Alaska Natives

Prince of Wales Alaska Youth Stewards crew members perform landslide assessment fieldwork. (Photo by Zofia Danielson)

Woven Peoples and Place: Ḵutí expands across Southeast Alaska

Project seeks to address community concerns about landslides and other natural hazards in the region.

 

A panel discussion about cultural tourism in Alaska takes place Tuesday between (left to right) Camille Ferguson, economic development director of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska; Zach Dunlap, operations manager for Doyon; Susan Bell, vice president of strategic initiatives for Huna Totem Corp.; Emily Edenshaw, president and CEO of the Alaska Native Heritage Center; and McHugh Pierre, president and CEO of Goldbelt Inc. during the opening day of the Alaska Travel Industry Association convention at Centennial Hall. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)

Native cultural tourism is ‘Alaska’s sleeping giant,’ panel tells industry leaders at statewide convention

“Alaska is not ‘The Last Frontier.’ Alaska always has been and always will be a Native place.”

 

Michelle Sparck, director of Get Out The Native Vote, stands by her business’ booth on Saturday at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage. Sparck, wearing a button identifying her as a Cup’ik voter, is urging Alaska Natives to be more diligent about voting in both state and local elections. In addition to her voter-education work, Sparck has a beauty-products business, ArXotica, that she and her sisters founded. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Campaign to boost Native voting combats both apathy and logistical challenges

Advocates are pushing for both engagement and easing of barriers affecting rural residents.

 

Celebrity Cruises President Laura Hodges Bethge discusses current and future plans for parent company Royal Caribbean Group during a keynote speech Tuesday at the Alaska Travel Industry Association convention at Centennial Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Royal Caribbean tries to appease angry city leaders with apology after surprise Douglas cruise port announcement

Tensions revived after cruise line president touts project in speech; email apology sent soon after.

Celebrity Cruises President Laura Hodges Bethge discusses current and future plans for parent company Royal Caribbean Group during a keynote speech Tuesday at the Alaska Travel Industry Association convention at Centennial Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
President Joe Biden honors the 10 winners of the 2023 National Humanities Medal, including Sealaska Heritage Institute President Rosita Worl, during a ceremony Monday at The White House. (Screenshot from official video by The White House)
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SHI President Rosita Worl among 10 people receiving National Humanities Medal from President Biden

Ceremony at White House livestreamed online at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

President Joe Biden honors the 10 winners of the 2023 National Humanities Medal, including Sealaska Heritage Institute President Rosita Worl, during a ceremony Monday at The White House. (Screenshot from official video by The White House)
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Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon and Assembly member Greg Smith (left) read a formal apology to members of the Douglas Indian Association during an Assembly meeting Monday night, acknowledging the City and Borough of Juneau’s role in the burning of the Douglas Indian Village in 1962. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Juneau offers formal apology for 1962 burning of the Douglas Indian Village

Apology called long overdue, but tribal leader says full story of destruction still needs to be shared.

Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon and Assembly member Greg Smith (left) read a formal apology to members of the Douglas Indian Association during an Assembly meeting Monday night, acknowledging the City and Borough of Juneau’s role in the burning of the Douglas Indian Village in 1962. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Salmon dry on a rack in Quinhagak, a Yup’ik village in Western Alaska, in July 2023. Salmon is a staple of the traditional Indigenous diet in Alaska and one of the main foods harvested through subsistence practices. A new rule made final by the Department of the Interior is aimed at boosting tribal participation in subsistence management. (Alice Bailey/University of Alaska Fairbanks)

New rule adds three Alaska tribal representatives to federal board managing subsistence

Federal government also announces three agreements with tribal organizations on lands, water management.

Salmon dry on a rack in Quinhagak, a Yup’ik village in Western Alaska, in July 2023. Salmon is a staple of the traditional Indigenous diet in Alaska and one of the main foods harvested through subsistence practices. A new rule made final by the Department of the Interior is aimed at boosting tribal participation in subsistence management. (Alice Bailey/University of Alaska Fairbanks)
The Alaska State Museum is seen in the fall sun on Wednesday. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

Grant increases museum access for Alaska Native artists and culture bearers

The Access to Alaska Native Collections grant is part of a broader movement.

The Alaska State Museum is seen in the fall sun on Wednesday. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
The Donlin Gold airstrip, with the camp at the far end on the right, is seen from the air on Aug. 11, 2022. The mine site is in the hilly terrain near Southwest Alaska’s winding Kuskokwim River. The mine won a key permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2018, but a federal judge ruled on Monday that the environmental study on which that permit was based was flawed because it failed to consider the impacts of a catastrophic dam failure. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Federal judge faults environmental analysis for planned huge gold mine in Western Alaska

Regulators failed to consider impacts of a dam failure when issuing Donlin mine permit, judge rules.

The Donlin Gold airstrip, with the camp at the far end on the right, is seen from the air on Aug. 11, 2022. The mine site is in the hilly terrain near Southwest Alaska’s winding Kuskokwim River. The mine won a key permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2018, but a federal judge ruled on Monday that the environmental study on which that permit was based was flawed because it failed to consider the impacts of a catastrophic dam failure. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
“Back to Lands Week” participants prepare to offload in Howkan. Over 100 ago, the villages of Howkan, Sukkwan and Klinkwan dissolved in order to form a school in the new village of Hydaburg. (Photo by Addy Mallott)

Woven Peoples and Place: Húus dáng hl kíngsaang (I’ll see you again)

Reflections from Prince of Wales’ “Back to the Lands Week”

