Eight of nine Alaska tribes get smaller military cleanup agreements in latest Defense Department round

Federal money for Alaska tribes cleaning up contamination the military left on their lands has shrunk every year since 2023.

This month, the Army signed new two-year agreements with nine Alaska tribes worth about $3.6 million in total, according to federal spending records. Each year's round of Alaska agreements has been smaller than the last, from about $10.2 million in 2023 to about $7.1 million in 2024, $5.9 million in 2025 and now $3.6 million. The average Alaska agreement has dropped from about $1.13 million in 2023 to about $396,000.

The agreements come through the Defense Department's Native American Lands Environmental Mitigation Program, which pays tribal governments to address problems caused by past military activity. The department says on its program page that it has signed more than 350 such agreements with more than 60 tribal nations, worth more than $160 million.

Alaska tribes get most of the money because the program covers land conveyed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and Native allotments, not just reservations. This year's nine Alaska agreements made up 79 percent of the $4.5 million the Army signed nationwide. The national round has shrunk too, from about $13.6 million in 2023.

Eight of the nine Alaska tribes received less than their last agreement. The steepest drop was for Utqiaġvik's tribal government, the Native Village of Barrow Iñupiat Traditional Government, which went from about $1.7 million in 2023 to about $392,000. The Native Village of Ouzinkie fell from about $750,000 in 2024 to about $382,000, and the Native Village of Tetlin from $600,000 to about $399,000. The Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska received $560,000, down from about $839,000. Atka IRA Council's award of about $343,000 is below what it received in 2021, and the Native Village of Saint Michael's $278,000 is less than its first recorded agreement in 2020. Tangirnaq Native Village and Curyung Tribal Council also received less, with about $475,000 and about $321,000.

The Kenaitze Indian Tribe was the exception. Its award of about $417,000 more than doubled its 2024 agreement of $195,000, but it is less than a quarter of the $1.8 million the tribe received in 2022.

The Defense Department says it screens all eligible sites each year and decides which to prioritize when money from Congress arrives. Beyond risks to health and the environment, it weighs factors "including impacts to traditional practices, subsistence lifestyles, and economic viability." The agreements have tribes do the work themselves, drawing on traditional ecological knowledge and building tribal technical expertise.

The federal records for the new agreements list the program name but no site, contaminant or acreage. The money has been obligated, but none has been spent yet. More agreements could still be reported before the federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30.