- In this episode of Fly Brother, we keep it 100 in the 49th, the great state of Alaska.
We start off in the Misty Fjords and the lush temperate rainforest of Ketchikan, hike along the forest trails of Denali National Park, fly high over the Arctic Circle, and learn about Tlingit culture and family traditions in the seaside berg of Sitka.
We've got dancing, dining and all kinds of discoveries with my good friends in the true north.
Let's get fly.
(upbeat music) I'm Ernest White II, storyteller, explorer.
I feel like Indiana Jones, I believe in connecting across backgrounds and boundaries.
(upbeat music continues) Join me and my friends (upbeat music continues) and discover that no matter the background, no matter the history, the whole world is our tribe.
(upbeat music continues) Come with me.
Fly brother.
- [Announcer] Major funding for this program is provided by.
- This is Mayor Ras.
J Baraka, welcome to Newark.
(upbeat music) We are Newark, one family, brick city.
- [Announcer] Courageous Conversation Global Foundation, promoting racial justice, inter-racial understanding and human healing.
Additional funding provided by the following.
- Alaska, it may have been the 49th state to enter the union, but it's first in sheer size and some say beauty.
We start our Alaskan adventure like most do, deep inside the inside passage at the Southeastern most tip of the state, here where the mountains meet the sea lies the verdant hamlet of Ketchikan and there's no better way to begin than with a float plane ride in the skies above and beyond the waters of Ketchikan.
Hey David, how you doing?
- Ernest, good morning.
Welcome to Misty Fjords, good to have you guys.
- I'm excited to be here.
I'm stoked that we are about to go up in a sea plane.
It's my first time, I'm a fly brother, but I've never flown in a sea plane.
- Oh, we have a fine day for it and we'll get you guys out for some high adventure this morning.
- That's cool, I love adventure, intrigue and romance.
What is the experience going to entail?
- We're going to leave from Ketchikan, the fourth largest city in Alaska.
We're going to be down towards Misty fjords, 2.3 million acres of national monument to experience this morning and hopefully see some wildlife and show you guys the rainforest.
- I'm ready to go.
- All right, let's go aviating.
- Is there food involved in aviating?
- Well, there sure can be.
- All right.
- Onboard meal and the movie's out the window.
(upbeat music) - I feel like Indiana Jones.
Not the best movie reference.
Misty Fjords National Monument is part of the precious Tongass National Forest.
A temperate rain forest managed by the National Park Service.
On this day, it might easily be called Snowy Fjords.
(upbeat music) Ahhh!
You can do that once in a lifetime experience almost every day if you move to Ketchikan.
With a population of just over 8,000 people, Ketchikan thrives on fishing, forestry and tourism, welcoming visitors year round with a warm reception at the Alaskan Native owned Cape Fox Lodge.
- I'm Tlingit, the Tlingit people are the Alaskan Native people of Southeast Alaska.
- Okay.
- This is the very first city of Alaska.
So this is about where my people stop.
There's very few inland tribes, we're coastal people.
So we, wherever there's a beach, that's where we lived.
- All right.
- And we lived exclusively on the beach.
All of our villages were set up so that the clan house would be right on the beach.
The clan's your family.
In front of that clan house would have been a totem pole.
- [Ernest] Okay.
- [Billy] And the totem pole would explain who lives there.
- Wow, its a story.
- So when you were traveling, not every totem pole tells a story, but there's a story behind every totem pole.
- Sure, sure.
- Ketchikan, this was a fish camp.
They would use Ketchikan as one of their camps to provide food.
And one of the reasons why not many Tlingits ever lived here is 'cause there's not much protection from the elements.
- Wind and rain.
- Obviously, yep.
- And earthquakes and tsunamis occasionally.
- Yep, so the big thing they would look for is shelter from the elements, readily available water and food.
(upbeat music) - [Ernest] Food, glorious food.
- We have in front of us is some Dungeness and King crab, and I'm going to show you how to properly break it off the knuckle and go from there.
- [Ernest] All right.
- Now, here you go, there's one for you.
- With apologies to father, who has done this a lot.
- So you want to start by breaking it at the knuckle.
Just kind of twist and pull.
(crab cracking) - All right.
- Get that off of there.
Let's go ahead and crack it there.
I like to use a fork over other utensils, Some people use crackers.
I use a fork 'cause you just put it right in.
(crab cracking) Boom, oops, didn't mean to throw it so far.
It cuts right through it like a knife.
And then boom, there is that, (teeth ding) there is that beautiful meat.
- Just pop it in, huh?
- Yeah.
The locals definitely prefer Dungeness over almost any other seafood, because obviously we grew up on it, but the sweet meaty flavor is very nice.
You always know how much crap you're going to get.
