oEPA
r Superfuncl
Redevelopment
Initiative
Celebrating Success:
Tar Creek (Ottawa County)
Quapaw, Oklahoma
"Our goal is to make this land useful and
productive again. We live here and we
care about the outcomes."
John Berrey, Quapaw Tribal Chairman
For more information, please contact
Melissa Friedland at
friedland.melissa(fl>epa.gov | (703) 603-8864
or
Frank Awisato at
awisato.frank(5>epa.gov | (703) 603-8949
In Ottawa County, Oklahoma, collaboration among federal,
state and tribal governments has enabled the Quapaw Tribe of
Oklahoma to preserve a historically significant part of the Tar
Creek Superfund site (the Site).
The Site is located in the Tri-State Mining District, which spans
parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Since the mid-1800s,
the district produced large amounts of lead and zinc. Decades of
production, mining and milling activities resulted in large areas
of contaminated land and water. Due to potential risks to human
health and the environment, EPA added the Site to the Superfund
program's National Priorities List in 1983. EPA then led a series
of targeted removal actions to ensure that people could continue
to live, work and farm safely in the area. To this day, EPA and its
partners continue to clean up the Site.
One of EPA's partners, the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma,
successfully cleaned up the Catholic 40 site, a 40-acre area with
significant cultural and historic meaning for the Quapaw Tribe.
The Catholic 40 site contains remnants of a Catholic church
building, a cemetery and a boarding school that date to 1893.
Members of the Quapaw Tribe attended school and services at
these facilities. The church and boarding school closed in 1927,
and the property was returned to the Quapaw Tribe in 1975.
Hie Quapaw Tribe Environmental Office is leading the cleanup
effort. This is the first National Priorities List site cleanup led by a
Native American tribe. Established in 1997 with EPA assistance,
the Office built its technical and operational capacities over
time, including establishment of the Quapaw Services Authority,
which hires Quapaw tribal members and oversees construction
activities. In 2012, the Quapaw Tribe signed a cooperative
agreement with EPA, confirming that the tribe would lead
cleanup of the Catholic 40 site.
Starting in December 2013, workers excavated 108,000 tons
of contaminated mining waste for off-site disposal. Workers
preserved historic structures, artifacts and landscape features
during the cleanup. Recovered artifacts are now protected at the
tribal museum in Oklahoma. The artifacts and historic structures
will provide archeological, educational and historic preservation
opportunities in the future. The Quapaw Tribe, in cooperation with
EPA and the State of Oklahoma, continue planning, designing and
leading cleanup activities at other contaminated areas of the Site.
July 2015
The Quapaw Services Authority removes
contamination at the Site. (Source: QTE0)

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