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Spruce trees are a rare sight in and around Golovin within a
6 mile radius, but there are a few lonely trees growing in
places. The black spruce and white spruce trees do not grow
very well in the coastal regions of the Seward Peninsula.
They are only found inland about 20 miles and then they are
not large trees. The needles are about an inch long and grow
whirled all the way around the stems of the tree. Black
Spruce have small black hairs on the new growth, while the
White Spruce lack the hairs.
The Iñupiaq do not distinguish between the two
spruces, rather, the name guchok refers to both
trees. As the trees grow far from Golovin, the trees are not
commonly used but my grandma, Florence Willoya reported to
me that the leaves are boiled to make a medicinal tea
similar to charighik (stinkweed). The dry sap that
has dripped on the outside of the bark of the tree is sucked
on until it is soft and warm and it can be chewed; just like
the chewing gum you can buy at the store. I have tried this
and it is remarkable to find chewing gun out in the middle
out the woods without having to plunk down money to get
it.
There is a man in town that everyone calls "Guksie". His
Eskimo name is "Guchok" and his nickname is derived
from that.
Spruce is a pioneer species just as is itpiluktuk
described earlier. Since the last ice age, plant
species have been moving out of their normal range into
areas they have not normally inhabited. The estimates of the
rate of motion is a few miles per century. As the spruce
trees move out onto the Seward Peninsula, the animals that
live in the spruce forests are moving with the trees, as
well. My grandma said that when she was a girl moose and
caribou were just myths. But now, my grandpa goes moose
hunting just 18 or 20 miles up the bay. The progression of
these species has been noticed by my family who now depend
on the moose for meat. Food is coming less from the ocean
and more from the land than it did when my grandma was a
girl.
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