Allison Sayer - CRR Staff

On the evening of Thursday, October 16 CRNA Environmental Coordinator Sarah Sherwood hosted a Zoom forum to present updates on the CRNA Climate Change Plan and receive community feedback.

The majority of attendees were already intimately involved with the plan, which may have had something to do with the weather events creating extra chores for households across the region.

The CRNA plan is meant to increase climate change resilience for the area from Chitina to Mentasta Lake on a broad scale. Nestled within the greater area plan are smaller scale plans currently being created at the village level. Mentasta, Tazlina, Kluti-Kaah, Gakona, and Gulkana participated in creating local plans.

Observations gathered of climate change effects should come as no surprise to local readers. Direct impacts on subsistence foods include smaller and less numerous salmon, increased parasites in wild fish and meat, warmer weather spoiling fish during processing, erosion changing spawning grounds, changes in game animal migration and availability- including moose staying at higher elevations for more of the year, and berry failures and berry patch encroachment by invasive plants.

Other wildlife changes include longer periods of bear activity and increased sightings of mountain lions.

Landscape changes that impact residents include increased flooding and river erosion threatening human infrastructure and culturally important sites, melting permafrost- including in areas where chemicals and other waste have been historically dumped- increased wildfires and fire danger, disappearance of small lakes and ponds, and later freeze-up and earlier breakup impacting travel.

The top five regional risks identified as a whole are: fire, earthquakes, loss of subsistence resources, erosion, and flooding. The connection between climate change and earthquakes may not be obvious, but there is reason to believe the impacts of earthquakes in the Copper Basin can be amplified by a changing climate. Melted permafrost may be more susceptible to liquefaction. Also, areas that are already made unstable by rain, erosion, or other factors can be impacted more dramatically in the event of a large trigger such as an earthquake.

The regional climate plan calls for a variety of approaches including community education, infrastructure resilience, “Firewise” activities, food security support, tribal involvement in wildlife management policy, conservation, and increased emergency response.

Support for national and international climate change mitigation is also addressed at the regional level, and within some individual village plans. Conservation at the personal level is also encouraged.

Water quality and erosion monitoring, gardens, greenhouses, and recycling are already being implemented in various parts of the Copper Basin.

At an individual level, draft climate resilience plans address many similar priorities. There is variability between villages as to which is the most important issue to address, as well as what is the highest priority action to take.

Every village identified fuel breaks and other “firewise” measures as a high priority. Community outreach and education and updating emergency response and evacuation plans were also key components of every village’s approach to climate resilience.

Additional activities proposed by Mentasta include protected floodplain development, riverbank stability studies, and collaboration with CRNA on project quality assurance.

Gakona’s plan includes proposals to provide resources for foundation leveling and other infrastructure resilience affected by melting permafrost, create a community petition addressing climate change, and provide all residents with elected officials’ contact information to discuss climate change action.

Tazlina’s plan proposes to increase food and water stored within the village and to protect permafrost by reducing “excessive” clearing and encouraging residents to stay on established trails.

Kluti-Kaah’s plan proposes to add to the garden program it already has with individual garden boxes and plant and foraging education. They also propose a pilot program to filter water in a tribally-owned facility and see whether locally obtained water could be viable at a wider scale. They also propose to purchase equipment to mill wood locally and provide local jobs, and seek grants for fire fighting equipment.

Of course all of this takes funding. Development of hazard mitigation plans can open access to funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Regional plan development was supported by a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Tribal Resilience Program Grant.

The full Climate Change Adaptation Plan draft is on the CRNA website, along with the opportunity to submit your questions and comments. Plan partners include the Model Forest Policy Program and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

Disclosure: CRNA is a Copper River Record advertiser.

More from Allison Sayer:

A Visit to the Ahtna Cultural Center

Family Values At Klutina River Camp

Gulkana Village To Launch Community Gardens

More climate change reporting:

Powerful Public Testimony at CRNA Climate Change Plan Meeting

CCA Hosts Meeting with Ecologist Terry Chapin on Local Actions for Reducing Climate Change

It’s All Downhill From Here: Bluebell Gene Dispersal in a Changing Climate