HAINES, Alaska—The frigid waters of the Chilkat River in southeast Alaska have teemed with fall-running salmon on their journey home to spawn as far back as Jones Hotch Jr. can remember.
Now in his 70s, Hotch is the tribal president of the sovereign Chilkat Indian Village in Klukwan, a small community located along the 52-mile river 18 miles south of the U.S.–Canada border.
Like his ancestors, he and his family rely on the river for subsistence and their cultural identity.
For this remote indigenous community of 75 people organized by traditional clans, there is no other way of life, Hotch says, and no other place they would rather be….