Point Lay (Kali)

We are located on the Chukchi Sea coast, protected from the open ocean by the Kasugaluk Lagoon. Located about 300 miles southwest of Utqiaġvik, the community originally formed on Icy Cape, moved to a barrier island, then onto the banks of the Qigalik River, and now to its current location.

Notes from our 2024 planning retreat in Anchorage

Current activities

Much of our time is spent in subsistence activities, but we are also busy with maintaining infrastructure as well as participating in and supporting research.

Subsistence activities

  • Whaling: Beluga and bowhead
  • Caribou, seal, walrus, bear
  • Duck and egg hunting
  • Fishing
  • Gathering berries and greens
  • Furs and skin trading with other communities

Infrastructure

  • Comprehensive and hazard mitigation plan updates
  • Water and sewer upgrades
  • Fire station and hydrant replacement
  • Culverts (it’s constant!)
  • Gravel – finding, mining, and moving it!

Research

  • Permafrost research (University of Alaska Fairbanks)
  • Gravel and bathymetry study (Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys)
  • Beluga studies (North Slope Borough)
  • BIA Climate Tribal Resilience Planning grant
  • ACTION!

Successes

We are proud of these achievements:

  • Fuel delivery with floating line (from 4 weeks to 4 days!)
  • Reverse osmosis for water filtration
  • Runway improvements
  • Permafrost mapping and monitoring with UAF
  • Local steering committee and regional advisory group (developed under UAF Navigating the New Arctic projects)
  • Raising awareness of critical issues in Point Lay, “Ground Zero for Climate Change on the North Slope”

But we have many challenges:

  • Day-to-day challenges living with permafrost thaw issues and failing infrastructure, including housing, water and sewer, emergency services, fire hydrants, loss of fresh water sources and road & trail safety
  • Governance challenges, including our village corporation working relationship; limited land for expansion due to thaw conditions and land ownership issues; and an unorganized community, which means less access to state funding and less capacity for local governance
  • Human capacity challenges, including annual turnover of tribal government, an untrained workforce, and low volunteerism
  • Uncertainty (need for visioning) challenges, including uncertainty about relocation, which is slowing funding and planning for an aboveground water and sewer system
  • Subsistence challenges, including climate displacement of walrus and other animals; young whale hunters, unsafe ice, shallow lagoon, inlet closing up; ice cellar failure (cellars are on a barrier island)
  • Navigation and travel challenges, including rivers and lagoons changing due to erosion, overland trails changing due to permafrost thaw, and longer routes to hunting grounds

Collaborations with ACTION or other communities

Working with the North Slope Borough

  • Comprehensive planning
  • Water and sewer upgrades
  • Snow management
  • Capital improvement projects
  • Beluga studies
  • Working with UAF and CRREL
  • Permafrost research
  • Action plan that allows for village improvements and expansion through North Slope Borough capital improvements

Community vision

  • Workforce development: Grow next generation of leadership
  • Identify more strategies for building on ice-rich permafrost
  • Solution for permanent year-round water source
  • Permanent access for CWAT trail
  • Finding gravel!