THE LOWER YUKON RIVER DELTA: RESOURCE USES IN SIX SMALL COMMUNITIES OF WESTERN ALASKA

The lower Yukon River delta illustrates a remote, non-road connected region of Alaska with communities intensively involved in fishing and hunting economies of long historic time depth. At its entry to the Bering Sea, the Yukon River forms a broad, flat delta of tundra, meandering waterways, and lakes. The Wade Hampton census area which encompasses this region contains 4,665 persons in 13 winter communities, 93.2 percent Alaska native, predominately Yup'ik Eskimo. Wolfe (1981) researched the economic systems of six communities connected to this region-Alakanuk, Emmonak, Kotlik, Mountain Village, Sheldon Point, and Stebbins. The communities are small with 1980 populations ranging from 103 to 522 persons. The communities display considerable homogeneity in terms of the cultural backgrounds of the population and economic patterns among households. . . . The economies of these six communities are characterized by low and intermittent monetary incomes, high reliance on wild renewable resources, high diversity of harvested species, and large volumes of local food input. In social organization, families and communities structure their activities around a traditional pattern of fishing and hunting occupations. . . .

Conventional economic indices miss the real base of the region's economic system. Yukon Delta communities have successfully endured and grown through a strong and flexible economic system based upon fishing and hunting for local use. The economy had been termed a "mixed economy" referring to the fact that production within the community is a combination of fishing, hunting, gathering, and trapping for local use, and remunerative employment activities such as the commercial sale of fish, seasonal wage work commercial fur trapping, and cottage industries. The economic system also has been termed a "subsistence-based economy" in recognition that the most stable and reliable economic base of the community is the harvest of renewable wild resources for local use and not the market or wage sector.

The "mixed, subsistence-based" economy is best understood at the level of the family. Production, consumption, and exchange in the six communities are activities of relatively small social units-cooperative groups typically organized by principles of kinship and alliance. Fishing and hunting for renewable resources occur within these cooperative family groups, and distribution and exchange of products occur among them. . . .

Fishing, hunting, trapping, gathering, and other work activities by members of domestic units follow an annual cycle. . . Families conduct a wide range of fishing and hunting activities, spreading their labor in a diversified production strategy over the course of a year, harvesting a spectrum of resources-fish, sea mammals, land mammals, and birds. During summer, four species of salmon (king, chum, coho, and pink) are harvested with drift and set gill nets, 50-150 fathoms, from skiffs between 15-25 feet, powered by 35-50 horsepower outboards, without gill net rollers or power reels. Fishermen with permits sell a portion of the catch on commercial export markets. . . .

Salmon not sold on commercial markets are processed by domestic units at fish camps or winter communities, and stored as dried or smoked product, a staple food source for the remainder of the year. Other fishing and hunting activities follow in season. Nets and traps are used to harvest non-salmonids such as sheefish, broad whitefish, Bering cisco, burbot, blackfish, saffron cod, smelt, pike, and lamprey. Sea mammals are taken in spring, late fall, and winter including bearded seal, spotted seal, ringed seal, beluga, and an occasional ringed seal and sea lion. Moose and caribou are harvested during fall and winter in river drainages and hills of the Andreafsky range. A variety of furbearers are hunted and trapped during winter-beaver, mink, red and white fox, otter, Arctic and snowshoe hare, muskrat, marten and bear-providing meat and furs for local use and commercial sale.

. . .Rather than specializing on a few resources, a household typically spreads its investments of time and money over a wide range of production activities. Diversification is adaptive for nutritional, economic, and biological reasons. A varied diet imparts greater nutritional benefit contributing to the health of the population. Diversification provides security in the face of unpredictable variations in availability and accessibility of particular fish and wildlife species from year to year due to cycles in population distribution and disruptions of harvests by poor weather, ice, and water conditions. Diversification promotes sustained yields since spreading harvests decreases the likelihood of overexploitation of single resources. . . .

