Metlakatla: The only Alaska Native Reserve

I was really lucky to get an all expenses paid trip to Metlakatla on Annette Island the first week in November of this year.  I worked with the staff on adding K-5 math curriculum to their district document.   Since I’d taught in Meyers Chuck and near Thorne Bay (Tolsoi Bay, a floating logging camp) and other villages on Prince of Wales Island, I loved the idea of going back to SE Alaska.  It’s a beautiful part of Alaska, the most southern, the wettest and an archipelago of little tucked away float houses and good fishing spots.  During that other lifetime, our family commercial fished, long lining for halibut and power trolling for salmon (Kings, coho and humpies, if we couldn’t avoid them).

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A young carver is turning this cedar wood into a totem pole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metlakatla is an interesting mix of Tsimshian Indians and their non-Native friends and relatives.  Although it is the only Indian Reserve in Alaska, it was home to a military base in WWII and the airport for Ketchikan (landing Pan Am planes) once upon a time.  There is still lots of cultural activity and Tsimshian is still a “special” in the school.  This young man is making a ceremonial totem pole although it will be only 8′ tall he apologized.

Apparently the casino is a draw for tourist money although it wasn’t really hopping while I was there.  The state ferry stops by every few days on it’s way in and out of nearby Ketchikan.  In my mind, the better draw is the pristine forest with trails built in the summer by the students and the beaches to walk.

A paved road in a village?  Unique.

The town boasts a BnB, a quicky-mart, a grocery store (Leask’s), a hardware store and many, many local services like a senior center, a long-term care facility, a physical therapy office, a well-equipped clinic, preschool, a community building, a museum, a Boys and Girls Club and some well furnished parks.

Three buildings, three principals, three schools for about 220 students.

The schools are all federally funded so have deeper pockets than the state funded schools.  The high school offers scuba diving, a STEM elective (with a 3-d printer!), calculus, Native language and culture, art as well as their core curriculum.  All 3 schools have state of the art classrooms with technology and large bright classrooms.  Teachers can rent locally, but property is communally owned as reservation land and is not available for non-Natives.

The picturesque ice-free harbor, serving commercial and recreational boats.

The harbors are always a draw for me.  There’s some highliners out there as well as family boats.  Anyone who needs a berth can pull alongside and tie on.  The breakwater makes this a safe four season port all year round. There is a sizable fishing fleet here that sell to the local cannery.

Big deer hanging around, waiting to be skinned and cut up for the freezer.

SE Alaska has really different flora and fauna than the mainland.  For example, in Fairbanks, we have moose and caribou are just north of Fairbanks.  Deer are only found in SE (like the panhandle) and Kodiak.  But no matter what ungulates are nearby, it sounds like dinner.  People on Annette Island go over to Prince of Wales Island apparently to do most of their hunting.  And, I understand that bear are kept off the entire island (except maybe the south end) by hunters.

The moon looks like another streetlight at 7 am.

I got up early to catch the flight to Ketchikan on Saturday.  It was still dark but the weather was amazingly good for November.  The land in the background of this picture is the rise of Gravina Island, where the airport resides.  You may have heard about the bridge to nowhere?  Well, actually the bridge that didn’t get built with the money (although the governor happily accepted it to use elsewhere), connected Ketchikan to this island.  There is currently a ferry between the town and the airport and this island remains mostly uninhabited.

The cannery provides seasonal fishing work for locals.

The cannery is not operating now, but provides a good income for the local fleet.  It has prime real estate in town, but is not as protected as the harbor.  If you go past this cannery around the point behind, on a decent road, you’ll end up at the Alaska Marine Highway (ferry) terminal.  Good Plan B for getting to Ketchikan.

My ride has arrived.

The Taquan Air flight in was amazing.  The hop up into the plane is only for those steady on their feet though because the float bobs up and down with the waves whilst you are climbing aboard.  The flight was $40 to town and $50 to be dropped off in at the airport float plane dock.  I flew to Seattle to catch a flight to Fairbanks because I’d get there hours earlier than going North on the Alaska Airlines flight that stops at Sitka and Juneau on the way.   Watch for more photos of this beautiful place.   Shout out to Jake and Shannon for housing me while I was there.  Yes, I’d be glad to come back, thank you very much.

