Akutan, Alaska

Between 2023 and 2024 I was able to visit Akutan a couple times. It was one of the communities where fiber-optic cable was being installed and we were doing the cultural monitoring for the construction project. The village of Akutan is on Akutan Island, part of the Krenetzin Island group. There is no runway on Akutan, so to get there you have to fly to the nearby island of Akun and take a helicopter to the village. Back in the day you used to fly from Unalaska to Akutan on the Goose, an old beach landing airplane that would land in the water, pull up onto the beach and drop off passengers. The Krenetzin Islands have most likely been occupied for at least 9,000 years, with archaeological sites that age being found just west of the Krenetzins. While the modern village of Akutan was established in the 1870s, the area was heavily utilized for both historic whaling and commercial fishing prior to people moving to the current village location. The area around Akutan is rich in natural resources, and the wildlife is amazing. Construction work in the Aleutians is usually done in the late spring to early fall, but work in Akutan continued into the winter. Winters in the Aleutians can be brutal with strong storms and high winds, but it can also be beautiful with snow covered volcanic peaks