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 33, March 2020

Four Things You Should Know From This Issue

1. The spread of the coronavirus disease is delaying resilience efforts across Alaska.
2. Students from Newtok, Alaska traveled to Anchorage, Alaska to perform the play “Before the Land Eroded,” which shares stories of the community’s relocation.
3. Noatak, Alaska is in a “really bad predicament” and is taking steps to address permafrost thaw and erosion impacts to homes, the airport, water treatment plant and other critical community infrastructure.
4. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has announced this year’s National Coastal Resilience Fund grant program. $31 million is available for projects that protect coastal communities and enhance surrounding fish and wildlife habitat.

Recent Events

Coronavirus Disease Impacts Resilience Efforts of Alaska Native Communities

The response to COVID-19 has become our collective highest priority and has appropriately delayed resilience efforts across Alaska. Community meetings on relocation planning, transferring land for managed retreats, and many other topics are on hold. As we begin to enter the busy summer construction and fieldwork season, the ability to transport supplies, collect data, and advance construction projects on schedule remains to be seen. 

Students from Newtok, Alaska Perform “Before the Land Eroded”

“Our culture is beautiful // We take care of nature, and it takes care of us. //  It provides us food, like moose, seal, fish, and edible veggies and fruits… // Our culture is beautiful // But we have so much to learn”

- Martha Kasaiuli, poet and Newtok resident

Students from Newtok and Mertarvik, Alaska traveled to Anchorage to perform a new play that weaves together stories from the community with traditional Yup’ik dancing. Credit: Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC).

Two taryaqvak (king salmon) swam to center stage. Their scales, made of sequin sashes from Jo-Ann Fabrics, shimmered under the lights. The taryaqvak looked out to a packed house at Alaska Pacific University’s auditorium and began to tell a story about their home: “Newtok. The rustling of the grass. Beautiful. It’s so beautiful.” The actors were middle and high school students from Newtok and Mertarvik, Alaska. Newtok is a village in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in the process of relocating to Mertarvik, where the land is high, dry, and safe. The play, written by Ty Defoe (Giizhig), Martha Kasaiuli, Marleah Makpiaq LaBelle, and X’unei Lance Twitchell, weaves together stories from Newtok’s elders and other community members. Throughout their week in Anchorage, the students learned from Alaska Native artist mentors to strengthen their voices as writers, actors, photographers, and yuraq’ers (Yup’ik dancers). On performance night, with the auditorium full and 200 others tuned in on Facebook Live, the student actors proudly declared, “We were here. We are here. We will be here.”

Community Profile: Noatak, Alaska

A large crack in the floor of the water treatment plant caused by a settling foundation due to permafrost melt in Noatak, Alaska causes the uneven floor that can be seen in the photo above. Credit: ANTHC.

Problem

“We are in a really bad predicament,” said Wilfred Ashby, President of the Native Village of Noatak, at an interagency meeting last month. In Noatak, ice is infrastructure. In the winter, ice enables community members to travel long distances across frozen rivers. Ice underlying the community – in the form of permafrost – supports buildings and stabilizes the riverbank. However, impacts related to permafrost thaw are causing Noatak’s infrastructure to fail. The foundations beneath 100 homes are destabilizing. Many homes are already sliding sideways and water and sewer connections are separating from homes. The foundation beneath the water treatment plant is settling—a prominent crack radiates across the floor, which is leaning to one side. Paul, the water and sewer operator, is constantly repairing leaking pipes due to the settling ground. For example, settling last summer—the hottest on record—broke a pipe and it took an entire month of digging and investigation to find the leak. The increasing damage from permafrost thaw is a sign that significant adaptation solutions must be implemented soon in order for the community to continue to have running water and flush toilets. Additionally, erosion threatens the airport, the former landfill, the power plant, fuel tank farm, and more.

Next Steps

The State of Alaska Department of Transportation will relocate the airport due to erosion—a $40 million effort that will take place in several years. In order to address community-wide impacts to homes and all other critical infrastructure, the community has requested support from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Tribal Resilience program for an erosion impact assessment and a permafrost vulnerability assessment. These assessments are proactive first steps; the adaptation process is expected to last for generations. 

Funding Opportunities

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation National Coastal Resilience Fund

The National Coastal Resilience Fund is an opportunity to support projects that protect coastal communities from the impacts of storms, floods, erosion, and other natural hazards and simultaneously enhance fish and wildlife habitat. Approximately $31 million is available nationwide. Potential projects include risk assessments, mitigation planning, design projects, and the construction of solutions.

• Due Date: Pre-proposals are due April 8, 2020. For information on how to apply, click here to read the Request for Proposals.
• To Discuss Project Ideas: Feel free to contact us.

Resources

Sign Up for Updates on Alaska’s Response to Coronavirus

The State of Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) is providing daily situation updates regarding the response to coronavirus in Alaska. To sign up for updates via email, click here. For updates on the statewide response to COVID-19, visit the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, COVID-19 page. 

News Roundup

The Village at the Edge of the Anthropocene: This long-form article gives a comprehensive history of the challenges and successes in Newtok's decades-long process of relocating to Mertarvik. 

Arctic Tundra is 80 Percent Permafrost. What Happens When it Thaws?: Melting permafrost in the Arctic causes the land to slump and collapse, which threatens community infrastructure in Arctic communities and results in vast environmental changes.

'We Are Part of the United States’: The 1st People Counted for the 2020 Census: Toksook Bay, Alaska was the first community in the country counted for the U.S. Census, bringing national attention to the remote Alaska Native community.

As Gulf Swallows Louisiana Island, Displaced Tribe Fears the Future: Read this long-form article for a comprehensive history of the challenges facing Isle de Jean Charles residents who are seeing their land disappear due to rising sea levels and higher storm surges.  

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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