Month: May 2026

Testifying before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs about last fall’s deadly remnants of Typhoon Halong, Paul J. Paul, Chief of the Native Village of Kipnuk, recalled the moment his six-year-old granddaughter asked the family to sing “Silent Night” — in the dark — as early-morning floodwaters swirled violently around their home.  

Lucy Martin, a tribal resilience assistant coordinator for Kwigillingok, listened as she dabbed her eyes dry.  Earlier that day, she described graves and caskets unearthed by the storm rolling outside her window as her home broke free from its foundation and floated away. “It was a real-life horror movie for me,” she said. 

Over two days of field hearings in Anchorage and Bethel, storm survivors from the hard-hit villages of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok offered a rare, emotional account of the fear and lingering hardships linked to the October 12 storm that killed at least one, left two others missing and displaced residents of both communities. Tribal leaders and policy officials used the hearings to urge Congress to rethink how federal agencies handle disaster recovery in rural Alaska.

Only Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska and chair of the committee, attended the hearings on behalf of the Senate panel. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland also participated in the discussions alongside Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who joined the first day of testimony in Anchorage.

“I know that this is not easy,” Murkowski told survivors Tuesday. “We’re here to better understand the impacts of Typhoon Halong, how the federal response worked, where it fell short, and what we need to do together as we move forward.” 

No one wants to move back to Kipnuk, the tribal administrator, Rayna Paul said, as she spoke of the destruction and contamination that claimed 90% of village infrastructure.  “Our lands have been forever changed by these disasters,” Paul said. “We are no longer safe there.”

Kipnuk has endured three federally declared disasters in just 37 months, each more destructive than the last.  Viewing Typhoon Halong as a warning of what lies ahead, both Kipnuk and Kwigillingok — with a combined population of about 1,000 people — have voted overwhelmingly to relocate to higher ground.

But Wednesday’s hearing in Bethel exposed what tribal leaders have warned about for decades:  The deep flaws in the federal government’s disaster recovery system — from delayed housing aid and fragmented funding programs to the absence of any formal framework for responding to climate-threatened villages.

“The status quo is not sustainable,” Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium President and CEO Natasha Singh said, testifying how communities are often left navigating multiple agencies with overlapping rules and unclear authority—all while simultaneously responding to disaster impacts. “For the people we serve, the existing approach is unacceptable.”

Similar concerns were raised by leaders from the Association of Village Council Presidents, the Calista Corporation, the Yukon-Kuskwokwim Health Corporation and the Denali Commission. 

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland highlighted a recently announced $20 million emergency package from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, including $4 million for immediate fuel, water and firewood assistance in 16 Western Alaska villages and $16 million for erosion and infrastructure work in Chefornak.

But questions remained about the status of the BIA’s Tribal Climate Resilience Program, which was renamed the Branch of Tribal Community Resilience by the second Trump administration.  The grant initiative represents one of the federal government’s primary funding sources for tribal climate adaptation and migration planning since its creation in 2011.

One tribal administrator taking in the talks, Noelle George from Akiachak, told the Alaska Beacon that roughly $250,000 in erosion mitigation funding awarded during the Biden administration had yet to be distributed under President Trump.

Kirkland, who was confirmed in October, did not directly address the resilience grants during the hearings despite repeated references to it by witnesses. It also remains unclear whether any new funding has been awarded to any new recipients during Trump’s second term. During his first, the administration unsuccessfully sought to eliminate the funding program altogether. 

Bryan Fisher, director of Alaska’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, described Typhoon Halong as the most catastrophic disaster he has seen in 32 years, and warned that federal funding disruptions and staffing shortages have created new obstacles in the recovery process.

“FEMA is hard to work with,” Fisher said bluntly during a question-and-answer session following Wednesday’s hearing. 

He added that furloughs and delays within the Department of Homeland Security slowed reimbursements and recovery planning. On April 29, FEMA implemented Immediate Needs Funding, limiting spending to only the most urgent, life-saving measures amid the partial government shutdown.

Still, FEMA said in a six month recovery update that the agency and the state had distributed more than $60 million in individual and public assistance funds tied to Typhoon Halong recovery efforts, including housing assistance, infrastructure repair and debris removal.

