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Center for Environmentally Threatened Communities
We support communities to address environmental threats and achieve their vision for a safe, healthy, and sustainable future.
Newsletter Issue 31, January 2020
Five Things You Should Know From This Issue
- Alaska communities need more site-specific, practical science to inform community planning.
- Rapid riverine erosion in Huslia, Alaska is expected to impact water and sanitation infrastructure this summer, resulting in approximately $2 million in damage and loss of service to 70 homes.
- Bonita Barr is a tireless advocate for improving the life, health, and safety of Deering, Alaska.
- The Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Resilience grant program is now open.
- Bethel Search and Rescue is using new techniques and technologies to monitor ice road conditions that connect communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region.
Community Profile: Huslia, Alaska
Aerial view of Huslia, Alaska showing sections of the riverbank that were lost to rapid erosion in 2018. Erosion is expected to impact water and sanitation infrastructure this summer, resulting in approximately $2 million in damage and loss of service to 70 homes. Credit: Huslia Village.
Challenge:
Huslia, Alaska is known for its role in Alaskan dog racing history. Now the community is in a new kind of race: chasing funding to relocate infrastructure threatened by riverine erosion. The community sits on the north bank of the Koyukuk River in interior Alaska. Due to erosion, 80 feet of land was lost in 2018 and nearly 100 feet was lost in 2019. The erosion rate is increasing due to ice jams, permafrost melt, vehicle traffic on the beach and the bank, and boat traffic. Although the community has moved homes away from the river, power lines, water service lines, and sewer service lines remain threatened and are expected to be impacted in 2020. According to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) Huslia Project Manager, if water and sanitation infrastructure is impacted, total damages would be approximately $2 million and service to 70 homes would be jeopardized.
Solution:
The community has the necessary equipment and skills to move homes. It takes roughly one week per home. They have moved nine homes away from the eroding riverbank since 2014. Funding for recent moves came from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Emergency Watershed Protection Program. In 2019, the Tribe also received $50,000 from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which was used to hire local workers to cut trees and place them along the riverbank to slow the erosion rate. First Chief Carl Burgett reported that this emergency measure likely slowed the erosion, but a longer-lasting solution is needed. In August 2019, the Denali Commission awarded ANTHC a $55,000 grant to design modifications to the water distribution system assuming sections of the current system are lost to erosion. The modifications are expected to cost $800,000. However, typical water and sanitation funding sources do not fund this type of work, which means Huslia will have to search for and pursue other funding opportunities that will support this need.
Alaskan Communities Need Site-Specific, Practical Science to Inform Adaptation Planning
The majority of Tribal environmental professionals at recent trainings shared that current Western science is not useful for their community planning. Credit: ANTHC.
A recent survey of environmental planning training participants from the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) and ANTHC found that current western science is not useful for Tribal adaptation planning in Alaska. According to survey respondents, the regional scale of most climate science is not effective for their community planning, is difficult to understand, and is hard to access. Seventy-five percent of the survey respondents agreed that more detailed and locally-specific western climate science is needed for their adaptation planning efforts. How can this need be addressed? Research organizations at the state and federal levels can shift their focus toward data and tools that support communities.
Solutions Spotlight, Bonita Barr
Bonita Barr is a tireless advocate for Deering, Alaska. Credit: Bonita Barr.
Aerial view of Deering, Alaska. Credit: Native Village of Deering.
Bonita and other community members placed sandbags along the road in 2013, which failed to prevent flooding. Credit: Native Village of Deering.
Bonita Barr, or Bon for short, is not prone to sitting still. To support her community of Deering, Alaska, she has taken on more roles than you can count on two hands. She was nominated in 1997 to serve on the Deering Tribal Council. After initially declining the nomination, her uncle urged her to run, telling her that it was time for the younger generation to step up and lead. She was elected to the Council that year and went on to serve several terms, including a term as president. Since then she has served as the transportation coordinator, City of Deering council member, tribal administrator, and has been a board member with the Northwest Arctic Native Association (NANA) since 2014 and secretary since 2019.
Deering, with a population of 140 people, is located on a spit where the Inmachuk River flows into Kotzebue Sound. Accelerating coastal erosion and flooding threaten community infrastructure. Critically, the airport access road is washed out every fall due to storm-surge induced flooding, preventing community members from accessing the airport. Bonita has led the effort to design and construct the West Airport road, which will be built on higher ground to the west of the current route and be protected from flooding. Since 2013, she has met with funding agencies, worked through procurement processes, oversaw the design process, and communicated with the Department of Transportation (DOT). With the design completed, funding is expected from DOT in 2021.
Bonita is motivated by her family and a desire to support the health and safety of her people. Whether that is serving as a volunteer for the Search and Rescue and Fire Department or working with community members to place sandbags along the airport access road to prevent flooding, her life is dedicated to ensuring her community is safe for future generations.
Funding Opportunities
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Tribal Resilience Program
This program supports all federally recognized Tribes to build resilience to harmful environmental trends that impact Tribal resources, economies, infrastructure, health, and safety. The program provides funding for adaptation planning; ocean and coastal management planning; capacity building; and planning for relocation, managed retreat, and protect-in-place activities.
- Eligibility: All federally recognized Tribes
- Deadline: March 2, 2020
- To read the Request for Proposals, click here.
Upcoming Events
Alaska Forum on the Environment
The Alaska Forum on the Environment (AFE) is a statewide gathering of environmental professionals from government agencies, non-profit and for-profit businesses, community leaders, Alaskan youth, and community Elders. AFE offers technical sessions on topics including energy, environmental regulations, solid waste, climate change, and more.
- Date: February 10, 2020 – February 14, 2020
- Location: Anchorage, Alaska
- To register, click here.
Tribal Adaptation Training Series
A series of eight webinars throughout 2020 will provide participants with the tools, templates, case studies, and other resources to create comprehensive adaptation plans. The trainings will build Tribal professionals' knowledge and skills in adaptation planning.
- Next webinar is scheduled for February 18, 2020, 9:00 am – 10:30 am
- To register, click here.
- For more information, contact Shasta Gaughen.
News Roundup
Holiday Storm in Kivalina: A strong winter storm at the end of 2019 resulted in strong winds and blizzard conditions, damaging roofs in Kivalina, Alaska.
Alaska’s Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC) is Rethinking How the Circumpolar North Builds: CCHRC, a non-profit created to develop building technologies for the circumpolar region, is working in partnership with Alaskan communities to develop sustainable housing in a time of constant change.
Search and Rescue Volunteers Adapt to Warmer Winters: Warmer winters have made the ice roads that connect rural Alaska communities less safe, leading groups such as Bethel Search and Rescue to take new measures to protect residents.
About the Center for Environmentally Threatened Communities
The goal of the Center for Environmentally Threatened Communities (CETC) is to support rural Alaskan communities experiencing infrastructure impacts associated with flooding, erosion, and permafrost degradation. The team does this primarily through grant writing, technical assistance, and project coordination.
ETC@anthc.org | (907) 729-4521 | www.anthc.org/cetc | 4500 Diplomacy Drive, Suite 561, Anchorage, AK 99508
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