Western

Former state legislator and respected community leader Martin B. Moore Sr. from Emmonak died last week from COVID-19. He was 84 years old.

He’s remembered as a supportive and caring father who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of Alaska Native people in rural Alaska, his family says.

Born in a village without a school, Moore pushed for better educational opportunities for future generations — including advocating for more schools to be built so children could get educated in their own communities, preserving their cultural identity and family connections.

Virginia Moore-Kelly, one of Moore’s four living daughters, said her father was not only a champion for education as a state legislator, but also at home as a dad.

“Our school was very important to him,” she said. “I remember when it was time for our grades, he studied our grades with a magnifier.”

Later, when Moore-Kelly was struggling in college, she called her dad, telling him she was thinking about giving up on school.

“And he said, ‘Remember, everything good in life is always hard to get,’” Moore-Kelly said. She and each of her sisters went on to get college degrees.

Moore was speaking from his own challenges with education. He was born in the lower Yukon village of Emmonak in 1937, where there were no schools. He didn’t step into a classroom until the age of 10.

From the back of the St. Mary’s boarding school classroom, he squinted at the blackboard, unable to make anything out. One, he didn’t know how to read, and two, he was half-blind from a tuberculosis infection in his eyes.

But he overcame those challenges, had his eyes treated and graduated from high school at 24 years old.

“My grandfather, my uncles, my aunties that believed in me, that’s what make me go,” Moore said in a 2020 interview with Calista. “Those people that also didn’t have the education said, ‘Go, Martin, school.’ That’s where I learned to work.”

From then on, Moore fought to pass on better educational opportunities than those given to him.

He was a representative in the 7th state Legislature from 1971 to 1972 and also served as a special assistant to Gov. Wally Hickel. In his year as a state legislator, he fought to build schools in Alaska’s villages so Alaska Native children could get educated in their own communities.

“You could do the same thing better than me. You have a lot more opportunity than me,” Moore said in the 2020 interview, encouraging young people in rural Alaska to take advantage of being born in this time. “You have the future. Your future is brighter than ever.”

Moore also served as a board member for many regional organizations, like Calista and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation. He was mayor of Emmonak and then served as its city manager for the last three decades.

“When I was 16, I started working. I’m 83 now. I’m still working,” Moore said in 2020. “I like to help people. That’s why I’m here: because I love the people.”

Moore’s youngest daughter, Natalia Moore, said that her father helped people in his personal life as well. When he saw two young people in Emmonak that needed his help, her father adopted them.

“That’s one of the things that I think I gained from him was just to help people, especially when they’re down,” said Natalia.

Natalia said that her dad also taught her to be proud to be Yup’ik. Any time they were eating Native food, he would say he was eating like a king. Once, while Natalia was fishing with her dad on the lower Yukon, he turned the motor off and held her arm.

“And then he told me, ‘Nat, your blood is rich and rare. And I don’t want you to forget that. And I love you,’” Natalia said.

About two months before he passed away, Moore gave his second youngest daughter, Dora Christine Moore, one of the final lessons he would teach her.

Dora said he told her this: “You’ve seen the hardships, you’ve seen the challenges, you’ve seen the obstacles. You’ve experienced the love, you’ve experienced the unconditional love, you’ve experienced forgiveness. You’ve experienced lessons. That’s what marriage is.”

A few weeks after her marriage, Moore was medevaced from Emmonak to Bethel for COVID-19 complications. He did not share his vaccination status with his daughters. Dora said that he fought until the end. On Feb. 3, at 5:46 a.m., Moore died at the Bethel hospital.

He is survived by four daughters, 23 grandchildren, and 23-great grandchildren. His youngest great-grandchild was born one day after he passed. That child was given his Yup’ik name: Caranaq.

The federal government has denied a petition to eliminate chinook salmon bycatch and cap chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. Tribal groups in Western Alaska submitted the petition following dismal chinook and chum salmon runs this summer.

In a letter denying the tribal groups’ petition request, the National Marine Fisheries Service wrote that the requested limits on bycatch would likely not make a big difference for Western Alaska salmon runs. The fisheries service estimates that less than 3% of chinook salmon bycatch and less than 1% of chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea Pollock Fishery are from Western Alaska rivers.

“I question that number. I think there needs to be more research on that,” said Mike Williams Sr., chair of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, one of the tribal groups that petitioned the federal government to add new salmon bycatch limits. Williams Sr.’s group has also asked the federal government to conduct up-to-date analysis to find what percentage of chinook and chum salmon bycatch is from Western Alaska.

In October 2021, the federal body that regulates the Bering Sea pollock fishery, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to fulfill that request.

Williams Sr. said that he knew the petition was a long shot, but he’s still disappointed it got denied.

