NED ROZELL: 2014 BLM Artist-in- Residence in Eagle, Alaska

In August 2014, the BLM hosted Fairbanks writer Ned Rozell as its first summer Artist-in- Residence. Rozell, the author of four books, has written a weekly science column for 20 years for the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute. He’s also a contributing writer for Alaska Dispatch News.

Rozell spent his residence from Aug. 22 to Sept. 1, in the Yukon River community of Eagle. There, he worked on an old writing project that had languished for years.

Toward the end of his residence, Rozell gave a public presentation about “Top 20 Things You Didn’t Know about Alaska” in Eagle’s historic St. Paul’s Church, now a museum. BLM Public Affairs Specialist Craig McCaa interviewed Rozell in Eagle.

Since you spent time in Eagle over the years, what changes have you noticed in the community?

In 1993 and 1994, I was a seasonal ranger for Yukon-Charley [Rivers National Preserve in Eagle]. Eagle is a lot quieter than 20 years ago, probably because of the [2009] flood and the damage it did to the waterfront businesses. Right now there’s no restaurant. When you drive in, it seems there’s not that many other people making that turn on the Taylor Highway to go toward Eagle. Very low traffic. In Eagle, you don’t really see that many tourists chugging around there.

You stayed in BLM’s barracks by the Eagle airstrip during your residency. How did you spend your days?

It was just me most of the time. It was great. It was really quiet, so quiet that when a raven passed over you could hear creaking . . .. Eagle is a pretty quiet place anyway, but being out by the airstrip you’re even removed from downtown Eagle. There would be full days without anyone landing at the airport! I did a ton of reading. I did a lot of writing, played some guitar, did some hiking, a little bit of running, a lot of riding my mountain bike around, and took a lot of walks by the river. I went to Eagle Village several times. I went to a potlatch for a guy’s birthday.

How did the special project you wanted to work on during your residency work out?

I had a draft manuscript, about 100,000 words, that I started 20 years ago when I was a park ranger. I didn’t like it very much and hadn’t looked at it in a while. A hundred thousand words is a pretty big investment, so I wanted to revisit it someday. When I saw this residency opportunity in Eagle, I thought, “Man, that would be a good thing to do in Eagle.” It’s a novel that’s sort of set [in Eagle], so knew it would be nice to polish it up there. I did some adding and subtracting, and came out with a good draft. I also read John McPhee’s Coming into the Country and other stuff that [helped with the writing.]

As someone who has seen much of Alaska, what stands out about Eagle and the Fortymile area?

I like the deep summer heat of the Interior, the size of the Yukon River flowing past Eagle and how it makes a big bend [that] runs into a cliff. I like the Fortymile River for its size, its color, the deep warmth you get there, the caribou you can see. You can’t really see [this] in Fairbanks. There’s just not that many people there.

What was your impression of the BLM Artist-in- Residence program in Eagle?

I really appreciated the peace and quiet, and not being required to do anything else but work on that manuscript. That’s the only real thing I felt I had to do out there. I liked being disconnected from the Internet because it’s such a distraction now in life. And the only way you could get Internet was to stand outside the Eagle library within the halo of Wi-Fi. [The library] had really weird hours, only open a couple of hours a day, so I rarely got there when the library was open. When I went to peek on the Yankee scores, I had to stand, which limited my time. It’s nice to get away from that stuff!