A Cultural Landscape Inventory of the Chulitna River-Sixmile Lake Area at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve

Project ID: J8W07110016

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Partner Institution: University of Washington

Fiscal Year: 2011

Initial Funding: $19,000

Total Funding: $87,310

Project Type: Technical Assistance

Project Disciplines: Cultural

National Park: Lake Clark National Park and Preserve

Principal Investigator: Deur, Doug

Agreement Technical Representative: Schaaf, Jeanne

Abstract: This project is a collaborative effort to conduct consultation, planning, and completion of a Cultural Landscape Inventory (CLI) for the Chulitna River-Sixmile Lake area within Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (LACL). The Chulitna-Sixmile Lake cultural landscape is important to present-day Dena’ina and may be threatened by proposed development in the immediate area. For the past 100 years, the people of Nondalton have largely derived their subsistence fish, game, and water fowl from the Chulitna River and Sixmile Lake drainages. Archeological sites in the nearby Kijik National Historic Landmark Archeological District document sites associated with at least 900 years of Dena’ina history. A CLI will be undertaken to document the entire array of historic and contemporary resources of cultural significance to the Dena’ina in the Chulitna and Sixmile drainages, including the Tazimina River and the upper Newhalen River. This effort will be supported by a current partnership between LACL and the Nondalton Tribal Council to complete an Integrated Resource Management Plan for the study area. National Park Service (NPS) staff will work with University of Washington (UW) in planning the initial consultation with the state of Alaska, Nondalton Tribal Council, the Kijik Corporation, and other interested tribes. UW staff will be responsible for data collection and analysis, and will produce a final report in collaboration with NPS. The CLI can be used by park associated tribes to support their efforts to identify and preserve traditionally significant resources. The project report and products can be used by other NPS units and other resource management agencies as a template to help inventory important ethnographic landscapes.