Networks of customary distribution and exchange link families and communities within the region. A large portion of food resources produced by a family flows out to other persons as items are shared, given, exchanged, and sold. Giving and receiving food are basic to social relationships and occur so frequently that it seems doubtful any significant social relationships exist without associated food transfers. The giving and receiving of food typically communicates a set of ideas and sentiments between giver and receiver expressing complex symbolic meanings concerning the structure, strength, and quality of social relationships. Kinship relations define appropriate networks along which food flows. Close friendships and alliances are cemented with food exchanges. Respect for the high social position of the elderly in the community is symbolized by the young giving food to the older segments of the population. These customary distribution and exchange networks sustain the elderly who cannot fish or hunt as effectively. Regional trade networks link distinct ecological zones such as coastal and inland areas. Region-specific products such as seal oil, beluga oil, herring, lamprey, smelt, and whitefish are exchanged widely. . . .

NONDALTON: RESOURCE USES IN A SMALL COMMUNITY OF SOUTHWESTERN ALASKA

Nondalton is an Athapaskan community, population 180, in the Iliamna Lake region of southwestern Alaska. The Division of Subsistence conducted research in Nondalton between 1980 and 1982 to document use of local resources and the role of fish and game in the lives of residents of the community (Behnke 1982). Nondalton is an example of a small, remote community, which is without road connections, with very limited and fluctuating wage employment opportunities and with extensive use of local fish, game, and plant resources. . . .

SOCIAL HISTORY AND ECONOMY

The traditional territory of the inland Dena'ina, the ancestors of the present residents of Nondalton included the Lake Clark, upper Mulchatna, and upper Stony River drainages. Fishing and caribou hunting were central to the economy of these Athapaskan groups. After the Russians arrived in Cook Inlet in the 18th century, people of this area integrated trapping and trading into their hunting and fishing economy. The village of Nondalton has existed near its present location since the early 1900s. The Newhalen River was important for salmon fishing long before a permanent village was established, and fishing camps on the river are still used by Nondalton residents. . . .

RESOURCE USE PATTERNS

. . .Nondalton households harvest fish and game in every month of the year and in most months harvest several species. . . . Sockeye salmon, several species of freshwater fish, moose, caribou, and beaver play particularly important roles in the economy and are harvested in the greatest quantities. Summer is a particularly critical and busy time, as most cash earning opportunities occur then, and salmon are available only for short period. Sockeye salmon are a staple food for all households. Drying preserves most, and smaller amounts are canned and salted; few families have freezers. About half the households in the community have small dog teams, and fish are used to feed the dogs. Freshwater fish, particularly grayling, lake trout, and Dolly Varden, are harvested close to village after ice forms on Six-Mile Lake. Smaller quantities of fish are also taken by hook and line in the open-water season, and gill nets are used in early summer to take pike, whitefish, and Dolly Varden.

Moose and caribou were traditionally taken through most of the year by Nondalton Dena'ina. Most moose and caribou harvests now occur during fall and winter because of the imposition of regulatory hunting seasons. During late summer and fall, many families or hunting groups consisting of related men or "partners" travel by boat up into Lake Clark and the Chulitna River. Hunters watch for caribou and black bear on the mountainsides and hike up to hunt them. In the fall, moose are hunted along the lakeshores and riverbanks.

Winter moose and caribou hunting often occurs in combination with trapping. Hunting and trapping trips are made by snowmobile by small groups, which usually include at least two snowmobiles and sleighs. . . .

A relatively small group of hunters from four or five families regularly harvests a large portion of the moose and caribou consumed by the community. These tend to be men who have the equipment and the cash for fuel, which is needed to harvest these species successfully. The meat these hunters bring back to the village is widely shared with relatives, friends, hunting partners, and the elderly. While only about 50 percent of the households in Nondalton harvest moose, and about 60 percent harvest caribou, almost every household in the village consumes meat from these species. In addition, moose and caribou meat harvested by Nondalton residents is shared with relatives and friends in other communities.

Almost all of the fish and game harvested by Nondalton residents for household use are taken within 40 miles of the village. This area of intensive harvest use has been used by generations of Nondalton families and has a complex of well-known trails, campsites, and Den'ina place-names. . . .

