Presidential approval of a disaster declaration for the Wrangell Cooperative Association will make more than half-a-million dollars available for the tribe to remove hazardous material from the beach covered in debris by the 11-Mile landslide on Nov. 20.
WCA is the first tribe in Alaska to receive a federal disaster declaration, and the fourth in the nation to provide individual assistance under the program, said Esther Aaltséen Reese, WCA tribal administrator.
President Joe Biden signed the declaration on March 15.
The funding will cover the cleanup of hazardous material on the beach below the landslide, a project estimated to cost $570,000, said Reese. There will also be federal funding available to individuals to help with temporary housing and home repairs and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property.
However, the federal aid requires at least a 10% cost share for WCA on the hazardous material cleanup, and a 25% match on a portion of the individual assistance. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, "the cost share ensures local interest and involvement through financial participation.”
Reese said that WCA is writing a letter to Biden requesting a 0% cost share on the cleanup. If the request is not approved, she said WCA will likely ask the state to cover it.
The borough is prepared to cover the match required for the individual aid up to a total of $50,000, said Borough Manager Mason Villarma.
Because WCA is a federally recognized tribe, they were able to go directly to FEMA for the assistance, rather than having to go through the state of Alaska, as the borough must do.
The borough also submitted a federal disaster aid request to cover the costs incurred by landslide clean up. They have yet to hear back, said Villarma.
The state declared a disaster the day after the slide, making funds available for road repairs, search and rescue operations and individual assistance for people directly affected by the slide. The landslide took out two homes, killing six people.
The federal disaster declaration for WCA means the new money will stay entirely in the community, whereas disaster aid requested by the state would go into a statewide pot covering multiple slides that same day in Southeast Alaska.
The federal funding awarded to WCA also offers individuals more aid than was available through state funding, Reese said. Through state funding, individuals could get up to $42,500 for direct expenses and housing repairs, but with the funding available to WCA individuals can get up to twice that amount — $42,500 for housing and $42,500 for other needs which includes things like medical care.
FEMA staff will visit Wrangell to help individuals apply for assistance, and the financial aid will be available to all members of the community, Native and non-Native, Reese said.
The state cleaned up the land and beach covered by the slide to the high-tide zone. The delay in removing hazardous material from below the tideline and in Zimovia Strait has jeopardized an area that is particularly important to WCA, Reese said. That beach area has provided rich and plentiful clams, crabs, shrimp, fish and other traditional subsistence foods.
In 2018, WCA Earth Branch mapped the beach for paralytic shellfish poison to ensure clams and cockles are safe to eat. Additionally, there are several historic Tlingit sites nearby that prove that ancestors used the beach and the surrounding areas. Cleaning up the area is important to WCA, as the tribe wants to continue stewardship and care for the land as their ancestors did for thousands of years and protect it for generations to come, Reese said.
According to a state report, the landslide started at almost 1,500 feet in elevation and flowed about 3,750 feet to tidewater and then extended an additional 500 feet into Zimovia Strait.
The WCA sent a letter to Biden on March 21 requesting that the federal aid also cover any loss of traditional subsistence foods, which currently is not covered. This coverage may not apply much to Wrangell because the borough quickly provided portable generators to provide electricity to homes after power lines went down in the slide, allowing people to keep their freezers and refrigerators running.
Reese, however, noted that she wants to get subsistence foods covered in order to set a precedent for other tribes that need federal aid in the future. She highlighted the importance of traditional subsistence foods to rural communities, adding that the loss of a freezer full of subsistence foods is equivalent to the loss of a grocery store.
The process to request a presidential disaster declaration was challenging and full of barriers, Reese said, and she had little hope in achieving the declaration but wanted to push forward with the process to bring some of the barriers to light for other small tribes in the future.
Barriers included cost shares, a required $250,000 threshold of damages, a required 25% match in individual assistance and the lack of coverage for subsistence foods.
Reese noted that another barrier included the inability for a regional tribe to apply for assistance on behalf of a smaller tribe. There are smaller tribes in the state that likely don’t have the resources to apply for federal aid, she said.
Reese said she wants to turn the recovery from the deadly landslide into another historic moment of pride for the Wrangell community. She also hopes this process will model how tribal and federal governments can work together effectively.
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