It was a windy and sunny day that welcomed Alaska’s senior U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski to Aniak in late June. As soon as she stepped off the airplane, she was greeted with hugs and smiles from old and new friends alike. It had been more than twelve years since Sen. Murkowski had been in any of the Middle Kuskokwim communities. She accepted the invitation to visit from TKC at a time when so many of TKC’s communities and Shareholders are struggling with the high cost of energy and fuel, uncertainty about fishing regulations, housing needs and infrastructure.
Over the course of two days, TKC President and CEO Andrea Gusty, Vice President of Shareholder Services Jonathan Samuelson and Vice President of Operations Megan Leary escorted the Senator and her staff to Aniak, Napaimute, Crooked Creek, Georgetown, Red Devil, and Sleetmute by boat.
The first stop in Aniak was TKC’s Kuik Run Store, where Sen. Murkowski met store staff and heard about the mission to lower the cost of living through more affordable groceries and household goods in the region. Impacts to Bypass Mail reliability in recent years has made it harder to keep rural store shelves stocked, something being felt far beyond Aniak.
As Sen. Murkowski continued her visit with Aniak residents over lunch, she heard about the recent increase of the price of gas to $9.29 per gallon, concerns about fishing trawlers’ impacts to Kuskokwim and Yukon River salmon populations, the lack of affordable housing, and tribal transportation funding.
After a quick, windy boat ride up the Kuskokwim to Napaimute, Sen. Murkowski learned about the Native Village of Napaimute’s environmental programs, including various fish studies and water quality testing, brownsfields inventories and partnerships with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The tribe also explained its exciting cultural and historic preservation projects and business ventures.
The Native Village of Napaimute has been busy renovating and restoring what is known as the Kuskokwim White House. Originally built by George Hoffman Sr. in 1906 with Middle Kuskokwim timber. The Tribe obtained the home from the Hoffman family with the dream of turning it into a place for Napaimute tribal members to come home to.
The home has been through several floods and had to be rebuilt from the foundation up. Renovations were extensive and began last summer. It has a new foundation and floor, but Napaimute kept as much of the original interior as possible, even down to the furniture and historic magazines. The White House’s first guests will be Napaimute’s Elders. The Tribe invited their elders back home for a visit this summer. Four of them took the Tribe up on their offer. They will be the community’s honored guests this July as the first of many to sleep under the roof of the historic White House once more.
In Crooked Creek, concerns about the lack of reliable power and the cascading effect power outages can have on everything from healthcare, to education, to communications and access to clean water, were at the forefront of community’s concerns. The school’s infrastructure was another major concern of the community as repairs and upgrades are needed to the building. They worry their children’s education and well-being will continue to be impacted unless repairs to the infrastructure are made soon.
Continuing through the Middle Kuskokwim, the next stop was in Georgetown. Sen. Murkowski learned the rich history of the community, met current year-round residents and some who return every summer to work on fish. Every conversation during the visit served as a reminder of the vitality of salmon to our people on the river and across Alaska. Tribal leadership also shared with the Senator the barriers caused by 14c3 lands being held in trust by the State. Smoke billowed from the hills both below and upriver from Georgetown, and we saw local, state and federal people hard at work protecting our homelands.
In Red Devil, Sen. Murkowski met with some of the firefighters deploying to the nearby Native Allotments from the wildfires that were started by recent lightning strikes. The crews from Fairbanks and California will cut fire breaks around the buildings and stay in the region to defend the structures if needed.
While in Red Devil TKC leadership also detailed some of our Corporation’s projects, including the holistic housing project Harvest to Home, or H2H, which will have a regional sawmill based in the community. This project intends to address TKC’s goals for responsible and sustainable resource development, workforce growth and economic opportunity. The project provides training to TKC Shareholders before and during home construction and will utilize Shareholder hire to selectively harvest timber and operate the mill in Red Devil.
From Red Devil TKC’s boat took the group to Sleetmute to meet with the tribe and community members. In Sleetmute, much of the school being declared condemned is the most urgent concern. Principal Teacher Angela Hayden lead the Senator through rooms with crumbling walls and an unsafe roof. She explained that the room housing the school’s heater is being held up by a makeshift wall installed three years ago by her husband. The school has once again been bumped down on the school funding priority list, leaving parents and students worried about the future.
Even with heavy topics inside, outside, children were riding bikes and laughing. Highlighting the beauty and resilience of the Middle Kuskokwim.
It was a whirlwind trip filled with important discussions and heartfelt concerns. But, for every example of struggle and hardship, TKC Shareholders shared more humor, joy and innovation.
TKC will be following up with Senator Lisa Murkowski and her staff about the issues and concerns raised during her trip in the Middle Kuskokwim and will share updates with community leadership and with our Shareholders in upcoming publications as information becomes available.
