By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Sitka Tribe of Alaska Environmental Research Lab has received a top national award from the Harvard University Honoring Nations program.
The lab was one of six tribal programs named as recipients of the 2021 award. The Honoring Nations awards is a national program that “identifies, shares and celebrates outstanding examples of excellence in tribal government,” the presenter said at the Nov. 10 ceremony.
STAERL was selected from among 70 applicants from 45 tribal nations and 5 tribal consortia, a joint news release from Honoring Nations and STA said.
Jeff Feldpausch, STA resource protection department director, was pleased STA and the research lab were recognized for their program that tests shellfish from across Southeast Alaska for toxins, shares the results, and trains young tribal citizens in data collection and analysis.
“It was quite an honor to be recognized in the Harvard Honoring Nations program,” Feldpausch told the Sentinel.
Woody Widmark, STA Tribal Council chairman, said: “I am so happy our staff were recognized and it is well deserved. Congratulations to the resource protection department staff. I also want to thank the other partner tribes that are collaborating with us to ensure safe harvesting for all citizens throughout Southeast.”
STA built the lab in 2015 and created the testing program as a way to give shellfish harvesters around Southeast a way to safely access the subsistence resource. The program assesses the presence of biotoxins, which occur naturally in shellfish stocks on Southeast beaches.
The lab now serves a coalition of 17 Southeast tribes which send samples to the Sitka lab for testing. Lab staff communicate the results of the testing through a number of platforms and Native networks to provide information associated with shellfish consumption.
It’s the second time the tribe has been in the national Harvard program in recent years. In 2018, it was recognized for its Indian Child Welfare Act partnership.
Feldpausch said he had applied in the past and was encouraged to apply again when Honoring Nations staff members were in Sitka reviewing the work of the social services department three years ago.
He said he believes the lab has made a difference in the lives of shellfish subsistence harvesters around Southeast.
“It started as a way to test when we saw an increase in the prevalence of biotoxins,” he said. He and others on the staff wanted to offer a solution, not just a general message of: “Don’t eat the shellfish; it might kill you.”
In addition to improving safety and access to shellfish resources, the program also has components of sovereignty and education as well.
“Statehood and ANCSA separated tribes from the land and resources,” Feldpausch said. “We do biomass assessments on the beaches, we provide testing for shellfish on those beaches.” He added that if the testing results in an over-harvest of one beach, tribes can choose to look for other beaches for testing and possible harvesting.
The state has management authority on subsistence resources, but the tribes also play a role on a practical level, Feldpausch said.
The STA lab uses a Receptor Binding Assay to determine the concentration of paralytic shellfish toxins in a sample. The news release about the award said the STA program promotes tribal sovereignty through the use of science to adapt traditional knowledge.
“The Native people of Sitka and Southeast Alaska have eaten shellfish since time immemorial,” the news release says. “They have passed knowledge through the generations about how and when to harvest clams and other species to avoid the harmful algal blooms that cause shellfish poisoning.”
But traditional information is becoming less reliable with the changes in the natural environment.
Kari Lanphier, who manages the STA Environmental Research Lab, commented: “In a changing climate, we need to adapt our traditional ecological knowledge about natural toxins in our shellfish because the ground is shifting beneath our feet. That’s true not only here, but across Indian Country.”
Award honorees are chosen based on the effectiveness of their program, their significance to tribal sovereignty, cultural relevance, transferability, and sustainability. (Lanphier’s presentation at the virtual awards ceremony was “Sovereignty through Science in Lingit and Haida Aani.”)
More information about the STA lab is available at seator.org/Lab/.
Lanphier’s presentation of the program at the Honoring Nations award ceremony can be viewed at minute 37 of the Youtube recording:
youtube.com/watch?v=uHCgh0WdYvU.
STA is a federally recognized tribal government under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act that serves more than 4,400 citizens of Tlingit, Haida, Aleut, and Tsimshian heritage. STA operates within the City and Borough of Sitka, Alaska.