Sometimes in the King crab, you might get a nice big leg, pop it open.
We would, we would choose this over lobster, shrimp, probably this, halibut and king salmon.
- [Ernest] Yeah, everyone's favorite.
(upbeat music) It's true, Ketchikan is one of the wettest places in the United States, but that abundant precipitation nourishes the lush landscape of the Tongass National Forest.
In 1968, the US government settled a long-running land dispute with Alaskan Native communities, paying $7.5 million for rights to the 26,000 square mile forest, named for the Tongass group of the Tlingit people.
It is a breathtaking place with 19 protected wilderness areas and plenty of selfie opportunities.
(camera clicks) They say the Bering Land Bridge brought people into Alaska from Asia some 14,000 years ago, but Alaskan Native Laura says folks have lived here a lot longer.
The Russians came in the 18th century colonizing land for the fur trade.
In 1867, the US bought the Alaska territory from Russia for $7.2 million or about 2 cents an acre, not a bad deal, since Alaska is bigger than Texas, California and Montana combined.
Almost 600,000 square miles of breathtaking mountains, forests, glaciers and waterways, but only about 1.2 people per square mile.
But they have lots of wild neighbors like moose, bear, caribou, wolves, gray whales and bald eagles, no wonder it's called the last frontier.
(camera clicks) Alaska is big and it has big distances, big trees and big mountains.
Its most famous mountain is Denali, deep in the interior of the state and the crown jewel of Denali National Park and Preserve.
Larger than the state of New Hampshire, the park features forest trails with scenic views for those of us not too keen on mountaineering.
(upbeat music) We are acknowledging and continuing the traditions of Denali's original caretakers, the Athabaskan people of Alaska, who call themselves Dena, which means the people and I apologize if I mispronounce it.
They are the Ahtna, Tanana, Upper Kuskokwim, Kukyukon and Dena'ina.
These peoples have been stewards of the land since long before it was managed by the National Park Service, so remember that everybody.
It's not that people didn't try to get me out camping and doing things that were outdoorsy.
I just wasn't interested in it, but now I just really appreciate, you know, the restorative energy and just the beauty of nature.
And I love being out in it.
It's a blessing to have discovered it, quote unquote, or have been discovered as an adult.
- You're definitely in the right place.
- Yeah, yeah, thank you.
So I'm feeling a little bit like little red riding hood in this forest over here.
(Monica laughing) It's a little foreboding.
I don't know, it's an adventure, isn't it?
- Oh, it's always, everyday in the parks an adventure.
Every day, things change.
It's such a short period of time that we have green growing.
- [Ernest] Okay.
- [Monica] And so everything changes every day.
You can hike this trail literally every day and see something different.
Animal wise, flower wise and in a blink of an eye, something can change in the environment as well.
- [Ernest] Sure.
- We have landslides and we have beaver dams down here, they could break a dam any day now and we could see, you know, a whole section of the lake change, you know, in a moment's notice.
- [Ernest] Just flooded, okay.
- [Monica] So it's a really dynamic system, - [Ernest] Sure.
- that we have here.
It's amazing and the animals are out and about right now is a calving season for the moose.
So another reason that we want to be careful of those prey species, they're not going to attack you, but they will be very protective.
- Right, and you told us before don't run because prey runs.
- Well- - So we're saying, don't be prey, but you better pray.
(both laughing) - But it's moose, moose are not a predator.
- [Ernest] Okay.
- [Monica] You can run from a mouse.
- [Ernest] You can?
- You can, but don't run from a predator, so bears, wolves, both predators, don't run from them.
A moose is prey.
You can run from them.
- Ahhh, okay.
- They also have really long legs.
They don't turn really well.
- Okay, but they can also hoof ya.
- They could, they're huge.
(Ernest makes smacking noise) - Yes, be careful.
(upbeat music) - [Ernest] One of the perks of being this far north is being this close to the Arctic Circle and I jumped at the chance to fly across it.
Maybe catching a glimpse of the North Pole or Santa's workshop somewhere in the distance.
(upbeat music) - [Pilot] We're just going to move out a little bit we're also going to climb up and get away from some of the lower thermal bumps.
(upbeat music) - [Ernest] It was greener than I thought it would be.
(upbeat music continues) - [Pilot] And here it is everybody, the Arctic, the Arctic Circle line.
Feel free to take a picture of the (indistinct) ♪ I am free ♪ ♪ I'm ready ♪ ♪ We can go steady ♪ - [Ernest] That was cool.
Woo!
Literally.
♪ Oh, no more lookin' ♪ ♪ I know I have been tooken ♪ ♪ How's about keeping steady company ♪ - Back in Southeastern Alaska, we arrived just in time for Porch Fest, a summer celebration in the lovely and historic town of Sitka.
