Been planning retirement since moving to Fbks in 2012. Plans have been going well. I have a house in an interior village off the road system and a trapping cabin not too far from there. Wife has a house in the Copper center area. Between the 2 and some travelling, retirement was looking pretty good.
Then along came Covid. I suspect most of you don't know what's going on off the road system. Many villages now have a council, task force, or some regulating body that controls the coming and going of people. The state of Alaska, or should I say the Dunleavy admin. is allowing these councils to deny about anybody they want from entering the villages. Most of the smaller villages are using a tribal cop to enforce these regs. I'm not sure how enforcement works but I have seen references to tickets that are adjudicated by a tribal court. I also know some villages are blocking the road from the airport in to town and are not letting anyone not approved come in to town.
In my case, to access my trapping cabin in Sept. I have to go to my house in the village and get my boat in the water. The current reg in that village requires a 7 day quarantine and even to get in the village, permission has to be granted by the council. This is all in contrast to the governors mandate 18, but apparently DPS will not enforce that mandate.
I am aware of some businesses in rural Ak. that have clients arrive and depart thru a village. Some of these businesses are not operating this fall as the villages will not allow travel.
If I could believe that this will all eventually blow over and life in rural Ak will return to normal, it wouldn't be so bad. I am concerned that this may become the status quo. The villages and the non profits that control them (TCC, Kawerak, BBNA, etc.) are not going to relinquish their new found power easily. The fear of the virus isn't going to magically go away any time soon.
I know at least a couple of members that live in rural vills. Curious how things are there and what they see for the future.
Wondering if I should start considering some alteration to my retirement plans!!

Here they have a checkpoint set up on the road coming into the village. We are allowed to go to the KSM airport for freight I know that much. I dont know how they are treating incoming travelers but I do see some construction workers around, in fact two came in and tested positive for covid and kind of ramped up the regulations for us ,now we have to wear mask.

I heard them announce on VHF that they didn't want any of us traveling to any of the surrounding villages as well so its not just city folks unwelcome.

Same along the middle Yukon. Little to no travel between villages. Most villages own their fuel stations so no fuel sold to non locals. Covid money to tribes is being used to pay people to watch the river 24-7. Gas is available in Tanana and the Yukon river lodge above Ruby. No sales below there. Maybe Galena, they are debating still on closing their river bank completely.

pay a chopper piolt to fly you in late at night and walk in to your place you would need to come in to the least expected rout. might have to throw him a few extra ben franklins.

Nikolai is locked down tight. No travel in or out without tribal permission.

Flights in are screened prior to boarding in ANC and temperatures taken.

No fuel sales.

Set up for hunting season is arrive by commercial air...transfer immediately to private aircraft and you're outa here.

Some of the GASH villages are similarly locked down

What’s going on in MCG, Ken? Any thoughts on what the future holds?

I spent about six weeks in a small village this summer, about 70 people. They had all kinds of restrictions on us outsiders coming in, virtually none on their own people. So of course their own people are running back and forth to Anchorage, and guess who brings covid-19 into the village? That's right one of their own twenty-year-old partiers; gives it to four members of another family in the same Village. Nothing about this on the news, you know, privacy issues.

Exactly Mark !!

In MCG you need a screening by the airline to get on a plane out of here and another to return.

Hunters coming in are met at the plane by a city employees and told about mask restrictions. They are also instructed to meet their guide and immediately leave town for hunting camp.

The DNR camp here is restricted from interacting with the townsfolk and must stay in their own camp.

It may get more restrictive if cases continue to spread.

If the fall flu season gets rolling too, it could get interesting.

I can order groceries online from AC and they box them up and set them outside where I can pick them up.

It's been really tough to get things like fresh veggies and eggs. We go for weeks at a time with neither and then manage to get a few.

