Editor 's note : The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE , an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn , New York . VBS.TV is Vice 's broadband television network . The reports , which are produced solely by VICE , reflect a very transparent approach to journalism , where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process . We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers . Brooklyn , New York ( VBS.TV ) -- Most people are never really alone . Living here in New York , we 're constantly surrounded by others . Even in the state 's biggest wilderness , the Adirondacks , you ca n't get more than 15 miles or so from civilization . Similar levels of population density can be found in most of the lower 48 states . So when we heard about Heimo and Edna Korth , a couple who live 150 miles above the Arctic Circle and 60 miles from their nearest neighbors , we had to go meet them . The Korths reside in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge , an area about the size of South Carolina in the northeast corner of the state . It is bordered by the Beaufort Sea on the north and Canada 's Yukon to the east . There are other people living in the refuge -- Inuit in Kaktovik and the Gwich'in of Arctic Village -- but as far as we know , the Korths are the most isolated humans in the area . They live in the most remote location in America and sustain themselves by hunting , fishing and trapping . They 've lived like this for more than 30 years , raising a family in the process and all the while dealing with grizzly bears and temperatures that dip as low as minus-50 degrees Fahrenheit . Their home turf is inhospitable in the truest sense of the word . See the rest of Heimo 's Arctic Refuge at VBS.TV . As much as Heimo Korth truly is the Final Frontiersman , he 's no Luddite . He uses lots of modern tools : guns , the radio , a satellite phone , a chainsaw and , most important , a gasoline-powered snow machine ( a snowmobile in recreational terms ) to check his miles of traps . In the wake of the BP spill , the refuge has received renewed attention from the `` drill , baby , drill '' crowd , which refuses to ever let a good crisis go to waste . Their claims that the refuge is uninhabited will ring particularly hollow after you watch the above video and catch a glimpse inside the Korths ' lives . They are , after all , Americans and seem to be doing their own thing in their own time , which is perhaps the most American activity of all . Still , we did n't set out to make a documentary about the politics of oil drilling . That 's boring and has been done a million times already . What we wanted was to tell the story of a pair of the last Americans who use well-honed skills to survive solely off the land , skills that we are losing at our own peril . The Korths supplement their myriad abilities with the benefits of oil-based products and machines . They understand the necessity of oil . We all do .
Heimo and Edna Korth have lived isolated life for 30 years , raising family in wilderness . They are the last of their kind on earth. VBS visits Korths , calls area one of most inhospitable environments in North America .