In a press conference afterward, Murkowski confirmed that some disaster recovery funds tied to Halong had been stalled in Washington awaiting approvals while DHS funding remained unresolved.

The strain of those delays emerged in the case of Rayna Paul, whose FEMA appeal reviewed by the Alaska Beacon showed the agency denied her request for continued housing assistance after determining her living expenses did not exceed 30% of household income. The denial suggested Paul had achieved some degree of financial and housing stability.

But that stood in stark contrast to her testimony, Tuesday, when she described displaced families in Anchorage facing looming evictions, suicides, depression, bullying in schools and deep cultural isolation far from their ancestral villages.  

In that sense, Paul’s denial represented a broader concern raised throughout the hearings: that federal disaster assistance formulas often fail to reflect the realities facing Alaska Native families living on the frontlines of climate change. 

As relocation plans slowly take shape, Paul urged lawmakers to support an interim village where displaced families could remain connected to their homelands, while also establishing a federal pilot relocation project for climate-threatened Alaska Native communities.

Murkowski said she is already working with other senators on legislation aimed at reforming FEMA and improving disaster response systems. She also suggested Alaska could become a national model for climate-driven community relocation.

But not without tribal consultation and autonomy. The hearings also revealed growing tensions over agencies and contractors failing to communicate directly with tribal leadership in recovery efforts in  Kipnuk and Kwigillingok. 

“When you hear the tribal administrator say she learned of what was happening in her community because she saw a picture posted on Facebook, that’s wrong,” Murkowski said.

Tribal self-determination ran as a central theme throughout the hearings, among storm survivors and tribal leaders from across the Yukon-Kuskokwim region. Many stated that the federal government bears a trust responsibility to help Native communities threatened by climate change — particularly in Alaska where federal Indian boarding school policies forced the settlement of  tribes now concentrated in some of the state’s most flood-prone danger zones.

For Paul, however, the crisis extends beyond federal policy and agency response. He described how, in his culture, nature is personified — but now storms no longer behave in ways elders recognize.

“Nature is talking to us,” he told the panel. “Remember that nature is stronger than man.” 

This post has been updated.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

10 years ago

After years of performing in makeshift tents, basements and other small venues around town, the Haines puppetry troupe Geppetto’s Junkyard is ready for the big stage.

Following three successful shows at Petersburg’s Little Norway Festival last weekend, Geppetto’s Junkyard is taking “Travels in the Belly of a Whale” to the Chilkat Center stage. 

For more than a decade, the group of ragtag puppeteers has set up in cramped quarters, like the Chilkat Center basement, Mosey’s restaurant and the circus-esque tent at the Southeast Alaska State Fair. But when a Petersburg resident contacted the troupe to perform on the town’s main stage, they scaled their new props and puppets accordingly.

Puppeteer Debi Knight Kennedy said the show features a 15-foot whale, elaborate sets depicting the creature’s innards, and full-size mermaids made of cloth and found objects. The main character, Inar, is a wooden puppet that stands more than three feet tall.

Though he plays the adventure-seeking Viking fisherman Inar in “Travels in the Belly of a Whale,” the wooden puppet isn’t new to the Geppetto’s Junkyard repertoire, Knight Kennedy said.

“He’s become like a movie star kind of guy. He has different roles,” she said.

The nautical tale follows Inar’s escapades around the world, with scenes involving underwater black light magic, singing palm trees and plenty of the group’s signature shadow puppetry. Live music and original songwriting punctuate the performance, including a knockout ballad by Hannah Bochart about Davey Jones’ Locker.

“When a lot of people think about puppets they think about hand puppets or the Muppets,” said puppeteer Melina Shields. “But we’ve really taken it to a different place that’s less Mr. Rogers and more in the European tradition of puppetry. It’s a full theater performance.”

Petersburg residents were thrilled by the group’s whimsical, humorous and poignant performances last weekend, Shields said.

“It will leave you smiling and engaged. People were so psyched at the last show that we did that they didn’t want to leave. They all came up on the stage and got up into the belly of the whale. Little kids were hugging Inar and leaning on the boat,” she said.

The whole “swallowed by a whale” plotline isn’t supposed to be a biblical reference, she added. “The whale is really more of a therapist/philosopher.”

