Introducing: What We Know. This new recurring column features Southeast Alaskans with direct experience in the systems that shape our lives – from government and science to education and infrastructure. We’re inviting people who know how things work (and sometimes don’t) to help shed light on the things that impact everyday life in the Chilkat Valley. If you have a question you’d like to see answered, or would like to contribute a column, reach out to [email protected].
In the Haines Borough, like all communities in Alaska, we are dependent on federal funding for annual basic budget allocations, infrastructure investments and community services.
Without federal funding, key priorities will have challenges advancing beyond the valley’s dreamscape. As with most budget decisions, there is also a lag before communities feel impacts.
The recent discussions over non-profit allocations in the Haines Borough illustrate how this works. The budget we have now is based on the prior assembly’s decisions. The budget we will have that begins July 1, 2025, will be the budget decided by the current assembly.
Similarly, in the U.S. government, federal funding we have now is based on the Biden administration’s budget allocations. But after Sept. 30, 2025, the budget decisions will belong to the Trump administration. What does this mean for us as a small community at the end (or the beginning) of the road?
The Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program is a federal program that provides funding for communities adjacent to, or surrounded by, U.S. National Forest lands. Use of funding is broad. School expenses, roads, and wildfire mitigation are all allowable expenses.
In the Haines Borough, SRS helped pay for school programming partnerships between Takshanuk Watershed Council and Haines Borough public schools, though in recent years the funding has been diverted to pay for Porcupine road repairs and other non-school related expenditures. Roads, critical infrastructure, and wildfire mitigation are all allowable expenditures under SRS.
In 2024, it was estimated to bring in an additional $218,731 in funding, and $12 million for Alaska in total. It’s such an important source of funding for the state that on March 17, the state legislature passed a resolution asking the federal government to fund this program through budget reconciliation. Congress did not appropriate funding, and the future of this program remains in limbo.
For Haines Borough, this means that we could be down an additional $200,000 in funds for our “areawide general fund” which is the most flexible of our borough funds, unlike most of our funds that are restricted for specific expense categories or areas.
In 2024, the borough applied for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community Change Grant. The borough contracted Haines Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) for $10,000 to prepare grant materials. It would have given the Haines Borough an additional $14 million for a new public safety building. In March 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin canceled the program.
Also in 2024, the Haines Borough paid Alaska Municipal League $15,000 to write an application for the U.S. Department of Transportation Port Infrastructure Development Program for funding to replace the Letnikof float. This program has already awarded funding for FY25, including $50 million for the Don Young Port of Alaska cargo port in Anchorage. Haines Borough was not on the list of recipients.
It is unclear if Congress will appropriate funding into this program in future years as the majority of funding for this program was provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law under the previous Biden Administration. This same law under the Biden administration gave the bump in funding available for the U.S. Dept. of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD) grant award for the Lutak Dock replacement project. At this time, those funds are still available. However, this is discretionary funding that Congress could choose to reappropriate during the next budget cycle or the President could choose to cancel the program.
The proposed 2026 Trump administration budget completely removes federal Head Start funding. Already, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ordered the closing of five regional Head Start programs, including region 10 (AK, WA, ID, OR). This could mean a loss of $68 million to Alaska Head Start, which serves 17 programs across the state.
Statewide non-profits that traditionally resource low-income Alaskan communities will also feel a financial hit. RurAL CAP (Rural Alaska Community Action Program) relies on support staff from the regional Head Start Program office. RurAL CAP provides funding for a number of Haines-based non-profits that provide support for low-income families.
Skagway was going to be the first Alaskan community to be awarded the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant award for $20 million to mitigate a long-term rockslide issue above town. In April, the Trump administration canceled the program as “wasteful” even though the BRIC program was established in 2018 by President Trump to help communities plan for and respond to natural disasters — floods, wildfires, landslides and other issues that require a lot of money to fix.
Childcare, medical care, docks, wastewater system updates, and landslide mitigation are just a few of the ways in which federal funding uncertainty will put pressure on state and local governments to step up and fill the gaps, though some gaps will be too big to fill. Hard decisions ahead mean we need to be ready with the information on what we need in our communities, and how decisions made far away impact us every day.
Natalie Dawson received her PhD studying bears, wolves, and weasels and the things they eat, across Alaska. She has worked in a number of positions in government, non-profits, and universities focused on federal public policy, government decision-making, and their impacts on the lives of everyday people. Most recently, she has been working with communities across Alaska to find financial resources for community-led projects and programs, many of which depend on some funding from the federal government.
