Barging on Lake Iliamna

Barging on Lake Iliamna

Igiugig Transport is a barge service operating on Lake Iliamna, the largest fresh water lake in Alaska. It has been in business since 1998. The barge is made of two fishing boats pushing a Flexi-Float which is owned by the Igiugig Village Council. The Flexi-Float can be taken apart, making it a unique and easy way to transport to other bodies of water. The boats names are Chulyen that means “Raven” and the other one’s name is 11th Hour, which belongs to Marc Watson. Igiugig Transport takes Mark Watson’s boat barging and he takes their boat fishing. AlexAnna Salmon is the Manager. AlexAnna uses a GPS Tracker to see where the barge is and where it’s going.

Igiugig Transport mostly move freight on Iliamna Lake to the communities of Pile Bay, Pedro Bay, Iliamna, Igiugig, Kokhanok, and lodges around the lake. The freight is mainly things that can’t fit on airplanes, such as heavy equipment. Most of the things they barge come from Homer. It takes anywhere from 3 hours to 8 hours to barge to a different community depending on the weather. Fall is the worst time to barge because there is darkness and horrible weather. In late fall the boats get put up at Naknek, and the Flexi-Floats get put away at Pile Bay or Igiugig.                                                                                                                                                 Right now Terek Anelon is the main captain. Terek loves working on the barge because he is the boss, although he gets told where to go, and he loves being on the water. He is barging with Robbie Hill. Usually 1-3 people work on the barge. It’s a dangerous working place. That’s why the workers get paid a lot. Nobody has been hurt on the barge in their records. However in 2011 Igiugig Transport sunk a boat, the Island Runner, and that was their first incident.  The largest business expenses are fuel, insurance, maintenance, and Flexi-Float Rentals. There is a website if anybody has any questions: www.sayakrentals.com. 

Igiugig School loves are new teachers!

Igiugig loves our new teachers! I will tell you some things about them; like why the teachers moved to Igiugig, their past teaching history, living next to the school, what ages they like teaching, and their favorite subjects.

            The first thing I will tell you is why the teachers moved to Igiugig. They thought Igiugig was a nice place and a good environment for their teaching job and family. They were also interested in different programs around the village.

            The second thing I will tell you about is their past teaching experience. The teachers taught in Chignik Bay, which had 10 to 14 students in school. Goodnews Bay, which had 70 students, and Delta Junction, which had 150 students.

             Do the teachers like living next to the school. The teachers like living next to the school? They do! The teachers like living next to the school because driving to the school is no fun. They also don’t like living next to the school because they get too preoccupied in their work.

            The forth thing I am going to tell you about is what ages of students the teachers like working with. Mrs. Gooden likes working with all of the students, big and little. Mr. Gooden likes working with big kids (don’t tell him I told you though). The little kids are too rowdy for Mr. Gooden.

            The last thing I will tell you about are their favorite subjects. Mr. Gooden likes science and math. Mrs. Gooden likes language arts and music.

            I have told you only some of the many thing about our teachers. If you would like to learn more about them, go talk with them yourself. Thank you for reading.

   

  

Cross Country

Cross Country

Lukas Zackar

Cross Country is the first thing I look forward to at the beginning of each school year.  I really look forward to this sport because it is one of my favorites, and it is the first sport of the year.  It is good because we don’t have to wait for sports to start.  Cross-country is extraordinary because it teaches consistency, keeps you out of trouble, and helps you stay in shape.

Participating in practice every day is the most important thing to do in any sport; mainly because you have to show up to practice a certain number of times in order to travel and take part in the races.  Also, as the saying goes, “practice makes perfect.” In cross-country it is important to run everyday to try and improve upon your personal best.  If you do not keep up on running, it is really easy to get left behind in a three-mile race.  It is hard to keep a consistent pace for three miles. Practice can help you keep a good pace for three miles.  It helps because we usually start off with a short distance, and then keep advancing the distance as the season goes on.  Once the soreness is gone from the first couple days of practice, you will notice a big improvement in your running.

            Joining cross-country, or pretty much any sport, can help you keep and stay out of trouble.  One good example is that about an hour or two of your time after school will be used for practice.  That will decrease your chances of getting into trouble because it would give you less time to hang out with “trouble makers.”  In my opinion, people who join sports will try their hardest to stay out of trouble because if you do get into trouble you will not be able to travel and you may be kicked off the team.  No one wants to get kicked off of any team because it would give you a bad reputation.

