An Alaska Native Village on the cusp of a safer, healthier future through decades of incremental strategic community planning with a close, coordinated team of federal and state agencies, legislators, and other diverse partners.
Newtok is a Yup'ik Alaskan Native Village of 450 residents on the west coast of Alaska, near the confluence of the Newtok and Ninglick Rivers. Severe coastal erosion at the average rate of 75' to 100' of shoreline per year has been consumed by seasonal storm surges. A 2009 Army Corp. of Engineers Study predicts that the Newtok High School, the highest point in the village could be underwater by 2017. Thawing permafrost, declining sea ice, increased storm surge exposure, and warming temperatures exacerbate further complications. George Carl, Vice-President of the Newtok Village Council adds, "About 5 varieties of native seasonal vegetation for subsistence and medicinal use are gone because of the flooding in this area". In 1994, Newtok was one of the first villages to consider relocating to a new, less vulnerable site. In 2003, Newtok negotiated a land exchange agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and is now in the process of moving forward with plans to relocate their entire population to this new site, Mertarvik. However, estimates indicate that moving Newtok to its new location may cost an estimated $80-130 million, or about $2 million per household, so relocation plans have been delayed for a variety of reasons, including funding constraints and the time its taken to develop a battery of new site suitability studies.
In 1996, the Newtok Native Corporation Headed by President Larry Charles authorized the negotiation of a land exchange within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge with the FWS. By 2003, after much lobbying and legal counsel, FWS agreed to exchange land with the Newtok Native Corporation. In 2006, Newtok Village requested the assistance of the Division of Community and Regional Affairs (DCRA), within the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development (DCCED), with Newtok's relocation effort. DCCED is tasked by two Alaska Administrative Orders (AO 231 and AO 239) "to act as the state coordinating agency to coordinate with the other state and federal agencies to propose long-term solutions to the ongoing erosion issues in... affected coastal communities...". To carry out this coordination, the Newtok Planning Group (NPG) was formed.
From a capital funding standpoint, Newtok has found that it takes both legislative and traditional agency support. According to one NPG member interviewed, “Seed money from the legislature has been key for getting Mertarvik moving. To get to where we are now, we needed the legislature. Agencies could not have funded the ground laying work…. The key to relocation is figuring out how traditional funding sources that can be tapped. We knew a Mertarvik Evacuation Center (MEC) would not fare well if it went through the Department of Transportation (DOT) because that was not a mission critical project compared to other DOT projects. As only one of its kind in western Alaska, MEC will also serve other villages if an emergency exist. As Mertarvik moves beyond pioneer infrastructure, more agencies will become involved.
When a community is in need of relocation, it becomes a community frozen in time. Critical infrastructure improvements and new home starts desperately needed to support a growing population cannot be established at the old Village of Newtok, because it fails to meet federal safety regulations. "If it weren’t for the State & Federal Officials brainstorming, we would have not a plan in place to replace our only 20+ year old generator that’s been running continuously for the past 2 1/2 years" says Katherine Charles, the local utility manager and Council Member. But, until all studies on the relocation site at Mertarvik have been completed and funding is secured to permit a critical mass of homes to be built, the minimum number of students required of at least 25 to trigger establishment of a new school cannot occur. In addition to educating its youth to build future resilience, a Native Village school is instrumental to its community life, because the school typically also serves as the village community and evacuation center, its washerteria and initial water supply center, and a source of healthy school lunches that are becoming more critical in seasons when subsistence foods are growing scarce. The State of Alaska had to work diligently with FEMA to ensure that disaster funds could fund the relocation of 12 home and the replacement of 5 more to finally ensure more than an adequate number of students will soon be living in Mertarvik. In the interim, those student who have moved to the new site may have to take advantage of distant learning and temporary classrooms, until a new school can actually be built.
Martarvik would not have been possible without Extensive Government Coordination and Funding
Romy Cadiente, the Newtok Village Council Tribal Coordinator, who has been deeply involved in building the coalition, likes to emphasize how instrumental the community’s close relationship with federal and state partners has been throughout the long, arduous Newtok-to-Mertarvik relocation process. “I cannot emphasize enough how important our Attorney, State and Federal partners have been to this effort. When hundreds of fires were burning across Alaska this summer and while serving other communities statewide whom are working through the same situation, officials still somehow found time on the road to answer my questions about progress on home relocation funding and approval. We are so grateful for these dedicated men and women that represent the state and federal agencies who provide vital assistance to over 300 villages in Alaska. They really do care about our Native communities. One official has even learned to make and share her amazing blackberry jam!”
