The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved $100,000 to fund landslide mapping and slope analysis for select areas in Haines beginning this fall.
“This project will process and utilize new LiDAR data to be collected by Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) in 2021, in combination with geospatial analysis and existing data, to produce an up-to-date assessment of landslide characteristics and susceptibility in and around Haines,” DGGS Engineering Geology Section chief De Anne Stevens said. This kind of study is critical in Alaska given climate trends, the area’s topography and the paucity of current information about landslide risks, she said.
“Landslides and landslide-generated hazards cause deaths, injuries and homelessness every year, and they damage or destroy settlements, roads and other critical infrastructure,” Stevens said. “This study will support community landslide resilience by providing the data and education necessary for Haines to guide development activity to encourage safe and orderly growth that promotes the health and welfare of its residents.”
Deliverables will include high-resolution, publicly available LiDAR data; a map and catalog of historic and prehistoric landslides; and a map defining high, medium and low landslide risk areas.
The project is expected to start in August or September and take two years. It’s similar to a FEMA-funded study conducted in Sitka following the community’s deadly landslides in 2015.
Some Haines residents are worried the study could reduce property values and building potential in areas determined to be high risk. In Sitka, after landslide hazard maps were developed, zoning regulations were passed and some found their properties listed in high-risk zones on borough maps.
“It made the development of (certain) areas not financially feasible,” former city and borough of Sitka administrator Mark Gorman said in a December interview. “Basically, you couldn’t mitigate it. There’s nothing you could do to stop that destructive force.”
One of the biggest challenges for Sitka residents in high-risk areas has been getting loans to build or refinance homes, according to Andrew Friske, a former Haines resident now living in Sitka.
Friske’s home was under construction when a landslide crashed through his neighborhood, destroying the neighboring house and killing three people. Friske’s home, 70% completed at the time, sustained significant damage.
“That was the start of a journey that took the next five years,” Friske said. Because the house wasn’t his primary residence at the time, Friske didn’t qualify for state assistance. His insurance didn’t cover landslides. A little later, when he looked into getting a loan through a bank, he said he learned that recent landslide mapping commissioned by the municipality made it difficult to secure one.
“The city passed an ordinance that said if we signed a waiver, we could build in a high-risk area. We decided we wanted to keep the house, so we signed a waiver,” Friske said. “But folks who lend money are wary of lending it for building in a hazard zone. That’s what we found out first hand.” Banks also are apprehensive to make home loans to buyers in high-risk areas, he said.
More than five years after the initial slides, work in Sitka is ongoing to balance the need for landslide hazard information, which could potentially save future lives, with homeowners’ desires to build in certain areas.
Stevens said DGGS is working with the borough to focus the mapping along the highway system and in areas being considered for upcoming borough land sales.
“No landslide susceptibility mapping work will occur within currently developed areas of Haines unless expressly directed to do so by the borough,” she said.
DGGS has consulted with other states that have done similar mapping, including Washington, Oregon and California, Stevens said.
“The vast majority of this kind of mapping in those states has had little or no effect on property values, even in densely populated areas of Seattle and Portland where thousands of expensive homes were found to be situated on unstable slopes,” she said.
Stevens said people still choose to build and live in these areas, and accept the risk involved.
“The important thing is that they are informed, understand the potential hazard and are prepared to take appropriate action should a landslide occur,” she said, adding, “Alaska is still in its infancy with respect to landslide mapping and local government, property owners, lenders and insurance companies have yet to determine how best to approach the issue.”
Borough officials say they are particularly eager to use it as a tool for assessing the risks of developing roughly 450 acres on the northeast side of Mount Riley, a project started last fall.
“(Work) will be done in areas that are unpopulated,” Emergency Operations Center incident commander Carolann Wooton said at an assembly meeting Tuesday. “We’re not going to be going out into the rest of the borough and identifying areas of concern (that could potentially impact property values).”
At Tuesday’s assembly meeting, Wooton said the borough expects a findings report early next week from the geotechnical assessment conducted this month. The study was commissioned by the state to help inform decisions related to short-term access and long-term inhabitability of the Beach Road area.