            This amazing sport is a great way to get and stay in shape, if you need it.   Everything that is involved in cross-country is basically just running, ab workouts, and other slight techniques that can help.  Some people join this sport just to get in shape, but if you like to run, then getting in shape is just a bonus.  Also, being in shape gives you an excellent feeling.  Exercising and staying in shape is healthy; so cross-country is a perfect fit.

            Our coach’s name is Tanya Salmon.  This is her second year coaching us here in Igiugig.  Tanya already knew what to do in practice from the previous year, so we weren’t looking for things to do.  I like the way Tanya coaches because she has us start off running short distances before we begin running 3 miles a day.  She doesn’t want us runners to compare our times with each other, instead, we just have our own personal bests.  We have an easygoing coach that runs practices just right. I think we have an awesome coach.

 Cross-country running isn’t easy. It can be painful. You can sprain your ankle, pull a muscle, or pop out a knee. The weather can also affect your running. If it is windy, it’s hard to run against the wind. When it’s too hot, you’re sweating practically the whole way and you get dehydrated quicker. When you first start, it’s tough to show up to practice every day. But at the end of the season, you may feel proud because not everyone finishes. You can feel proud that you accomplished something difficult.  

The New Road

The New Road

Iliamna Lake Contractors are adding on to an old road for easy access to the barge landing.

            The new road cost $85,000 and is getting paid for by the Indian Reservation Road program.  The road started getting built on August 15^th, and was finished on September 7^th.

            The people who are helping to build the road are Jocko Neim, who is the mechanic, Steve Smith, who is the registered Surveyor, Gilbert Andrew, the Operator, Tony Wassilie the driver/operator, followed by William Nickoli, Stacie Garrison, Paul Hobson Jr., and Stacy Hill.

             

          The road is 1600 ft. long (about 1/3^rd mile).  They hauled the gravel from a gravel pit on the south end of the town.  The design of the road was planned for 2 ½ years and completed on December 8^th 2010.  Some people thought it was going to be paved, but it will only be gravel.

Before the barge landing was built there was no public access to the beach.  The old barge-landing road crossed private property that washed out every year and was dangerous for hauling equipment over.  The biggest challenge with the new barge landing was securing Rights-of-Way through three different parcels of property.

Tribal Administrator AlexAnna Salmon thinks the new road is one of the prettiest roads in Igiugig.  Stacy Hill who operates one of the dump trucks thinks it was fun, but as they got further up the road it was nerve wracking, because if you backed up to far up you would drive off the road.  Everyone agrees it wills be nice to ride on the new road to the beach because the old road has been washed out and is sometimes hard to drive on.

the new road.

If all goes according to plan, a 200 ft. long concrete ramp will be built at the barge landing by summer 2013. 

The Landing.

Not So New Curfew

    Why the “new” curfew? Some might ask (mostly teens). Actually, there has been a curfew in place since early to mid 2011. It has recently been enforced because kids were out later than they needed to be, and the Village Council doesn’t want the school attendance as poor as it was last year. The curfew ordinance was written not to criminalize, but to urge and build responsibility, though not everyone agrees that a curfew is necessary.

    What are the consequences if someone is out after curfew? If a person under the age of 18 is seen out after 10 O’clock p.m. on weekdays and 12 a.m. on weekends. he/she will be brought home by the VPSO. The VPSO will then have a talk with his/her parents. Then the parents and offender will be brought before the Village Council to explain why the underage person was out after curfew. The offender will also be given a penalty: community service hours. But wait! There is a way to avoid all this, you could call VPSO Decker and give him a good reason why you’re going to be late or you could just be home on time!

    The teens and adults of Igiugig feel very differently about the curfew. “It’s kind of lame,” one teen said.  While most teens don’t want the curfew to stay in effect and think that it isn’t necessary, others (adults) would call it a good thing. “As the writer of the ordinance, I think it’s good. It’s a good thing for kids to be home when they need to be.” Says VPSO Dan Decker about the newly enforced curfew. Some might not even care if there is or isn’t a curfew in effect and being enforced.

    Either way, the curfew is being enforced and there isn’t really anything anyone under 18 can do about it. If you don’t want to get into trouble, don’t caught out after curfew, or just go home when it’s time (recommended). Even though some may feel very strongly, or not at all, about the curfew all it comes down to is responsibility.