“Our relatives up in the Yukon are really suffering right now because of the zero fishing this summer. The pollock fishery, even they say 3%, they should knock it off for a while,” Williams Sr. said.

Williams Sr. said that he and the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission will continue to fight for lowered chinook and chum salmon bycatch limits in the Bering Sea.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it intends to revise a proposed determination under the Clean Water Act that could permanently block development of the Pebble deposit, upstream from Bristol Bay.

But mine opponents are frustrated at the slow pace.

Section 404-c of the Clean Water Act allows the EPA to restrict the disposal of dredged or fill material in an area — or deny it altogether. It’s referred to as EPA’s veto power over wetlands permits.

EPA Region 10 acting administrator Michelle Pirzadeh sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers, the chief executive of Pebble Limited Partnership, the state Department of Natural Resources, and Chuchuna Minerals Company announcing the plan to revise the proposed determination. She said the EPA still has reason to believe that the discharge of materials from the proposed mine could lead to “unacceptable adverse effects on important fishery areas.”

But Alannah Hurley, executive director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay, said this announcement is a disappointment, because it delays permanent protections for the region.

“Our Tribes put in a petition, literally 12 years ago in 2010,” she said. “And instead of progressing to the next step, we are taking a step backward.”

The EPA initially said it would issue a recommended determination by May 31, 2022. Revising the proposed determination prolongs that timeline. Hurley is also disappointed that the Biden administration hasn’t honored its commitment to consult with Tribes during this process.

“We have actually been requesting Tribal consultation since this fall, about how this process should move forward and what that should look like in terms of public engagement and Tribal consultation,” Hurley said. “Today’s announcement was made without the type of consultation, which contributes to our disappointment.”

Pebble spokesman Mike Heatwole said in an email, “We have received the letter from the EPA and are reviewing it to determine our next steps.”

Here’s how Section 404-C works. If the EPA regional administrator isn’t satisfied that a project won’t produce “unacceptable adverse effects” it publishes a proposed determination, which begins the process of exploring whether the project will result in unacceptable harm. Then, the regional administrator either recommends or withdraws the proposed determination. Once the administrator makes that recommendation, the EPA gives the Army Corps and project applicant 15 days to take corrective action. Lastly, the administrator takes final action on the recommendation and publishes the final determination in the federal register.

Pebble, the Army Corps, the Department of Natural Resources and others have until Feb. 11 to submit information demonstrating that the project won’t unduly harm the watershed, although EPA said it could provide more time if requested.

The EPA originally proposed a “preemptive veto” in 2014, before Pebble applied for a permit. The Trump administration’s EPA withdrew it in 2019. Then, last September, the EPA announced that it would re-start the proposed determination process, which could end with a veto of the mine permits.

The EPA has issued vetoes just 13 times in the 50 years of the Clean Water Act, when a major project would have “significant impacts on some of America’s most ecologically valuable waters.”

The EPA says it will issue its revised proposed determination by May 31.

Kuskokwim mushers have trained in all kinds of weather this past winter, starting with the coldest November on record in Bethel, rain in December 2021, and then glare ice in January 2022. Some Kuskokwim mushers competing in this weekend’s K300 race say that they’ve been contending with some of the most challenging training conditions of their careers.

Jason Pavila of Kwethluk is gearing up for his first K300, and he says he’s nervous. He’s been mushing for about 10 years, including winning the Bogus Creek 150 at the age of 15. But in all that time, he’s never trained in weather like this.

“It’s been weird,” Pavila said. “This is the first year I’ve actually trained dogs with a raincoat.”

In December 2021, an extended period of rain and warm weather melted the snow. During that time, Pavila trained his dogs using a four-wheeler, doing little 5-mile loops to Kwethluk’s airport.

“It was pretty boring going back and forth. Same things over and over,” Pavila said.

Pavila, an 18-year-old high school senior, is balancing schoolwork and playing basketball with training in difficult conditions.

Other Kuskokwim mushers, like five-time K300 Champion and former Iditarod Champion Pete Kaiser of Bethel, were completely sidelined in December due to weather.

“During that whole two weeks of just sitting around waiting, you’re just unsure how long it’s going to be before you get back on the runners,” Kaiser said.

“That two weeks was one of the harder two weeks in the middle of training that I’ve had to deal with,” said last year’s K300 Champion, Richie Diehl.

But Kaiser said that the break wasn’t too big of a setback for his team. In fact, he said that it could actually help.

“Definitely time off is not a bad thing, especially if it’s timed right. It can help, you know, refresh the team mentally, physically, all that stuff,” Kaiser said.

In 2019, bad weather in Bethel forced Kaiser’s team to take a 10-day training hiatus about a month before the Iditarod, which he ended up winning.

