Postmark: Aug 31,94 10:00 AM Delivered: Sep 23,94 10:00 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-9/23/94
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Message:
*Rural Alaskans use a lot of wild foods. According to numerous surveys, many Alaskans harvest more wild meat and fish than the average American buys from the grocery store.
*In general, Native communities harvest more wild foods than non-Native communities.
*Communities with greater mean taxable incomes tend to harvest less subsistence resources.
*In southeast Alaska, high income households and newcomers to rural communities tend to be active subsistence harvesters. So are low income and long term residents to the region.
*Generally speaking, subsistence harvests increase as the distance from road systems increase.
*Why do Alaskans use so much more meat and fish? Alaskans substitute wild foods for “imported” foods because they are expensive and not always available.
Postmark: Aug 31,94 8:32 AM Delivered: Sep 16,94 10:00 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-9/16/94
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Message:
*One way of describing subsistence is with maps which show areas used for hunting, fishing, and gathering.
*Subsistence specialists utilize a wide range of historical information to document historical and traditional boundaries of subsistence use and users.
*Contemporary mapping methods have refined ways these specialists document subsistence use areas. The Geographic Information System (GIS) is a major tool used in mapping this dynamic social process.
*In 1887-88, the Tongass Resource Use Cooperative Survey (TRUCS) mapped subsistence use and users throughout southeast Alaska. TRUCS mapped 31 rural community use areas by quadrangle and specific resource.
*Computer mapping, as in TRUCS, has revolutionized the way specialists use “spacial data” for planning purposes, as well as how several maps are displayed simultaneously. It also shows how subsistence areas change through time; and how several community use areas may overlap.
Postmark: Aug 31,94 7:58 AM Delivered: Sep 09,94 10:01 AM
Status: Previously read
Subject: Subsistence News-9/9/94
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Message:
*Most subsistence communities have customary rules for treating the land and the ecosystem.
*Rules have been passed down through successive generations: “Do not waste”; “Take only what is needed”; “treat the animals with respect”; “Do not damage the land without cause”; and many more.
*It is generally believed that if these laws are followed, then the land and ecosystem will continue to provide.
*Although they may not use the terms, subsistence people are the original land & resource managers because their lives depended on it.
*Many rural residents commonly obey two sets of laws–those set down by the State and Federal administration, and those handed down from their forefathers as customary law.