INTERRELATIONSHIPS

Use of fish and wildlife by Nondalton households is greatly influenced by the community's location and environment, its sociocultural characteristics, and the local economic situation. Fish and wildlife are nutritionally, economically, and culturally important to all Nondalton households. The village's location on an inland lake and river in the boreal forest makes a particular set of fish and wildlife species accessible by boat and snowmobile. Every household in the community uses a large proportion of the fish and wildlife species available in the local area. They generally do not travel more than 40 miles from the community to harvest these resources. . . .

DOT LAKE: RESOURCE USES IN A SMALL, ROAD-CONNECTED COMMUNITY OF INTERIOR ALASKA

Findings presented in this chapter are based on Division of Subsistence fieldwork involving all Dot Lake households during the summer of 1982. The present community of Dot Lake lies between Tok and Delta Junction on the Alaska Highway, between the foothills of the Alaska Range and the marshy flats of the upper Tanana River valley in interior Alaska. Athapaskans of the Upper Tanana region traditionally used the site as a trapping camp. During construction of the Alaska Highway in the early 1940s, a road construction camp was built at Dot Lake. In 1947, a missionary family from Washington bought several of the cabins at the site and eventually established a church, a school, and a lodge. Several Athabaskan families who had previously camped seasonally at Dot Lake took up permanent residence during the late 1940s and early 1950s in order to harvest the abundant local wild resources, enroll their children in school, attend church and enjoy the economic advantages of being located on the new highway. . . .

HOUSEHOLD PATTERNS

. . . Moose is a big game species upon which residents depend most heavily as a source of meat. During moose hunting season in September, hunters, either singly or in pairs, pursue moose during the early morning and evening hours. . . .

Men, from teenagers to elders usually hunt moose; but, some women also participate. After a moose is shot, the hunter(s) may enlist the help of relatives in the village to cut up the carcass and transport the meat home. Some meat is cut into steaks and frozen, and some meat is canned. Residents having described how all the parts of a moose are used including the head, entrails, hooves and bones. Formerly, moose was harvested during the summer when the fat layer on the moose is thickest and when warmer weather allowed residents to preserve moose meat by drying. Residents state that game regulations now prevent them from hunting for moose in the summer. A single moose can generally feed a single Dot Lake household all winter. Not only is moose valued as an important food source which reduces grocery costs; but, it is also culturally valued by the Athabaskan residents as "real Indian food" that they were raised on.

Caribou, sheep, and black bear are other big game species sought by Dot Lake residents during the late summer and fall. Generally, these species are less important to residents than moose. Hunters will shoot a black bear if they can see one while moose hunting, or they will shoot a nuisance bear. All bear meat is eaten, but the entrails are avoided due to their strong smell. Bear fat is rendered into oil and mixed with berries or used as cooking oil. Caribou and sheep are found in the mountains of the Alaska Range. Residents report that the increasingly restrictive regulations governing the harvest of caribou and sheep in these areas over the past decade have discouraged them from relying on these species, as dependable food sources and have resulted in an increased dependence on moose. Harvest of these species near Dot Lake required a permit; and although residents apply for permits, their names are not drawn every year. Dot Lake residents also state they are discouraged by the high cost of traveling into the remote mountainous areas, competition with non-local hunters and the relatively small amount of meat obtained for the effort. There are exceptions to this trend, as a few hunters who were successful in obtaining a caribou permit made the several trips necessary to pack out meat, hiking six miles one way. Caribou have occasionally migrated into the flats near Dot Lake during especially cold winters and, if allowed by game regulations, hunters will harvest them.

Hunting for big game may be carried out by single hunters or by parties of two or three. Big game hunters are usually, but not always, men. Hunting parties consist of a man and his son(s), two brothers, a man and his wife, or groups of friends who share equipment and knowledge. Generally, the meat of a big game animal is shared among the members of the hunting party and the helpers who carry meat home. Usually, this distribution occurs along family lines, although, meat is also given to households outside of the family who are not successful in hunting. One resident explained that he had what amounted to a whole moose in his freezer, although he'd given half of his moose away and had received parts of two other moose from his brothers-in-law.

