Rural Alaska

Coastal villages in Western Alaska receive funding for erosion mitigation

BETHEL — Two coastal villages in Western Alaska have received funding to support their efforts in mitigating erosion damage.

KYUK-AM reports the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Coastal Resilience Fund has awarded $2.7 million for the village of Newtok to dismantle and decontaminate buildings and infrastructure it will leave behind as it relocates.

The community is moving several miles away after rapidly losing land to a combination of erosion and thawing permafrost.

Newtok also received $943,000 from the United Methodist Committee on Relief to install 21 water and sewer systems in homes at the new site.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has awarded nearly $84,000 for the village of Kotlik to develop a community climate adaptation assessment.

The assessment will lead to a plan to mitigate damage from climate change.

ADVERTISEMENT