(Changes dateline to KOTZEBUE, updates with Obama remarks,
detail)
By Roberta Rampton
KOTZEBUE, Alaska, Sept 2 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama
got a taste of the U.S. Arctic on Wednesday, dropping in to two
remote fly-in native villages in a journey the White House hopes
will show how climate change is affecting Americans.
Crossing the Arctic Circle, Air Force One flew over
Kivalina, pop. 400, a whaling village on a barrier island
debating whether to move as melting sea ice raises sea levels.
Obama said Kivalina is a harbinger of hardships other parts
of the country could face if global warming goes unchecked.
"I've been trying to make the rest of the country more aware
of the changing climate - but you're already living it," Obama
told a crowd jammed into a school gym.
It was the culmination of a three-day adventure in which
Obama hiked to a glacier and toured majestic fjords by boat,
delighting residents in a vast and sparsely populated state
often left off presidential itineraries.
"It's the best thing I've ever seen before: the president,
in Kotzebue, my hometown!" said Betty Kingeak, 26, who is a
cashier and delivery driver at Little Louie's restaurant.
Kingeak said she worries climate change could mean her
children will not be able to camp, hunt and fish like she does.
Obama, the first sitting president to cross the Arctic
Circle, is pushing to marshal support for an international
agreement to reduce carbon emissions.
He also wants to convince Congress to back at least one new
heavy ice breaker for the U.S. Coast Guard, a national security
priority underscored by a report on Wednesday that Chinese navy
ships were in the Bering Sea near Alaska.
'UH-OH'
Earlier on Wednesday, Obama visited Dillingham, a town on
Bristol Bay, home to one of the world's largest sockeye salmon
fisheries, where two women gave him a crash course in catching
salmon in traditional nets.
"I've got to get some gloves so I can handle my fish," Obama
said, donning an orange pair and hoisting a still-flopping
silver salmon.
The fish promptly relieved itself on his shoes.
"Uh-oh. What happened there?" he said, laughing as the women
explained the fish was spawning.
He tried his hand at Yup'ik native dancing with grade school
students before taking his motorcade down the main drag, passing
a fishing boat with the hulking head of a recently killed moose.
At the N + N Market, where a large bag of Doritos cost
$9.39, Obama talked about the high costs of food in places where
almost everything has to be shipped in.
The community was plastered with signs like "Mines and fish
don't co-exist" protesting against the Pebble Mine copper and
gold project proposed by Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd NDM.TO .
The Environmental Protection Agency has placed restrictions
on the proposed mine, which the company is fighting in court.
"Our view is that if the president is interested in the
issue he should try to hear from all perspectives about it,
including those closest to Pebble who would like the jobs Pebble
may provide," said Mike Heatwole, a spokesman for Pebble Limited
Partnership.
Obama did not address the mine directly, but noted he had
taken steps this year to shut off Bristol Bay from oil and gas
exploration to protect the fishing industry.
"There are other threats to this environment that we've
always got to be alert to," Obama said.