GALENA, Alaska — As ice breaks on the Yukon River, Jake Pogrebinsky looks at the water from shore, searching for a large log floating downstream.
When he spots one, he hops into his wooden motorboat and roars toward it, chainsawing any roots or branches that might still be attached, a hand-rolled cigarette never far from his lips. Then he drags the log with a rope toward shore, where eventually it will be used in the community here in central Alaska.
Pogrebinsky, 59, has been collecting driftwood in this remote, sprawling village of Galena for as long as he can remember. It's part of his job, but it also brings him great joy. ''Doing this, it's the greatest time,'' he said.
Plucking logs from the river provides jobs and heating
Naturally felled and chopped trees and logs have long journeyed down rivers and oceans, transported by winds, waves, currents and ice, some eventually swooped up by people for building, heating, tools and more. Indigenous people have done the practice for millennia and it continues today. Rather than paying to barge or fly in wood, Galena residents say gathering floating logs not only saves money and energy, but also allows people to connect with their environment.
''It provides local jobs. We're using local materials, we're using local labor,'' said Brooke Sanderson, tribal administrator for the local Louden Tribe.
Most of the collected driftwood becomes firewood for heating during bone-chilling winters, but it is also transformed into sidings for new energy efficient homes being built for members of the Louden Tribe.
Collecting large floating logs is just one of the village's sustainable practices: For nearly a decade, locally harvested trees have been shredded into wood chips that heat a bustling boarding school. And soon, a nearly-completed solar farm will curb the town's reliance on expensive, imported diesel.
