Western

When it comes to energy innovation in rural Alaska, technology is only half the story. The real necessity is people power.

In Kwigillingok, the sun is shining, and the reflection off the tundra is almost too bright to bear. Of the village’s five wind turbines, just one is turning. But 12 hours ago, these turbines took a serious beating. A major blizzard came through, with gusts up to 60 miles per hour.

So Benny Daniel is getting ready to climb up and check the blades.

Daniel is the lead wind tech in Kwigillingok. He’s been doing this work for about five years. And in the beginning, he wasn’t so sure about the 80-foot towers.

“At first, when I climbed, I was like, what did I get myself into?” Daniel said with a laugh. But now, the turbines are his territory.

“Especially when it’s warm, calm day,” he said. “When the sun is out and it’s warm, I like it up there.”

He’s up there in all kinds of weather, checking the brakes and fluids, and making sure there are no cracks or leaks.

And while Kwigillingok’s wind system is technically exciting — combining wind turbines, batteries and electric thermal stoves with diesel generators — what’s maybe more exciting are skilled people like Daniel, who maintain and operate the system with limited need for outside help.

That’s the key to a sustainable system in Alaska’s remote villages, said William Igkurak, the Chaninik Wind Group’s president.

“We were always told that we have no resources,” Igkurak said. “By that, they probably meant we didn’t have the human capacity. That we didn’t have trained people.”

For years, Igkurak watched contractors come into town, build something, take their payment and go — and the village was stuck trying to maintain whatever they left behind.

When something broke, Kwigillingok had to call someone in – perhaps from the Lower 48. Weather would delay parts, equipment and mechanics. It was expensive.

This time, Igkurak decided, his people would help build the system so they could maintain it.

“That would be a plus that would make someone’s life a whole lot better,” he said. “They would know that they would be able to compete in the world market.”

And with four villages working together, if Kwigillingok needs help, they can call in someone from Kongiganak. When something breaks, there might be a spare part in Tuntutuliak.

Roderick Phillip, of Kongiganak, is Chaninik’s vice president. He points out that most of the people working on the system speak Yup’ik as their first language, so it helps to have multiple people going through training, translating concepts for each other. Now, he said, many of the turbine parts have Yup’ik names.

And, Phillip said, it’s a natural fit in a region where people are already self-sufficient by necessity.

“We fix everything,” he said. “We have to keep everything going in our homes, our snow machines, our four wheelers, our outboards. We have to fix our own boilers and computers, install our own satellite dishes … I think that’s one of the reasons why our people have been successful in operating and maintaining our systems.”

Back at the turbine, Mike Wassallie is getting ready to climb with Benny Daniel.

“How is it up there?” I asked.

“It’s fun, I like it,” he answered. “You can see the ocean from up there.”

Wassallie is 27, and originally from Kongiganak. He used to work as a clerk at the local store there.

“This is way better,” he laughed.

That’s what Igkurak likes to hear.

“That would be something,” he said. “That would be something that would make me feel happy – that our group has done something to prove that our people, once given the chance and the resources, they are able to compete.”

“I know what our people can do once you give them a chance. They will be able to do something and make a difference.”

Yukon-Kuskokwim tribes are demanding the Association of Village Council Presidents hold a special convention next month to discuss regional self-governance.

Akiak tribal member Mike Williams says almost 30 tribes have signed a resolution calling for the convention, scheduled for March 22-23 in Bethel in the ONC multipurpose room. The timing allows tribes to gather before summer subsistence hits.

The demand comes, Williams says, after AVCP regional delegates unanimously passed a motion at last fall’s annual convention to hold a special gathering Feb. 16 on regional determination, but the event failed to occur.

“We had been looking at a borough and constitutional form of government under the tribes. We had been examining a lot of options to unite the region,” he said.

Williams says the tribes have received no response from the AVCP administration on their demands.

But AVCP Executive vice president Mike Hoffman says he has not received any information from the tribes on this issue and that Feb. 16 was never a hard date for a special convention.

Rather, Hoffman says, the delegates floated the date at the annual convention, but the executive board nailed down the official days for June 8-9 at its meeting last month.

Akiak Native Community Chief Ivan Ivan says he signed the resolution and will attend whenever the convention occurs.

On Thursday Ivan announced his resignation as Unit 4 representative for the AVCP Executive Board.

His resignation began immediately and left no executive AVCP representation for Akiachak, Akiak, Kwethluk or Tuluksak.

“I served on their behalf to the best of my abilities to protect their subsistence hunting and fishing life and to fight against alcohol and drug issues and our quest to continue our yuyurag as instructed by our family members and area elders,” he said.

Ivan says he will continue working on these issues as Chief of the Akiak Native Community.

