Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Panniqtuuq (Feb 18/02) - Hunters and trappers are preparing to clean up Cumberland Sound's camps.

Moe Keenainak, the manager of the Panniqtuq Hunters and Trappers Association, said last week the federal government has supplied $18,739 to build and install incinerators in outpost camps around the sound.

Garbage left behind by hunters and campers will be burned. That means the waste won't have to be hauled back through the sound to be thrown away in the hamlet's landfill.

"We applied to EcoAction for funding ... and received a fax from our member of Parliament saying we got the funding," said Keenainak. "That's great."

EcoAction is a community funding program that gets its dollars from Environment Canada. The initiative helps local non-profit organizations plan and carry out environmental projects.

Keenainak said the funding will be used for two separate projects. The first would see three medium-sized incinerators built in the community and hauled by qamutik out to camps in Cumberland Sound.

""We'll go to the old campsites first and clean up and then take the incinerators to the outpost camps," explained Keenainak.

"All around Cumberland Sound there's garbage where there's old camps. It has to be cleaned up," he said.

The incinerators will be built immediately and hauled to the sites prior to spring thaw.

The second stage of the project involves garbage at two nearby fishing lakes. Keenainak said they were regularly used by the community and need to be cleaned up this summer.

Signs will also be installed that ask campers and fishers to take their garbage with them.

Radio programs are being broadcast to promote awareness of the litter problem and to ask people to stop polluting the environment.

Six people will be hired to help out with the project. The hamlet came through with an additional $11,000 to help with costs.

"It's our land. We have to take care of our own back yard basically."