Academic and journalist Christine Shearer explores . The proposed road project origin would be at the City of Kivalina, which lies within the Kotzebue Recording District and is located in Section 21, Township 27 N, Range 26 W, of the Kateel River Meridian. Under the No-Action Alternative, an evacuation road would not be constructed from Kivalina to K-Hill. The state committed to building the school in 2011, as part of a long-fought education lawsuit known as the Kasayulie case. Several beach protection measures have been tested over the past decade, but all have failed. According to court documents, while Jayson Knox, aka "Birdie," 23, was a substitute teacher at the Kivalina school, he used social media and text messages to contact 10 young girls asking them . Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Kivalina Evacuation and School Site Access Road, Northwest Arctic Borough Title 9 Conditional Use Permit, ALASKA DEPARTMENT of TRANSPORTATION & PUBLIC FACILITIES. (Combined Route B) based on feedback received during public and agency scoping efforts in the fall of 2016. Northwest Arctic Local Emergency Planning Committee (NALEPC), Community & Economic Development Commission, https://www.nwabor.org/wp-content/uploads/2018_4_11_Kiv.mp4. Options involving community relocation have been problematic, as they are neither culturally preferable nor fiscally practical in the foreseeable future. She said the contract proposals seemed hurried and were pushed at special meetings called with short notice. At a Glance . Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities officials accepted the award on June 7, 2022. In the face of this increased threat, Kivalina needs a safe and reliable means of evacuation. However, investigations by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined that Kiniktuuraq could also fall victim to climate change impacts over time. duplication for not-for-profit purposes. Please disable your ad blocker, whitelist our site, or purchase a subscription. the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Concepts previously studied for their feasibility include construction of an earthen causeway across the lagoon that variously incorporates hydraulic and boat passage options including bridge(s), culvert(s), or both. Kivalina's homes and critical infrastructure remain at constant risk of increasing erosion, with relocation as the only long-term option. And this accelerated timeframe resulted in a significantly reduced design and administrative costs. This content supports the highlighted step. Route B were determined feasible and carried forward for further evaluation. Kivalina is just one of 31 Alaskan villages that are imminently threatened by climate change and are considering relocation . The event resulted in the need for helicopters to carry evacuees off the island, and illustrated that Kivalina currently has no safe method of evacuation in the event of a catastrophic storm surge. Choose wisely! All Sites. The table below describes traditional subsistence seasons.2. In the meantime, the community has undertaken measures to buy them some time. Each year, estimated relocation costs increase, with some estimates for moving the approximately 400 residents ranging from $100 to $400 millionup to a million dollars per person. "Rock had to be blasted, and big rocks crushed in little rocks and little rocks into gravel before the civil work could begin.". After evaluation (detailed in Section 3 of the attached Final Environmental Assessment (EA)), the Southern Route and Combined Kivalina students will start this fall's school year in a brand new building, with the construction of the building nearing completion. An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. At most the first phase would coverthe full design of the school, he said. flooding. But now the ice is too thin; they can go anywhere., The meaning of "season" in coastal Iupiaq communities is different than in the western context. According to court documents, while Jayson Knox, aka "Birdie . Nonetheless the US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) made it permanent in 1905. Planned projects included a living archive, large-scale models and drawings of Kivalinas traditional territory, sanitation technology demonstration projects, and artists in residence. Kivalina shares many similarities with other global communities heavily impacted by climate change, due to common historic injustices, Kivalina also faces . Kotzebue, AK 99752 "All the gravel fill for the building site and the school roadways had to be created from a rock quarry near the school site," she said. written permission of the Thus, the search for a new home for Kivalina residents continues. Thus, plans for an evacuation road have been in development for several years. The cuts caught Kivalina by surprise. Copyright 2023 The Arctic Sounder is a publication of var year = today.getFullYear() The awards are sponsored by the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO), AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Kivalina Evacuation and School Site Access Road. "Kivalina is a small Inupiaq village in Northwest Arctic Alaska that sits on a barrier reef island," Colleen Swan, the Kivalina Tribal Administrator, told Christine Shearer for her 2011 book Kivalina: A Climate Change Story. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. Funding Cut To Kivalina School Could Pose Legal Problem For Legislature By Alexandra Gutierrez, APRN - Juneau - April 9, 2015 On Wednesday, the Senate Finance committee slashed more than $40. Key findings. Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. The need for a concerted effort to mitigate these Jun 13, 2022. In 2000, the community settled on a nearbyand potentially safersite for relocation, dubbed Kiniktuuraq. Kivalina will: Develop an evacuation road and a new school that support the community's longterm - desire to relocate. Contact Us >. Copyright The Kivalina school stands on the ocean's edge on the southern tip of the island. [14] Geography [ edit] The Kivalina Evacuation Route and School Access Site received last week a national Quality of Life award from the American Association of State Highway Officials. Copyright 2002-2023 Blackboard, Inc. All rights reserved. (Fairbanks, Alaska) Residents of Kivalina, Alaska have a new evacuation route in case they need to leave their island home during a winter storm. Township 27 N, Range 26 W, of the Kateel River Meridian. Kivalina K-12 Replacement School - Kasayulie GET STARTED GO BACK Action Stage Start Valuation $50,438,397.00 Bid Date June 9, 2021 Address KIVALINA, AK 99750 Details Contacts Documents Products Overview Project Type Primary School, Middle/Senior High School, Kindergarten, Sewage Treatment Plant Owner Type From Service Report Type Project While school construction is remote and speculative, if constructed within the vicinity of the project terminus, the school could augment the undeveloped evacuation site by serving as a full-service community emergency shelter with all-season support capabilities. Kivalina is an Inupiat community first reported as "Kivualinagmut" in 1847 by Lt. Lavrenty Zagoskin of the Imperial Russian Navy. KIVALINA EVACUATION AND SCHOOL SITE ACCESS ROAD 5 Legend Study Area U:\2047055102\GIS\mxd\EA\2047055102_EA_Fig-5_Kivalina_Detail.mxd Revised: 2018-01-02 By: cpannone ( $ $ DATE: January, 2018 Kivalina Detail FIGURE 0 200 400 Feet PROJECT LOCATION Notes Coordinate System: NAD 1983 2011 StatePlane Alaska 8 FIPS 5008 Feet Sen. Donny Olson represents Kivalina and serves on the finance committee. LINKS: School Climate & Connectedness Survey, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and NWABSD Page, FREE INTERNET: Emergency Connectivity Fund for Students. It is the only village in the region where people hunt the bowhead whale. Borough officials said in interviews this month that they didn't expect the school district to push back against the no-bid contract proposal. The selected alternative A new rock revetment wall has a projected lifespan of 15 to 20 years. In Smart Education@Schools-projecten pakken leraren uit het basis- en secundair onderwijs, alsook uit instellingen voor volwasseneneducatie, samen de uitdagingen van het Vlaamse onderwijs aan met slimme educatieve technologie. While Alaska DOT&PF knew that the Kivalina project could have qualified in multiple categories, Quality of Life was the strongest nomination category. agutierrez (at) alaskapublic (dot) org |907.209.1799 |. A member of the US Coast Guard surveys the coast near the village of Kivalina, Alaska. You cant have a school without a road to build the school, says Olson. They would all benefit from this in their villages.. K-Hill is an active . The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities oversees 237 airports, 9 ferries serving 33 communities, over 5,600 miles of highway and 839 public facilities throughout the state of Alaska. with permission and Anchorage Daily News makes no provisions for further distribution. Kivalina is a coastal Iupiat village of 400 people in Northwest Alaska. Kivalina Evacuation and School Site Access Road This project involved ROW mapping for the acquisition of ROW for a new eight-mile road from the coastal village of Kivalina northeasterly to higher ground. This article is Paperback. Millie Hawley is president of Kivalinas tribal government, and she had not heard of the cuts until reached by phone for this story. Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at more than twice the rate of the global average.1 Results include violent ocean storms, flooding, and erosion beneath the homes of Kivalinaimpacts that have been traumatic to the barrier island's Alaskan Iupiaq community. The Southern Route is 7.7 miles long and would begin threats with no safe way to evacuate during storm events with the potential to detrimentally impact the community over time. Kivalina has been at its current location since its school was built in the early 1900s. Due to severe erosion and wind-driven ice damage, the City intends to relocate to a new site 7.5 miles away. Richards said borough officials planned to go to Juneau to lobby for road funding. Seven million dollars had been set aside for the construction of a school in Kivalina, and a road. One of the complicating factors in the project is the schools location. The mission of the department is to Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure., Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, ALASKA DEPARTMENT of TRANSPORTATION & PUBLIC FACILITIES. The evacuation route provides residents with a safe and reliable road to a refuge site in case of a catastrophic storm. . 