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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 30, December 2019
Happy Holidays From CETC!
Happy Holidays from our team at the Center for Environmentally Threatened Communities!
Three Things You Should Know
- Engineers and researchers at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium are developing a new technology to mitigate the impacts of thawing permafrost.
- Ryan Maroney goes above and beyond to support Alaska communities in his position with the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
- The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the 2020 Tribal Resilience Program, which supports all federally recognized Tribes to build resilience to harmful environmental trends.
Active Cooling: A Solution to Permafrost Impacts to Infrastructure
One of the more striking signs of rising air temperatures is tilted buildings and buckled roads due to thawing permafrost. Engineers and researchers at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s (ANTHC) Division of Environmental Health and Engineering (DEHE) have documented the effects of warming permafrost on critical infrastructure including water storage tanks, buildings, roads, and pipelines. One way to prevent infrastructure from being damaged is to keep the ground frozen. Previously, engineers have stabilized permafrost with thermosiphons, which are a passive (non-mechanical) cooling system. These fluid-filled, vacuum-sealed tubes operate when the ground temperature is greater than the ambient air temperature. As the earth warms the fluid, it rises to the top of the tube where it condenses due to colder temperatures, releasing the heat. The cycle repeats as the cooled fluid returns below the ground. However, rising air temperatures are reducing the effectiveness of passive cooling systems.
Active cooling system installed in Fairbanks, Alaska. Credit: ANTHC.
A team of DEHE engineers are working on a way to use the sun-filled hours to keep the ground chilled. They have developed an active (mechanical) cooling system that can be solar powered. The active chillers are designed to easily clamp onto existing thermosiphons and be simple to maintain. The aim is to preserve at-risk infrastructure by extending the cooling capacity of thermosiphons beyond the cold season and keep the ground cool year-round.
Bailey Gamble, DEHE Energy Management Engineer, is part of the active cooling system’s development team. She is optimistic about its future. “Our next step is to run the system for one year in Fairbanks, Alaska to log data and evaluate performance. The lessons learned from this first round will inform development of an improved version for deployment in the field.”
Solutions Spotlight: Ryan Maroney, Natural Resources Conservation Service
Ryan Maroney surveys erosion, which is threatening homes in Kwethluk, Alaska. Credit: Jeff Oatley, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Ryan Maroney, Alaska Native Technical Liaison with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), has lived, worked, and traveled throughout rural Alaska over the last 15 years. His experience includes five years based in Bethel, Alaska and eight years in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he has worked in regions such as the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta, Yukon Flats, and Norton Sound. This experience is invaluable in his current position in the NRCS state office in Palmer, Alaska, where he works with Tribes and Alaska Native entities to access United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs, including the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program.
Through his work with the EWP program, Ryan and his NRCS coworkers have provided tremendous benefit to communities addressing environmental threats. The purpose of the EWP program is to relieve imminent hazards to life and property caused by floods, fires, windstorms, heavy rains, and other natural disasters. Over the past 11 years, NRCS has completed EWP projects in 24 Alaska communities. Past projects include relocating buildings due to rapid erosion in Napakiak, Alaska, constructing a rock wall in Kongiganak, Alaska, relocating the tank farm in Fort Yukon, Alaska, and armoring the eroding riverbank in McGrath, Alaska.
One of the biggest challenges Ryan has seen communities face is the complexity and frequent long duration required for supporting programs to implement solutions, even when the need is immediate. Additionally, communities often are unsure about how to “get started” to protect their infrastructure from environmental threats. Recognizing that not every request is eligible for EWP assistance, Ryan goes above and beyond to connect communities to valuable resources and networks inside and outside of his agency. He has served on a variety of Alaska interagency planning teams and strongly believes in empowering and supporting community leaders to develop and leverage partnerships to find solutions to their environmental problems.
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.
Community Development Grant Program for Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages (ICDBG)
This is a great opportunity from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to address infrastructure impacts from environmental hazards. The ICDBG program can provide funding for housing, community facilities, and economic development.
- Up to $600,000 is available per community
- Eligibility: Tribal governments
- Deadline: February 3, 2020
- To read the Notice of Funding Availability, click here.
2019 FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced the 2019 Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grant program. PDM is an opportunity to fund projects identified in your community’s Hazard Mitigation Plan.
- Eligibility: Any local or Tribal government with a valid Hazard Mitigation Plan
- Due Date: January 31, 2020
- FY 2019 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Notice of Funding Availability
- FY 2019 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Fact Sheet
News Roundup
Shaktoolik Reinforces Protective Berm: With a $1 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s National Coastal Resilience Fund, Shaktoolik, Alaska will raise the height of their storm surge berm in three critical areas.
Lives Adrift in a Warming World: This article features photographs and stories of community members from Newtok, Alaska, who have relocated to the new village site at Mertarvik, Alaska.
Heavy, Expensive Wind Storms Projected to Hit Northwest Alaska Harder in Coming Decades: A new report finds that heavy windstorms will increase in the coming decades in Northwest Alaska. Along with decreased sea ice extent, more severe wind events could increase the frequency of erosion and flooding in coastal communities.
Alaska Native Perspective Highlighted in Arctic Report Card 2019: For the first time in 13 years since the report was first issued, input from Alaska Native Elders on their experience of a changing Arctic ecosystem is featured in the Arctic Report Card 2019.
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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