Newtok, the edge of the tundra

A snowstorm just coming from the South.

I just returned from a busy week in Newtok.  To get there from Fairbanks, get up really early and catch a flight to Anchorage.  Then fly to Bethel.  Then take a taxi ($4 per person) or watch for the Grant Aviation shuttle to get to the local airline to fly due West to Newtok.  It’ll cost you $190 one way to fly Bethel to Newtok,but you might get added value by stopping in Nightmute, Toksook Bay or Tununak on the way.  Shoutout to Henry and Zeb and Jason, a few of my favorite pilots.  When the weather’s bad, I spend a lot of time on the bench or upstairs at the cafe just waiting.  Shoutout to Joanne who won’t let the plane leave without me, if it’s going.  Last Tuesday, a window of blue sky opened up and we made a run for Newtok.  The storm moved in right after we landed so I’m sure the pilot (not Zeb) had an exciting ride back to Bethel.

Low Winter light captures the wetness of the tundra and the winter mood.

Newtok has made the news often lately because it is one of the villages that is eroding into the river.  Once when I was there, during a big storm, a 4 foot chunk of tundra fell in and  washed away.  The houses and other buildings are all threatened and I expect in 10 years the entire village will be gone.  The people of Newtok are relocating to higher ground on Nelson Island to a village called Mertarvik.  Workers were there all summer putting up the man camp and establishing a gravel pit for the expensive work to begin.  Some homes were taken apart already and moved up there.  A few brave souls are spending the winter there- no airstrip, no clinic, no school, only a few families and no travel to Newtok unless the bay is either all water or all ice.

Selfie on my walk to the airstrip

The boardwalks are the only way to walk around without getting muddy until the ground freezes.  This boardwalk is my nemesis as it has very wide gaps, stays slippery and has enough spring to make it seem like a suspension bridge. It is an amazing sight to see kids riding bikes here.  It’s rather like a tightrope act.  The stakes are high.  One false move and the treacherous crack will pitch you into the black and organic tundra mud.

Looking back across the lake to the village

The kids have tales of swimming in the summer and skating in the winter on this lake beside the walkway to the airstrip that frames the town.  This is an example of the sitting water captured by the underlaying permafrost.  It’s more like a deep puddle.  During the short Arctic Spring-Summer-Fall, birds like to land here.  Like a friend once told me, “I like birds.  Especially with a little salt and butter” (shoutout to Barb).

A K/1 dance performance

I am a Statewide System of Support coach working with the principal and staff in Newtok.  I describe my job as embedded professional development.  This is my third year there and I consider it almost my home-away-from-home due to the friendly welcome and friends there.   There’s always some kid-action that I can enjoy without checking any papers.  On Thursday, the K/1 students wore their masks and performed a Yup’ik dance.  Their teacher has rich knowledge of the Yup’ik language and culture.  She’s a natural teacher and has the children doing a variety of language based cultural activities.

Looking back to the dichotomy of old and new

In some ways, Alaskan villages skipped some steps in the technology revolution.  For example, they went right from CB radios to cell phones….skipping land lines.  The CB radios are still in the houses and school and are great for local calls, but cell phones are plentiful.  There is internet (albeit very expensive with limited bandwidth!) but not much network television.  There are washing machines, but they are ringer washers because water must be hauled and poured into the tubs.

The short but long walk to the airport on a wet boardwalk

The boardwalk to the airport is pretty short, but sometimes drifts over with snow.  These photos were all taken last week (Oct 25-27, 2017), so it looks fairly benign.  It can be quickly traversed if you see your plane land.  I like to get a ride for my bags and walk out there if I can.  I never leave home without my Yak Trax though because you never know when wet will turn to ice.

I have many more memories, pictures and stories about Newtok, so you’ll hear about it again.  Thanks to Grant and the children and staff there for welcoming me to their warm and friendly village.

Fairbanks First Friday in October

The old Masonic Temple needed some work but it was still a majestic building.