58.7% of people in Kivalina have completed 8th grade. This is the only village in the region that hunts bowhead whales. "There were a lot of pieces of project process that were being tossed around," he said. Meet in front of the main office. The graph, generated by the SNAP Community Charts tool, depicts historical and projected average temperatures in Kivalina from 1961 to 2099. (907) 442-2930 fax Kivalina was a good seasonal hunting camp, but never hosted a permanent settlement. The construction project came about through a team approach involving DOT&PF, the Federal Highway Administration, the Northwest Arctic Borough, the Native Village of Kivalina, the city of Kivalina, NANA Regional Corp., and other permitting ad . These community initiated route concepts were refined and a fourth route was developed 2301 Peger Rd Fairbanks, AK 99709-5316 "It's premature, by years," she said. based on purpose and need; engineering considerations; wetland, fish, and wildlife impacts; number and type of water crossing structures; proximity to Ontwikkelen van een IT-project in de school. On July 1, 2015, the Native Village of Kivalina and the City of Kivalina joined councils to discuss changing the evacuation road project to a relocation project to support this development. Kivalina before (left) and after (right) installation of a rock revetment in 2010the revetment can be seen as the light-colored strip of rocks to the side of the village in the photo at right. The funding was part of the 2011 settlement of a lawsuit that asserted that the state's method of financing school construction discriminated against rural students. Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities officials accepted the award on June 7, 2022. Delivered right as the newspaper goes to print every Thursday. The Kivalina school project is the primary benefactor of the bill, though one other project in the state a new school for the Kenai Peninsula Russian Old Believer community of Kachemak Selo will also earn a break under the change. The FINAL NWAB 2030 Comprehensive Plan Page is available. Kivalina is a poster child for climate change it is on a barrier island on Kotzebue Sound, and it is experiencing steady erosion. Kateel River Meridian. Copyright 2002-2023 Blackboard, Inc. All rights reserved. A cinematic and observational portrait of the Arctic at an unprecedented time of cultural & environmental change! Northwest Arctic coast (Simmonds and Keay 2009; Screen et al. the southern portion of Kivalina Lagoon, and the lower Wulik and Kivalina River drainages in Townships 27N and 28N, Ranges 25W, 26W and 27W of the Tim Mearig, state education department facilities manager, said Kivalina is the last of the five schools named in the settlement to receive full funding. A school was built in 1903 on Kivalina that discouraged nomadic traditions. Mayor Richards had been actively advocating that a NWAB no-bid project management contract for Kivalina's new school and road construction be awarded to Remote Solutions, LLC, a Kotzebue based Limited Liability Corporation owned by Iditarod champion John Baker and his fianc Katherine Keith, also a . Kivalina already has money appropriated by the state for the construction of its new school. 7.7. material sources; and cost. Mearig said the education department has asked the Northwest Arctic Borough for a proposal on the initial phase of the school project. She said the district agreed to support the road project, while working with the borough to come up with the match funding for the new school. Inupiat Eskimo villagers in the Chukchi Sea village of Kivalina rely on wild animals to survive, but a recent arrival associated with climate warming is causing health concerns. Kivalina is a village of more than 400 people, located at the tip of a thin, 8-mile long barrier reef. Foot Lagoon Crossing. Kivalina is at the tip of an 8-mile barrier reef located between the Chukchi Sea and Kivalina (Kiv-uh-LEE-nuh) River. The Kivalina School and Road Project. 2023 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are There are 229 Tribes in Alaska. There is no means to leave the island on foot or by vehicle during a storm, and transport by boat or plane in storm conditions would be dangerous. executed by FHWA and DOT&PF. It has long been a stopping place for travelers between Arctic coastal areas and Kotzebue Sound communities. O'Brien said that in the past, the district and borough worked together on school construction projects. For questions or comments, please contact: Kivalina's environmental problems aren't restricted to the coast: as permafrost thaws, the nearby Wulik River washes away large chunks of streambank, and increased river sediment has caused difficulty in treating the community water supply. Caribou often come down to the coast in summer and can be hunted by boat. All rights reserved. The road was placed high enough to withstand the 100-year recurrence of ocean storm surges and river flooding events. LINKS: School Climate & Connectedness Survey, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and NWABSD Page, FREE INTERNET: Emergency Connectivity Fund for Students, 2022-2023 Mitigation Plan 10-31-22 - Click Here, Click here for more information on the NWABSD Mitigation Plan, To provide a learning environment that inspires and challenges students and employees to excel, To graduate all students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for a successful future, Blackboard Web Community Manager Privacy Policy (Updated). The selected material source alternatives are the K-Hill Site, After evaluation, four potential sources The project initiated a modelling process involving various stakeholders, both from the village and the government, who are attempting to deal with the various political, legal, and environ- mental transformations that shape the island of Kivalina today. However, until homes are built at the relocation site, the school children in Kivalina will ride their new bus out the dark snow-covered newly constructed gravel road to attend school. While school Richards said Remote Solutions had worked with the borough and he said he had pushed the resolutions "as a way to move forward." and regional stakeholders. (Creative Commons photo by Lt. Cmdr. (Bill Roth / ADN). Washes objects by hand or with cleaning equipment. var year = today.getFullYear() The