Subsistence: A Meaningful, Ongoing Connection to the Land

A modern-day fish camp on the Yukon River.

Josh Spice, NPS

 

For thousands of years Alaska's indigenous people traveled extensively over the landscape, making a living through hunting, fishing, and gathering activities. In modern times, these activities became known collectively as subsistence, and both Alaska Natives and local rural users live off the land, relying on fish, wildlife and other wild resources. Alaska's abundance of natural resources forms the backbone of life and economy for many residents of the state. In Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, local users are busy all year round, with nature's bounty providing sustenance for families living in the surrounding areas.
Subsistence users have a unique connection to the land fostered by tradition and lifelong experience. An anonymous local user described the importance of subsistence this way:

You can't overstate the importance of subsistence to people around here. And people, in all the villages, probably also in some of the cities, are depending on subsistence. People need to have their pride in what they're doing and their lifestyle. And the whole state needs that to have a cultural identity. Because you don't have just an empty land. This has never been an empty land. There were people living here thousands of years ago. This is not a place they can empty out...I just hope that it stays to some degree while I'm alive and afterwards. (Eagle, 2005)

 

Salmon drying at a 40-Mile River subsistence camp in 1983.

NPS

In Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve subsistence users and sport hunters and fishers coexist. Local residents from Eagle, Eagle Village, Circle and Central, as well as those living on remote homesteads, enter the Preserve to hunt moose and caribou; to trap lynx, marten and wolf; and to catch salmon and other northern fish species. Visitors to the Preserve will likely see fish wheels floating near the river's edge and local residents boating to their favorite hunting areas. Living so far from major population centers makes these seasonal harvests important not only to put food on the table but also as a means of maintaining a relationship with the land and traditional ways.

To learn more about the history of the subsistence legislation click here.