alaska Forum On The Environment

Bethel water and sewer pipes.
Adrian Wagner
/
KYUK

An Anchorage environmental consulting firm wants to connect Alaska villages with federal and state solid waste and wastewater programs more effectively by conducting its training session entirely in the Yup'ik language. 

The Tuesday morning workshop at the annual Alaska Forum on the Environment will be moderated by Evelyn Angus, of Chefornak, an environmental scientist at Zender Environmental. Executive Director Lynn Zender said, "It only made sense," because the firm serves so many Yup'ik speaking villages, and so many villagers come to the Forum. The workshop will concentrate on how tribes, municipalities, and non-profit corporations can apply for and administer grant programs for solid waste and wastewater.

The Environmental Protection Agency is a major participant in the Forum, but this year it was hit by an Executive Order from the Trump Administration that restricted travel. Forum Executive Director Kurt Eilo, a former EPA official, said Monday that this order did force a number of agency officials to cancel their travel plans, but the Forum worked with the EPA's Seattle Regional Office to make sure the necessary technical personnel required for the training sessions could make it to Anchorage. Eilo also cautioned agency participants to refrain from any sort of political statements and activities that could be construed as "lobbying."