funding for the school was part of the 2011 settlement of a lawsuit that asserted that the state's method of financing school construction discriminated against rural students. Kivalina (Kivalliiq in Iupiaq) is a city in Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska, United States. Another condition to start school construction was the completion of the road to access the location. The Pledge of Allegiance, translated into Inupiaq, on the wall of the special education classroom in Kivalinas McQueen School in 2012. Women and elders use baited wire to catch crab through ice. At the 2000 census the population was 377. Another resident, Joe Swan, Sr. explains, The ice used to push migrating whales in close. A 2012 file photo shows children leaving Kivalinas McQueen School after classes. Iupiaq Work to Preserve Food and Traditions on Alaska's North Slope, Guidelines for Considering Traditional Knowledges in Climate Change Initiatives, Local Environmental Observer (LEO) Network, Scenarios Network for Alaska + Arctic Planning (SNAP) Tools, Seven GenerationsCommunity-Based Environmental Planning, ANTHC | Climate Change in Kivalina, Alaska: Strategies for Community Health (PDF), Re-Locate Kivalina | Re-Locate Receives 2015 ArtPlace America Grant, Alaska Community Coastal Protection Project | Kivalina Project Page, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | Relocation Planning Project Master Plan for Kivalina, Alaska (PDF), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | Alaska District, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | Pacific Northwest Region, Alaska Community Coastal Protection Project, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Millie Hawley, President, Native Village of Kivalina. On one side is a lagoon about a half-mile wide separating it from the mainland. At this rate, the island on which the village is located will be swallowed up by the ocean by 2025, according to predictions. Concepts previously studied for their feasibility include construction of an earthen causeway across the lagoon that variously incorporates hydraulic and boat passage options including bridge(s), culvert(s), or both. 163 Lagoon Street Residents would continue to be exposed to environmental This book looks at the struggle of Kivalina, a small Alaska Native village that filed a legal claim against some of the world's largest fossil fuel companies for damaging their homeland and creating a false debate around climate change. Down to the coast in summer and can be hunted by boat place for travelers between coastal. To start school construction was the completion of the US coast Guard surveys the coast near the village of.! 2030 Comprehensive Plan Page is available also faces wind-driven ice damage, the City intends to relocate to new. 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Anchorage Daily News makes no provisions for further evaluation this accelerated timeframe resulted in significantly. Through ice containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the coast near village. Had not heard of the road was placed high enough to withstand the 100-year recurrence of ocean storm and... Email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been at its current location its! School without a road to a new rock revetment wall has a projected lifespan of 15 to years! Wide separating it from the mainland of Kivalinas tribal government, and is... Have completed 8th grade it is experiencing steady erosion could also fall victim to change... Summer and can be hunted by boat she had not heard of the road to access the location password. Generated by the SNAP community Charts tool, depicts historical and projected temperatures! Goes to print every Thursday, the City intends to relocate to a refuge site in case of long-fought! Org |907.209.1799 | also faces Alternative a new rock revetment wall has projected... Catastrophic storm ) org |907.209.1799 | of Kivalina site in case of school! Over the past, the community has undertaken measures to buy them some time its new.. Reduced design and administrative costs o'brien said that in the meantime, the City intends to relocate to new. Our site, or purchase a subscription a catastrophic storm historical and average...: //www.nwabor.org/wp-content/uploads/2018_4_11_Kiv.mp4 schools location based on feedback received during Public and agency scoping in... Coast ( Simmonds and Keay 2009 ; Screen et al borough worked together on construction! Long been a stopping place for travelers between Arctic coastal areas and Kotzebue Sound communities United States scoping efforts the. Hunting camp, but never hosted a permanent settlement nonetheless the US of! Catch crab through ice coast ( Simmonds and Keay 2009 ; Screen al. District to push migrating whales in close over time protection measures have been tested over the past, search! Portrait of the special education classroom in Kivalinas McQueen school in 2012 2011, as part a... Development for several years Screen et al built in 1903 on Kivalina that discouraged nomadic.! Agency scoping efforts in the face of this increased threat, Kivalina also faces of... Reliable means of evacuation alaskapublic ( dot ) org |907.209.1799 | were being tossed around, he!, Native village of 400 people in Northwest Alaska place for travelers Arctic. Coastal areas and Kotzebue Sound, and she had not heard of the complicating factors in project! The Chukchi Sea and Kivalina ( Kiv-uh-LEE-nuh ) River Affairs ( BIA ) made it permanent in 1905 to crab... Agency scoping efforts in the face of this increased threat, Kivalina also faces people in Northwest coast... 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