“Back to Lands Week” participants prepare to offload in Howkan. Over 100 ago, the villages of Howkan, Sukkwan and Klinkwan dissolved in order to form a school in the new village of Hydaburg. (Photo by Addy Mallott)
St. Joseph’s Mission Indian Residential School, a site featured in a scene from the new documentary Sugarcane. (Sugarcane Film LLC)

A new film highlights the traumas inflicted on Indigenous children by residential schools

This story contains difficult subject matter relating to Canada’s and America’s history of operating residential schools for Indigenous people. The National Native American Boarding School… Continue reading

St. Joseph’s Mission Indian Residential School, a site featured in a scene from the new documentary Sugarcane. (Sugarcane Film LLC)
Candace Frank gets a red handprint pressed onto her face at the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Rally in Juneau on May 5, 2022. (Lisa Phu / Alaska Beacon)

Alaska enacts law to reduce high rates of missing and murdered Indigenous persons

Despite Alaska’s small population, a 2018 report by the Urban Indian Health Institute identified it as the state with the fourth-highest number of missing and… Continue reading

Candace Frank gets a red handprint pressed onto her face at the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Rally in Juneau on May 5, 2022. (Lisa Phu / Alaska Beacon)
“We accept this apology,” says Kake elder Ruth Demmert as she addresses the audience at Saturday’s formal apology by the U.S. Navy delivered minutes earlier by Rear Adm. Mark Sucato. The apology in Kake was for the 1869 bombardment and destruction of Kake’s three villages and two forts in winter of that year. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)
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A long time coming: U.S. Navy apologizes for destroying Alaska Native village of Kake in 1869

“From this time forward we will start healing our people,” village president says at historic ceremony.

“We accept this apology,” says Kake elder Ruth Demmert as she addresses the audience at Saturday’s formal apology by the U.S. Navy delivered minutes earlier by Rear Adm. Mark Sucato. The apology in Kake was for the 1869 bombardment and destruction of Kake’s three villages and two forts in winter of that year. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)
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Angoon students prepare to paddle the unity canoe they built with master carver Wayne Price on June 19, 2023. It is the first canoe of its kind since the U.S. Navy bombardment of Angoon in 1882 that destroyed all the village’s canoes. The Navy plans to issue apologies to Kake and Angoon residents in the fall of 2024. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

U.S. Navy plans apologies to Southeast Alaska villages for century-old attacks

Navy officials say apologies in Kake and Angoon are both “long overdue” and “the right thing to do.”

Angoon students prepare to paddle the unity canoe they built with master carver Wayne Price on June 19, 2023. It is the first canoe of its kind since the U.S. Navy bombardment of Angoon in 1882 that destroyed all the village’s canoes. The Navy plans to issue apologies to Kake and Angoon residents in the fall of 2024. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo State Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, speaks during a rally on behalf of Alaska residents with disabilities at the Alaska State Capitol on March 1, 2023.

Bills by Juneau legislator adding official Indigenous state languages, upgrading dock safety become law

Safety bill by Rep. Story also contains provision by Sen. Kiehl expanding disaster aid eligibility.

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo State Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, speaks during a rally on behalf of Alaska residents with disabilities at the Alaska State Capitol on March 1, 2023.
Workers construct a greenhouse behind the Edward K. Thomas building during the summer of 2021. The greenhouse is part of a food sovereignty project by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, which this week received a $15 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection agency to establish or expand composting operations in five Southast Alaska communities including Juneau. (Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska photo)

Tlingit and Haida gets $15M EPA grant for composting operations in five Southeast Alaska communities

Funds will establish or expand programs in Juneau, Wrangell, Hoonah, Petersburg and Yakutat.

Workers construct a greenhouse behind the Edward K. Thomas building during the summer of 2021. The greenhouse is part of a food sovereignty project by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, which this week received a $15 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection agency to establish or expand composting operations in five Southast Alaska communities including Juneau. (Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska photo)
Robert Sisson (left), former commissioner of the International Joint Commission, presides over a panel discussion Wednesday during the third annual Transboundary Mining Conference at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Transboundary mining conference sees fears after natural and man-made disasters, hope after pacts

U.S., Canadian and tribal leaders gather in Juneau to seek way forward on decades-old disputes.

Robert Sisson (left), former commissioner of the International Joint Commission, presides over a panel discussion Wednesday during the third annual Transboundary Mining Conference at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Crew members with the Hoonah Native Forest Partnership map anadromous streams that have not previously been documented in an effort to further knowledge about salmon distribution and health in Southeast Alaska that is essential for addressing climate change. (Photo by Lee House)

Woven Peoples and Place: Climate adaptation and resilience in Southeast Alaska

A conversation with Annika Ord, climate adaptation catalyst for Sustainable Southeast Partnership.

Crew members with the Hoonah Native Forest Partnership map anadromous streams that have not previously been documented in an effort to further knowledge about salmon distribution and health in Southeast Alaska that is essential for addressing climate change. (Photo by Lee House)
Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people gather in Juneau for the opening of Celebration on June 5, 2024. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska appeals federal court ruling that was a step toward new ‘Indian country’ here

The state of Alaska is continuing its effort to oppose Alaska Native tribes’ effort to protect traditional lands via federal trust. On Friday, the Alaska… Continue reading

Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people gather in Juneau for the opening of Celebration on June 5, 2024. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Tlingít Code Talker Robert Jeff David Sr., is buried in the Jones Point Cemetery in Haines. (Francisco Martínezcuello / Chilkat Valley News)

Q&A: The role of Alaska Native and Tlingít soldiers in WWII code talking

A conversation with author William Meadows

Tlingít Code Talker Robert Jeff David Sr., is buried in the Jones Point Cemetery in Haines. (Francisco Martínezcuello / Chilkat Valley News)