Newtok, Alaska

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox settlement

Newtok (Template:Langx) is a small village on the Ningliq River in the Bethel Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population is zero as of late 2024, down from 321 in 2000, and the village has been abandoned. Climate change and river erosion forced the primarily Central Yup'ik Alaska Native village to consider relocation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Guardian-AlaskaOnTheEdge-2013>Template:Cite news</ref> Mertarvik is the new village that has been established that the residents moved. Demolition of any hazardous items left behind is in place from remote crews, sadly those crews found many pets, primarily dogs, left behind that could have been moved as well.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of Template:Convert, of which, Template:Convert of it is land and Template:Convert of it (7.21%) is water.

Demographics

Template:US Census population

Newtok first appeared on the 1950 U.S. Census as "Keyaluvik", an unincorporated native village. This was also the name of the earlier settlement just to the west, which became known as "Old Keyaluvik."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1960, the name was changed to Newtok. Newtok formally incorporated in 1976, but disincorporated in 1997. It was then made a census-designated place (CDP), effective with the 2000 census.

File:Newtok 1974 001 (7344052476).jpg

Houses in the south of Newtok, 1974

As of the census<ref name="GR2">Template:Cite web</ref> of 2000, there were 321 people, 63 households, and 51 families residing in the CDP. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 67 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert. The racial makeup of the CDP was 3.12% White, 95.33% Native American, and 1.56% from two or more races.

There were 63 households, out of which 68.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.5% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.0% were non-families. 19.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 5.10 and the average family size was 5.96.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 45.2% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 26.8% from 25 to 44, 14.3% from 45 to 64, and 3.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 21 years. For every 100 females, there were 118.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 112.0 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $32,188, and the median income for a family was $32,188. Males had a median income of $26,250 versus $15,625 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $9,514. About 29.8% of families and 31.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 38.9% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

Environmental issues

File:Newtok 1974 022 (7158847147).jpg

Building that functioned as the Head Start school and church, 1974

In 2007, The New York Times reported that erosion made Newtok an island between the widening Ningliq River and a slough to the north, because Alaskan permafrost is melting due to climate change.<ref name=NYTimes-TownSeeksLifeline-2007>Template:Cite news</ref> Coastal storms and thawing permafrost have worn away the land upon which Newtok was built. According to The New York Times article, because the village is below sea-level and sinking, the town could be washed away within a decade.<ref name=NYTimes-TownSeeksLifeline-2007 />

Erosion of the tundra by the river has destroyed much of the area of the village, including the barge dock.<ref name=BBCNews-ErodedFuture-2008>Template:Cite news</ref> The United States Army Corps of Engineers' March 2009 report estimates the highest point in the town, the high school, will be under water by the year 2017.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=UNC-PoweringANation-ClimateAlaska-2009>Template:Cite news</ref>

The town was featured in the 2009 History Channel's TV show, Tougher in Alaska, in the episode called "Dangerous Earth."<ref name=History-TougherInAlaska-2009>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2015, Newtok was one of the two towns featured in the Al Jazeera English Fault Lines documentary, When the Water Took the Land.<ref name=AlJazeera-FaultLines-WhenTheWaterTook-2015>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=ADN-FaultLinesDocumentary-2015>Template:Cite news</ref>

By 2019, the first residents moved to a new town, Mertarvik.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2022 Patagonia released a feature-length documentary on Newtok.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Education

Lower Kuskokwim School District operates the Ayaprun School, K-12. Template:As of the school has 128 students, 12 teachers, and 27 other employees.<ref>"Ayaprun School." Ayaprun School. Retrieved on July 13, 2018.</ref> Its continuation is the Mertarvik Pioneer School.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Relocation

File:Mertarvik construction - 2019 04.jpg

New homes being constructed as part of the Mertarvik village project.

Land has been acquired for a new townsite called Mertarvik on nearby Nelson Island about Template:Convert away, and $1 million in government funding has been obtained to build a dock for delivering building supplies.<ref name=ADN-AP-3Million-2008>Template:Cite news</ref>

As of 2016, although the town's roughly 400 residents voted in 2003 to relocate to higher ground nine miles away, progress has been slow.<ref name=SciAm-HowToSurviveWarmer-2016>Template:Cite news</ref>

On December 24, 2016, the village made a disaster declaration request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for disaster assistance due to "flooding, persistent erosion, and permafrost degradation starting on January 1, 2006 and continuing." The request would "include relocation of the Yupik Tribe (population of ~350 people)."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

During the summer of 2018, a 6,000 square-foot community center was built, as were 8 houses. Plans for 2019 include interior work in the community center so it can be used as a school, a generator building, and 13 more houses. Construction of roads, pipes, and a water treatment plant is planned.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The goal is to complete relocation by 2023.<ref>Eurich, Johanna (Dec 27, 2018). “Newtok Is On the Move “. KYUK. http://www.kyuk.org/post/newtok-move</ref>

In September 2022, Typhoon Merbok caused damage to fuel barrels and moved the ocean shoreline closer to the edge of the town.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

References

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:Commons category

Newtok Planning Group at Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, State of Alaska

Template:Bethel Census Area, Alaska

Template:Authority control