I have lived in King Cove for all of my life. My husband and I are raising our family here. I hope that our daughters will want to do the same. So it is astounding to me that someone with Dr. Cox's medical training and lack of knowledge about this region of Southwest Alaska, would write a commentary so filled with anger and so lacking in human compassion. As far as anyone here knows, Dr. Cox has never set foot in King Cove, much less visited our clinic or seen what our fierce weather is like firsthand. He seems to have talked to someone from Cold Bay, and from his own words, he knows a lot about the villages around Nome. It's equally clear that he has no idea what it's like to wonder whether he or his loved ones will die while waiting for help to arrive. I don't wonder what that feels like because I have lived it.
In April 2013, I went into early labor -- despite my careful plan to leave for Anchorage ahead of my due date, this baby had plans of her own. Strong winds howled that day. My heart beat fast. Flights in and out were canceled. A choppy boat ride across the bay was out of the question. Thanks to the selfless courage of a Coast Guard helicopter crew, I was delivered to Cold Bay to get on a medevac flight to Anchorage where my beautiful daughter, Sunnie Rae, joined her sisters in the world.
While the health care team is wonderful in King Cove, they cannot perform caesarian sections. They are unable to handle significant trauma situations, life-threatening heart or respiratory problems. We don't have a full-time doctor. For that, we must go to Anchorage. I don't know what villages outside of Nome are faced with in medical emergencies, and I wouldn't dare to comment. I don't live there. I just know that without that helicopter ride, placing all of our lives in danger, I might have had to decide between my life and hers -- which is no choice at all.
Please understand that we love King Cove. It is a spectacularly beautiful community where we work and live happily among our relatives and friends. It is the land of our ancestors who came here thousands of years before us. It is the land that we belong to, and this refuge in our backyard was in our hearts long before it got its present name or wilderness designation.
We understand that we are not unique from other isolated rural Alaska communities nor have we ever asserted that somehow King Cove is more important than any other. That is an unfair and ridiculous thing to say. However, our solution is just 30 miles away. On a clear day, we can look across the bay and see Alaska's third longest all-weather airport, an airport that our elders helped to build. Only 11 miles are needed to connect King Cove to existing roads in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, which lead directly to this airport.
Bill Cox claims to know things that he cannot know. For one, he claims to know what is in our minds and hearts with regard to our intentions for this road. He insinuates a road from King Cove would course through "treacherous and challenging terrain." If Dr. Cox had ever spent any time here, he would know better. The area within the Izembek where the proposed road would be constructed is mostly flat with a few rolling hills. We don't see much snow in King Cove and even then, it doesn't stay for long, blown out with wind or melted in our moderate temperatures.
Most disturbing is Dr. Cox' claim that "anti-wilderness and anti-federal lands politicians and supporters would love nothing more than to plow a road through federally-designated wilderness just for spite." That is a preposterous and completely unsubstantiated allegation. Other modes of transportation have been studied in previous environmental impact statements and dismissed as infeasible. A road is the only workable solution. The only one who seems to be coming from a place of spite and conspiracy theories is the author. The legislation clearly states commercial traffic on the gravel single-lane road is prohibited. This is not and never has been about promoting a road for commercial interests. That's nothing more than road opponents' propaganda, to distract from our position of wanting to save lives.
Our ancestors have subsisted off of the lands now known as the Izembek for thousands of years. No one understands better, or takes more seriously, our sacred obligation to love all the babies of this place for all time. The spirit of the land speaks in proud testament to our sincere efforts in this regard. Our grievance began more than four decades ago, when the federal government designated the area as wilderness without informing or consulting our people, after which we learned that our access to Cold Bay's all-weather airport was cut off. Ever since, we have advocated for a road as the only safe, reliable access to the airport for medical evacuations and other quality of life reasons, such as keeping necessary medical appointments in Anchorage. We have no hidden agenda.
I'll not stoop to Dr. Cox's level and address his other allegations, particularly his twisted logic trying to compare supporters of Papa Pilgrim's trail in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park to supporters of our road. What is abundantly clear is that Dr. Cox knows precious little about King Cove and less still about the facts behind our efforts to get approval for this road. I don't know his motives; those are his to sort out. I only know that when I hold Sunnie Rae in my arms, and I reflect on how close we came to losing her or me or both, for as long as I am breathing, I plan to move heaven and earth to make this road a reality.
Etta Kuzakin is president of the Agdaagux Tribe of King Cove.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com