Anchorage Daily News

KIVALINA

POPULATION: 398 (2007 estimate)

LOCATION: At the tip of an 8-mile barrier reef between the Chukchi Sea and the Kivalina River, 80 air miles northwest of Kotzebue.

DESCRIPTION: A traditional Inupiat Eskimo village where about 97 percent of the population is Alaska Native and subsistence activities, including hunts for the bowhead whale, provide most foods. The city, village corporation, airlines, local stores, Red Dog Mine and the school, attended by about 130 students, provide year-round jobs, but unemployment is high. At the time of the 2000 U.S. Census, median household income was $30,833, per capita income was $8,360, and more than one-fourth of all residents were living below the official U.S. poverty level. The Native craft industry has recently expanded, with carvings and jewelry produced from ivory and caribou hooves. Due to erosion and ice damage, the city hopes to relocate to a new site 7.5 miles away.

HISTORY: The village long has been a way station for travelers between arctic coastal areas and Kotzebue Sound communities. It incorporated as a 2nd-class city of the Northwest Arctic Borough in 1969.

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