SUBSISTENCE PRODUCTION AND EXCHANGE IN THE ILIAMNA LAKE REGION, SOUTHWEST ALASKA, 1982-1983 by Judith Marek Morris

Excerpted from Alaska Department of Fish and Game Technical Paper No. 136, November 1986

SEASONAL ROUND The Iliamna region abounds with a variety of flora and fauna which are used by local residents. Large mammals, specifically caribou and moose, 8and numerous species of fish provide food sources on a year-round basis. Other resources add variety to the diet.

The seasonal round is the cyclic pattern of resource harvest activities. Though each of the region's communities is unique in its environmental and human setting, they share enough similarities to be considered together in discussing the Iliamna Lake region's seasonal round.

During the study year, the arrival of salmon available with any regularity to communities located upriver from the Kaskanak Flats in the Kvichak River. Salmon were mainly harvested in set gill nets which were placed in the vicinity of each community. They were harvested and processed throughout most of July and into August. July also marked the arrival of the year's berry crop. The first to ripen were blueberries. The middle of August signaled the beginning of caribou season. Families welcomed the possibility of a source of fresh food other than salmon at this time of year. Skiffs were the main mode of transportation in the search for caribou. As August gave way to September, harvesting "fall fish" (spawned out sockeye) began and continued through the month of October. Moose season opened for a ten day season in mid-September and were actively sought at this time. Berries, such as cranberries, currants, and blackberries ripened and were picked by most households. Rosehips and raspberries were also available at this time.

Although the Iliamna Lake area is not considered a prime fall waterfowl hunting area, limited numbers ducks and geese were taken locally. Hunters with kinship ties to the Alaska Peninsula and access to private aircraft journeyed south and took advantage of the larger waterfowl populations passing through the Pilot Point area.

Brown bear hunting in October provided a supply of fat and meat for a limited number of households. Fall bear was prized for the amount of fat it produced. Black bear, hunted through the summer and fall months, was valued more for the meat than for the fat. Spruce grouse were harvested, often incidental to moose or caribou hunting. Porcupine were taken opportunistically throughout much of the year. In only one Iliamna region community, Igiugig, whitefish become readily accessible for short periods of time during October and November. By seining, Igiugig residents harvested large quantities of the fish. Though gathering firewood for heating homes and steambaths was a year-round activity, the last days of open water in the fall and early winter brought increased effort while it was possible to haul the loads by skiffs.

With the arrival of cold winter weather, which varied somewhat from year to year, activity patterns shifted. Skiffs no longer provided adequate transportation and three-wheelers and snowmachines became more important. In some communities, such as Iliamna and Igiugig, trucks or four-wheel drive vehicles were used either along the road system or overland when the ground became sufficiently frozen.

Though dictated by fluctuating weather conditions, winter was often an intense resource harvesting period. Traps and snares were set for fur bearing mammals beginning mid-November. Hares were snared and shot. Furbearers were taken for furs to be sold or used for clothing. In addition, the meat of beaver, and occasionally lynx, was eaten.

During the study period, December afforded a legal month long opportunity to take moose. In some years weather conditions made for easier hunting in the winter season as opposed to the fall season when overland travel was often difficult. Sometimes trips were made for the sole purpose of harvesting ptarmigan, but frequently birds or small game were taken while hunting caribou or moose. Fishing through the lake and pond ice was a popular winter activity. Dolly Varden, lake trout, rainbow, along with whitefish were caught using hook and line. Occasionally a grill net was set under the ice of r lake trout and whitefish. Fish taken during the winter provided a continuous source of fresh protein for many Iliamna region households throughout the winter months.

The break-up of river and lake ice occurred from March to May, depending on weather conditions. Break-up was a slack resource harvesting period in the Iliamna region. Travel was difficult and after end of March there were no open seasons for hunting caribou or trapping furbearers. Beaver continued to be harvested. As lake ice deteriorated, set gill nets were put out in the open water in order to harvest Dolly Varden and lake trout. Waterfowl passing through the area provided a source of fresh meat during the spring months. Although prohibited by hunting regulations, limited spring harvests of duck and geese occurred during study period. Also, small amounts of duck, geese, and tern eggs were collected. As season's new greens began to show they were gathered and added to stews and soups. Traditionally the appearance in early spring of brown bear and black bear was welcomed as a new source of fresh meat. Traditionally the appearance in early spring of brown bear and black bear was welcomed as a new source of fresh meat. Fewer households utilized these resource in the mid-1980's, but for those who continued to do so, spring bear provided tender, good meat. Both bear species were opportunistically taken from spring until the time they returned to their dens in the fall.

