Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor is a federally recognized tribe and has a tribal enrollment of 750 members. Old Harbor is a remote and rural Alaskan village only accessible by plane or boat, with one small convenient store. The cost of transportation for goods from the closest hub, City of Kodiak, is $.83 per pound and the prices of groceries in Kodiak are 2-3 times more expensive than food purchased in the lower 48 states. Food sovereignty is an important focus for our community, and we have collaborated with the Old Harbor Alliance in the establishment of the Sitkalidak Bison Herd and the Sitkalidak Sunrise Farm. When harvesting subsistence fish and game by ATV or boat, residents pay for gasoline at a rate of $7.00 per gallon. 24% of residents rely on the federally funded Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Programs.
The goal for this project is to provide tribal members in Old Harbor (135), Kodiak (165) and Anchorage (250), Alaska with a rich Bison meat and salmon fillets. The project will provide a local, sustainable, healthy, nutritional bison and salmon for tribal members to support our community in the fight against diabetes and other dietary diseases that negatively impact Alutiiq people. The proposed project will purchase minimally processed bison and salmon from local, socially disadvantaged producers - Old Harbor Alliance (bison) and Kodiak Island WildSource (salmon). The project will provide approximately 22,000 pounds of bison meat and 16,500 pounds of salmon to Tribal Members in three underserved communities.