2023 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are Another resident, Joe Swan, Sr. explains, The ice used to push migrating whales in close. This site is also identified Men and women chop holes in ice near shore and jig for tom-cod. The need for a concerted effort to mitigate these The long-awaited Kivalina Bridge, connecting the Western Alaska village of Kivalina to the mainland, was completed last spring by Lynden customer ASRC Civil Construction with support from Alaska Marine Lines. Delivered right as the newspaper goes to print every Thursday. "There were a lot of pieces of project process that were being tossed around," he said. As of last week, it became a nationally award-winning evacuation route. A rural school project the state is legally obligated to complete was among the reductions. Cologne City Council (CCC) is undertaking the expansion of the Kaiserin-Theophanu-Schule school in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.The project involves the construction of a school facility with a gross floor area of 10,500m2, 31 classrooms, four care rooms, a physics department with three rooms, an art drawer room, four multi-purpose rooms, expansion of a canteen facility, a sports . of the entire community; to a new mainland site. Over the last decade, Kivalina and the NAB have evaluated the feasibility of numerous local road routings that could potentially provide for evacuation, school access, or material site development. The total project budget is $63.1 million, with $50.5 million funded by a state grant from the Department of Education and Early Development and $12.6 million by the borough bond funds, Christy said. However, the planning for this project began almost 20 years ago. AK Craft Brew & Barleywine Festival Giveaway. Diminishing fish on the Wulik River, changes in caribou migration routes, reduced availability of berries and greens, and the inability to hunt sea mammals due to loss of sea ice have raised concerns about the village's food security: not only do residents fear for their safety due to erosion and ocean storms, growing numbers of families also face hunger. Seven million dollars had been set aside for the construction of a school in Kivalina, and a road to it. However, investigations by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined that Kiniktuuraq could also fall victim to climate change impacts over time. Beaversan invasive species in this regionbuild dams that make river travel to upstream food sources challenging for residents. When people start talking about climate change, it really scares me, laments Russel Adams, Sr., a lifelong resident of Kivalina. document.write(year) Demo Debris Landfill. Borough Assembly Members Elmer Armstrong Jr. Contact Us >. On the other. var year = today.getFullYear() 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 Most of the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of September, and the school will open its doors to students on Oct.19, said Kathy Christy, the Northwest Arctic Borough School District's capital projects manager in an email. LINKS: School Climate & Connectedness Survey, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and NWABSD Page, FREE INTERNET: Emergency Connectivity Fund for Students. For generations Kivalina has been planning to relocate to meet "basic needs" for clean water, sanitation, and adequate space for housing, to reinhabit traditional lands and relocate planning power in the village, and to address the impacts of global climate change that increasingly threaten the village's barrier . If you do this project in Kivalina, you do this work for them. Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities officials accepted the award on June 7, 2022. Adak Husky Road Landfill. Box 104 Noorvik, AK 99763Email, Seat B- Kivalina, Noatak, Baird Mountains, Kiana & NoorvikP.O. Additionally, the dump site lacks a perimeter fence and draws wild animals, including bears. For questions or comments, please contact: In the meantime, there are deficiencies in sanitation that must be addressed in order to support the health needs of community residents. For instance, the group Re-Locate received a $500,000 ArtPlace grant to fund a village-based planning hub for Kivalina, which will be housed in the village's community center. 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 . DOT&PF took a unique approach to deliver this project. Olson says the Senate Finance committee is now trying to restore some of the funding for the project, but there has been resistance to paying for the road. 2022 Anchorage Daily News. However, building the Kivalina road was urgent and necessary "to establish a safe and reliable means of evacuation for the community," so the state officials and the Kivalina community completed the project sooner. Full Record; Other Related Research; Abstract. Alternative contracting, utilizing the Construction Manager General Contractor (CM/GC) method provided further innovations, with ASRC Civil Construction building the project for $43 million. 1-Time Buccaneer Kenai Loop 1. Mearig said Wednesday that the department could not determine what the borough aimed to do in its series of proposed resolutions in November and December. Sea ice that once protected the island from winter storms no longer forms early enough in the fall to prevent rising waters and storm surge from reaching the island's shores. Anchorage Daily News 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. Kivalina is a safe and resilient community. within these areas have been determined feasible and are carried forward for further evaluation (K-Hill, Wulik River Channel Source 1, Wulik Relic Chanel Rising seas and coastal erosion are eating away at the barrier island on which the Alaska Native Village of Kivalina rests. 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 community of Kivalina was founded at its current location in 1905 The Kivalina evacuation/school access road project will provide residents of Kivalina Island a safe, reliable means of evacuation if necessary. Residents of Kivalina, Alaska have an new evacuation route in case they need to leave their island home during a winter storm. Due to severe erosion and wind-driven ice damage, the City intends to relocate to a new site 7.5 miles away. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News). (907) 442-2500 Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) officials recently accepted the award. The Arctic Sounder - Serving the Northwest Arctic and the North Slope - A publication of One of the complicating factors in the project is the schools location. Options involving community relocation have been problematic, as they are neither culturally preferable nor fiscally practical in the foreseeable future. Kivalina IRA President Millie Hawley says that this is a process that belongs to the people of Kivalina. . The environmental review, consultation, and other actions required by applicable Federal environmental laws for this project In this photo taken in Sept. 2005 and provided by Millie Hawley, Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo village is seen in on a barrier island off the coast of northwest Alaska. 