Shaktoolik, Alaska Uses a Statewide Grant to Adapt to Coastal Climate Risks
Shaktoolik is a culturally diverse Inupiaq village of 250 people located on Alaska’s coastline that faces severe impacts from coastal erosion, storm surges, and flooding that are already threatening the well-being of the entire community. It is one of hundreds of Native Alaskan villages disproportionately affected by climate change as the Arctic region experiences greater temperature increases than anywhere else on Earth. Like many similarly situated villages, the Shaktoolik community has adapted to the local environment by relocating throughout the region. However, since building more permanent western-style village infrastructure in the 1970s, relocation as a climate adaptation strategy has become increasingly difficult. In addition, Shaktoolik’s climate risks have only grown since the village’s last relocation, further compounding the need for timely adaptation action. For example, in 2005, the State declared Shaktoolik a flood disaster area when a storm inundated the community and turned the village into an island. Since then, debris from storm surges and coastal erosion continue to threaten critical village infrastructure.
The Shaktoolik community considered numerous near- and long-term strategies to adapt to increasing climate-related threats, including the eventual relocation of the village to higher ground. However, due to challenging logistics, high costs, and limited funding available for village relocations, Shaktoolik embraced a more immediate and less costly solution – building a community emergency shelter on high ground that is easily accessible, large enough to accommodate the entire population of Shaktoolik, and robust enough to withstand wave action, wind- and wave-driven debris, and high water from severe storms.
In 2008, the Native Village of Shaktoolik received a community planning grant from the Alaska Climate Change Impact Mitigation Program (ACCIMP) to hire a consultant to assess its climate risks and design an implementation strategy for the Shaktoolik Community Emergency Shelter. The ACCIMP was established by the State of Alaska to help underserved communities develop planned approaches to shoreline protection, building relocation, and/or eventual relocation of their village. The program provides technical assistance and funding to communities imminently threatened by climate-amplified hazards such as erosion, flooding, storm surge, and thawing permafrost. In order to determine eligibility for the program, the Governor’s Subcabinet on Climate Change Immediate Action Workgroup (IAW) drew from the conclusions of a 2004 General Accounting Office report that identified nine underserved communities as imminently threatened by flooding and erosion.
Through roundtable meetings, the IAW reviewed data on imminent threats to life, property, and infrastructure caused by coastal erosion, thawing, permafrost, and flooding and identified a subset of six of the nine communities as recipients of Community Planning Grants: Shishmaref, Kivalina, Newtok, Koyukuk, Unalakleet, and Shaktoolik.
The ACCIMP provides non-competitive funding to these communities through Community Planning Grants of up to $150,000. The grants are used to perform hazard impact assessments and to develop community plans to help implement IAW’s recommendations. Projects include the City of Unalakleet’s Foothills Subdivision Master Plan to relocate to higher ground; the community of Shishmaref’s Relocation Site Selection Feasibility Study, which will enable the community to identify a safe, stable, and sustainable new village site; and the community of Kivalina’s Consensus Building Project, which provides opportunities for community members to work towards a consensus in their response to climate change-related threats.
Shaktoolik used its Community Planning Grant to develop a conceptual design and implementation strategy for a Community Emergency Shelter. It developed a Final Report in 2012 that proposes an implementation strategy to guide the community through the necessary next steps in project development. Future steps include fundraising, design, construction, ownership, and maintenance of the shelter, which will be owned and operated by the Shaktoolik Tribe. The planning process built upon the results of a coastal flooding analysis conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in 2011, in response to the community’s urgent concerns about their vulnerability and exposure to climate risks. During four working group sessions between 2011 and 2012, community members voiced their concerns and developed their shared vision, goals, and desired uses for the emergency shelter. While its primary use will be to provide a safe and resilient structure for the community during extreme weather events, the shelter will also provide non‐emergency benefits such as tribal and city offices, community and regional meeting spaces, and lodging for elders and transient visitors.
| How Did They Do It? | Applicable Tools |
|---|---|
|
Assessed climate related threats.
|
Tools used: Immediate Action Working Group 2008 Final Recommendations Report identified and proposed adaptation recommendations for Shaktoolik’s immediate climate risks. It can serve as a model for other Native Alaskan Villages facing similar climate-related threats. |
|
Developed a grant program to support vulnerable native villages.
|
Tools used: Hazard Impact Assessments were conducted to identify and define the hazard impacts in the community, assess how these hazard impacts affect the community, and develop recommendations for how the community might best mitigate those hazard impacts. Alaska's Community Planning Grants were used by Shaktoolik to carry out recommendations from the Hazard Impact Assessment. The results of community planning efforts can provide a common blueprint for the investment of federal, state, and local assistance to communities facing similar climate-related threats. |
|
Engaged community members through public workshops.
|
|
|
Developed a conceptual design and implementation strategy for the Shaktoolik Community Emergency Shelter.
Learn more about the process in the Final Report, Shaktoolik Community Emergency Shelter. |
|
|
Addressed additional community needs.
Learn more about the process and outcomes in the USACE Report: Shaktoolik Coastal Flooding Analysis. |
Similar Cases and More Information
To see how another Native village is adapting to sea level rise, storm surge, and flooding, view the Quinault Indian Nation Plans for Relocation example. For a community in the Northwest that used existing projections to promote climate adaptation planning, see the Anacortes, Washington Rebuilds Water Treatment Plant for Climate Change example. For an example of how a community recognized the prohibitive cost of protecting a highly vulnerable facility and decided to move to a safer facility, see the Iowa City, Iowa Closes Vulnerable Wastewater Facility example.
- Quinault Indian Nation Plans for Relocation
- Anacortes, Washington Rebuilds Water Treatment Plant for Climate Change
- Iowa City, Iowa Closes Vulnerable Wastewater Facility
References
- Alaska Climate Change Impact Mitigation Program
- Shaktoolik Plans for Relocation
- Final Report, Shaktoolik Community Emergency Shelter, USKH Inc.
- Storm destroys Shaktoolik’s berm, its main protection from the sea
- Alaska Native Villages: Most Are Affected by Flooding and Erosion, but Few Qualify for Federal Assistance (GAO-04-142)
- Alaska Native Villages: Limited Progress Has Been Made on Relocating Villages Threatened by Flooding and Erosion (GAO-09-551)
- Climate impacts to Arctic coasts