 

The First Friday of every month is a moving feast in Fairbanks of hors d’oeuvres and art.  This October FF had the added bonus (in addition to local art) of opening up historical buildings downtown that we pass all the time on our walks, but have never been in.  The advance publicity said that there is 60,000 sq ft of commercial space available for sale or rent in Fairbanks.  I was only interested in these 3 buildings on First Avenue, near each other and built in the first decade of the 1900s.  Price tag?  $250,000

The Masons sure knew how to pick a location.  The view from the deck was the best in town.  The basement was used as a shooting range and has a dirt floor.  It is heated by steam that runs parallel along the water pipes to keep them from freezing.  Most early buildings in Fairbanks were heated by this practical by-catch.  Yes, steam still heats many downtown buildings.

Originally a bathhouse, this is now a mining museum.

A bathhouse would have been very welcome.  Many people in and around Fairbanks still have no indoor plumbing.  We lived for many years without it ourselves, using an outhouse and washtubs primarily, hauling water in 5 gallon cans.  Most employers, including the University and schools, as well as private businesses have showers available for their cabin-living employees.

The only time I’d been in this building, Candy Waugaman was selling historic photos.  She’s now selling the building.  The museum was very interesting with photos and stories of the prominent miners in the state.  While I was in there, a woman found a story about her great-uncle, Walter Harper, who was a miner, but was also one of the first men to climb Denali, in 1912.

The old library was also built in the early 1900’s and operated until 1978.  It’s got steam pipes in the basement, old card catalog drawers and embossed tin ceilings.   Yours for $225,000.  This was the first library in the Interior, originally started by the Episcopalians.  They were busy here- first library, first hospital, first ascent of Denali (Mt. McKinley) by an Episcopal bishop and other hearty souls.  No wonder St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church is on First St.

Libraries in Alaska are primarily funded by boroughs now.  The cities of Fairbanks and North Pole and some smaller unchartered communities are in the Fairbanks North Star Borough.  There are 18 boroughs in Alaska, but most of Alaska is unorganized.  If an area has a borough, it administers the school district, has the ability to tax property owners and has governance of some additional services like libraries, museums and the dump.

Regardless of how you feel about mining, it changed the face of Alaska.

There were many gold rushes in Alaska, but the top mined exports from Alaska are zinc and lead.  The mining industry employs quite a few people in some wild and crazy parts of the state.  Some of Alaska’s mines are owned by foreign countries (eg. Pebble Mine: Canada, Pogo: Japanese, Kensington: Canada).

Our last stop of the night before we went out to dinner was the Civic Center at Alaskaland.  A few years ago, Alaskaland was renamed Pioneer Park, but change is hard.  It originally had a zoo, a playground, and this Civic Center. The zoo is gone, there is a dance hall, the playground is wonderful, the merry-go-round is shut down, the mini-golf is seasonal and this Civic Center houses an auditorium (currently playing the local musical performance of “Meet Me in St. Louis”) and a wonderful art gallery.  Tammy Phillips‘ painting of Trumpeter Swans was my favorite in the juried show.

Snow is in the forecast here….long overdue.  Usually it snows to stay the first week in October.  The snow that falls in October is generally the last to melt in May.

Fall in the Far North

The view along the Chena River on First Avenue (Sept 2017)

 

When I first moved to Alaska in 1974, I mourned the absence of deciduous trees.   Now that I’ve been here long enough, I really appreciate the gold that sweeps across the hills before dropping off and leaving only the dark green of the Black and White Spruce.  The reds and oranges are increasing as “imported” trees like Maples and Cherry invade our yards and woods.    Another notable difference between Fall here and the Lower ’48 is the short season.  Usually there is less than 2 weeks here in Fairbanks between trees flashing their colors and dropping their leaves.

The voracious appetite of the wood box always demands more. The masonry heater makes our living room comfy on a cold day. (Sept, 2017)

Along with the temps getting cooler, it gets dark earlier and earlier.  On the Equinox (Sept 21), there’s 12 hours of each, darkness and light.   Although daylight savings time is meaningless here, we do it anyway, banking our hour.  In the 70s, Alaska had 7 time zones because it is so big.  Making it all one time zone reminds me again that time is a social construct.  In Alaska Native communities, I’ve learned that time is measured in seasons.

