Relocating Homes from Severe Erosion in Akiak, Alaska

Akiak resident Ted Williams sits on the edge of an outdoor basketball court, gazing out toward the Kuskokwim River, his feet dangling above an eroded streambank.

“I remember sitting here when I was 12 years old – but back then the boardwalk used to go all the way out into the river,” Ted said. “The elders told me not to sit there because it was eroding…but I never thought it would erode this much.”

A short walk down the shoreline, Ted looks out at another stretch of river.

“The road used to be out where the river is now,” Ted said. “This used to be where my grandparents lived. It’s all in the river now."

"...It’s rapidly eroding.”

Akiak is situated on the Kuskokwim River about 42 air miles northeast of Bethel on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The community has about 405 residents. Akiak means "the other side," since it was a crossing to the Yukon River basin during the winter. The Kuskokwim River is the second largest drainage in Alaska, stretching 900 miles from the Alaska Range mountains to the Bering Sea.

Residents say the erosion has become worse over the last 20 years. Many remember the flood of 2009 that submerged parts of the village in three feet of water.

Major fall storms in 2012 and 2019 resulted in significant erosion events, which threatened homes and destroyed infrastructure.

“I remember watching my fish camp fall into the river in seconds,” said local resident Lena Foss. “People came running and tried to save as many fish as they could before it fell into the river.”

“The river is changing,” Lena said.

Climate change, melting permafrost, increased instances of severe storms and dynamic spring break up events all contribute to the changes of the river.

Significant erosion happened in 2019 during the spring “break up” season, an annual Alaska occurrence when snow and river ice melts. Air temperatures increased too quickly, causing the ice to heave and break up rather than gradually melt in place. Huge chunks of ice jammed the river and blocked stream flow. The ice jams resulted in large amounts of riverbank erosion that made several homes unsafe for the families that lived there.

David Gilila Sr. of the Kokarmiut Village Corporation said that in the spring of 2019 they lost 50 feet of the streambank to erosion in one day.

“There’s no permafrost holding that land together,” David said. “When I was growing up, we dug a hole in the ground to make a freezer, you could dig two to three feet down and hit permafrost. Now you can keep digging.”

David said in the last five years, he watched the tundra where they used to pick berries erode and slide down into the river because of the melting permafrost.

“The texture of the ice has changed. It’s not as thick as it used to be,” David said.

Akiak Native Community is working with multiple federal and state agencies to mitigate loss due to erosion and to plan for the future. An important part of their strategy is relocating homes and infrastructure away from the floodplain.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has worked with Akiak for several years to help them relocate homes that are threatened by erosion.

The relocation projects are funded by the NRCS Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP).  EWP is a recovery program that helps communities relieve imminent threats to life and property caused by floods, fires, windstorms, and other natural disasters.

EWP differs from other government disaster programs because it does not require a disaster declaration by the federal or state government for a community to receive assistance. The NRCS State Conservationist can declare a local watershed emergency and initiate EWP assistance in cooperation with an eligible sponsor.  

Akiak Native Community as the project sponsor was awarded funding in 2020 and completed the relocation of six homes identified as in danger from ongoing erosion. The work was done in partnership with Kokarmiut Corporation and the City of Akiak.

"We completed the relocation work with a 100 percent local workforce,” said Sheila Williams Carl, tribal administrator at the time. “When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the tribal council approved an ordinance to limit outsiders from visiting Akiak. The pandemic caused some delay in relocation efforts due to limited air freight options for bringing needed equipment and construction materials to Akiak, but our crews pushed forward."

"Thanks to satellite and digital imagery arranged by NRCS staff in Alaska, we were able to complete certification of the NRCS scope of work remotely. This removed the possible exposure to COVID from outside NRCS staff coming to our village to check in person the relocation work completed. Akiak thanks NRCS for the funding to protect six families from threats from the river and for protecting our village from COVID exposure."

Most recently in 2022, Akiak applied for and was selected for funding from NRCS through the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations (WFPO) Program. This new program will address other village relocation needs in the community beyond what EWP can accomplish and gather input from the community.

NRCS held a public meeting in August 2023 in Akiak to get feedback from the community about their needs for the WFPO project.

Through collaboration and partnerships, NRCS and Akiak are working together to plan and implement solutions that will protect lives, homes and infrastructure while also ensuring the Akiak people can retain their subsistence way of life.

“The river is our way of life,” Lena said. “We fish. It’s our transportation. In the winter, it becomes our highway. We have king salmon, silvers, chum, white fish, smelt, grayling, rainbow trout, Dolly Varden. It keeps us sustainable. It keeps us living the subsistence life.”