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Failing ice cellars signal changes in Alaska whaling towns

This May 3, 2009, photo taken in Point Hope, Alaska, provided by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, shows the entrance to an ice cellar, a type of underground food cache dug into the permafrost to provide natural refrigeration used for generations in far-north communities. Naturally cooled underground ice cellars, used in Alaska Native communities for generations, are becoming increasingly unreliable as a warming climate and other factors touch multiple facets of life in the far north. (Mike Brubaker / Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium)
By Rachel D’Oro Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – For generations, people in Alaska’s far-north villages have relied on hand-built ice cellars dug deep into the permafrost to age their whale and walrus meat to perfection and keep it cold throughout the year.

Scores of the food caches lie beneath these largely Inupiat communities, where many rely on hunting and fishing to feed their families. The ice cellars range from small arctic root cellars to spacious, wood-lined chambers, some topped with sheds.

Now, a growing number of these underground cellars are being rendered unreliable as global warming and other modern factors force changes to an ancient way of life. Some whaling villages are working to adapt as more cellars turn up with pooling water and mold.

“I’m worried,” said Gordon Brower, a whaling captain who lives in Utqiagvik, which logged its warmest May through September on record this year.

His family has two ice cellars: One is more than 100 years old and used to store at least 2 tons of frozen bowhead whale meat set aside for community feasts; the other was built in 1955, and is used as the family’s private subsistence-food cache.

Brower recently asked his son to retrieve some whale meat from one of the cellars, and discovered liquids had collected in both.

“He came back and said, ‘Dad, there’s a pool of blood and water at the bottom,’” recalled Brower.

“It seems like slight temporary variations in the permafrost – that active layer – is affecting the temperature of our cellar,” Brower said.

Residents and researchers say the problem has been building for decades as a warming climate touches multiple facets of life in the far north. The changes have increased vulnerability to foodborne illnesses and raised concerns about food security, according to studies by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

There were once at least 50 ice cellars in Point Hope, an Inupiat whaling village surrounded by the Chukchi and Arctic oceans. Now, fewer than 20 remain, according to village services supervisor Russell Lane.