What We Know: Federal funding uncertainty hits home in our communities
Introducing: What We Know. This new recurring column features Southeast Alaskans with direct experience in the systems that shape our lives – from government and science to education and infrastructure. We’re inviting people who know how things work (and sometimes don’t) to help shed light on the things that impact everyday life in the Chilkat Valley. If you have a question you’d like to see answered, or would like to contribute a column, reach out to [email protected].
In the Haines Borough, like all communities in Alaska, we are dependent on federal funding for annual basic budget allocations, infrastructure investments and community services.
Without federal funding, key priorities will have challenges advancing beyond the valley’s dreamscape. As with most budget decisions, there is also a lag before communities feel impacts.
The recent discussions over non-profit allocations in the Haines Borough illustrate how this works. The budget we have now is based on the prior assembly’s decisions. The budget we will have that begins July 1, 2025, will be the budget decided by the current assembly.
Similarly, in the U.S. government, federal funding we have now is based on the Biden administration’s budget allocations. But after Sept. 30, 2025, the budget decisions will belong to the Trump administration. What does this mean for us as a small community at the end (or the beginning) of the road?
The Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program is a federal program that provides funding for communities adjacent to, or surrounded by, U.S. National Forest lands. Use of funding is broad. School expenses, roads, and wildfire mitigation are all allowable expenses.
In the Haines Borough, SRS helped pay for school programming partnerships between Takshanuk Watershed Council and Haines Borough public schools, though in recent years the funding has been diverted to pay for Porcupine road repairs and other non-school related expenditures. Roads, critical infrastructure, and wildfire mitigation are all allowable expenditures under SRS.
In 2024, it was estimated to bring in an additional $218,731 in funding, and $12 million for Alaska in total. It’s such an important source of funding for the state that on March 17, the state legislature passed a resolution asking the federal government to fund this program through budget reconciliation. Congress did not appropriate funding, and the future of this program remains in limbo.
For Haines Borough, this means that we could be down an additional $200,000 in funds for our “areawide general fund” which is the most flexible of our borough funds, unlike most of our funds that are restricted for specific expense categories or areas.
In 2024, the borough applied for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community Change Grant. The borough contracted Haines Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) for $10,000 to prepare grant materials. It would have given the Haines Borough an additional $14 million for a new public safety building. In March 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin canceled the program.
Also in 2024, the Haines Borough paid Alaska Municipal League $15,000 to write an application for the U.S. Department of Transportation Port Infrastructure Development Program for funding to replace the Letnikof float. This program has already awarded funding for FY25, including $50 million for the Don Young Port of Alaska cargo port in Anchorage. Haines Borough was not on the list of recipients.
It is unclear if Congress will appropriate funding into this program in future years as the majority of funding for this program was provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law under the previous Biden Administration. This same law under the Biden administration gave the bump in funding available for the U.S. Dept. of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD) grant award for the Lutak Dock replacement project. At this time, those funds are still available. However, this is discretionary funding that Congress could choose to reappropriate during the next budget cycle or the President could choose to cancel the program.
The proposed 2026 Trump administration budget completely removes federal Head Start funding. Already, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ordered the closing of five regional Head Start programs, including region 10 (AK, WA, ID, OR). This could mean a loss of $68 million to Alaska Head Start, which serves 17 programs across the state.
Statewide non-profits that traditionally resource low-income Alaskan communities will also feel a financial hit. RurAL CAP (Rural Alaska Community Action Program) relies on support staff from the regional Head Start Program office. RurAL CAP provides funding for a number of Haines-based non-profits that provide support for low-income families.
Skagway was going to be the first Alaskan community to be awarded the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant award for $20 million to mitigate a long-term rockslide issue above town. In April, the Trump administration canceled the program as “wasteful” even though the BRIC program was established in 2018 by President Trump to help communities plan for and respond to natural disasters — floods, wildfires, landslides and other issues that require a lot of money to fix.
Childcare, medical care, docks, wastewater system updates, and landslide mitigation are just a few of the ways in which federal funding uncertainty will put pressure on state and local governments to step up and fill the gaps, though some gaps will be too big to fill. Hard decisions ahead mean we need to be ready with the information on what we need in our communities, and how decisions made far away impact us every day.
Natalie Dawson received her PhD studying bears, wolves, and weasels and the things they eat, across Alaska. She has worked in a number of positions in government, non-profits, and universities focused on federal public policy, government decision-making, and their impacts on the lives of everyday people. Most recently, she has been working with communities across Alaska to find financial resources for community-led projects and programs, many of which depend on some funding from the federal government.