Tribal Consultation

[Violet Yeaton <vyeaton@yahoo.com>]

My name is  Violet Yeaton, I am from the village of Port Graham. Port Graham is part of the Chugach Region which consists of seven small rural villages and we are Suqpiat people.  Port Graham is located on the lower Cook Inlet and we are one of the four villages that is involved in the EPA Cook Inlet Contaminant Study that was done in 1997.  We have worked very hard along with the other participating Cook Inlet Tribes to ensure that an optimal and accurate final report was produced from this study.  Above all, we wanted to make sure that our Tribal peoples could understand the results and be able to make an approximate calculation of risk based on our own dietary patterns.  We have had on going meetings over the past four years with EPA and to date we still do not have a final Cook Inlet Contaminant Study.  There is broad interest in convening a meeting of Native stakeholders to help the different villages share their thoughts and concerns about their subsistence foods and would allow participants to develop a common position under which to work with EPA and other stakeholders.  Therefore, we would request EPA to facilitate a formal consultation of interested Cook Inlet Native Tribes.  We would like to hold the meeting as soon as possibly this fall.  Thank you for giving me this opportunity to comment regarding EPA Tribal Consultation.  I apologize if I have not offered a solution to Tribal Consultation other that continue to find channels to effectively communicate with Tribes. However, one suggestion for effective communication is to try several different methods of communication to reach Tribes for their participation. I don't think that there is one effective method, what works for one community may not work for another community. I hope this is of some assistance. Thank you