Shaktoolik, Alaska Uses a Statewide Grant to Adapt to Coastal Risks

A photo of a coastline in Alaska on a cloudy day. Water is meeting grassy land. The land gradually slumps and is overcome by the coast, from right to left. In between the solid coast and the water, there is muddy land interspersed with water. One can imagine the solid land being overtaken by the sea eventually, once the in-between parts are eroded away.
Example of coastal erosion in action along the Alaska coastline. Source: NEON.  

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 changes in the environment 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 resilience strategy has become increasingly difficult. In addition, Shaktoolik’s hazards and risks have only grown since the village’s last relocation. This reality further compounds the need for timely 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 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 that involved building a community emergency shelter that is:

  • On high ground and easily accessible.
  • Large enough to accommodate the entire population of Shaktoolik.
  • 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 conduct a risk assessment and to 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. 

Alaska's Immediate Action Workgroup (IAW)

The government established the IAW to create a unifying mechanism to assist Alaska’s most threatened communities. The workgroup held meetings involving community leaders from the threatened villages to build a common understanding of their relative risks. IAW then prioritized projects or actions to mitigate the communities’ most urgent risks and prepared recommendations for an oversight planning body. The planning body then coordinates each community and all appropriate state and federal agencies to ensure the successful completion of projects. The IAW crafted its recommendations to serve as a template for other Alaska communities imminently threatened by erosion and other natural hazards.

Through roundtable meetings, the IAW reviewed data on imminent threats to life, property, and infrastructure caused by coastal erosion, thawing, permafrost, and flooding. They identified a subset of six of the nine communities as recipients of Community Planning Grants: 

  • Shishmaref
  • Kivalina
  • Newtok
  • Koyukuk
  • Unalakleet
  • 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:

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 hazards and 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 hazards and impacts that threaten way of life and safety.

  • The State of Alaska established the IAW of the Governor’s Executive Subcabinet on Climate Change to address known threats to communities caused by coastal erosion, thawing permafrost, flooding, and fires.
  • The IAW recommended immediate actions and policies to prevent loss of life and property in Alaskan communities that have been identified as the most vulnerable geographic and climatic changes. The IAW developed these immediate actions and policy recommendations to serve as a model for other Alaskan communities facing similar threats of erosion, flooding, and storm surge.

Tools used:

Immediate Action Working Group 2008 Final Recommendations Report identified and proposed adaptation recommendations for Shaktoolik’s immediate risks. It can serve as a model for other Native Alaskan Villages facing similar climate-related threats.

Alaska Baseline Erosion Assessments was used by Shaktoolik to measure and identify the community's rates of erosion, causes of erosion, potential for damages, and potential adaptation solutions.

Developed a grant program to support vulnerable native villages.

  • The ACCIMP provides technical assistance and funding to communities imminently threatened by natural hazards such as erosion, flooding, storm surge, and thawing permafrost. 
  • The ACCIMP provides non-competitive funding to these communities in the form of community planning grants. These grants are used to implement IAW recommendations for immediate actions made in its Recommendations Report to the Governor’s Subcabinet on Climate Change, April 17, 2008. Based on the scope of the community planning project, communities are eligible for grants of up to $150,000.

Tools used:

Hazard Impact Assessments were conducted to identify and define the hazard impacts in the community, assess how these hazards and 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 threats.

Engaged community members through public workshops. 

  • Shaktoolik held four public workshops to identify potential sites and understand the community’s needs and vision for a new emergency shelter.
  • Community members provided comments, additional questions, and input on the facility. 
  • Community members also reviewed draft operation and maintenance figures and identified potential ancillary uses for the emergency facility.

Learn more about the process in the Final Report, Shaktoolik Community Emergency Shelter (Ch. 2.1).

 

Developed a conceptual design and implementation strategy for the Shaktoolik Community Emergency Shelter.

  • In 2009, the Shaktoolik Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) Council hired a consultant in association with the Cold Climate Housing Research Center to prepare the 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.

  • In 2011, the Shaktoolik community asked the USACE to prepare a coastal flooding analysis to identify the likelihood and severity of coastal flooding in Shaktoolik. The analysis used coastal erosion data and inundation models to show the heightened threat of severe flooding and erosion in extreme storm events, which are expected to increase in frequency and  severity.
  • In addition to the primary need for a safe place to house community residents during a natural disaster or emergency event, Shaktoolik identified numerous other community needs that that the shelter will provide, such as increased training and employment opportunities, multi-purpose meeting rooms, city and tribal offices, day care, lodging, and storage facilities.

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 preparedness and resilience planning, see the Anacortes, Washington 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 example.

References

Climate Change Adaptation Resource Center (ARC-X)

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Last updated on August 7, 2025