Alaskan Village Of Newtok Loses Eighty Feet Of Shoreline To Ocean Erosion In One Year

[hatrack]

BETHEL, ALASKA -- Stanley Tom recently invited the most politically connected man in the state to visit his small village on Alaska's western coast. Tom wanted U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens to witness for himself the continuing natural disaster that threatens Newtok and dozens of other coastal villages. Tidal erosion caused by warming temperatures continues to eat away at the shoreline and imperil not just the Yupik Eskimo inhabitants but their ancient way of life. In Newtok, population about 320, the chopping waters advanced 80 feet this year alone.

"Time's running out," Tom, the village leader, said during a layover in this working town west of Newtok. Tom has been traveling extensively in recent months to try to raise awareness -- and money -- to fund the relocation of his village. Such a move would cost $80 million to $130 million, the government estimates. A small fraction has been pledged.

Native leaders and environmentalists blame bureaucracy and the unwillingness of any government agency to lead the way. During a Senate hearing in Anchorage in mid-October, Tom made his case to Stevens, who acknowledged the dire situation. But Stevens told Tom that many other villages needed help too. Tom awaits the senator's visit. He said he would like to give a personal tour of the village's disintegrating infrastructure.

Newtok sits on tundra along the Ninglick River at the far edge of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. A collection of about 70 shacks and houses stands atop stilts, connected by a gap-toothed boardwalk that winds through the village. The villagers live much the way they have for the last 2,000 years: hunting and fishing as a way of life.

But the village has modernized, and that is what has been affected most.

The barge landing washed away, making it treacherous to load and unload fuel and other essentials. The landfill, too, was wiped out, forcing villagers to haul garbage to a distant site across the river. And a second river, the Newtok, where portable toilets were emptied for years, now routinely floods and spreads human waste through the community. Tidal erosion has made the village so vulnerable that the next big storm could destroy what remains, said Deborah L. Williams, who heads Alaska Conservation Solutions. The organization addresses problems related to climate change.

EDIT

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-newtok27dec27,1,4983375.story?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true