A major port for seafood and a hub for tourism and outdoor recreation, Sitka buzzes with a vibrant arts and culture scene, year round.
♪ How about cookin' something up with me ♪ ♪ Come on, Gary ♪ (harmonica solo) Sitka also offers prime bird's eye views, particularly at the Alaska Raptor Center, a nonprofit organization providing medical treatment and rehabilitation to over 200 injured birds, mostly birds of prey, such as eagles, hawks and owls.
So what are the main birds that you kind of work with here then?
- I would say the majority of our patients are eagles, bald eagles.
- [Ernest] Okay.
- And we get them in about 85% due to human causes.
That's everything from an eagle just accidentally hitting a power line or a window, to ingesting lead from a carcass that was left out in the field.
So if people hunt using lead ammunition, that metal fragments very easily and if a bald eagle eats like the guts that were left, they can actually fatally poison themselves.
Just a piece of lead about the size of a grain of rice is enough to do it.
- [Ernest] Okay.
- So we get that.
We do occasionally get people who shoot them.
That's very rare, but it happens more than you'd think would happen.
'Cause you'd think it would be zero.
- [Ernest] That's unfortunate.
- [Hannah] Yeah.
- [Ernest] And so Alaska it's very far north, - [Hannah] It is.
- But you have birds, including swans and flamingos, I would have assume (Hannah laughing) other birds from warmer climes.
Why is Alaska and why is Sitka specifically, such a great place to help birds heal?
- Well, Alaska in general, I think is such a great place to go birding and to find birds is, we just have so much wilderness.
And especially here in Sitka, if you saw flying in, we have this town on this island and there's one more way far to the south, but there's no roadways connecting anything.
You got to take a boat or a plane to get off the island.
Everything is the Tongass.
- Sure.
- Which is just this beautiful, pristine forest that houses a variety of ecosystems for all different birds to live in.
Being close to the ocean is going to give us all our strong waterbirds.
A lot of them will migrate over from Russia and then land in Alaska as like a little pit stop and then go further on south for their wintering grounds.
We're a good stopover spot for all of our wilderness.
And also just kind of the trade winds, they bring the birds here.
- [Ernest] Oh nice, that's interesting.
- [Hannah] Yeah, it is fun, I like it.
- So Hannah, tell me about Sitka - Sitka, our beautiful female bald eagle is actually from Ninilchik.
She was found on the side of the road after being struck and actually dragged by a car.
- [Ernest] Oh no!
- She unfortunately lost her back toe, so that back toe on a raptors foot is what provides a lot of the gripping killing power.
- Wow.
- Kind of equivalent to like our thumb.
So her not having that takes a big step out of her hunting abilities.
- Sure, sure.
- So instead she stays here with us as an education bird.
She's pretty much our eagle rock star.
Whenever we need a bird, that's going to be totally fine, we always go for Sitka, just 'cause she's such a pro.
- I see she's holding her head up high, just saying, "Look at me."
- Yep, she's regal and she's also the boss.
She's just scoping out the area for any intruders.
- Well, I respect her and I'm hoping she's not finding me intrusive.
- Nah, nah.
- I love it, thank you for allowing me to get this close to her.
- Yeah.
- This is the closest I've ever been to a wild animal and I'm going to back up now, so.
- That's fair, that's fair.
(Ernest whistles) - [Hannah] See if she wants any treats, do you want any treats?
- Just outside this part of the Tongass National Forest sits Sitka National Historical Park.
The totem poles commemorate the battle in which the nearby ancient Tlingit settlement of Sheet'ka was attacked in 1804 by Russian fur traders, who soon built new Arkhangelsk on the site as the capital of Russian America.
And here I connect with Tlingit elder and educator, Miss Louise Brady, who relays the story of the battle of Sitka and the power of place and memory.
Ms. Louise, you were born and raised here, right?
- Yes, my family has been here for, Westerners would say 10,000 years.
And the elders say since time immemorial.
- [Ernest] Sure.
- And I think, you know, 10,000 years qualifies as... - I certainly can't remember, like last week, so.
(both laughing) 10,000 years.
So then what's the significance of this particular place?
- So the place that we are standing right now, this was the fort site of the battle that was fought in 1804, between the Kiks.adi clan, which is my clan and the Russians.
We fought here for six days, even after a devastating loss of our ammunition on the first day.
And then we went on a survival march across to Northeast Baranoff Island and stayed there for years.
I come out here quite a bit.
(birds cawing) I can just feel the power of the place.
This is where my great, great, great grandfathers, my great, great, great grandmothers, because some of women, fought right alongside the men, fought for me, for my children, for my grandchildren to be here as Tlingit people.
- [Ernest] Yes.
