ISAR | Special Programs

During the two-day orientation (172kb PDF), ISAR introduced the Russian delegates to different aspects of the environmental decision-making process. After attending orientations, both the Russian and Lithuanian delegates attended unique eight-day exchange programs to learn about the environmental obstacles and solutions of their host communities where delegates also enjoyed cultural and host family experiences.

In the Orientation, the delegates were successfully introduced to how civil society and government respectively work to protect the environment with participation of guest speakers including Marianne Horinko, former acting Director of the US EPA, and Bill Futrell, former president of the Sierra Club. During the exchanges, the delegates met local governmental officials, nonprofits, businesses, and citizens and learned about their work to protect the environment. The issues ranged from oil spill prevention to nuclear safety and from watershed management to indigenous environmental issues. Both hosts and Russian delegates spoke delightedly about the positive experiences of the exchanges. In particular, one delegate in the Heartland All Species exchange said, “This trip was the high point of my life and I am very pleased to have come.”

“Slide show of the 2004 Open World Environmental Exchange for Russian environmentalists” View Slide Show 

• Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (Augusta, Georgia) - Nuclear Safety, Environmental Health and Environmental Justice. Highlight: Delegates had a private meeting with the City of Augusta’s Mayor, Bob Young, to discuss environmental policy.
• Earth Island Institute: Baikal Watch (San Francisco, California) - National Parks Management, Ecotourism, and Environmental Law. Highlight: Delegates had various meetings with park officials at Point Reyes National Seashore, Golden Gate Recreation Area (Muir Woods) and Anyo Nuevo State Park and discussed the role of parks in environmental education.
• Ecologia (Middlebury, Vermont) - Alternative Energy: Public Participation and NGO Capacity Building; and Recycling and Waste Management. Highlight: Delegates visited with Bill Sessions, a US Federal District Judge (one of two in Vermont), in his chambers where he discussed a controversial environmental impact assessment decision. In addition, Bill Sessions arranged for the delegation to attend a naturalization ceremony.
• Ecologia (Middlebury, Vermont) - Lithuania Program: NGO Development Highlight: Meetings at the Vermont Forum on Sprawl, Vermont Alliance of Non-Profit Organizations, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, Northeast Organic Farmers Association and Northern Forest Alliance gave the delegates the opportunity to discuss strategies and tactics for combining efforts and resources toward a common goal. Linas Vainus, an Open World delegate, summarized it best by saying: “In Vermont, much of your success depends on the trust you’ve built through working relationships. This is something that we need to improve among ourselves.”
• Heartland All Species Project (Kansas City, Missouri) - Environmental Education and Community Building. Highlight: Holly Hughs, an artist, introduced the delegates about her community building projects where she visits in communities around the world and creates community art with village or neighborhood residents out of used or recycled material.
• Pacific Environment(Anchorage, Alaska) - Indigenous Peoples' Exchange (special late October exchange). See below for special description of this unique exchange.
• Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council (Valdez, Alaska) - Oil Spill Prevention and Response, Handling and Transportation of Crude Oil and Petroleum Products. Highlight: Delegates met with representatives from Seariver (shipper for Exxon), Alaska Tanker Company (shipper for British petroleum) and Polar Tankers (shipper for Conoco Phillips) and discussed shipment of oil.
• Tahoe-Baikal Institute (Lake Tahoe, California) - Watershed Management, Sustainable Resource Management and Wastewater Management (August and September exchanges). Highlight: Delegates visited the UC Davis Tahoe Research Group’s (TRG) John Le Conte research vessel.

Delegates: The delegations included four indigenous peoples plus one facilitator from Russia Far East - one from Chukotka (Chuvonits), one from Koryakia (Koryak), and two from Kamchatka (Itelmen). The group included a teacher of Koryak language, a reindeer herder, financial manager of the Kamchatka League of Independent Experts, and the Deputy Chair of the Association of Indigenous Populations of the North.

Anchorage: Russian delegates spent time attending the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) Annual Convention (more than 3,000 Alaska native participants) to discuss critical health, environmental, political and economic issues affecting native communities. The delegates were publicly introduced at the convention and able to speak with other Alaskan native participants, visit the native arts fairs, museums and organizations, and attend native dance performances.

Also, the delegates met with a number of native organizations working on fisheries management, native land use rights, and subsistence lifestyles of Alaskan natives.

Cultural Experience: The delegates lived with American host families in Anchorage and celebrated Halloween.

Native Villages: The Chiefs of the native villages of Chickaloon and Eklutna took a day each to show the delegates around their village area, operations, schools, land use, and environmental works.

Bethel: The delegates traveled to Bethel for two days. Bethel is on the Kuskokwim River in Southwest Alaska. Bethel’s subsistence way of life is probably the most intact of any region in Alaska, yet its villages are accessible and remain in good communication with Anchorage.

AVCP: The delegates had the opportunity to visit with the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP), the largest of the 12 regional Native non-profit organizations in Alaska, which coordinates 56 federally recognized tribes. The delegates met Myron Naneng, President of AVCP, who spoke to the delegates about the AVCP organization and environmental and subsistence livelihood activities. Mr. Naneng, who spent two days guiding the delegates throughout Bethel, visiting Yupik language immersion schools and the school district superintendent, a polling station (for election day), healthcare facilities, the water treatment plant, the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge office, and a native healthcare corporation.

Debriefing: During the debriefing, the delegates were unanimously enthusiastic about the exchange. Leonid Sharypov hoped to continue to work with Alaska organizations with help of ISAR and PE to have a reindeer herding exchange using the Bering Sea as the common bond. Yulia Vasilyeva said that she would like to bring a group of young native dancers from Kamchatka for a native festival in Alaska in March “so that we can impress on the Kamchatkan native children the values of native peoples so that they study more about indigenous peoples.” Oksana Moiseyeva said that it was important to meet US native organizations working on salmon preservation and hoped to work further with these new contacts. Yelena Popova was enthused about the lessons she learned about native language immersion schools so that she can continue to improve her work teaching the Koryak language and culture.

Please contact Do Lee for any further questions.