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The Bush is a cultural as well as geographic division of the state of Alaska in the United States. Most Alaskans refer to any place besides Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, and the towns of the Kenai Peninsula and Mat-Su boroughs as falling within the Bush. The Bush is generally described as any community not "on the road system," making it accessible only by such means of transportation as: Snomobile/snowmachine, plane, boat, etc.
Two kinds of Bush communities exist in Alaska: The Bush Hub and The Bush Village.
The Bush Hub
Bush Hubs are isolated small or mid-sized towns that serve as a central base for surrounding rural communities, such as the bush village. Characterized by their large, busy airports, bush hubs are used by many village dwellers as little more than a transfer point between home and a metropolitan destination. Residents of Bush Hubs typically enjoy many of the luxuries bush villages do not have, such as running water, flush-haul sewage treatment, and slightly relaxed alcohol laws.
Bush hubs tend to share a number characteristics that generally include:
- isolated road systems
- effects of permafrost
- exposed pipes
- raised buildings
- buckled roads
- busy airports
- "restrictions on alcohol classified as "damp"
- population >500
Bush Hubs of Alaska: Aniak, Barrow, Nome, Kotzebue, St. Mary's, Bethel, Dillingham, Dutch Harbor, and Cordova.
The Bush Village
Each hub town services a multitude of rural settlements and villages. The Bush Village presents a way of life that differs vastly from that of even its closely related parent hub. The Bush Village has a unique and profound kind of isolation that seldom is fully understood or appreciated by non-village dwellers. The following is a description of a particular village in S.W. Alaska, but the isolation of any Bush Village can be characterized by at least part of the following:
- no roads or cars, but boardwalks for four-wheelers and paths for snow machines.
- sewage treatment or water piped into homes is extremely rare, the use of a honey bucket and the collection of rainwater for drinking is standard.
- no bathrooms with showers or hot running water; steam baths are used exclusively for bathing.
- no restaurants or prepared foods available for sale, except for a few tiny village stores with odd hours.
- most of the food eaten in the village is caught near the village (or at seasonal "fish camps") by those living in the village. (some very interesting foods are enjoyed, such as fermented fish and "stink heads")
- the exception to these is at the school, where lunch, hot water and a flush toilet can be found. There is also a "washeteria" building where clothes can be washed and a shower can be taken for cost.
- few jobs, no economic base, very high energy costs.
- more or less daily power outages.
- delivery of US Mail is regularly delayed, sometimes for more than a week at a time.
- restrictions on alcohol ("dry," illegal to consume and possess).
- the native language is spoken during official village functions and is taught at the school exclusively through third grade.
- a tiny unpaved runway with frequently unflyable conditions.
Other features
More to Add:
- Native ANSCA corporations, federal government lands, airstrips.
References
"Bush Alaska"