For some Y-K Delta mushers, the difficult training conditions caused them to withdraw from the K300. Four mushers dropped out of the race this month. Fr. Alexander Larson of Napakiak, who finished fourth in his first K300 last year, said that he was considering doing the same.

“I was planning to withdraw too, but I did one long run which made my dogs’ difference,” Larson said. “I think some of my dogs will do good. I think they learned a lot from last year.”

Last year, Larson and other Kuskokwim mushers were able to practice for the K300 by running the Bogus Creek two weeks before. The two races also shared the same route.

“Running the Bogus, it helped a lot. That’s what I was looking forward to this year, but didn’t happen,” Larson said.

The Bogus Creek 150, originally scheduled for earlier this month, was postponed until February due to weather conditions.

Other top K300 contenders from out of the region have been a bit luckier with the weather. Former Iditarod Champion Joar Leifseth Ulsom runs a kennel out of Willow. He said that the training conditions have been pretty good there this year. And even when it’s been bad, he’s been able to move his team around on the road system.

“That’s where we’re kind of lucky compared to the guys on the Kuskokwim. We can load them in the truck and drive 2[00] to 300 miles and find snow,” said Leifseth Ulsom.

This year, the K300 is back on the traditional race route, going from Bethel to Aniak and back. That’s a relief for 2019 K300 Champion Matt Failor, who got lost on last year’s course.

“I’m going to try to make sure I do not repeat that. I don’t want to get lost,” Failor said.

Diehl, last year’s K300 champion, is also happy for the race to return to its traditional course, which travels through his hometown.

“That’s one thing I missed last year was, definitely there was a part of me that was like, ‘Darn, I wish I would’ve got to take this winning team through Aniak.’ But I guess we’ll try this year,” Diehl said.

Diehl is looking to repeat his win, but he’ll have to beat a field of 15 other mushers who have each overcome their own set of challenges to compete in the 2022 Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race. The race begins Friday, Jan. 28 at 6:30 p.m.

In their latest bid to halt or limit chinook and chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea, tribal organizations in Western Alaska have signed onto a petition calling on the federal government to take action.

The petition asks the U.S. Department of Commerce to eliminate chinook salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea completely and to put a cap on chum salmon bycatch. It does not specify an acceptable limit for chum bycatch.

The tribal groups signing the petition mostly represent areas of Alaska where salmon runs have crashed or declined dramatically in recent years. They include the Kuskokwim River Inter-tribal Fish Commission, the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, the Association of Village Council Presidents, Kawerak, Inc., the Bering Sea Elders Group and the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island.

“The recent crashes of Chinook. And now the chum on the Kuskokwim River is pretty evident that we need to take emergency action on this issue,” said Mike Williams Sr., chair of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. “I think we need to begin to take drastic measures.”

A spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration inside the U.S. Department of Commerce wrote in an email to KYUK that the agency does not comment on petitions. He did not answer whether the department was even aware of the petition.

The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates that more than 13,000 chinook salmon and more than 500,000 chum salmon were caught as bycatch in the Bering Sea in 2021. The groups petitioning the federal government to bring these numbers down say at least some portion of those fish would end up in Western Alaska rivers, where subsistence fishermen have not been able to meet their needs for quite some time now.

Subsistence fishermen and organizations from Western Alaska have intensified their pressure on both the state and federal government in the past year to reduce or eliminate salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea. This petition is the latest effort in that campaign.

Unalakleet’s supply of water was running on empty following a nasty freeze-up at the end of December. As the community pulls together to conserve water, there is hope that recent funding from the federal government will help Unalakleet avoid future water shortages.

“We did have some effects from the Dec. 26 storm that interrupted our water supply out at our source, Powers Creek,” City Manager Moe Zamarron said.

Freezing rain led to a frozen pool of standing water, which shifted the community’s pump house before the New Year, reducing the flow of water into the water tank, Zamarron said. Levels were down to two feet early last week.

Zamarron said the tank didn’t reach empty this time, but it was down to about 7% of its total capacity.

“It took a lot of effort from the local community to conserve,” Zamarron said. “It was a community effort for everybody to pull together and see to it that we could turn this corner and begin the increased flow again and start building our reserves back up.”

As of Jan. 6, the community had started to put more water back into the storage tank, Zamarron said. But the repairs and resolution to the current water issues are ongoing.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently awarded the Native Village of Unalakleet over $650,000 to develop a water haul system. The funds came from a 2021 round of Indian Community Block Grants through the American Rescue Plan.

Unalakleet has struggled with its water system in the past, with almost annually recurring shortages, contamination issues or freezing pipes at the water tank.

According to HUD, the new system will provide the community more access to treated, potable water without having to rely solely on the water tank and Powers Creek.

In the meantime, Zamarron says the residents of Unalakleet came together to conserve water, share their subsistence foods and support each other to avoid a larger disaster.