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 44

Napakiak, Alaska recently completed a Managed Retreat Plan to guide the community’s response to aggressive riverine erosion. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first plan of its kind in Alaska. In this issue, I sit down for Q&A with three people involved in the development of the plan. - Jayla Lundstrom, Center for Environmentally Threatened Communities AmeriCorps VITSA Volunteer

What is Managed Retreat? 

Credit: Mike DeLue, Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center. 

Erosion Threatens Critical Infrastructure 

Napakiak, Alaska is the community with the second greatest erosion threat in Alaska. They’ve been losing land due to the rapid erosion of the Kuskokwim River for decades. Unlike Newtok, Alaska, however, Napakiak has developable land nearby. Managed retreat has always been the community’s response strategy. They’ve used a trailer and heavy equipment to pull erosion-threatened buildings back from the river to safer locations. Today, the majority of the critical infrastructure is imminently threatened—including the school, airstrip, fuel tank farm, and the only community water source. To address the increased magnitude and severity of the threat, the community recently developed the Napakiak Managed Retreat and Land Use Plan to guide their near-term and long-term response.

Napakiak, Alaska intends to move the majority of the community’s critical infrastructure to the new subdivision site farther back on the island (shown in red). If erosion continues at a high rate, the community will move to the bluff on the mainland (shown in black). Credit: Tina Black. 

Napakiak Managed Retreat Plan Q&A

Walter Nelson is the Managed Retreat Coordinator with the Native Village of Napakiak. He coordinates the community’s response to the erosion threat. He reports to the Tribal Council, Napakiak Planning Committee, and is a member of the City Council and shareholder with the Napakiak Corporation.

Heather Gross is a civil engineer with Summit Consulting Services, which has been the community’s engineering contractor since February 2019.

Max Neale is with Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and has supported the community’s managed retreat since May 2018.

*Responses have been slightly edited for clarity. 

Walter Nelson, the Napakiak Managed Retreat Coordinator, in August 2019. Most of the land in this photo has been lost to erosion. Credit: Max Neale. 

Your community has been moving buildings in response to aggressive erosion for decades. How was this planning process different from past efforts?

Walter: We do what we have to do here in Napakiak. We have been moving buildings mainly on our own, and, when funding wasn’t available, we had to do what we had to do. But we now face bigger issues. Today, the school is only 97 feet from the eroding river and our only water source is only 134 feet from erosion. After the two big community planning meetings, we realized that all community organizations needed to work together.

What is the main benefit of the plan?

Walter Nelson: It’s our roadmap. It’s our future. We need to keep using it to keep moving forward. Without this plan, Napakiak would not be where it is at now.

How did the community develop this plan?

Walter: We met so many times about this plan. Each one of the entities here in Napakiak was involved along with community members to give feedback and approve the plan in September of last year. The plan is a living document for our community­, for both the short and long-range. We use it quite often. When there is a question we look back at it and say, “oh no this is the way we want it” and we work it out. If for some reason we don’t agree on it, we get together and iron out the issues.

May 2018 Napakiak community planning meeting to discuss the erosion threat. Credit: Max Neale. 

Do all community members agree on the plan?

Walter: I think the whole community goes for it. We have no choice but to keep retreating from this erosion problem to the new subdivision area, and they [community members] know it.

Why did you make this plan?

Walter: Without plans and studies, it is harder to get funding for projects. With the studies that are being done for Napakiak, more funding will be available for projects and developing solutions. When other villages contact us [about erosion], we tell them that they need to have a plan in place or else they will be denied funding.

What are the key challenges that Napakiak faces in implementing this plan?

Walter: It is not always easy to find funding for what you need. It can be very frustrating to work on a grant to only find out that it cannot be funded after we put so much work into it. To protect our infrastructure, we need to keep moving forward with some other funding sources to complete projects.

Heather: Funding is the single biggest challenge. We have identified many things that need to be done, the order they should be done in, and approximately how much they will cost. But if the funding doesn’t come, they can’t be done.

What was the most difficult part of the planning process? What was your favorite part of the planning process?

Walter: My favorite part was getting input from our community members. It would not have been as successful without the feedback we got from our community members. That was a highlight. If we did not work together, I don’t think we would be here with our current plan.

Heather: My favorite part was getting to know everyone in Napakiak and seeing how well everyone in the community works together and supports each other. It has been a pleasure working in that environment and getting to know everyone personally. The most difficult part was looking at all the big tasks that are coming in the future and then trying to find a way to accomplish those tasks with all these funding barriers that have their own requirements and limitations.

Max: My favorite part has been working with Walter and David (the Tribal Administrator). A major challenge has been the lack of data and science to understand the long-term threat. This won’t be available until 2022. If it were available sooner, the managed retreat plan would be able to include the long-term solution and have better information to inform current decisions such as how high to build roads and homes to be resilient to future flooding.

What advice do you have for rural Alaska communities facing similar environmental threats?

Walter: If you don’t work together, you won’t get anything completed. In Napakiak, we know we must all work together.

Heather: Walter’s position is incredibly important. He has been able to integrate the plan into the community and keep everything moving. The Managed Retreat Plan itself lays out a chronology of the process and it could be helpful for other communities.

Max: Complete baseline data collection, risk assessments, and engineering analyses as soon as possible.

Funding Opportunities 

National Coastal Resilience Fund Pre-Proposals Due April 7

ANTHC has received two grants from this program. Click here for more information and call us if you’d like to discuss a project idea.

BIA Tribal Climate Resilience Grants Due April 23

Although there is still a $150,000 cost cap on projects and other limitations, this has been the most effective national program for environmentally threatened communities. ANTHC has received grants from this program and has supported dozens of community applications. Click here for more information or call us if you’d like to discuss a project idea.

EPA Environmental Justice Grants Due May 7

EPA will support two $160,000 multi-partner projects in Region 10 for work that supports vulnerable and overburdened communities who are disproportionately affected by environmental health risks, including climate change. EPA will also support $50,000 community-specific projects. ANTHC has experience with one of these programs. Click here for more information or call us to discuss.

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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