Project Hope, Unalaska

A One Health research initiative in conjunction with the Qawalangin Tribe

About

This project specifically asks what the role of local military sites is in contamination of subsistence food resources on Unalaska. Project Hope was initiated by the Qawalangin Tribe and City of Unalaska to find community-centered solutions to sustainably manage contaminant exposure across the military sites of Unalaska.

We hope to provide useful information to subsistence users on where safe harvests can occur, determine sites of highest concern for remediation, and preserve subsistence food resources for generations to come.

Are military sites on Unalaska contaminating subsistence foods?

Contact us to find out more.


Previous work on St. Lawrence found that fish from military sites remain contaminated with PCBs

Even after remediation, contaminants from FUD sites remain a potential health threat to local residents – in this case, Yupik people who had no influence over site selection and use by the US military (von Hippel et al., 2018).

Male fish collected from the Suqi River indicate exposure to estrogenic contaminants such as PCBs. Some fish also showed hypothryroid condition (von Hippel et al., 2018).