The Quinault nation has selected a new site on higher ground, said Fawn Sharp, the nation’s vice president. She said the new money will be used to build a community center, which will also house a health and wellness center and be the site of general council meetings. The structure will also serve as an emergency evacuation center.
The $25 million will make up about one-quarter of the total cost of Quinault’s relocation project, said Ms. Sharp, who is also president of the National Congress of American Indians.
“For years, our pleas have seemed to fall on deaf ears,” Ms. Sharp said. With the new money, she said, “they’re paying attention to us.”
Eight other tribes will get $5 million each to consider whether to relocate and to begin planning for relocation if they decide to do so. They include the Chitimacha Tribe, in Louisiana; the Yurok Tribe, in Northern California; and other Native villages in Alaska.
The federal government needs to learn how to help relocate communities that want to move, said Bryan Newland, assistant secretary for Indian affairs at the Interior Department. The new funding will be a chance for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to learn to coordinate its relocation efforts with other agencies that work on disaster recovery, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“Because of the impact of climate change, it’s unfortunate that this work is necessary,” said Mr. Newland, who is a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community. “We have to make sure that tribes can continue to exist, and continue their way of life.”