After 120 days at 40 below, Rampart's tribal council outfitted every household, chief says

Rampart's tribal council bought chainsaws, shovels, chest freezers and water buckets for every household after the village spent 120 straight days at 40 below or colder last winter, Chief Dawn Newman said Thursday in her keynote at the Tanana Chiefs Conference Fall Summit in Fairbanks.

Most winters bring a few days near zero, warm enough for people to cut more firewood, Newman said. Last winter did not, and families were running out. Statewide, Alaska ran below normal for seven straight months through June, its longest such streak since the mid-1970s.

Moose hunting was poor, too. Only a couple of Rampart families have taken a moose in the last few years, Newman said. The council bought meat boxes from a Wasilla meat company, helped with firewood and fuel and sells heating fuel and gasoline to tribal members at cost. It bought a complete Thanksgiving meal for every household.

With the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, the council installed wells, plumbing and sewer boxes in most Rampart homes, Newman said. Some homes could not reach the water table, and the council delivers water to them free of charge. The village washeteria has frozen for long stretches in recent years, forcing residents to haul water from the creek, so the council is funding a refurbishment with newer equipment.

After six years of work to secure land, Newman said, Rampart is finally getting a new clinic. The current building dates to the 1980s, she said, "and quite frankly, it needs to be torn down." Tanana Chiefs Conference sought a general contractor this summer; its request for proposals anticipates substantial completion by Dec. 31, 2027.

The council bought Starlink systems for every household. Costs keep rising and weather can affect service, so the village still wants Doyon's fiber optic project, Newman said.

Years of brownouts damaged home appliances, she said, and Rampart has provided new appliances to every household. Rampart has a new generator house, and Fulford Electric rebuilt the power grid, driving poles, digging equipment and a bucket truck in over the winter road Newman called "a glorified snow machine trail."

The school has been renovated, and the council wants it full of children. That means housing, Newman said, and gravel is one of the biggest obstacles. "Rampart is built on a hill, and what we have available is mostly large boulders and dirt," she said.

Without a reliable source of suitable gravel, new homes, a move of the waste transfer site to Four Mile and the ball field are on hold, she said.