A team of biologists traveled to Saint Lawrence Island Wednesday to consult with local walrus hunters in Savoonga and Gambell.

Jim MacCracken heads the Alaska program for marine mammal management with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He says biologists are eager to collect traditional knowledge from hunters and community members.

“One thing we’ve been thinking of is just basic walrus behavior and how they might adapt to changing habitat conditions, changing climates and things like that,” he said.

Some of that information will help the group as they develop an assessment of the Pacific walrus population as part of a process outlined under the Endangered Species Act. MacCracken said biologists need to develop a schedule for required government-to-government consultation because there’s a possibility Pacific walrus could be listed as endangered.

He said the team will also solicit advice from Saint Lawrence Island residents.

“We’re trying to develop an oil spill response plan in case there was a spill out there,” he said. “So, some things that they can help us out with, is in terms of walrus behavior, if we might want to try and move animals away from an approaching oil slick about how best to do that and if it’s even feasible,” said MacCracken.

He said this week’s visit is routine.

“Every year, about this time of the year before the spring hunt starts, we go meet with hunters out there and other people in the village and just exchange information,” he said.

He says biologists will also present new findings from ongoing research. MacCracken said any new information they collect during their visit will also be used in future research. The group will be on Saint Lawrence Island until Friday

The 2016 Iron Dog Snowmachine Race gets underway this weekend. The ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage begins Saturday morning, and then the green flag officially drops at the Big Lake starting line on Sunday at 11 a.m.

A lack of snow on the north slopes of the Alaska Range and Farewell Burn presented a big challenge to racers last year, prompting many to add supplemental radiators or fans to their machines to prevent overheating. Even then, the racers were forced to reduce speed and travel as a pack over more than 50 miles of bare ground. Iron Doggers are expecting a better trail than last year.

Despite Alaska’s below-average snowfall totals, the trail appears to be snow-covered for almost all of its 2,000-mile length from Big Lake to Nome and then to Fairbanks.

Iron Dog Executive Director Kevin Kastner is expecting a fast race.

“Once you get past Skwentna and up to Shell Lake it gets better and better, and even sections out of Rohn and over the [Farewell] Burn are about as fast as they’ve ever been,” Kastner said. “The prediction is for a fast race, and a fast race can also mean more accidents. So we are hoping that they keep it under control. But so far, so good, and the overall trail should be a good one.” 

Like last year, the usual race trail on the Yukon River between the Kaltag and Galena checkpoints will need to be rerouted due to open holes around Koyukuk. Iron Doggers will take the overland portage trail on the north side of the river between Koyukuk and Galena.

That area is the home turf of Iron Dog Team 27 – Bobby Frankson and Joe Cleaver. They’ve entered the race twice before as partners – in 2006 and 2009 – but have never finished.

Speaking from the safety inspection in Anchorage on Wednesday, Frankson said that the week before the race is a relentless push to get ready.

“Countless hours of turning wrench and dialing in,” said Frankson. “I drove into Anchorage at 4 o’clock in the morning and got up at 7. And here I am at the Expo, and apparently I am not the only one.” 

Forty-one teams are signed up in the competitive Pro Class, and seven more are in the non-competitive Recreational Class.

Polaris is the most popular make of snowmachine in the race, with 19 teams signed up. Ski-Doo is second with 12 teams. Eight teams are riding Arctic Cats and only two have chosen Yamaha.

Polaris machines have crossed the finish line first two years in a row, and five out of the last seven years.

A first place prize of $65,000 is up for grabs as part of a $260,000 purse. The winning team is expected to arrive at the finish line in downtown Fairbanks around noon on Feb. 27.

Six United States senators and the Secretary of Energy traveled to Bethel Monday to hold a hearing on Alaska’s energy challenges and innovations. The team included the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, lead by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

But before the hearing, the group went on a field trip to see where those challenges and innovations intersect.

The group, joined by Gov. Bill Walker and others, loaded in vehicles and drove five miles up the frozen Kuskokwim River to Oscarville, population 60.

Nearing the village, the first thing the group saw was a line of branches sticking out of the ice, and around them, men are pike fishing. Then the group stepped inside the school. Elders greeted them, and students, wearing black and yellow kuspuks, danced and sang in Yup’ik. Later they performed Native games like the two-foot high kick and one-arm reach.

“I was almost crying earlier. Like, really too happy,” said Oscarville tribal administrator Michael Stevens. “Everybody’s here, and I just stopped myself. I never really thought there’d be lots of senators, the governor and secretary of energy would be here in Oscarville.”

He says he hopes the group’s visit jump-starts funding for basic necessitates like water, sewer, electricity, and housing. He says Oscarville uses rain and river water. Only the school has treated, running water. And all the residents use honey buckets.

