BIA sends nearly $800,000 to five Alaska tribal governments, most of it road money

The Bureau of Indian Affairs sent about $794,000 to five Alaska tribal governments this month, most of it for roads in villages that have no road system.

The largest award, $278,600, goes to the Ohogamiut Tribal Council in Marshall for road maintenance. The Native Village of Nightmute received $250,000 for design work, meaning a road project there is being planned. Both come through the federal tribal transportation program, which funds the local roads, boardwalks and trails that connect village housing to airstrips, docks and schools. Goodnews Bay received a small transportation award as well.

The other two are for tribal government itself. The Kasigluk Traditional Elders Council received $167,000 under a program that lets tribes combine several federal contracts into one, and the Salamatof Tribal Council in Kenai received $88,500 for its tribal court.

Four of the five are in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the region hit hardest by last fall's typhoon and this month's storms.