Storm Merbok causes erosion to cemetary

Observation by Tom Wolforth:

Graves are eroding out of cemeteries and into oceans and rivers every year in Alaska. Increasingly so with climate change. There is no state or federal agency that provides any support or relief for that, unless and until an emergency is declared by the governor. An emergency was declared by the governor in the wake of the Merbokstorm. With the funds and resources allocated for that, I was sent to Saint Michael to address a request from the citizens there for support and relief for observed bones eroding from the Old Russian Cemetery.The erosion of the Old Russian Cemetery from the impacts of the storm Merbokis also an unfinished process. The earth is actively moving, falling onto the beach bit by bit and sometimes in large chunks every day, to reach a state of stabilization after the storm. ...

Upon my arrival in Saint Michael, village leaders convened to discuss how to approach, handle, recover and rebury any remains that were present. I then recovered the skeletal remains of three people, plus one additional unrelated bone, from the portion of the Old Russian Cemetery that was impacted heavily by the storm. My reconnaissance of the entire coast line and interior areas in the village indicates that all remains were identified and retrieved. Those remains have been wrapped to meet the wishes of the village, and are currently stored in the clinic morgue per their guidance. The village will rebury them at their convenience.

**Comment by LEO Network Editors:

We have two previous posts in LEO Network about erosion in St. Michael. A post by Aida Cheemuk and Michelle Snowball in September of 2013 about bluff erosion, and a second observation about grave site erosion by Darlene Chiscok in November of 2019. As Darlene described in her post, "

"There are four burial sites in St. Michael, two of which are on the coast. One is an old Russian site from the TB epidemic. The other gravesite is on the north side of town. A community member brought remains to the IRA in a box. The only known set of bones that were recovered were reburied in the same area, but on higher ground. There were crosses and gates standing at one time in this area. They have all fallen over and it is still eroding. Relocation of remains is ongoing as residents find them. These are from burial sites from the Russian era. The Tribal Administrator reported collecting remains in a box and moving to a new location. Community was also the location of a military hospital at Fort St. Michael (1897-1925). Tribal Administrator reported that the eroded sites were a Russian era graveyard from an epidemic."

Photos taken during a climate change assessment in 2012 show the grave site locations at the time. See attached reports and photos from previous assessment. M. Brubaker