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) ------- |