Waterfowl are hunted during fall, usually by a single hunter or two hunters from the same family. Hunters with riverboats travel to lakes near the Tanana River up to 10 miles from home, and other residents without boats travel by car or truck to lakes along the Alaska Highway up to 15 miles from home. After the birds are brought home whole, the feathers are removed, the down is singed off, and the bird is gutted and boiled, broiled, or fried. Residents state that because the amount of meat is so little, waterfowl are not usually shared among households. In the late fall and winter, grouse, ptarmigan, porcupine and hares are hunted. Residents state these animals can be found anywhere, but the most efficient hunting strategy is to drive along the highway during late fall when the animals' dark colors contrast with freshly fallen snow. During the winter, some elderly residents snare hares close to their homes. As with waterfowl, game birds and hares are usually consumed within the hunters' households.

Trapping furbearers is the primary wintertime activity. Trappers who own snowmobiles travel up to 30 miles daily, setting and checking traps and snares. Some trappers walk their trap lines on snowshoes covering up to nine miles in a day. Trapping is primarily a man's activity. One man travels over his trap line, checking and setting traps, and brings home the animal carcasses for skinning and preparation for sale to fur buyers from Tok, Northway, Delta Junction, and Fairbanks who come weekly to Dot Lake. Trapping success varies from year to year; and in good years, trappers can count on some cash in excess of their operating costs.

Summer is one of the busiest times for all residents of Dot Lake. Residents drive up to 60 miles from home to known berry picking sites. Berry picking involves groups of from 2 to 10 people, usually sisters and sisters-in-law and their children, or the elderly and their grandchildren. Berry picking is not limited to women; however, as a whole family often goes together. Berries are made into jellies and jams, pies, "Indian ice cream," sauces, relishes, syrups and some are frozen for use later in winter. Berries are valued as a source of fresh, wild fruit, less expensive and of higher quality than fruit from the grocery store. Berry picking is considered an important family activity and a means for elderly people to teach plant gathering to children who are free from school for the summer. Other items are gathered and include birch bark, spruce root, wild rhubarb, edible root, chamomile, birch sap, mushrooms, rosehips and firewood.

Residents of Dot Lake operate four whitefish camps during the summer months. Several related households participate in fish camp activities including pulling whitefish from a gill net, cutting, hanging, and drying the fish, and tending the fire. Other fish species are caught near Dot Lake with rod and reel including grayling, burbot, pike, and lake trout. Some of these are caught during winter through the ice on local lakes. Because salmon are not available in the Upper Tanana River at Dot Lake, most residents travel 150 miles by road to the Copper River to catch a winter supply of salmon. Many Athabaskans at Dot Lake have relatives in the Copper River Basin, and they obtain subsistence permits for thee or four days' use of their relatives' fishwheels. As with berry picking, these summer fishing trips to visit relatives afford the native children an opportunity to learn more about their traditional Athabaskan culture. Other residents have built their own fishwheels, or they use dip nets in the Copper River for harvesting salmon. Salmon are brought back to Dot Lake fresh and are frozen, canned, and smoke dried.

Native residents of the community have repeatedly stressed the importance of harvesting wild food resources that comprise the traditional "real" food that they prefer and feel they need. . . .

NOME: RESOURCE USES IN A MIDDLE-SIZED REGIONAL CENTER OF NORTHWESTERN ALASKA

Nome, regional center of the Bering Straits Region, is a community of 3,2491 people located on the southwestern coast of Seward Peninsula, 535 air miles northwest of Anchorage. . . . The community is located in a subarctic coastal setting characterized by rolling topography, tundra vegetation, cold maritime winters with cool summers, moderate precipitation, and high average winds, seasonal sea ice, and habitats contemporarily supporting numerous species of terrestrial mammals, marine mammals, migratory waterfowl, salmon, anadromous and freshwater fish, and inter-tidal invertebrates. . . .