For over a year, a group of Alaska agencies has been trying to bring those services Stevens mentioned to the village. They’re using the community as a pilot project to develop these services together rather than individually.

One reason they chose Oscarville is because of the community’s strong local leaders and commitment to place. That is what the senators and secretary were seeing during their visit—in the subsistence pike fishing, the active elders, and Yup’ik dancing and games.

Jackie Schaeffer is helping facilitate the pilot project and tells her hopes for the visit.

“The goal would be for them to not only see the connection to a place from the people and the culture but to see the challenges and how happy people are living here even with those challenges,” she said.

Whether or not the group left with that understanding, U.S. Secretary of Energy Earnest Moniz says the trip was better than a day in the office.

“You don’t get the same feel sitting in Washington [D.C.] and hearing this town doesn’t have water and we should do something,” he said.

If the pilot project succeeds, Oscarville won’t be without water for long. The agencies are looking into drilling a 400-foot community well.

Families were gathered to mourn Sunday in Togiak after the bodies of three men lost in a boating accident had been recovered from beaches near the village.

James Toots, 39, Eric Coopchiak, 31, and Larry Arnariak, 29, died Saturday after their skiff overturned in heavy seas crossing the bay from the Togiak River back to the village. The men were returning from a hunting trip upriver and had three moose onboard, according to family.

When word spread Saturday evening after dark that the men were overdue, a local search effort cobbled together by family and village law enforcement was launched. Alaska State Troopers were notified, but flights from Dillingham were grounded on account of the winds. At 11:00 p.m. a request was made for US Coast Guard assistance. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter was launched from Air Station Kodiak at 11:40 p.m., and a HC-130 fixed-wing aircraft joined the search. The Coast Guard assets eventually waived off for the night on account of low visibility and high winds, measured at 40 miles per hour.

The body of Eric Coopchiak was found late Saturday, on the beach by the old school. Word was passed by VHF Sunday morning that the bodies of James Toots and Larry Arnariak had been found as well.

“Everybody is still in shock,” said Darryl Thompson, who, along with other elders, was going house to house of the families of the three men. Thompson said it was a small relief to hear early Sunday that the remains of all three men had been recovered before they were carried out to sea.

“Please keep Togiak in your prayers,” said Francesca Kam. “This is a tragic loss for our community.”

Dangerous return from successful hunt

The area 17A winter moose was scheduled to close at the end of the day Sunday, but on Friday, it was extended out another month on account of poor winter travel conditions. For three consecutive winters, state and federal authorities have allowed extra winter hunting time, each year hopeful that snow will eventually come.

Togiak hunters are skilled at tracking game by snowmachine in the snowy hills to their north. But the tundra lays bare and the mountains nearly so, and creeks and rivers are open and uncrossable. Not hunting is not an option for most, so locals have turned to non-traditional means. “Now we’re going out with four wheelers and boats, and having very hazardous terrain to travel and waves to contest with,” said Thompson.

“Whether it’s our sea wall falling down or trying to do our subsistence winter hunting, this warming weather has caused us a lot of serious problems,” he added.

Hunting the Togiak River and its tributaries by boat is customary in the fall, not the winter months. But since the winter of 2013, hunters have been boating up the open river for a chance to get into the field beyond where ATV trails allow.

While the river may be largely ice free, that doesn’t make the trip necessarily safe or easy. Elder Pete Abraham believes Toots, Arnariak, and Coopchiak came down river and attempted to cross the bay in a boat overloaded for the weather and surf conditions.

“They were too heavy I think,” he said. He described their boat as a homemade welded aluminum skiff with a flat bottom but steep sides, bigger than an 18-foot Lund. “You can’t carry three moose in a Jon boat. That boat can probably carry that much, but it was too rough.”

Abraham said the winds were blowing at least 30 miles an hour, and the waves in the bay between the mouth of the river and the village were probably four feet high.

“That boat can’t handle that, or maybe they couldn’t maneuver with the small motor.”

It’s not normally a tricky crossing, he said, but doing so at night, during the winter, can be hazardous.

“In the dark, you can see the village lights, but you can’t always see where you’re going, or where the ice is at,” said Abraham.

How the boat was swamped, and what happened to the men next, may never be known. Abraham believes this was probably a tragedy that could have been avoided. “We need more elders to talk to the younger generation about being cautious, whether boating, or snow machining, or whatever. We try, but sometimes the young people don’t listen.”

Troopers say none of the men were wearing life preservers.

On Sunday, what was most important in the village of 800 was gathering again to mourn with the families who had lost loved ones, and remembering the lives James Toots, Eric Coopchiak, and Larry Arnariak.

“I believe they left behind 11 children between the three of them,” said Darryl Thompson. “But they died doing something they loved, working to provide for themselves and their families.”