Kotzebue



Somewhat typical Arctic village - not exactly 'Northern Exposure';   Kotzebue won't make it into Better Homes & Garden but I admire the folks;   they don't throw anything away because you never know when you might need it, can't get it


30 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the Northwest coast of Alaska, Kotz sits on spit of land made of gravel deposited by the Noatak River; the village is nestled in bosom of Kotzebue Sound which opens to the Chukchi Sea and Arctic Ocean; fly-in village - no roads; barges can access the village during summer to early fall. 

Sound freezes over in the winter and protects the shoreline from storm waves, but with warming global temperatures, ice sheets unpredictable, break up early and storms pound the gravel shore of the village, eroding Front Street, literally eating away at the town. Same thing happening all along the Alaskan northwest coast - melting permafrost, melting ice sheets, worsening storms - google villages of Shishmaref, Kivalina...

Only stayed few days, another job interview awaits in Nome.  But here are a few pictures: 

flying into Kotzebue you can see how much of the peninsula is really all wetlands - circular 'ponds' typical for tundra






Kotzebue International Airport -- haha, gravel strip about 1000 feet long.



Caribou antlers tossed casually onto roof tops everywhere - many here depend heavily on subsistence hunting; sno-go's sit on rooftops waiting for the winter





Me with silly grin taking self-portrait on Front St. with Kotzebue Sound and 'foothills' of the Brooks Range to the north in the background (that corrugated wall you see is the new construction being done to protect village from being washed away)

 

On oddity, garbage huts are necessary, not because of marauding dogs (sturdy dogs are everywhere but always tied up near front door of house) but because of marauding winds.  Apparently, this particular household having problems with someone who has been donating special kind of trash....clickon picture for closer view of the owner's 'beware notice'.

click on photo to read the fine print!



On to Nome and the Seward Peninsula...