Ted Stevens & Rural Alaska

    Many of the readers of this blog know that I teach in Eek Alaska.  Right now I’m heading back for the start of the school year.  Last night I flew into Bethel on the Yukon/Kuskokwim Delta.  I’ll be spending a couple of days here meeting with other teachers and stocking up on supplies before heading on to the village.  This morning when I turned on the news I heard that a plane carrying former Alaska senator Ted Stevens had crashed.

    It seems that shortly after I arrived in Bethel, the plane carrying Stevens and eight others left Agulowak Lodge, near Dillingham in a DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter.  Those planes, capable of landing on the lakes and rivers, are common in this region.  He, along with friends, was flying to a remote camp to fish.  They never arrived.  Like many Alaskans flying in small planes was routine for Stevens.  He had already survived one small plane crash in 1978, so there was hope that he might be okay, along with the others.     

    The plane crashed about 165 miles south of Bethel.  There are very few roads in this region and low clouds and rain delayed air rescue efforts.  Locals arrived first and provided medical assistance to four survivors.  Later in the day we got news that Ted Stevens and four others had died. 

    Such tragic events make you think about this rugged and unforgiving land and the people who live here.  This is only my fourth year working in Alaska, but I’ve learned to respect the weather, the terrain and the people.  Frostbite is common here.  I’ve had high school students show me frostbite injuries like a football player in the lower 48 might show off a bruise from a game.  Much of the year the only way to travel is by bush plane.  I’ve done it many times and tomorrow I will do so again.  It comes with living and working in this region.  It didn’t surprise me that locals reached the crash site first.  The people who live here are as rugged as the terrain.  I’m sure that if Ted Stevens had survived the crash, he would have soon flown again.  That is just the way it is in rural Alaska.