KAKTOVIK
The Community
Barter Island is 90 miles west of the Canadian border and 278 miles southeast of Barrow. The village is on the northern edge of the 20.3 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The ruins of old Kaktovik can be seen from the road into the village from the airport. The community incorporated as a second class city in 1971.
Population and Economy
In 1998, there were approximately 286 residents in Kaktovik and a labor force of 98. Nearly 88 percent of residents are Inupiat Eskimos. Nearly half of the working residents are employed by the North Slope Borough, or the North Slope Borough School District. About one-quarter of the work force is employed in the private sector, primarily by Native corporations and their affiliates. Like other communities in the region, subsistence hunting, fishing and whaling play a major role in the local economy. Hunting in the nearby area is for Dall sheep, moose, caribou and fox.
The community also produces arts and crafts for sale such as etched baleen, carved ivory and masks. About one in every five household heads in Kaktovik receive monies from craft income.
Quality of Life
There has been a tremendous change in the quality of life in Kaktovik with a dramatic increase in accessibility to running. Nine out of ten households now possess running water compared to one in four just five years ago, because of the completion of the water and sewer systems by the North Slope Borough. The North Slope Borough also provides trash and sewage pick-up free of charge.
The Harold Kaveolook School offers education from pre-school through grade 12 and adult basic education. Communications include phones, mail, public radio and cable TV and internet.
A health clinic, staffed by community health aides, is open during the day and available 24 hours a day for emergencies. Kaktovik has a police station and a fire station equipped with fire engines and an ambulance.
The Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation runs the local store which provides groceries, clothing, first-aid, hardware, camera film and sporting goods. In the community, fishing and hunting licenses and guide services are available. Available fuel includes marine, gas, diesel, propane, unleaded and regular. There are repair services for autos and aircrafts, and charter aircraft service is available.
Transportation to the village is provided by scheduled airlines and air taxi service from Barrow and Fairbanks. Freight arrives by cargo plane and barge. Kaktovik is a dry village in which the sale and possession of alcoholic beverages is prohibited.
For more information contact:
City of Kaktovik
PO Box 27
Kaktovik, AK 99747
(907)640-6313