Northland News
Kodiak Edition
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
I spent last week on Kodiak Island, gathering information for several freelance articles. The opportunities I had for different experiences of people, places, and more of Alaska's wildlife deserve a special edition of the Northland News.
Kodiak City
My trip to one of the Native villages on Kodiak Island, which was scheduled for Saturday, was postponed because of inclement weather, which is typical of Kodiak, so I spent the day in the city of Kodiak, primarily in the Alutiiq and Baranov museums. A special Smithsonian Institution exhibition ("Looking Both Ways: Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People") combined art, archaeology, history, and oral tradition at the Alutiiq Museum. (Although the Russians mistakenly thought the Natives on the Kodiak Archipelago and the coast of the Alaska Peninsula were the same as those encountered along the Aleutian Islands, the former are Alutiiq and the latter are Aleuts, two different cultural and linguistic groups.)
The Baranov Museum, housed in the oldest Russian building still extant in Kodiak, has many notebooks filled with old diaries, clippings, articles, and photographs on an assortment of subjects. I was delighted to note that the notebook about the 1970 canonization of the Russian Orthodox monk/priest Father Herman was written by Betzi Woodman, my mother, who was also a freelance writer. I spent several hours reading about Russian Orthodox churches throughout the area, the 1912 Mt. Katmai (Novarupta) volcanic eruption and ash fall, the 1964 Alaska earthquake and subsequent tsunami that damaged or destroyed several communities on the archipelago, and other interesting subjects.
Old Harbor
On Sunday, I was able to fly out to Old Harbor, an Alutiiq village on Sitkalidak Strait, on the southwestern coast of Kodiak Island. While there, I was able to explore and observe many interesting sites and sights. I went with Jeff Peterson (an Alutiiq who served on the Citizens Advisory Committee for the Kodiak Archipelago Bear Conservation and Management Plan process, in which I was involved for the last year I worked for Alaska Department of Fish and Game) in his boat to visit Three Saints Bay, the first settlement of the Russians in Alaska. Two of Jeff's daughters and I made our way through the thick beach grasses and nettled to pick salmonberries; then we all went out in the bay to haul up Jeff's subsistence crab pot and pick tanner crabs.
After picking up Jeff's eldest daughter in Old Harbor, we then took the boat out around Sitkalidak Island, where we saw Port Hobron, the whaling camp that was still in operation until approximately 1930. On the way, Jeff had taken me past one rocky island where black-legged kittiwakes and cormorants hang out; we also spent some time watching the tufted puffins who nest on Cathedral Island (believe me, puffins look no more aerodynamically capable of flying than do bumblebees!). As we rounded the island, we also saw a salmon shark. Jeff had the jaws of two other salmon sharks onboard his board; he said they weigh in at about 200-300 pounds!
Then we joined some 30-40 other Old Harbor residents (the village has a population of about 247) on the beach at Tanginak Anchorage on the north side of Sitkalidak Island. A group of archaeologists were just completing a four-week graduate archaeological dig at a 8,500-year old site inland from the beach. I went with the lead archaeologist to see the dig and learn about the many early settlement sites that are being surveyed and investigated in the area. We finished the day with a big picnic and bonfire on the beach. I have to admit that eating very fresh tanner crab, cooked in salt water, is the epitome of yummy!
I slept soundly at Sitkalidak Lodge that night, then spent most of Monday walking around the village and up past the Russian Orthodox chapel to the cemetery on the hill above the village. The people of Old Harbor are very friendly; everyone waved to me as they drove or walked past, and several residents came to chat with me about their village and the opportunities for visitors to enjoy wildlife and cultural activities. I ended the day eating silver salmon, steak, potatoes, salad, and corn with the owners of the lodge, Freddie and Glenna Christiansen.
Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge
On Tuesday, I went out to the gravel airstrip outside Old Harbor to catch a ride back to Kodiak city on Island Air's six-place plane. Flying back over the mountains that go down the spine of Kodiak Island, I saw six mountain goats lying in a snow patch. Tuesday afternoon was spent at the 60th anniversary celebration for Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, which comprises about two-thirds of the Kodiak Archipelago. At the celebration, I enjoyed listening to the Sea Shantys, a group of musicians from St. Innocent's Academy, a boarding school for boys run by the Russian Orthodox Church (it was fun to watch Father Paisius, in his long cassock, playing the penny whistle or a guitar and leading the singers!). We were also treated to a performance by the Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers, a group of nine women, girls, and boys attired in tradition Alutiiq garb and performing traditional dances to the accompaniment of skin drums.