Fourteen of the troupe’s core members will perform this Friday, as will three of their children: Yarona Jacobson (daughter of Merrick Bochart and Joey Jacobson) plays a squid, Zorza Szatkowski (son of Jessica Plachta and Nicholas Szatkowski) appears as an underwater critter in the black light scene, and Garland Bishop (daughter of Sarah and Chorus Bishop) dons a tiny hat to transform into a “baby wave.”

“Garland just rode around on (mother) Sarah’s back the whole show (in Petersburg) with a little binky in her mouth. She was like Maggie from ‘The Simpsons,’” Shields said.

In addition to the main performance, “Travels in the Belly of a Whale” includes a “pre-show,” with Knight Kennedy and her husband Gene portraying clowns named “Major Disaster” and “Minor Dilemma.”

The show is appropriate for all ages. “We had happy babies in the audience and we had laughing 80-year-olds,” Shields said of the Petersburg show.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. They are available at the Babbling Book and at the door.

25 years ago

Haines fishermen aren’t opposed to paying for using the crane at the Small Boat Harbor, but they don’t want to have to go to city hall for a key to unlock it. 

Gillnetters, city councilors and boat harbor committee members on Monday worked out a proposed ordinance change for using the crane that would require a seasonal or per-use fee. 

Those paying a seasonal rate would get a key, otherwise keys would be available at the harbormaster’s office and at the police station. Proposed fees are $10 per use or $50 for a season. 

“Everybody who understands the value of the crane, and that we’re going to have to pay for it,” said fisherman Stan Wood. An ordinance setting fees and key policy is being drafted to be introduced at the next council meeting. 

Wood said he’d like to see penalties for unauthorized use of the crane. If funds raised by the fee exceed maintenance on the crane, the city should buy an additional, smaller lift, he said. “There’s no point wearing his big crane out to pick up 300 pounds at a time.” 

City administrator Vince Hansen said he’d also like to establish a log of crane use, in part to determine wear and tear on equipment. Replacing the crane would cost an estimated $36,000. 

50 years ago 

The 1941 Howe fire truck—acquired surplus by the Haines Volunteer Fire Dept. in 1959—stands proudly but outclassed by the new Seagrave truck the HVFD received Wednesday. 

The new 350 h.p. diesel truck has an automatic transmission; it will pump 1,500 gallons of water per minute and carries 3,000 feet of two and one-half inch hose. The 125 h.p. Howe is gasoline powered, will pump 750 gallons per minute, and carries 1,500 feet of hose.

The new truck, ordered 18 months ago, cost $64,900; today’s price would be $76,000, but the contract entered into a year and a half ago was binding, Fire Chief Frank Wallace said. He and Assistant Chief Chuck Jones drove the new truck 3,200 miles from Wisconsin to Prince Rupert, B.C. to catch the ferry Taku. 

What’s the future of the Howe? It will continue to serve the area, Wallace said. However, the fire department has a problem: where to house it. Anyone with a secure garage at least 30 feet long might get in touch with the chief. 

The post This Week in History: Puppeteers, a new crane at the Small Boat Harbor and a new fire truck appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Kudos to the Southeast Road Builders’ fire brigade along with the all the others who responded to the fiery demise of my beloved SueBeeSue#6 along the highway just south of Klukwan. Thanks to the unknown driver of the blue pickup who I flagged down and dispatched to alert the SERB crew nearby. Thus, all the onboard fire extinguishers carried by SERB vehicles were promptly emptied, then topped off by the magical powers of Matty and his big hose knocking the flames down before the gas tank blew. Extra shout out to queen of the day, Helena Muench, who possessed the uncanny ability to drop her stop sign, enter the only phone booth south of the border clad as a fluorescent north-end flagger and appear on the other side donned in full fire turn-out gear driving a fire engine! 

Appreciation for the arrival of both fire departments who then followed with mop up, Dakota Strong for the ride home, and all the others who radio relayed and helped with the efforts. It’s always heartwarming to see neighbors taking care of neighbors and this response could not have had a better ending. Many thanks to you all.

Robin Beaudry

The post Thank you to those who helped extinguish car fire on the highway appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.