The city of Kodiak, located on Kodiak Island, the largest island in the archipelago, has a population of about 13,000. Ouzinkie is located on the west coast of Spruce Island, a small island off the northerly coast of Kodiak Island and approximately 10 air miles from the City of Kodiak. Ouzinkie Narrows, that separates Spruce Island from Kodiak Island, gives Ouzinkie its Russian based name. Our own Sugpiaq/Alutiiq name of Ouzinkie is Usenkaaq.

Our community is part of the over 4,000-year-old homeland of the indigenous Sugpiaq/Alutiiq people. Currently, the population of Ouzinkie includes 225 year round residents, mostly of Alutiiq ancestry.

We are a people deeply rooted in our heritage of Sugpiaq/Alutiiq culture and Ouzinkie has close ties with other Sugpiaq communities such as Afognak and Karluk. We work to continue our traditions of dance, regalia, carving and the revitalization of our language through the Native Village of Ouzinkie and our regional Alutiiq Museum. However, like Native Americans everywhere, we have a history of loss since European contact from disease and enforced educational practices that discouraged us from speaking our language and living our cultural practices.

Our climate here in the Kodiak Archipelago is dominated by a strong marine influence characterized by little or no freezing weather, moderate precipitation, and frequent cloud cover and fog. This weather pattern results in patterns of interrupted aircraft service to Ouzinkie, as aircraft visual flight minimums are often not met. Severe storms with high winds are common from December through February. Our Ouzinkie people are master readers of the local weather, as we have depended on the sea for our living through both subsistence hunting and fishing and commercial fishing.

Ouzinkie is only accessible by water or air. Round trip airfare to Kodiak costs approximately $90, and consists of a 15 minute ride by small aircraft that utilizes a small, gravel airstrip owned and maintained by the State of Alaska. Water access is only by private boat for individuals as there is no commercial, passenger marine transportation service. Small barge or commercial carrier vessels bring in groceries, fuel, building supplies and other necessities, as the community’s dock is old and not deep enough to accommodate today’s larger, deeper draft marine vessels. As a result, cost of living is high, primarily due to transportation costs.

Our community organization is complex, due to the interaction of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) with our recognized Tribal governments and local governments. Under ANCSA,  Alaska is divided into twelve regions. Each region is served by a regional health non-profit corporation that provides the Native peoples of that region with medical and behavioral health care services. Ouzinkie is part of the Koniag Region, and we are served by the Kodiak Area Native Association (KANA). KANA provides a small clinic in Ouzinkie with locally trained health aides, and a larger, regional clinic in Kodiak that is staffed by medical personnel such as doctors and dentists. We have to take a plane or boat to access regional medical care.

Within our Koniag region, we have 10 federally recognized tribal governments, each representing a specific village. We do not have the equivalent of a tribal government for our entire region. Rather, we are recognized on a village by village basis. The Native Village of Ouzinkie is our federally recognized tribal government that has its offices here in Ouzinkie.

As part of ANCSA, Alaska Natives were required to organize into “corporations” in order to receive the settlement of land and money. We organized into twelve Alaska-based regional corporations. Within our region each village organized into its own village corporation. Koniag, Inc. is our regional Native corporation (with main offices in Kodiak) and Ouzinkie Native Corporation is our local village corporation, whose main offices are in Ouzinkie. Ouzinkie Native Corporation owns the majority of land on Spruce Island.

We are also a second-class City organized under the State of Alaska and have a City Council that is responsible for community infrastructure such as water, sewer and electricity. Ouzinkie is within the Kodiak Island Borough (KIB), a second-class Borough organized under the State of Alaska. KIB provides minimal services to Ouzinkie residents.