ANA EAGLE Atka Greenhouse Initiative - The Native Village of Atka proposes the ANA EAGLE Atka Greenhouse Initiative, a three-year project to establish a four-greenhouse community food-production system serving Atka, a remote Unangax̂ community of approximately 60 residents in Alaska’s central Aleutian Islands. Atka is disconnected from the road system and depends heavily on long, weather-sensitive air and marine supply chains. Fresh produce is expensive, vulnerable to transportation disruptions, and often arrives with limited remaining shelf life. The project will establish four 26-foot Growing Spaces geodesic-dome greenhouses to create durable, protected local production capacity under Atka’s demanding environmental conditions. Two greenhouses will be commissioned in Year 1 and two additional greenhouses in Year 2, followed by coordinated four-greenhouse production and operational optimization in Year 3. Greenhouse systems will include irrigation, environmental controls, supplemental lighting, dehumidification, crop-support infrastructure, and rodent-exclusion measures. Produce will be distributed through the Atka community store and other established community channels. The project will also build locally embedded operating capacity through an Agricultural Operations Manager, project coordination, hands-on technical assistance, cross-training, documented operating and maintenance procedures, integrated pest management, environmental and production monitoring, and regenerative soil and fertility practices. Crop planning and production practices will be refined using operating records, greenhouse performance, and community demand. ANA EAGLE funding will support greenhouse equipment, operations, staffing, training, supplies, travel, and other allowable project costs. Complementary non-federal resources will support site preparation, foundations, anchoring, installation, and related construction activities. By the end of the project period, Atka will have four operational greenhouse units, an established local production and distribution system, trained local operating capacity, and documented systems for continued greenhouse management. The project will increase the reliable availability of locally grown fresh food while advancing Atka’s long-term food sovereignty and food self-sufficiency.
