"In 1980, when Jimmy Carter created the 19 million acre
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, only six families of white settlers were allowed to keep cabins there. Heimo Korth and his wife, Edna,
are the only ones left."
Raised in Wisconsin, Heimo moved to Alaska when he was 19 to become a trapper. He met his wife Edna in a
Yupik whaling village on St Lawrence Island. They've lived in the ANWR for 30 years, raising a family 150 miles above the Arctic Circle and 250 miles from the nearest road, in an area the size of South Carolina.
The Korths have already had
a book written about them, and now VBS.tv has produced a five part series about the couple, flying in by bush plane and staying in the Korths' small cabin for 10 days of fishing, hunting, trapping, movie watching, bear skinning*, and moose-taco eating.
Or as the crew puts it, "the Korths show us everything you need to know about fur-trapping, caribou-hunting, caribou-eating, river-crossing, boredom-staving, bear-avoidance, and bear-defense to live happily over 100 miles from the nearest neighbors."
Episode 5 will be released on the 26th.
Episodes:
1,
2,
3,
4*, &
5.
(via Cold Splinters)
*
Note that episode 4 contains graphic scenes of a bear being skinned.
posted by contessa at 9:45 AM on February 25, 2010