An excerpt from "Chasing the Dark - Perspectives on Place, History and Alaska Native Land Claims."

Protecting the Past for the Future - by John F.C. Johnson, V.P. of Cultural Resources

SECTION 14(h)(1) of ANCSA affords Alaska Native people a "once in a lifetime" chance to reclaim historic and prehistoric properties they established and utilized long before the advancement of Russians and Americans to this part of the so-called 'New World." This section of ANCSA was negotiated in part by relinquishing vast tracts of ancestral homelands in return for traditional and subsistence lands that had been occupied for over 5,000 years by the original landlords.

In the past, ownership of land was different than it is today. Tribes never had fences or lines drawn on maps saying who the owners were. The land was owned by the creator and we were just guests that enjoyed the wonders and bounty of nature. The territories of various tribes were known by other cultures and were respected, otherwise wars could erupt. Now, however, we live in a society where land is measured by a fraction of an inch, and where development and private ownership can change the landscape that tribes once freely roamed. As a tribe, today, we have to change and adopt this system or get run over by the advance of modern civilization.

The ANCSA legislation will go down in history as either another land grab or broken treaty by the federal government, or as a model for other indigenous cultures in the preservation of their history, language and ancient settlements.

For the past thirty years I have been working for my ancestors in the Chugach Region to ensure justice and accountability in the transfer of our historic lands. It is a very heavy burden to try to locate and document traditional lands that have been used for thousands of years in such a short period of time. The next generations may ask why more effort was not put into this program; or they may be thankful for the knowledge that was saved and passed along by our traditional teachers, whose numbers are constantly diminishing.

The Chugach Region of south-central Alaska was a migration corridor on the North Pacific Ocean where we interacted with many distinctively different Native cultures, such as the Eyak Athabascans of the Copper River Delta, the Tlingit of southeast Alaska, and our Aleut and Eskimo brothers from western Alaska.

The documentation of ANCSA 14(h)(1) sites in our region started off on a rocky road, where many mistakes were made and policies were incorrectly applied. In the early days, there was a deep battle for subsistence rights between Alaska Natives and others. These battles spilled over into the evaluation of our historic/subsistence properties. I could not understand why others tried to reject our historic selections simply because they were associated with subsistence activities. Every ancient settlement is associated with subsistence lifestyles: if you had no food, you did not exist.

Now all parties have learned the art of locating and documenting these sites in a professional and unbiased fashion. The times have changed like night and day in the ways our Section 14(h)(1) land claims are implemented. Another good aspect of this program is also worth noting. This may be the first time in many years that Native elders have shared with researchers the heart and soul of personal and traditional knowledge that they cherished and protected for ages.

Our Native language is slowly fading away, but the spirit of our people lives on in the historic ruins of the past. One example is the old village of Nuchek, where my grandmother was born. This site was deserted in the 1930s and it seemed that it would be just another old site that you might read about in a history book. However, through the efforts of our elders we now are striving to actively reclaim our heritage, and continue to write a new page in the never-ending saga of Alaska’s first settlers. The “Nuchek Spirit Camp” (the 2009 camp will run July 6-27) is now a model where Native elders and youth can come together on historical properties to celebrate and teach the knowledge from our past.

The richness of Alaska’s history is a gift of knowledge that will benefit all of humanity .This is a time when the past will help shape our future.

Photo: Chief Peter Chimovitski at the village of Nuchek. The small boy with the striped shirt (front row, third from left) is Peter’s son Teddy, one of the main Native historians who helped document historic and prehistoric sites throughout Prince William Sound (Photograph by Dr. Barbour, circa 1909).

END NOTES
Editor’s note: The corporation’s operation at Nuchek appears to be consistent with the restrictive covenant that is attached to ANCSA Sec. 14(h)(1) conveyances; however, because this site was conveyed to Chugach Alaska Corporation under a different section of the Act that covenant does not apply.