By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka Sound Science Center and local, regional and national partners on Monday announced a five-year, $5 million grant award from the National Science Foundation.
The purpose of the grant is to develop natural hazard monitoring and warning systems in tribal communities throughout Southeast Alaska.
Project KUTÍ – the Tlingit word for weather – builds on the center’s process used in Sitka to build a landslide warning system, which followed a community process.
Sitka will serve as a hub for the new regional project but the goal is to “develop a co-produced regional system for warning residents of events that might lead to flooding, avalanches and landslides,” said a news release from the science center.
The project team includes the communities and tribal representatives from Sitka, Yakutat, Haines, Skagway, Hoonah, Craig, and Kasaan; and the Central Council Tlingit Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, RAND Corporation, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, USDA Forest Service, National Weather Service, Alaska Division of Geology and Geophysical Services, and the U.S Geologic Survey.
“We’re very excited,” said SSSC research director Ron Heintz. “One of the reasons we’re excited is we’re going to be in the communities, we’ll be sending scientists to the communities to work with people .... You hear about problems associated with climate change, and here’s an opportunity where we can do something in response to climate change.”
He added that he is also pleased that the science center will be more visible around the region.
Heintz as research director worked on the project associated with landslide risks in Sitka. The community-driven process led to the development of a dashboard the community and individuals can access and base their decisions on. The dashboard is expected to go live this spring, he said.
The science center and scientists will be working on developing hazard monitoring and warning systems in each participating community, based on what each community wants, he said. Some want a landslide warning system similar to Sitka’s, and others may be interested in flood and avalanche programs as well, Heintz said.
The news release says the project is “based on distributed sensors and predictive models of the impacts of extreme weather events in Southeast Alaska. It will study the impacts of atmospheric rivers on this region’s coastlines. Already one of the rainiest regions on the planet, the 30 rural communities of Southeast Alaska, spanning 18,000 miles of coastline, are experiencing extreme weather events with more frequency, as a result of climate change. These weather events put the safety of people and the stability of infrastructure at risk.”
Lisa Busch, director of the science center, said she’s pleased with the “co-produced” nature of Project KUTÍ.
“Researchers working to help answer questions that communities want the answers to,” she said. “That’s the cool part of it, and we’re hoping to use Sitka (the landslide risk project) as a model. Sitka Tribe of Alaska collected and analyzed oral histories for that project that can also demonstrate to other communities how traditional knowledge can work together with geoscience to help us understand the world better. The project here involved the community a lot - it’s not scientists saying ‘this is what you need,’ It’s communities saying ‘how can we work together.’”
The news release noted the impact of climate change not only on natural disaster risk but on subsistence as well, which Busch says highlights the potential of the project.
“Traditionally, Indigenous people planned subsistence food gathering according to astute observations of the weather. But changes in climate are interfering with traditional gathering,” the news release says.
“KUTÍ is founded on community leadership in: identifying priorities; selecting observation sites; being part of installation and maintenance teams; and moreover in creating the community-based systems that will provide the data upon which local warnings can be created. Additionally, KUTÍ will build on existing successful engagement programs meant to excite Indigenous students in STEM disciplines and empower Tribal Citizens.”