During the months of April through June, Pacific coast resources were particular favorites with those residents having access to the area. Special trips were made to coastal areas in order to dig clams and fish early salmon runs. This was also the time of year when families prepared for subsistence and commercial fishing beginning in June. Preparation included cleaning fish camps, mending nets, and gathering firewood for smokehouses, and other such activities necessary for harvesting and processing the salmon harvest.

Usually during the month of June word spread of the first salmon caught for the year. This event marked once again the start of the yearly cycle of resource harvest in the Iliamna region.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE OF SUBSISTENCE RESOURCES AMONG ILIAMNA REGION COMMUNITIES

BACKGROUND

Natural resource distribution and exchange are basic to social and economic relationships within hunting and gathering societies in general, and Alaskan societies in particular. (e.g. Langdon 1981, Sobelmen 1985, Wolfe 1982). Sharing of food resources and harvests takes place on many levels, such as within the household, between related households in a village, between other members of the same community, between neighboring communities, and with friends or family living a great distance away. However, sharing does not happen indiscriminately or haphazardly. Though sharing often occurs under what is called "generalized reciprocity" (transactions in which there is no explicit expectation to reciprocate and non-reciprocity does not cause the donor to cease giving) there usually exist culturally-defined contexts in which the exchange or distribution of resources occurs.

Langdon (1981) discusses some of the theoretical implications of the distribution and exchange of subsistence products. He found evidence in literature not only from Native Alaskan societies, but worldwide, that exchange was a crucial element in the dynamics of cultural structures and that subsistence exchange was a component of the larger cultural systems of exchange. Specifically, he states that group or individual survival is maintained by subsistence distribution and exchange, particularly in times of resource shortage. He also found that subsistence distribution and exchange have been shown to be critically important in preserving peaceful relations between groups and that within a group it preserves the internal processes of cultural maintenance and reproduction. In times of normal resource availability (as opposed to resource shortage), subsistence distribution and exchange equalized the level of material well-being of group members.

These observations can be applied to more than one level of distribution. Sobelmen and Wolfe presented examples of distribution patterns between the individual residents of Shishmaref and communities on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. For example, Wolfe (1982) found in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta that the most common form of food giving was that shared among members of one's close family. His description includes various components of gathering and preparing the food that the family shares as well as the implicit meaning of the shared food. He concluded that the pattern of food distribution affects more than the economic systems of production and market exchange, it also supports social relationships. Further, no enduring social ties or interaction existed without the giving and receiving of food. The flow of food between individuals was seen as a primary symbol of close personal sentiments and social order within the community and a lack of giving and receiving symbolized the antithesis. Sobelmen (1985:154) also noted the significance of the cultural values immersed within the subsistence-based economic system which promote the rules of reciprocity in relationship to fish and game harvests. She stated that in Shishmaref one of the standards of behavior was to be generous with the distribution of wild resources which the household may have acquired. The primary means for distributing the harvest was through sharing and exchange. She documented sharing on several levels including household, community, and region.

THE ILIAMNA REGION

Edible resources harvested locally by Iliamna region residents were distributed and exchanged along discernible networks. These networks, frequently kin-based, operated within and among communities of the Iliamna region, in the greater Bristol Bay area, and with other Alaskan areas. The resources were exchanged during formal and non-formal occasions.

Kinship was the predominant link by which distribution and exchange networks were established. Relatives or "relatives and friends" categories were most frequently given as the recipients of resource exchanges. Relatives included persons related through blood or marital relationships.

Forty-six food items were listed by survey respondents when discussing natural resources which had been received by or given to the household. The forty-six items were sorted into eight resource categories. Of the 369 resource exchanges recorded, the highest percent involved fish or large mammals. Fish, of all types, accounted for 44 percent of resource exchanges while moose or caribou accounted for 27 percent.

Individual communities exhibited different exchange patterns. It was found that 27 percent of all resource exchanges in Iliamna involved caribou, while in Nondalton it was 5 percent, Newhalen 30 percent, Igiugig 15 percent, Kokhanok 9 percent, Lake Clark 14 percent and in Pedro Bay only .9 percent. On a regional basis caribou accounted for 10.3 percent of all resource exchanges. Distribution patterns for moose were similar to caribou.