Community
The Zacharias John Williams Memorial School is located in Napaskiak, Alaska. Napaskiak is situated at the lower confluence of the Tapernaq Slough and the Kuskokwim River. For those of you without a map showing the Tapernaq Slough, a less exact locator is the south bank of the Kuskokwim River, seven miles (as the river flows) down river from Bethel, Alaska. Failing that locator, Napaskiak is approximately 400 air miles due west of Anchorage. There are approximately 350 residents of the community.
The economic base of the community relies heavily on subsistence hunting and gathering activities. All the Pacific Ocean species of salmon have spawning beds on the various tributaries of the Kuskokwim River. Of these species, all with the exception of the pink salmon, are fished by the men of the community using gill nets. The women prepare these fish in a variety of ways using all of the fish except the entrails and gills. King salmon, chum salmon and red salmon are dried on outdoor fish drying racks after having been split and sliced to promote thorough drying. After the fish are dried, they are taken to the family smoke house where they are smoked using green balsam poplar (cottonwood) as a source of fuel and smoke.
A variety of furbearers and birds are abundant in their seasons and are taken to supplement the salmon harvested in the summer. Beaver, muskrat, snowshoe hare, mink and otter are harvested both for their meat and for their skins. Ptarmigan, locally referred to as "tundra chicken" are hunted in March when they forsake a solitary lifestyle and begin to gather in large flocks. Ducks, geese, sandhill cranes, common snipe and other waterfowl are also harvested in their season.
In September, the men travel upriver by boat to hunt moose and caribou. Recently, caribou have returned to the near vicinity of Napaskiak for the first time since the building of the Alaska railway earlier in the century. This return has provided a great boon to the community.
From mid July through September, the tundra provides a bountiful harvest of wild berries. The first berries to ripen are locally known as salmonberries Rubus chamemorous. About the first of August, blueberries Vaccinium uliginosum, are ready to be picked. Shortly after the first blueberries have ripened, blackberries (crowberries) Empetrum nigram, are harvested. During the third week of September cranberries Vaccinium vitis idaea, complete the berry season. Berries are frozen for use in akutaq (eskimo ice cream). Other wild plants harvested during the growing season include: wild rhubarb polygonum alaskanum, cow parsnip Heracleum lanatum, wild celery Angelica lucida, Labrodor tea Ledum palustris ssp groenlandicum, marsh marigold Caltha palustris (CAUTION: This plant is poisonous if eaten raw. Please consult appropriate reference material prior to any attempt to eat this plant.), and sourdock Rumux arcticus.
As all of Alaska west of the Alaska Range is roadless, transportation is heavily dependent on Alaska's abundant waterways. The Kuskokwim River, second largest in Alaska, is a major transportation route ten months of the year. For about a month during freeze up and another month during breakup, the river is unsafe for transportation. From late May through mid October, outboard skiffs are used for family and work transportation. Families rely on their boats for subsistence activities as well as for hauling lumber for house construction and 55 gallon drums of gasoline and stove oil.
During the winter months, the river often freezes to a depth of more than six feet. Travelers are able to journey up and down the river via snowmobile or ATV from the middle of November through the middle of April most years. During the coldest months, cars and trucks are able to travel on the river ice for several miles upriver and down-river of Bethel.