Our masonry stove is not technically a wood stove.  You fire it up in the morning and it burns hot.  Don’t stoke it.  The heat is absorbed by the rocks and radiates out into the room.  On really cold days, fires twice a day will do it to make a comfy room without kicking in the oil furnace.  Paul built me a good looking wood holder so we don’t have to go far to build the fire on a chilly morning.  But we still have to fill it.

The sugar pie punkins are going to finish their lives in our kitchen. (Oct 1, 2017)

We had a great “urban” garden this year.  Our best crops were potatoes, kale, pole beans, squash and Roma tomatoes.  Our lowest producers were sweet corn, green peppers and carrots.  Pumpkins were okay, but got cut short by an early August frost.  The voles voted the peas and sunflowers the tastiest.  These pumpkins make the tastiest pies!  Our growing season is very short but getting longer.  My kale is still outside producing, but we’re watching temps day to day.

I had to finish ripening the Roma tomatoes in a crate in the back bedroom. (Oct 1, 2017)

We had enough tomatoes to can.  These will make tasty spaghetti sauce and bisque soup in the winter.  We didn’t have very many peppers, so they got slipped in.  We mostly save our freezer space for meat and fish.   Besides tomatoes, our canned goods from this season include jams (currant, raspberry and rhubarb combos), rhubarb, dill pickles dilly beans and green beans.

The view on the trail to our cabin was opened up with leaves off the trees.(Oct 1, 2017)

We bought property off “At Your Own Risk” road in 1983.  It’s a mile or so from the nearest road, so we put in a trail on the right of way for getting ourselves back there.  We call the 15 acres “Agony Acres” in remembrance of the many times that our loads spilled, the trailer broke, the trail was impassable or some other annoyance in the 10 or so years we were building the cabin.  You’ll see more about it, but this is my favorite time of year to walk the trail.

Lichen and Labrador tea juxtaposed. (Oct 1, 2017)

My sister Susan calls it Mormon tea, but this late season tea leaf can do some serious bowel cleansing if you overdo it.   Mixed with black or green tea leaves though, it adds a nice earthy taste.  Lichen are all over in alpine tundra and even woods in the North country.  A biologist’s curiosity, lichen are the bastard children of alga (or cyanobacteria) and fungi.  950,000 caribou can’t be wrong.  It’s their favorite food, but doesn’t taste good to humans (eg. me).

Anyone want to complain about THEIR road? (Oct 1, 2017)

The rain didn’t do any favors to “At Your Own Risk Rd”.  We don’t take the truck down it right now.  We park and use our 4-wheeler for minimal impact.  In a few weeks, this road will be frozen and drivable….another reason Alaskans love winter.

Rushing the season (Sept 30, 2017)

All I’m going to say about Fred Meyer’s display this week is “are you kiddin’ me!?!!”

Fall in Alaska is about putting away Summer (garden, food, boats, shorts, hikes, visiting relatives) and ushering in Winter (warm fires, Northern Lights, eating homemade foods, visiting each other, down jackets, skiing, driving anywhere).  If you don’t like snow and cold, this is just a good place to read about.

This blog was inspired by my sister Susan’s blog.  Who knew she’d be such a good writer?  Check it out.

This entry is dedicated to Joel Switzer, who died too young.  To know him was to love him.  To Joel, Fall was the time to get his dogs ready for Winter mushing, deadlines for construction as a Laborer, and to help friends finish their projects.  In the immortal words of his young friend Calliope, “If you’re lucky, you’ll have a friend like Joel.  If you’re even luckier, you’ll be a friend like Joel”.

Mamterilleq (Bethel) Alaska in September

Bethel is the airport hub for many villages in Western Alaska.  To get there from Fairbanks, I fly to Anchorage on Horizon, to Bethel on Alaska Airlines, then connect to a small plane to get to villages.  In September, I spent a few days in Bethel with teachers for the LKSD (Lower Kuskokwim School District) inservice, so I enjoyed walking around in the sun and rain in mild temps.

Shopping at the A.C. (Alaska Commercial) is always an adventure with high prices and items tailored to Alaskan tastes.

