Director’s Report: Mid May – Mid July 2010

The busy summer season is underway & the Director is finally able to put together a report on recent activities in Napaimute: Wood, Wells, Wiring, Fish, Fun, Celebrations, & Cell Towers

After a mild break up with very low water, the remainder of May was spent gearing up for the summer season. The bulk of this work included equipment maintenance and the transport of additional supplies to Napaimute by boat. The camera gave out during break up so sorry, no additional pictures for May.

Wood:

During June our work concentrated on processing the wood resources that we stock piled over the course of the winter.

This included both the sawmilling of lumber and production of firewood packages. These two operations work simultaneously side by side and are highly complementary to each other. Trees and parts of trees that are too small or low quality for lumber go directly over to the firewood processor. Trees that are too large or are of high quality are turned into lumber by the mill.

The addition of a conveyor and improved packaging techniques has greatly increased our firewood production. We can now produce in a week what we produced in a month in 2009.

With the low water and subsequent lack of drift wood the demand for firewood is expected to be especially high this coming winter. Firewood production will continue throughout the summer.

As of this report we have 100 pallets of packed firewood on the beach waiting for barge transportation to Bethel. This year we are also sending down assorted bundles of sawmill slabs and round logs as another firewood option for the people of the Lower River.

Wells:

Luke-N-Sons continued to drill water wells for individuals throughout June and eary July. As of this report Luke is working on the 10th well with 3 more to drill later in July.

The Native Village of Napaimute & Napaimute Enterprises, LLC continues to provide support for the well drilling efforts through lodging and equipment rental for Luke-N-Sons.

By the time Luke’s work is done there will be a total of 17 wells here.

Napaimute will have more running water than many communities in Rural Alaska!

Wiring:

June also additional improvements to the Our Lady of the Trees Chapel.

John Borowski volunteered 4 days to install the wiring. This included the installation of outlets, track lighting to shine on the crucifix on the north wall, the hanging of (2) beautiful chandeliers, and outdoor lighting & outlets.

With the establishment of constant reliable power in Napaimute this spring, we also expanded our distribution system by running permanent power up the hill to the Chapel. The interior of the Chapel looks very nice when it is all lit up and now we will be able to put up Christmas lights on the exterior and the cemetary.

A big thank you to John Borowski for his good work. Also to Anita Geerdts for the chandeliers and Bob & Dit Hoffman for the track lighting.

Fish:

The 2010 Kuskokwim King Salmon run was below normal, but here in Napaimute we were blessed with a good subsistence fishing season. We were able to catch more fish with less effort than previous years (although they were smaller)while others in nearby villages struggled to meet their fishing needs. Later bursts of Kings eventually allowed most people to get the fish they needed, but now the poor strength of the run is becoming clearer as fish are reaching thier spawning streams in low numbers and sport fishing restrictions are being put into place on some Kuskokwim tributaries.

Latest Alaska Department of Fish & Game assessments report King Salmon escapement to be very low on all main tributaries of the Kuskokwim.

July 2, 3, & 4: A Mixture of Business & Pleasure:

7/2 Council Work Session

A Council Work Session was held on July 2nd. Napaimute leadership and administration spent part of the long valuable day out in the field doing site visits to the wood processing area, airport, future airport multi-purpose building site, home sites, dump, concluding with an overview of Napaimute’s remaining undeveloped tribal lands.

The remainder of the day and a good part of the evening were spent working on the following work session agenda items:
• A discussion on the evolution of Napaimute from the intent of our original leaders to where we are now and how to blend the two as move forward with the future of Napaimute as both a tribal organization and a community.
• Clarification of the process for tribal member participation at Council Meetings
• Review of NVN’s Constitution & By-Laws
• Review of the Director’s Benefit Package
• Review of 2010 Home Site Program & initial discussion of the future of the program.
• Review of the Agenda for the Annual Meeting

2010 Annual Meeting:

Attendance at this year’s annual meeting was light, but a quorum was established through proxy and Council elections were held.

Both Marcie & Devron ran unopposed and were reelected for another term.

One of the high lights of this year’s meeting was the informal discussion that took place between the Council & Napaimute’s homesteaders after the meeting officially adjourned. For the first time Napaimute’s leadership and non-tribal community members had the opportunity to have a good in-person talk about the future of Napaimute and the strong attachment both tribal & non-tribal members have to the community.

Thanks to Shelly, Katrina, & Audrey for all their help with the meeting. Especially to Shelly for opening up her house and all of the good food!

2010 Home Site Program Update:

After inspecting the available lots on the Tract 7, the Kumukaq Subdivision, three of this year’s awardees declined to accept a lot feeling that it would be too difficult to develop on that side and respectfully requested that the Council consider awarding them lots on Tract 6, the Aqvaucaq Subdivision where all home site development to date has taken place.

The Council gave this request consideration, but made the final determination that it would be in the best interest of our tribal members to not award any additional lots to non-tribal members in the Aqvaucaq Subdivision at this time.

One couple did accept a lot on Tract 7.

Napaimute 4th of July Celebration:

The pictures tell the story, but we are not able to upload pics to the web site at this time.

Call Alaska Technologies to find out when the web site will be working properly.

Back to work: Cell Tower Installation

First project after the 4th of July weekend was to put up a tower in preparation for GCI coming to install cell phone equipment. This was a challenging project that required some creative thinking and careful maneuvering to stand up the 50’ tower. It went up without any problems and now we wait for GCI to arrive so that we can move into the next stage of improved communications for our community: cell phone service!

GCI is backed up on their summer work and are not expected to be in Napaimute until September.

Airport Maintenance:

Having reliable year round access to Napaimute through an established airfield also carries responsibilities. Early in 2010 the Council approved the expense to purchase a basic piece of airport maintenance equipment: a tow-behind brush mower. The mower arrived in mid-July and we were anxious to put it to work as Mother-nature has been gradually trying to take back our airfield since we completed it in 2007. Grass & willows have been overtaking the edges of the runway and creeping into the airfield itself.

Closing:

It’s been a good summer. Now, there’s a bit of yellow in the leaves, the blue berries are ready, it’s been rainy & the River is high. Silvers are moving up the River and we are looking towards fall. Moose hunting is slowly ebbing into everyone’s thoughts.

The rest of August will be spent on maintenance & repair of Napaimute’s equipment in preparation for our next project……

Thank you.