POINT LAY
The Community
Point Lay is located on the Chukchi Sea coast, protected from the open ocean by the Kasugaluk Lagoon and is 152 miles southwest of Barrow. Kali, the Eskimo name for the village, means "mound" and refers to the elevated mound on which it stands. It is probably the last remaining village of the Kuukpaagruk people. The deeply indented shoreline prevented effective bowhead whaling and the village never fully participated in the whaling culture. The village's traditional hunt of the beluga whales is similar to the bowhead whaling culture in other North Slope villages.
Under the Indian Reorganization Act, Point Lay is incorporated as an IRA Native village by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The village is not incorporated under state law as a municipality.
Population and Economy
Point Lay has a population of 260 residents as of 2003, with a work force of 98. Approximately 86.2 percent of the population is Inupiat Eskimos. Point Lay's economy is primarily based on subsistence hunting, fishing, and whaling. The North Slope Borough and the School District combined employs over 50 percent of the workforce. Six percent of the labor force works in the private sector, mostly for the village and regional Native corporations.
Quality of Life
As in other villages, the North Slope Borough provides public electricity with prices that have increased over the last five years. The only exception to this increase is the cost of water, a decrease largely attributed to the North Slope Borough's water and sewer project over the past few years. The Borough still provides free trash and sewage pick-up services.
A health clinic, staffed by community health aides, is open each day and is available 24 hours a day for emergencies. Other public facilities include a cultural center, construction camp, police station and a fire station equipped with fire engines and an ambulance. Point Lay's Cully School provides education from preschools through grade 12, as well as adult basic education.
The Native Village of Point Lay IRA owns the local store that sells groceries and clothing. Available fuel in town includes propane, diesel and regular gasoline. Point Lay bans the sale, possession and importation of alcoholic beverages.
Passenger service to Point Lay is available by scheduled airlines flights and charters from Barrow. Freights is delivered by air and barge. Communications in the village include phones, mail public radio and cable TV.
For recreation, residents enjoy snowmobiling, hunting, fishing and trapping.
For more information contact:
Native Village of Point Lay
P.O. Box 59
Point Lay, Alaska 99759
(907) 833-2428 (message phone)