Census Begins in Remote Alaskan Village

NOORVIK, Alaska (Jan. 25) – Clifton Jackson was waiting when the stranger from "outside" knocked on his door.

"Hello," said Census Bureau Director Robert Groves as he greeted the retired commercial fisherman and sled dog trainer at his modest tin-roofed house. "I've got snow on my shoes," he said as he disappeared inside.

Eleven minutes later, Groves emerged.

"Done. No. 1. Only 309 million to go," he told reporters waiting in the relatively balmy 12-degree cold. "It's all downhill from here."

Groves traveled from Washington, D.C., across four time zones to this remote western Alaska village 30 miles above the Arctic Circle to begin the 2010 census. Calling this the "symbolic but real start," the Census Bureau says the decennial civics exercise represents "the repainting of the portrait of America."

The bureau is touting the 10-question form as doable in just 10 minutes. If the first person counted took a little longer, it may have been because Jackson, 89, mostly speaks Inupiaq and answered his questions through a translator.

The U.S. Constitution mandates a count of everyone living in the United States every 10 years to determine how many seats each state will get in the House of Representatives. Census data also is used to distribute more than $400 billion in federal money each year and to draw state and local legislative district lines.

Most of the estimated 310 million Americans will get their census questionnaires in the mail in mid-March. But by then, the ice will be breaking up in subsistence communities such as Noorvik and many residents will have scattered to hunt for seal, moose and caribou. Spring also brings muddy conditions that make getting around tough. That's why, since 1990, the bureau has started its count in rural Alaska.

Here in Noorvik, where the whir of snow machines pierces the quiet of lightly falling snow, villagers prepared for weeks for the big event. At the gleaming new community school, elders prepared caribou soup; muktuk, or whale sushi; and "Eskimo ice cream," a mix of fish, fat and berries. A traditional potlatch feast featuring native dancing – only recently allowed after a century-old ban instituted by missionaries – was planned for later in the day.

A local boy drove Groves in a dog sled from the snow-covered gravel airstrip to the school. There they were greeted by natives in ceremonial muskrat fur coats and students wearing T-shirts and hats reading "First in Alaska, First in the Nation" and "I'm Inupiaq and I count."

The first census in 1790 did not count Native Americans and considered African-American slaves as three-fifths of a person. Today, Native Alaskans and other minorities who may be unfamiliar with or suspicious of the census are a central focus of outreach.

Noorvik is the first of 217 remote Alaska villages where the Census Bureau will conduct in-person counts. Except for the bush planes, snow machines and dog sleds used to reach residents, the count isn't much different than the first in 1790 through the one in 1960: Census takers visited households to collect information. Forms were first mailed in 1970, but personal visits are still done to follow up on those who don't return questionnaires.

Counting everyone in the country isn't cheap. The bureau will have spent $14.7 billion over a decade by the time the last person is tallied and the results are delivered to President Barack Obama on Dec. 31. "It is like a moon shot in its planning," said Groves, whose agency is already planning for 2020, when it hopes to start counting some people online.

Just one in 10 Alaskans will initially be visited by a census worker. The rest will get mail-in forms like the rest of the country. Alaska had the worst mail-in response rate in the nation in 2000, just 56 percent. The national response rate was 67 percent.

Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell, who accompanied Groves to the first house counted, said there is "a little bit of a rebel attitude in Alaska. We figure, there's Washington, D.C., 3,000 miles away and that's fine by us."

Republicans like Campbell outnumber Democrats in Alaska and that may also help explain the lower participation rates.

A survey released this week by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found a partisan divide when it comes to the census. Democrats were more likely to say they would participate than Republicans.

Campbell said that may be because of philosophical differences: Republicans are just more suspicious of government. But, he added, in the case of the census, there should be bipartisan participation.

"It's important for all Americans to take part," he said, noting that Alaska, like other states, depends on an accurate count to get its fair share of federal dollars.

The Pew study also found that younger people, Hispanics and the less-well-educated are least familiar with the census and therefore less inclined to participate.

Groves said the key to boosting participation is education, especially among those younger than 30 whose parents likely filled out the form last time the census was conducted. The government is spending $133 million on an advertising and publicity blitz that includes partnerships with more than 160,000 community groups. The first TV spot ran Jan. 18 during the Golden Globe Awards, and ads are already running in rural Alaska.

The campaign includes a national road tour with 13 vehicles traveling to key events such as NASCAR races and the Super Bowl.

There are no roads leading to Noorvik. To get there, you must take a single-engine propeller plane from Kotzebue, 42 miles away.

In an interview with KOTZ radio in Kotzebue, Groves said he was following in the steps of the "first census director, Thomas Jefferson." He urged Native Alaskans to "get your fair share" of federal funds by getting counted.

"This is the basic building block of the democracy," he said.

He also addressed fears among some that information collected by the census could be used by police or immigration officials. "Anyone who's afraid of government or that the data will be shared with law enforcement, rest assured that when you give us your answers, they stay with us."

For the first time, the census form will come in more than one language. About 13 million households will receive bilingual forms in Spanish. Questionnaires also will come in Chinese, Korean, Russian and Vietnamese. Language assistance guides will be available in 59 languages, and there are census staffers fluent in a total of 124 tongues. Among them: Inupiaq, Jackson's language.

Noorvik had 634 residents in 2000 but is expected to be smaller when this week's counting is complete. Like other remote villages where food, fuel and almost everything else must be flown or barged in – a gallon of gas costs as much as $14, fresh milk $5 and diapers almost $1 each – the high cost of living has prompted many to leave for bigger, and cheaper, cities such as Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Despite that, Walter Sampson, president of the Northwest Arctic Borough, said village elders were eager to host the first count.

"This is very important," he said. "Hopefully, this will mean more funding for schools and projects."

As for Jackson, a World War II veteran who showed a visitor the military discharge papers he keeps in a drawer in the house where he lives alone, how did he feel about being first?

"I felt honored," he said through his niece. "It was fine by me."