RESOURCE USE PATTERNS

. . . Resource use patterns are in large part, influenced by the seasonal availability and accessibility of particular species. Accessibility is affected by both environmental and technological factors. For example, locally harvested king crab is usually taken by hand lines within the first mile of shore ice. Harvesting king crab further offshore (three or more miles) is very risky in the winter because of the dynamic nature of the shore ice. Harvesting offshore in the summer requires the use of at least a large skiff and crab pots; neither these items of technology are used by most Nome resource users. Thus, the accessibility of king crab to Nome residents is restricted by environmental and technological constraints. . . .

The greatest numbers of households harvests salmon, berries, trout, ptarmigan, and moose, in that order, across all residency categories. With the exception of some species of marine mammals, herring, brown and black bear, clams and halibut, in that order, are used by the fewest households. . . . A larger percentage of households from villages in northwestern Alaska (including Nome) use all species of resources, with the exception of clams (which are available only in areas of Norton Sound or at Wales) brown and black bear; caribou (available in Kotzebue Sound area, in the far interior of Seward Peninsula, or in the hills adjacent t to the eastern and southern coastal margins of Seward Peninsula) moose (relatively new to the Nome area and a popular focus of both sport and subsistence hunting) char, trout and pike ( all favorite sport and subsistence species) and halibut ( usually available only in the deeper water around Bering Strait islands). Marine mammals are currently restricted to Native harvest by federal legislation. . . .

Based on previous Division of Subsistence fieldwork in Nome and the Bering Strait areas (Thomas 1980); Magdanz 1981, 1982; Ellanna, unpublished data) there exists a well-established resource distribution network for sharing, trading, and bartering fish, game and plants. Ellanna's data on sub-communities of Nome (King Island village and previous residents of St. Lawrence Island, Little Diomede Island, and Wales) suggest resource distribution networks for sub-populations that have previously migrated to Nome from a village in northwestern Alaska are most well developed within that sub-population and between Nome and the community of origin. These networks are focused along kinship lines, but extend to other social categories of "kin" not normally recognized by non-Eskimo society. Networks also extend to the elderly or others who have no primary producers within their household or family unit including individuals and households outside the sub-population. . . . The overall Nome resource distribution network crosscuts ethnic affiliations, income levels, family affiliations, household boundaries, social class distinctions, place of household origin, and community boundaries. For the Nome River fishery, Magdanz (1981) found short-term residents most frequently share with relatives. He also established that less than 20 percent of Nome residents who participated in the Nome River fishery shared no salmon with anyone outside of the household (Magdanz 1981:24). Among Nome River fishermen, salmon were shared with relatives and friends in other villages in northwestern Alaska, Fairbanks, Anchorage, and other places where family members were living. Short-term residents occasionally shared with relatives outside the state. As Magdanz (1981) points out, sharing work occurs in addition to sharing in addition to sharing the catch. The 1982 survey recorded the use of marine mammals by households who did not harvest them, evidence of distribution networks. Case households also reported distributing a wide range of resources to friends, relatives, and those in need. . . .

TYONEK: RESOURCE USES IN A SMALL, NON-ROAD CONNECTED COMMUNITY OF THE KENAI PENINSULA BOROUGH

Tyonek, a community of 239 people, is located on the western shore of Upper Cook Inlet. It is 35 air miles from Kenai and 43 air miles from Anchorage. Over 90 percent of Tyonek's people are Dena'ina Athapaskans. The Dena'ina have occupied the Upper Cook Inlet region for at least 250 years. . . .

HUNTING AND FISHING PATTERNS

. . . Following the disappearance of ice in Cook Inlet in April or May, groups traveled by dory approximately 50 to 75 miles south to Little Jack Slough, Harriet Point, or the Crescent River to harvest razor clams, butter clams, and cockles. Seals are also taken during these trips that are organized and directed by "clamming [sic] leaders," generally older, more experienced men who own dories and outboard motors. Two to five dories travel together; each carries five to seven relatives and friends of the claming leader. Clams are transported back to the village arrive in containers of saltwater. There, the leaders distribute clams to villagers who request some. Most clams are eaten fresh, but some are canned or frozen for winter consumption. Annual harvests by Tyonek residents average around 3,000 razor clams (Stanek, Fall, Foster 1982).

