Alaskan tribes are working together to prevent climate change from destroying their traditional ways of living. This includes access to traditional foods and clean waterways.
Recently, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced federal grant money totaling more than $45 Million for tribes across the country to address climate change-related issues.
Over a third of this is headed to Alaska, the nation with the most federally recognized tribes.
Alaska is heating faster than any other region in the U.S. This has caused communities to face problems such as eroding shorelines, riverbanks, and bacteria-infested waters.
Partially funded by the landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Act of last year, climate action grants from the Biden administration are partly funded. These grants are intended to provide cash for tribes to use towards projects that can help mitigate the worst impacts.
There is a lot of pressure in Southeast to ensure that vital waterways are kept clean and that subsistence food supplies are available.
Ketchikan Indian Community received $246,221 in order to continue working towards the climate action plan goals. Officials from the tribe claim that it is the largest federal climate grant they have received.
Tony Gallegos is the tribal’s cultural resource director. He stated that climate change poses a threat to the Indigenous way of living.
He said, “Well, it presents kinda urgent risks to our traditional resource, food that our residents depend on,”
Understanding the importance of traditional foods is an important part of conserving our way of life. The tribe will interview elders from the community to find out what traditional foods are important to them. Gallegos stated that this effort is already in progress.
“ We’ve already made significant progress (in) gathering information about tribal citizens’ reliance on traditional foods and priorities. With over 320 responses from our initial survey last January, Gallegos explained.
A portion of the grant money will also be used to collect samples from local waterways. Since 2017, the tribe has been monitoring local bacteria levels at beaches. evidence suggests that there are spikes following big rainstorms.
Gallegos explained that sometimes, they refer to it as the “first flush” after a rainfall event. This is especially true if there hasn’t been any rain in a while. Pollutants can often be carried into, such as the (Tongass), Narrows, where we have… bacteria problems. We want to begin to collect water quality samples, right after and during those rain events.
Gallegos stated that they plan to test at most 10 samples in the next two-years.
The tribe was also awarded $15,000 to cover travel expenses to enable staff to attend conferences and learn more about adapting to changing climates.
Further north, Yakutat Tlingit Tribe will use $113,830 grant to increase local knowledge of tribal lands via LiDAR mapping technology. This will allow the tribe to carry out detailed aerial surveys on its lands.
Andrew Gildersleeve serves as the tribe’s executive Director.
“LiDAR allows us to map the tribal lands in their current state with great precision,” Gildersleeve stated. “And this is creating an unprecedented record and a baseline that we can use in the future. We hope future generations will be able recognize and establish trends.
Gildersleeve claims that the tribe can use LiDAR to learn more about rising oceans, salmon habitat, and tidal zones.
Amanda Bremner (tribal grant consultant) said that the project would be completed in three phases. It might even broaden ancestral knowledge.
“ We have an Indigenous and Traditional place names map that has been there for years. It shows boundaries and areas that were drawn decades ago. However, this map may not be as accurate in today’s changing climate. We look forward to these high-resolution images.
A grant of over $589,000 has been awarded to Klukwan’s Upper Lynn Canal community to help with riverbank stabilization. The community is facing increasing glacial runoff as well as melting permafrost. The tribe hopes that the Jilkaat Kwan Heritage Center Bank Stabilization project will help preserve salmon runs.
For its tribe-operated research centre Southeast Alaska Tribal Ocean Research, the Sitka Tribe of Alaska was awarded more than $298,000. This will allow for more research on harmful algal blooms and paralytic shellfish toxin that thrive in warm waters.
The Central Council of Tlingit Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is Southeast’s largest tribe. They are working towards food sovereignty through a regional community garden program. The $2 million grant will fund the project. Tlingit & Haida didn’t respond to multiple requests from KRBD for comment.
Klawock, the Prince of Wales Island community that has received a grant, will receive $248206 from the Klawock Cooperative Association to implement its climate action plan. It will be modeled on the that Haida and Tlingit adopted. The Klawock Cooperative Association didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
A few villages in the state received funding to help them find higher ground, as they are facing increasingly severe storms and erosion.
Unalakleet is included in this group. It is home to around 800 people and is the largest community to be awarded a grant for what’s known as a “managed escape” from Norton Sound. Unalakleet was ranked eighth in Alaska for flood and erosion damage according to a 2019 Denali Commission study
To help plan a move to a hillside nearby, the local tribe was awarded $290,440.
Kari Duame serves as The Native Village of Unalakleet’s housing director. She explained that the village was spared the worst of September’s damage by an old seawall. She said that the village must move farther from the shore in order to survive the changing climate.
She said that “the ground itself can be unstable due to the style and era of building — many of the houses are from the 70s, 80s or even the 40s and 50s.” The seawall may not be sufficient long-term, which is even more concerning.
She stated that a retreat from shore would give the village the opportunity to grow.
“Also there’s very limited land to build upon — (it’s), a, like, crowded,” Duame stated.
Duame stated that the plan is still in its early stages. Duame stated that the tribe hopes to have a plan in place for next year’s grant application.
Unalakleet doesn’t have it all. Kivalina, in the Northwest Arctic Borough, received nearly $250,000 to help plan its managed retreat. Akiak in the Bethel Census Area received $150,000 to begin moving away from Kuskokwim River.
Nunapitchuk is the result of a river that has been so badly eroded that it now reaches the door to the village’s only public safety building. It’s the home of the village’s public safety officers, as well as where emergency equipment is kept. Since the village’s current building is in total disrepair, the $2.2 million grant will be used to pay for a brand new one.
Flooding is forcing parts of Chefornak to be evacuated. The grant of $2.9 million will be used to build 19 homes as well as a preschool far from the water.
Other tribes just keep an eye on the situation, such as in Kipnuk or Tuntutuliak where grant money was given to tribes for permafrost risk assessment.
The agency’s complete list of climate action plan resiliency grants to BIA can be found.