- So it is, it's sacred ground.
- And so it is.
- And the Eagles are acknowledging that.
- That's powerful.
- [Louise] Yeah.
(upbeat music) - Living in the shadow of the dormant volcano Mount Edgecumbe, a quarter of the 8,500 residents of Sitka identify as Alaskan Native or Native American.
Here, Tlingit families gather to celebrate family milestones and to keep historical traditions alive for future generations.
My friend, Rachel invited me to her family barbecue, but I was raised never to show up to anyone's house, empty handed.
Hello, how are you?
- [Rachel] Welcome.
- [Ernest] How's it going?
- Good, thanks for coming.
- [Ernest] Thanks for having me.
- This is Chaz, she grew up here in Sitka and is one of my great friends and this is Solera, her daughter.
- Aww, hello.
- This is my mom.
- Hello, how are you?
I'm Ernest.
- She's the reason I came here to Sitka.
- Oh, wonderful.
- And this is my husband Gary, he's on grill duty.
- All right now, chef Gary.
Good to meet you my brother.
There's not just steaks on the menu today, at this family shindig, there's herring eggs too.
- So we go out and set branches out in the water and then they come spawn on them and then we boil them and we can eat them with butter or just by itself, that's what I've been doing my whole life.
- No (indistinct) anything?
- I mean, no.
(tribal singing and drumming) - Tlingit elders and community leaders have been passing on cultural traditions and younger generations have taken up the mantle, carrying the stories, the songs and the community forward.
Chef Gary tells us all about the intricate robe woven by his mother, the indomitable, Miss Alphia.
- The start of it was probably 30 years ago in a class that she took in Vancouver from a group of weavers.
And she got down to the first row of boxes and put it away because shortly after, maybe year or two, her dad passed and when in our culture, if you're creating something or you're working on things, you don't work on them if you have bad feelings or if you're hurt or if you're sad, because it, it shows in your work and it carries through.
So, 10 years, 12 years after, the grieving process kind of, you know, stopped, she continued on with it and brought it back and within, within like two and a half years, it was completed.
- [Ernest] Oh wow.
- And the story that it tells is each box represents a woman in our family.
And when she was growing up, the one thing that she remembered was her great-grandma had silver bells in her house.
So the silver and blue row, they always reminded her of silver bells.
So with the inside box being her great great grandma, then her grandma, then her, and then the next generations of women in her life, it's a pretty amazing piece.
And to see her complete it was, was an amazing task.
- So that was just a wonderful experience, thank you for inviting me to your family barbecue up here in Alaska, which is very much similar to my own family barbecues that we have down in Florida, you know, with that, thanksgiving, the gratitude, the saying of grace, you know, acknowledging the love, the family, community, abundance, you know, all of those things that kind of go along with having a family that's community minded, you know, and I appreciate that as a southerner being on the complete opposite side of the country, so thank you for showing me, you know, that we're everywhere.
- Yes.
(both laughing) I'm coming to your house.
I think one of the cool things that we've, that we did today with you, but also with our children is that we tried foods traditionally harvested.
There was some spruce tips in your food, We ate smoked cockles.
- Spruce tips.
Smoked cockles.
- We had, those things were harvested all in the last year or the last two years, we've been, there's a whole processes.
And so we also shared that with our babies and our, you know, my eight year old ate some.
- [Ernest] Yes.
- [Rachel] It's one thing to, you know, and then sharing each other and definitely the generations being together.
- [Ernest] Sure.
- [Rachel] And learning from each other.
- [Ernest] Sure.
- And my daughter was able to from preschool, learn her culture as part of what she was, my son was in (tribal language) which is a preschool, that's all integrated and has the elders, you'd see here tonight at their school.
And they're proud of it.
And you know, you heard my daughter drumming and her high school friend singing right along and you know, all of the babies, moving and seeing what to do.
That's how I wanted my kids, I wanted...
But you need that elder to say, "No, that's not the way or correct."
- Yes, yes.
- To guide and teach and so we're so lucky that we have all these generations here, our kids and this next generation, they want to see it, they want to find a way to connect and find out who they are.
- Sure.
(tribal singing and drumming) (tribal singing and drumming) (tribal singing and drumming) Tradition, culture, community, family.
(all laughing and cheering) No matter where we are, the connection to our loved ones and the laughter remains just as pure, especially when we forget the words to the song.
That was wonderful.
Alaska you're in my heart.
(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Major funding for this program is provided by.
- This Mayor Ras J. Baraka, welcome to Newark.
(upbeat music) We are Newark, one family, brick city.
- [Announcer] Courageous Conversation Global Foundation promoting racial justice, inter-racial understanding and human healing.
Additional funding provided by the following.
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(upbeat music)