53.7% of people in Kivalina have completed high school. Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities(DOT&PF) officials recently accepted the award. The Kivalina Evacuation Route and School Access Site project, completed in 2021, was recognized by the American Association of State Highway Officials for a national Quality of Life award for a medium sized project. The school it will replace enrolls about 150 students. Located in the school, the Food Service Worker position performs a variety of cleaning, maintenance, food preparation, stocking, and serving duties in a commercial kitchen, storeroom, dining, or serving area. The future weighs heavily on the community. by the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, and approved by the community, as a preferred new location for the community school. 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. Kotzebue, AK 99752 The team delivered the project to the construction phase in just 22 monthsputting Kivalina residents on the road to a more secure future. Kivalina is just one of 31 Alaskan villages that are imminently threatened by climate change and are considering relocation . Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities officials accepted the award on June 7, 2022. The Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly held an unprecedented meeting 2,000 miles away in Seattle last month, where it narrowly shot down a proposal by the borough mayor to award a no-bid project management contract for a new school near the climate-stressed village of Kivalina. Currently hiring for on-call and part-time! Over the last decade, Kivalina and the NAB have evaluated the feasibility of numerous local road routings that could potentially provide for evacuation, school access, or material site development. 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. The need for a concerted effort to mitigate these risks became more evident during an evacuation event in October 2007, when debris-laden storm waves overtopped the barrier island. In 2000, the community settled on a nearbyand potentially safersite for relocation, dubbed Kiniktuuraq. Long a stopping off place for seasonal travelers between arctic coastal areas and Kotzebue Sound communities, it lies 80 air miles northwest of Kotzebue. 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. Kivalina, Alaska, in August 2009. Hunting for caribou until river freeze up, also time in fish camps, berry picking, and hunting ptarmigan and other birds. For residents of Kivalina in northwest Alaska, constructing a new water and wastewater system for the entire village is not an option. All rights reserved. Kivalina has been at its current location since its school was built in the early 1900s. (907) 442-2500 Four days earlier, the no-bid contract was pulled from the agenda at a special meeting in Anchorage. See links to these resources in the sidebar, under Additional Resources. It has been a Superfund site since 1989. Kivalina has been at its current location since its school was built in the early 1900s. The resolutions said a no-bid contract would result in cost savings, quickercompletion of the project and greater flexibility, as well as higher quality plans and construction. The Northwest Arctic Borough School District vehemently opposed the idea and described it as misinformed, ill-timed and potentially in violation of state law requiring competitive bids. All Sites. By teaming with communities and agencies, DOT&PF was able to deliver the project from concept to operational road in less than 4 years. K-Hill is an active . Kivalina is located between the Chukchi Sea and Kivalina River at the tip of an 8-mile barrier reef. This award belongs to the community and to each and every one of DOT&PFs partners, said Ryan Anderson, DOT&PF Commissioner. Two versions of the resolution would have awarded the contract to Kotzebue-based Remote Solutions LLC, owned by former Iditarod champion John Baker and his fiancee, fellow Iditarod musher Katherine Keith. Nonetheless the US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) made it permanent in 1905. The mission of the department is toKeep Alaska Movingthrough service and infrastructure.. He hopes the road will eventually lead to the new site of the village of Kivalina. In fact, Kivalina school is the last of the five schools named in the settlement to receive full funding, Mearig said. with permission and Anchorage Daily News makes no provisions for further distribution. It has also increased food security for Kivalina, allowing residents to more easily conduct traditional subsistence activities including accessing fishing sites. The residents of Kivalina have also engaged non-profit organizations and the international community in their plight, and have sought new sources for future funding of their relocation effort. Wulik River Source 1, Relic Channel Source 1, and Relic Channel Source 2 with the K-Hill site and Relic Channel sources given highest priority, and the Wulik NAB within the Study Area (Community Proposed Alternatives). publisher and owner, including duplication on not-for-profit websites. 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 students will start this fall's school year in a brand new building, with the construction of the building nearing completion. "The rush is very confusing.". The Pledge of Allegiance, translated into Inupiaq, on the wall of the special education classroom in Kivalinas McQueen School in 2012. As violent waves crashed against the rocks, some residents stayed up through the night, beefing up the temporary erosion protection around the airstrip with rocks, super sacs, and pieces of old fuel tanks. Route B were determined feasible and carried forward for further evaluation. . makes no provisions for further distribution. "The Kivalina School had run out of heat on Thursday (Dec. 16), and when they traced it back to the 1,900-gallon tank that provides heating to the school, they discovered it was empty, even though it had just been filled the day before," said Kimberley Maher, the department's Northern Region State On-Scene Coordinator. adjacent to the Kivalina Airport, immediately cross the lagoon with a 3,020-foot long causeway, and follow lowlands and relic channels of the Wulik River The school site is eight miles from Kivalina, which is only accessible by air or two annual barges. O'Brien, the school superintendent, said that the resolutions came as a surprise. . By teaming with communities and agencies, DOT&PF was able to deliver the project from concept to operational road in less than 4 years. 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.