Project Jukebox Survey
Help us redesign the Project Jukebox website by taking a very short survey!
Marcy Okada
Marcy Okada lives in Fairbanks, Alaska and works for the National Park Service as the Subsistence Coordinator for Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.
As Interviewer
Interview Title | Archive #: Oral History | Project | Abstract |
---|---|---|---|
Don and Jan Woodruff | 2021-03-01 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Don and Jan Woodruff were interviewed on August 3, 2021 by Marcy Okada, Subsistence Coordinator for Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, at their home in Eagle, Alaska. In this interview, Don and Jan talk about living a subsistence lifestyle along the Yukon River in a remote cabin on the Kandik River and in Eagle. Don talks about building a cabin, the daily routine of life, catching and processing fish, trapping and preparing the skins and fur for sale, and traveling by dogteam and canoe. Jan and Don discuss building friendships, learning subsistence skills and what living this lifestyle has meant to them. They also talk about running dogs, having a garden, the busy lifestyle of seasonal food gathering and processing, and changes in the environment and salmon populations they've observed. |
Elisabeth Sager | 2021-03-02 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Elisabeth Sager was interviewed on August 3, 2021 by Marcy Okada, Subsistence Coordinator for Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, outside in Elisabeth's garden at her home in Eagle, Alaska. In this interview, Elisabeth talks about living a subsistence-based lifestyle at a remote cabin on Trout Creek, a tributary of the Yukon River. She describes picking a cabin site, building a cabin, the daily routine of cabin life, raising children in a remote setting, raising and caring for dogs, traveling by dogteam and boat, and spending months alone at the cabin with her children while her husband ran his trapline. Elisabeth also talks about the seasonal subsistence activities of fishing and berrypicking in the summer, hunting moose and bear in the fall, and trapping in the winter. Finally, Elisabeth shares some of her thoughts and feelings about living close to the land, conservation, and protecting the planet from continued human impacts. |
Sonja Sager | 2021-03-03 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Sonja Sager was interviewed on August 3, 2021 by Marcy Okada, Subsistence Coordinator for Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve in the garden outside her mother, Elisabeth Sager's, home in Eagle, Alaska. Near the end of the interview there was too much background noise of other people and dogs, so Sonja and Marcy moved and finished the interview inside the old Sager family cabin nearby. In this interview, Sonja talks about growing up in a remote cabin on Trout Creek, a tributary of the Yukon River, and living a subsistence-based lifestyle both at Trout Creek and in Eagle. She also talks about the Native history of the area and the relationship between the Natives and non-Natives, developing friendships, and the joys and challenges of living out on the river and in a small town. Sonja also shares her thoughts on changes in fish and wildlife populations, predator and prey management of wolves and caribou, and the National Park Service and land use management issues. Finally, Sonja emphasizes the value of a subsistence lifestyle, the importance of maintaining subsistence opportunities, and her great love for the land and river and her connection to this area. |
Becker Family | 2021-03-09 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Ruby and Nate Becker and their thirteen-year-old twin daughters, Grace and Genevieve, and their seven-year-old son, Hunter, were interviewed on July 20, 2022 by Marcy Okada of the National Park Service and Karen Brewster of the Oral History Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks at the Charlie Juneby Tribal Hall in Eagle Village, Alaska. In this interview, the Beckers talk about living at a remote cabin along the Yukon River inside Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. They talk about the challenges of maintaining this off-grid lifestyle and raising children there, as well as the joys of living on the land and close to nature. They discuss their subsistence hunting, fishing, gathering, and trapping activities, using a dogteam and other forms of transportation, and staying connected with family and the outside world. All three children chime in at various times with their own memories and stories of particular events, such as seeing a black wolf or the rescue of a swan, and how they feel about their remote cabin living experience. |
Bertha Ulvi and Ruth Ridley, Interview 1 | 2021-03-06 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Bertha Ulvi and Ruth Ridley were interviewed on July 19, 2022 by Marcy Okada of the National Park Service and Karen Brewster of the Oral History Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks at the Charlie Juneby Tribal Hall in Eagle Village, Alaska. In this first part of a two part interview, Bertha and Ruth talk about growing up out on Snare Creek and at the Coal Creek mining camp where their father was working. They talk about living a subsistence lifestyle, being supported by the mining company, spending summers at their grandparent's fish camp, fishing for grayling, their father's moose hunting, berry picking, and eating traditional foods like porcupine. They also talk about knowing their Native language, attending school, and the challenges of learning English and leaving the village. They also discuss their later years when when Bertha was a community health aide and lived on a trapline with her husband, waterfowl and ptarmigan hunting, traditional skills, traditional medicine, and other locations in the area where they have practiced subsistence activities. |
Bertha Ulvi and Ruth Ridley, Interview 2 | 2021-03-07 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Bertha Ulvi and Ruth Ridley were interviewed on July 20, 2022 by Marcy Okada of the National Park Service and Karen Brewster of the Oral History Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks at the Charlie Juneby Tribal Hall in Eagle Village, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Bertha and Ruth continue to talk about their lives at Eagle Village along the Yukon River. In particular, they discuss attending boarding school in Oregon, subsistence hunting, fishing and trapping activities, traditional plant use and traditional medicine, locations where they have practiced subsistence activities, and recent changes in the salmon population. Bertha also shares stories of taking care of their elderly mother and grandmother, and living on the trapline and hunting moose and caribou during the early years of her marriage. |
Micah Malcolm | 2021-03-08 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Micah Malcolm was interviewed on July 20, 2022 by Marcy Okada of the National Park Service and Karen Brewster of the Oral History Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks at the Charlie Juneby Tribal Hall in Eagle Village, Alaska. In this interview, Micah talks about growing up in Eagle Village, learning traditional skills from his mother, and going hunting, trapping and fishing. He mentions moose, caribou and sheep hunting, and running a trapline for marten and beaver. He also talks about village floods, and his wood working and carving skills, including making his own toys, building a wood hauling sled and a fish wheel, and creating detailed carvings of dog teams, model airplanes, and village dioramas. He also relays a story about "the Mad Trapper." |