Subsistence in Alaska: A Year 2000 Update by the Division of Subsistence... 2 Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

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1 Subsistence Resources Contents Subsistence in Alaska: A Year 2000 Update by the Division of Subsistence... 2 Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Always Getting Ready, excerpt and adaptations... 6 by James Barker, 1993, pp Subsistence in Rural Alaska: A Mixed Economy... 9 by Division of Subsistence, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, April 2000, updated June Cover photo: Tom Tunutmoak of Scammon Bay repairs a salmon net at Black River Fish Camp. James H. Barker A L ASK A STUDI ES UNIT 4, Subsistence Resources 1.

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6 Always Getting Ready: Yup ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska Note to the student: Below is a summary of pages of Always Getting Ready by James Barker (University of Washington Press 1993). To get the complete version, please read those pages in Barker s own words. Alaska s two largest rivers run from the interior and come within 25 miles of each other before bending apart and flowing into the Bering Sea. These rivers are the Yukon and Kuskokwim. They carry silt eroded from the interior, silt which has built up over thousands of years to form a huge, flat delta. This delta is tundra, covered with moss and grass, with a few small trees lining the rivers. Nick O. Nick described it this way: Our land is not the same as the land in the lower 48. I ve seen the outside, it s nice and sturdy land. However, here in the Kuskokwim area, here in the lower area, not the upper area, it s different, it s bad. But it s good with its fish, our subsistence. This area is different. The land in this area is not sturdy, it s soft and part of it is like quicksand. It s like that. The delta is about the size of Kansas. It holds more than 20,000 people in 50 villages. They are Yup iks, a Bering Sea Eskimo group. The first settlers of several thousand years ago developed a culture adapted to coastal living. Their kayaks, spears, darts, and harpoons were efficient ways to get sea mammals. As people became more and more numerous, some moved inland along the rivers where they developed a subculture suited to the resources they found there. The people saw very few Europeans until the 1860s. The Bering Sea coast was too shallow for whaling ships to stop by, and there were no mineral discoveries until For this reason, the Yup ik culture and language remained strong, less subject to change than those near European settlements. The earliest influences from the Europeans were religion (Russian Orthodoxy at first, then during the American period the Moravian and Roman Catholic churches) and some trapping and trading with Russian and later American posts nearby. The early missionaries saw that the Yup iks were very spiritual and had many ceremonies that they carried out throughout the year, but especially in the winter. They 6. A L AS KA S TUDIES UNIT 4, Subsistence Resources

7 Always Getting Ready carved amazing masks and were masters in making all kinds of personal and ceremonial items. They believed they were just one form of life among other living things of equal value. All things had souls and the souls of one species helped those of the others. They all needed each other to survive. People thanked the souls of the animals who had provided them with food; this was one of the main roles of the winter ceremonies. During the Gold Rush of , change came much more quickly to the region. Travelers took steamboats up and down the Yukon River. Some took side trips in the Yup ik area to prospect for minerals. More missionaries came and schools were established which required that children stay in one place all winter instead of moving with their families to find food. Thirty years ago, when the parents of today s teenagers were themselves teenagers, they had two choices if they wanted to attend school: Either go away from home for four years and enter a boarding school, or quit school after 8th grade. Those who went away missed out on an important part of their home education: They were not able to take part in hunting and fishing. There were other skills that they did learn, skills that are necessary today: The ability to make enough money to buy heating oil and such things as outboard motors, snowmachines, and guns. They also learned how to negotiate regulations and advocate for conservation and management of the natural resources. But even those people, who might have some of the few jobs in the villages, need to know how to gather subsistence foods. Everyone uses foods that are harvested from the land, although today people use modern tools to help them. Even today, much of the Yup iks diet is meat, fish, and birds. Many items in the American diet, such as milk, fruits, vegetables, and grains are expensive and hard to get. Because of this and because people prefer subsistence foods, in the 1980s villagers harvested an average of 700 pounds of wild food per person a year. The average American ate only 222 pounds of store-bought meat, fish, or poultry during the same period. To get 700 pounds, people have to put out a lot of effort. Agnes Kelly Bostrom puts it this way. All through the year we are getting ready, getting ready for fishing, for berry picking, for potlatches, getting ready for winter. We are always getting ready to go somewhere to get foods. This is because people have to be ready at the exact moment that the conditions are right but that moment cannot be predicted or marked on a calendar ahead of time. A L ASK A STUDI ES UNIT 4, Subsistence Resources 7.

8 Always Getting Ready Although technology has changed, traditional beliefs are still strong. They tell people to be cautious about manmade changes that might have an effect on plants and animals. Peter Seton of Hooper told government officials in 1975, It has been our concern for many years that it is not good to destroy our food potential. When any kind of waste spills or drains into our rivers, the fish will be destroyed thus destroying our main food supply. Even when there is a natural disturbance on the land there always seems to be a great reduction in the fish and wildlife around the area of that disturbance. In 1971 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was passed by the US Congress. Under the Act, Alaska Natives got title to 44 million acres of land and $962.5 million, in exchange for giving up claims to most of the land they had used for thousands of years. The money and land were not given to individuals, but rather to newly-formed corporations. Calista (pronounced chalista ) is the corporation for most of the Yup ik area. The Land Claims act brought about many changes, including the way people used the land and even who was allowed to use the land. There have been many other changes in the Yup ik region over the last thirty years. Telephones have come. Television and computers are common. High schools were built so that today s teenagers do not need to go away to boarding schools. Rapid change is usually unsettling to people. The Yup ik region of Alaska is no exception. The people know that problems including suicide, domestic violence, and alcoholism are too common. But even more subtle changes have come. The closeness of families, the feeling that every child was safe in the village because every adult looked out for them is still there, but people worry that it is decreasing. But in the midst of all these changes, subsistence remains the one thing that everyone agrees on and that everyone does. Without it, the language, and culture and perhaps even the people would die. -Adapted by Patricia Partnow. 8. A L AS KA S TUDIES UNIT 4, Subsistence Resources

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18 For more information: Division of Subsistence Alaska Department of Fish & Game PO Box Juneau, Alaksa / (voice); (fax) Web Address: A L ASK A STUDI ES UNIT 4, Subsistence Resources