An initiative to bolster the Chilkat Valley’s agricultural sector and enhance local food production, storage and access was one of dozens of Southeast Alaska projects awarded grants through a new federal program.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture allocated about $25 million to more than 70 community-led projects through the “Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy,” which was first announced in July 2021.
A network of growers in Haines, Klukwan and Skagway will receive about $100,000 to start an upper Lynn Canal food network and to promote food hubs in the upper Chilkat Valley, according to project leader Erika Merklin. The funds will be administered through the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, one of three regional organizations that is partnering with USDA on the program.
Project leader Erika Merklin said the local initiative has two components: first, to set up a food network that connects growers, businesses and residents across Haines, Klukwan, Skagway and Juneau. “The intention is to generate innovation and efficiency specific to local plant research, product aggregation, transportation and everything else that is part of our food network,” Merklin said.
The second component is to develop the upper valley “food hubs” at the Mosquito Lake Community Center and the Klukwan Store. Merklin said the grant will be used to purchase a community freeze drier for the Mosquito Lake Community Center, fund improvements to the Klukwan Store and “develop a weekly hot meal program for upper valley elders, specifically with the intention of bringing the community together.”
This project is one of two in Haines to be awarded funding through the USDA’s initiative. The other is a community composting facility, primarily for waste generated by businesses, to be built and operated by Takshanuk Watershed Council. (The CVN covered that project earlier this fall.)
“Food security in general was a big component of what we invested in,” said Barbara Miranda, Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy coordinator. She said USDA Rural Development administered funding through three regional partners — Tlingit & Haida, Southeast Conference and Spruce Root — to enable funding for community projects, like the two in Haines, that otherwise wouldn’t have been able to obtain rural development grants due to timing or size of the projects.
The USDA’s allocation of $25 million to community-led food and sustainability projects is one of four prongs of the Southeast Alaska Sustainable Strategy. The initiative also involved prohibiting large old-growth timber sales, restoring the 2001 Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest and consulting with tribal governments and Native corporations on policy issues.
Merklin said she also has applied for an Alaska Food Bank grant to fund two freezers, a transportation van, high tunnel and fridge for the Victory Garden and Mosquito Lake Community Center.
Other projects funded through the USDA’s program include construction of a biomass boiler at the Craig High School, a pier for aquatic farmers in Little Naukati Bay and a recycling initiative in Tenakee Springs.