Mail has been down to once a week....sometimes. Other times none at all

Must say Im surprised to hear all this. I thought you guys up there were immune from all the nonsense. Couple of questions, do the First Nations control the villages? Sounds like it. What about your constitutional rights to travel ? Dont these policies trample all over those ? Things are crazy here too, but maybe not as bad as I thought. I can go to my trapline anytime I want even though I have to travel into BC to get there. Most of the bands are complaining about resident hunters now. Guess they think because of covid to many people are out on the land. Nothing they can do about it though; I found that out last Friday.

Most of the villages I'm familiar with have a "task force" made up of the tribe, Village Native Corp., and the City Council. Some rural towns, Nome is one, has an active city council, Mayor, etc. so they are the controlling entity.
Our governor was given "Emergency powers" in March by the legislature and he mostly runs all this virus response stuff. He made a series of mandates which are revised as needed. Currently, mandate 18 allows intra state travel both on and off the road system. Additionally, 18 forbids automatic quarantine and access cannot be denied to people accessing "critical personal needs" of which subsistence activities are.
Yes, Yukon, this is all against many aspects of individual rights but is all overlooked in the name of saving lives.
What really irks me is allowing a tribe to participate in law enforcement. In the lower 48, tribes are on reservations and thus own land and regulatory/enforcement powers ON their land. The US Supreme Court ruled years ago that "Indian country" does not exist in Alaska. Yet our state is allowing just that. Our state government can't afford to properly enforce the law in every village so they allow tribal cops.
Our governors emergency powers currently end in Nov. However, this virus won't be gone then. I figure the Gov. will ask for an extension and get it. Even if his powers end in Nov. I don't think the control exerted by the tribes will end. They will fight to maintain control of travel for a long time!
Ken, Galena refused to allow the BLM firefighting crew in this year. That was a lot of money in that town!

What does "Indian Country " mean in the state of Alaska ? Do they control sections of land that non natives can not hunt or fish on ?

The band up in Mayo has a roadblock just outside of town but they have no power to stop anyone from entering. I've been through it a few times when I was up there picking morels. Im sure the government is paying them big dollars to man the blockade so my guess is its just a make work project.

I would assume there will be all kinds of lawsuits over some of the restrictions when this is over?

The reservations in the lower 48 are "Indian Country". There are not any reservations in Alaska except around the town in Metlakatla. During the Clinton presidency his BIA person, Ada Deer, made every village, even some that were no longer inhabited, a "tribe". But, they did not get land.
Without land, tribes in Alaska have no authority to pass laws but our state government is allowing that to happen.

OK same thing is happening here. All of the bands in the Yukon have "settled" their land claims except the band where my trapline is. When they settled they did get land, and tons of money. They cant stop people from hunting/trapping however, even on category A lands. They are really starting to push for more though. They want to control all hunting/fishing. In my opinion its all about UNDRIP which Ken has talked about on here before.

I do know one thing its making it really hard on the outfitting industry. Its a constant fight to keep operating. I know one outfitter that lost every caribou tag he had. He paid 2.5 million for the area not 5-years ago and now its worth half of what he paid.

Just last week the band where I operate posted an add in the paper telling resident hunters they were not allowed to hunt the southeast Yukon. They have no legal authority to do that but they did it anyway. Going to be lots of conflicts this season.

"Wondering if I should start considering some alteration to my retirement plans!!"

Nothing worth trapping! Move south where it is warm. You're welcome.

it means turn them into a corparation. tell them this spot is your land and give them lots of government cotracts and sit back and let the white man work for you. while they pay there people to sit back relax shoot up some dope and and slam that wisky down as fast as you can and repeat and never work a day in there life. not all are like that obvisly but it is pretty close. or that is just my neghbors.

How many Covid-19 cases do you have in McGrath ? We have 25 cases in Town, and listening to the Scanner and hearing from the fire department, I know where most of the cases are located.

They won't tell us that information. They will say we have " 58 cases in the area"

That's likely the greater MNOP metropolitan area! (Medfra, Nicolai and Other Places..... and a flashback to Jack!)

Pete

Are they allowing shoppers in the AC store , or just doing deliveries ? I went to the store yesterday, and the store was packed with customers. No toilet paper !

I don't know Bob. If they let anyone in I am sure they would require a mask