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Alaska Native Allotments at Risk: Technological Strategies for Monitoring Erosion and Informing Solutions in Southwest Alaska

Author

Listed:
  • Jonathan S. Lim

    (School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 1 South Parks Rd., Oxford OX1 3TG, UK)

  • Sean Gleason

    (Hampden Sydney College, Hampden Sydney, VA 23943, USA)

  • Hannah Strehlau

    (Zentrum für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie, 24837 Schleswig, Germany)

  • Lynn Church

    (Nalaquq, Quinhagak, AK 99655, USA)

  • Carl Nicolai

    (Qanirtuuq Inc., Quinhagak, AK 99655, USA)

  • Willard Church

    (Independent Researcher, Quinhagak, AK 99655, USA)

  • Warren Jones

    (Qanirtuuq Inc., Quinhagak, AK 99655, USA)

Abstract

After the United States’ purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, Alaska Native lands have existed in a legal state of aboriginal title, whereby the land rights of its traditional occupants could be extinguished by Congress at any time. With the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971, however, Alaska Native individuals were given the opportunity to select and secure a title to ancestral lands as federally administered ANCSA 14(c) allotments. Today, though, these allotments are threatened by climate-change-driven erosion. In response, our article provides an erosion monitoring tool to quantify the damage caused by coastal and riverine erosion. Using the Yup’ik (pl. Yupiit) community of Quinhagak as a case study, we employ high-precision measurement devices and archival spatial datasets to demonstrate the immense scale of the loss of cultural lands in this region. From 1976 to 2022, an average of 30.87 m of coastline were lost according to 9 ANCSA 14(c) case studies within Quinhagak’s Traditional Land Use Area. In response, we present a free erosion monitoring tool and urge tribal entities in Alaska to replicate our methods for recording and quantifying erosion on their shareholders’ ANCSA 14(c) properties. Doing so will foster urgent dialogue between Alaskan Native communities and lawmakers to determine what measures are needed to protect Alaska Native land rights in the face of new environmental challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan S. Lim & Sean Gleason & Hannah Strehlau & Lynn Church & Carl Nicolai & Willard Church & Warren Jones, 2023. "Alaska Native Allotments at Risk: Technological Strategies for Monitoring Erosion and Informing Solutions in Southwest Alaska," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:1:p:248-:d:1034681
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lorena Becerra-Valdivia & Thomas Higham, 2020. "The timing and effect of the earliest human arrivals in North America," Nature, Nature, vol. 584(7819), pages 93-97, August.
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    3. Jonathan D. Oldfield, 2016. "Mikhail Budyko's (1920–2001) contributions to Global Climate Science: from heat balances to climate change and global ecology," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(5), pages 682-692, September.
    4. Elizaveta Barrett Ristroph, 2021. "Navigating climate change adaptation assistance for communities: a case study of Newtok Village, Alaska," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 11(3), pages 329-340, September.
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