Chiniak
After that event, I went with commercial photographer Hank Pennington, with whom I was teaming up to provide photos for the articles I was writing, to visit the Kodiak Winery . . . yes, a real winery in Chiniak on Kodiak Island. The couple who own the winery produce a variety of wines (still and sparkling) made from native or organic berries such as raspberries, salmonberries, blueberries, strawberries, rhubarb, etc.
The next morning, Hank and I drove out to the end of Cape Chiniak where Bill Burton runs a huge buffalo ranch and also herds Roosevelt elk. Bill took us out on the ranch to where the elk could be "called," and I fed several of the older does from my hand. There is a beach near the ranch where people surf . . . yes, surfing in the Gulf of Alaska! (You think that's bizarre, you should hear about the par-70, 1-hole golf classic they hold going UP Pillar Mountain in Kodiak city!)
Uganik Bay
Later that day, as I hurried to Andrews Airways, which flies seaplanes out of a small lake on the outskirts of Kodiak city, I saw a goshawk. I also saw lots of ravens and some crows, including the first albino crow I've ever seen! I was rushing to Andrews Airways because I had been invited to join Dick Rohrer (another participant in the bear-planning project) for a trip out to his bear camp on the east arm of Uganik Bay (that arm is also called Mush Bay), on the north side of Kodiak Island. Dick is a Master Registered Guide who has been taking folks out for bear hunting, deer hunting, sportfishing, and wildlife viewing for about 20 years.
During the two days I spent at Rohrer's Bear Camp, I had opportunities to see quite a variety of wildlife: pigeon guillemots, more cormorants, more tufted puffins, harbor seals, Eurasian and American widgeons, common mergansers, plenty of gulls, Sitka black-tailed deer, sea otters (with snacks of crab cradled on their bellies as they float along on their back and munch), mountain goats, scads of chum salmon moving up the bay and into the river to spawn, many many bald eagles, and harlequin ducks.
Did I see any of those huge Kodiak bears? You bet! And they are big . . . they are the largest land carnivore in the world. (Actually, that's a bit of a misnomer; technically they are omnivores, eating plants, grasses, and berries as well as fish.) In the evening, Dick and I waded through the water, mud, grasses, and seaweed to climb up a rise about 40 feet above the outlet of the river. There we sat and watched bears come down to feed on the salmon moving up the river. The next morning, we went looking for bears along the beaches on the arm. At one point, Dick spotted a sow and her small cub. He swung the Boston whaler around so that we approached them downwind, then cut the engine so that we glided to about 100 yards from the beach. The sow knew something was there, but her eyesight wasn't good enough to see us; however, she kept raising her snout to try to catch our scent. We sat for about half an hour watching her try to coax the cub, who was more interested in playing on the beach, back into the beach grass and out of sight.
I also visited with the woman who cooks for Dick's camp. She has lived a subsistence lifestyle on Mush Bay for about 20 years. She lives alone, except for her dog, and has the most fantastic gardens of vegetables and flowers! You don't know what being a hermit is until you meet and talk with someone like Jeanne! When Dick has guests at his camp, Jeanne "commutes" to work either along a trail from her house to the camp or along the beach at low tide.
Dick and I were supposed to be picked up by Dan Dorman of Highline Air at about 10:30 on Thursday morning, but Kodiak was totally fogged in (although Mush Bay was bright and sunny!). It was a good thing I had changed my flight back to Anchorage to later in the day, because we didn't leave camp until about 5:30 p.m., when Rolan Ruoss of Seahawk Air was able to pick us up. Because of the clouds inland, he flew us back to Kodiak by going around the northern coastline of Kodiak Island. This gave me an opportunity to see two other Native villages: Port Lions and Ouzinkie.
Leaving Kodiak
I got back to Kodiak with only 25 minutes until my flight was due to leave at 6:35. Fortunately, it was also a bit late getting in from Anchorage to Kodiak, so I barely made it. On the flight "home," I was fortunate enough to sit beside several Russian Orthodox priests who had been at Kodiak to make the annual pilgrimage to Monks Lagoon, on Spruce Island, where St. Herman had lived.
Kodiak was very busy this last week: in addition to the refuge's celebration and the pilgrimage to Monks Lagoon, the ship re-enacting the Harriman Expedition arrived in town and an assortment of special activities surrounded that occasion.
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