Prices are high at the stores here.  Bananas were $2.59/lb. and heads of lettuce were $3.29 each.  6 cans of Spam seemed expensive, but they DID have less sodium so were the healthy choice.  Lots of people were stocking up here to take back to the village. When I lived in a village in the 80s, I’d fly to town to shop and there would be no produce on the shelves.  Now, people can subscribe to Full Circle and get weekly produce flown in.

Many of the homes in Bethel have gardens and old boats, but not often together like this.

I was delighted to see this lovely yard on my walk.  A lawn is a hard-fought commodity here where the grasses are course and the ground is either frozen or muddy most of the year.  Lots of work went into this!  Some people don’t find the tundra beautiful, but life in Bethel is quality because of the relationships and friendships.

Bilingual speed limit signs!  The fastest speed in Bethel is 40 (near the airport, but almost everywhere else it’s very slow.  Except snowmachines and four-wheelers go as fast as they want.

Many indigenous languages in Alaska are dying out because the young people are not learning them.  Central Yup’ik, the language of this area, is widely spoken but is still endangered.  Like all languages, it is evolving and many children are fluent in a hybrid of mixed English and Yup’ik.  The Elders here are proactive and Yup’ik language is everywhere in Bethel.

I was intrigued by this fire hydrant lifted above the above ground plumbing.  Running pipes in permafrost is asking for trouble.

When went through Bethel in the 80s, there was no indoor plumbing.  Water was hauled into tanks.  Toilets were honey buckets– buckets with an inch of Pine-Sol for that piney fresh smell.  The collectors accessed the buckets by an outside door and took the waste in a truck to Honey Bucket Lake to dump.  Now, there is central water pipes all around town and very few people in Bethel haul water or honey buckets.

 

Just follow the trail over the pipes to the hospital.  An Alaskan-style stile.

Walking is a strong tradition here, but paths need to be wide enough for snowmachines and four-wheelers too.

Bethel was originally a Yup’ik community along the Kuskokwim River.  In 1885, a Moravian minister set up a mission here and it was renamed Bethel from Mamterillaq.  I cut through Bethel at least once a month during the school year and sometimes I get unexpected and unplanned time there when I’m weathered out of villages.  I’ll tell you more about this interesting place in later blogs.  Remember though, I’m seeing it from the eyes of a passer-by.  Perception data only.

Semi-nomadic in 2017?

I had a tough time deciding on title of this blog, but I felt compelled to start one! I am one of the lucky ones. I’ve lived long enough to be (almost) retired. I’m healthy enough to get out and about (but not fast). I enjoy adventure (but I’m not a risk-taker). And, I live in beautiful Alaska and can travel around (as long as I do it on the cheap).

SE Alaska harbor at Metlakatla (March, 2017 at Metlakatla Harbor, AK)

Springtime snowshoe back to our cabin. (March, 2017 near Olnes, AK)

I’ve lived in Alaska for 43 years and I never get tired of the scenery….probably because it varies from place to place.  I’m a retired teacher, but I still contract to do instructional coaching, curriculum work and professional development around the state.

Once it gets to Alaska, it never leaves. (May, 2017 at Tanana Lakes, Fairbanks, AK)

There are lots of trails, urban and rural, near Fairbanks and there are usually willing souls to walk with me….my husband Paul, visiting family or friends, or local friends. Sometimes I go bird-watching and sometimes the birds watch me.

Finding birds along the AuSable River at Harwick Pines, Michigan (July, 2017 by Gaylor, MI)

I have family all over- Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oregon, New York and Taiwan, but that’s just immediate family.  And sometimes we visit.

Teaching our grandson how to ride Alaskan.  (August, 2017 by Olnes, AK)

We have a cabin off the grid and off the road.  We try to get out there as often as we can. I like to walk instead of using the 4-wheeler because of the rough road.   The rough path culls out the weak.  I’ve been known to hit the dirt myself.

The endless expanse of the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta area (Sept, 2017 by Kasigluk, AK)

My job takes me to villages around the state.  I’m hoping to share some of my adventures and photos on this blog.  I’m careful not to take photos of people without getting permission.