Fishing for king salmon commences along Tyonek beaches in mid May and lasts about one month. King salmon have long been a major staple for the Tyonek people (Fall 1981). They are highly valued because of their large size, high oil content, and early arrival. After being closed for approximately 12 years, a legal season for king salmon subsistence fishing reopened in 1980. The annual village catch since that time has average about 1,900 king salmon (Stanek and Foster 1980; Webster 1982; Foster 1982b).

Many Tyonek people fish for king salmon from camps located south of their homes, while others fish on the beach directly below the village. Some families remain the summer at their camps, but the majority now regularly travels in trucks among the camps and the village along logging roads constructed since 1974. Camps, fishing equipment, and smokehouses are often shared among several households (Foster 1982b).

Men, women, and older children harvest salmon with set gill nets. Camp leaders are usually mature men, who are the owners of the camps and equipment. Smokehouses and other facilities for processing fish are located at the larger camps and at some homes. Prior to 1980, it was predominately older men and women who prepared and preserved salmon by traditional Dena'ina methods. Since reopening subsistence season, however; many younger people have acquired these skills. In addition, the number of smokehouses had increased by 25 percent since 1980 (Foster 1982b).

In 1982, a survey of 38 households by the Division of Subsistence found that almost 50 percent of the king salmon harvest in Tyonek were preserved by smoking. The remainder was canned (11 percent) frozen (20 percent) salted (13 percent) or eaten fresh (6 percent). Popular salmon products include balik (smoked salmon strips) baba (smoked filets) k'iytin (smoked backbone) k'tsiduggen (smoked head) and qinnalggen (smoked dry roe). . . .

In the past, moose were hunted year-round by the Upper Inlet Dena'ina (Fall 1981). Presently, legal hunting in Tyonek area is limited to the month of September. Forty-eight Tyonek hunters harvested 15 moose during the open season in 1981. Hunting parties consisted of two to five members, usually relatives or "partners." Both men and women participated with men doing the actual hunting, and women helping to set up camp, prepare food, and care for the meat. The majority of Tyonek hunters now search for moose along the extensive network of logging roads, but at least 15 hunters in 1981 traveled south in dories to McArthur River drainage and hunted from camps along the riverbank. Porcupine and grouse were take incidentally during the hunts.

In 1981, successful hunters generally shared a significant portion of their moose with relatives, close friends, "partners," and elderly people. A moose was shared among an average of three households with a range of one to nine households per moose. Almost all of Tyonek households received some moose meat in fall 1981. Additional sharing occurred throughout winter, and was apparently based largely on kinship, need and age. Freezing, canning, smoking, and drying were the primary means of preserving meat in Tyonek in 1981 (Foster 1982a). . . .

INTERRELATIONSHIPS

As in the past, patterns of hunting and fishing in Tyonek today are largely shaped by ecological, historical, and cultural factors. The seasonality of many economic activities, such as salmon fishing and clam harvesting, is tied to annual wildlife cycles. Cultural patterning is demonstrated in the organization of harvest groups, in processing and preserving methods, and in distribution networks which include relatives and village elders. Fish and game continue to be nutritionally, economically, and culturally important to the vast majority of Tyonek households.

The persistence of hunting and fishing as a major source of food can be explained in several ways. Tyonek's cultural patterns tend to be homogeneous and there are three or more generations within most village families.

A strong village organization provides services to residents while reinforcing Tyonek's identity as a distinct community. These conditions foster the learning of traditional cultural patterns by young people. Cultural values are expressed as elders, adults, and children perform traditional roles in the harvesting, processing, and haring of wild resources. . . .

1 This population total includes the city's 1982 annexed area.