This photo from 2019 was provided by the US Air Force/Alaska National Guard. This photo shows how the village of Napakiak, Alaska is at risk of severe erosion by the nearby Kuskokwim River.
Emily Farnsworth/AP
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Emily Farnsworth/AP
This photo from 2019 was provided by the US Air Force/Alaska National Guard. This photo shows how the village of Napakiak, Alaska is at risk of severe erosion by the nearby Kuskokwim River.
Emily Farnsworth/AP
Three tribal communities in Alaska and Washington have been severely impacted by the effects of climate change on their homes are receiving $75 million from the Biden administration to help relocate to higher ground.
Quinault Indian Nation, located on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington; the village of Newtok, located on the Ninglick River in Alaska; and Napakiak Indigenous Village, located on Alaska Each Kuskokwim River will receive $25 million, The Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday.
In addition to those funds, FEMA also awarded approximately $17.7 million to help these three communities purchase, demolish, and build new infrastructure.
These three tribes are just part of a growing number of communities in the United States that are facing a ticking clock as the impacts of climate change pose serious risks to their homes. These tribes were poised in the costly process to move elsewhere, often leaving the areas their families had called home for centuries. Funding is a major obstacle in making this happen.
The total cost of moving two villages of the Quinault Indian Nation about a mile from its location at the confluence of the Quinault Rivers and the Pacific Ocean is about $100 million, he said. Guy Capoeman, president of The Quinault Indian Nation.
The tribe has more than 3,000 members, “and more than half of them live in these villages,” Capoeman told NPR. “Getting them up the hill is very important to us.”
The new funds will be used to move the community’s most important buildings. Ultimately, Quinault’s plan was to develop new homes and a school.
In this photo taken on May 28, 2014, houses in the village of Taholah, on the Quinault Indian Reservation in the Pacific are shown at right. The breakwater protecting the storm-damaged village was repaired in 2014, but continued erosion forced the community to move elsewhere.
Doug Esser/AP
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Doug Esser/AP
Capoeman said any funding helps this huge effort.
He said the community started their process more than 12 years ago, even before Capoeman became the nation’s president.
“I just picked it up when I got on board and worked with our council, our lobbyists and others and got the message that this was a need. We are here at the starting point of climate change that everyone is talking about,” he said.
The tribe is extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels, floods, potential tsunamis, and other storms. Capoeman notes the community is also at particular risk for the possibility big earthquake as the village is located right along Cascadia subduction zone. That fault line runs for hundreds of miles off the Pacific Northwest coast and has been under pressure for years.
Earlier this year, the village of Newtok going through a storm collapsed 40 feet of land between the village and the Ninglick River.
This file photo dated May 24, 2006 shows the village of Newtok, Alaska, where riverbank erosion along the Ninglick River has long been a problem for the village, 480 miles west of Anchorage.
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This file photo dated May 24, 2006 shows the village of Newtok, Alaska, where riverbank erosion along the Ninglick River has long been a problem for the village, 480 miles west of Anchorage.
Al Grillo/AP
According to the Interior Ministry, the village is experiencing severe coastal erosion due to storms, like the one earlier this year, and the permafrost is degrading.
“At the current rate of erosion of about 70 feet per year, the river is expected to threaten structures within two years and critical village infrastructure within four years,” the ministry said.
Napakiak is dealing with such Severe erosion puts schools, fuel farms, water wells, airports, homes and other critical infrastructure at risk of erosion.
“Ongoing erosion is estimated at 25-50 feet per year. Most of the existing critical infrastructure is expected to be destroyed by 2030,” the Interior Department said in a statement. press report.
The village has established a 50-year, $200 million plan to manage the resettlement. Alaskan mass media reported last year that, over the next 10 years, “Napakiak will have to build new schools and move 38 homes, shops, multi-purpose buildings, water plants and other structures.”
The Interior Department said that in addition to the three tribes receiving $25 million, eight other communities will also receive $5 million.
These include:
- Point Lay Indigenous Village (in Alaska)
- Huslia Village (in Alaska)
- Fort Yukon Native Village (in Alaska)
- Indigenous Village of Nelson Lagoon (in Alaska)
- Havasupai tribe (in Arizona)
- Yurok tribe (in California)
- Chitimacha tribe (in Louisiana)
- Passamaquoddy Indians (in Maine)
Capoeman said going through such a transformative move would upset many of these communities’ relationships with tradition. For example, Quinault has lived on the water for centuries fishing and collecting mussels.
“We have lived on land and resources for thousands of years,” he said. “We can see changes. These rising tides are not normal.” “Getting rid of that on our own isn’t traditional, but we have to save ourselves. We realize that’s the key to our own survival at this point.”
