A Traditional Use Study of the Chulitna River-Sixmile Lake Area at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
Project ID: P13AC01460
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Partner Institution: Portland State University
Fiscal Year: 2013
Initial Funding: $85,000
Total Funding: $146,210
Project Type: Research
Project Disciplines: Cultural
National Park: Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
Principal Investigator: Deur, Doug
Agreement Technical Representative: Evanoff, Karen
Abstract: This project is a collaborative effort to conduct consultation, planning, and completion of a Traditional Use Study (TUS) 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 affected by proposed development a short distance from these park lands. 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 TUS will be undertaken to document the entire array of historic and contemporary resources of cultural significance to the Dena’ina in the Chulitna drainage and Sixmile lake area, 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 Portland State University (PSU) in planning the initial consultation with the state of Alaska, Nondalton Tribal Council, the Kijik Corporation, and other interested tribes. PSU staff will be responsible for data collection and analysis, and will produce a final report in collaboration with NPS. The TUS can be used by park associated tribes to support their efforts to identify and preserve traditionally significant resources. The report will guide the appropriate management and protection of cultural resources of national importance, and will also provide content for possible public interpretation of the area’s rich cultural history. The project report and products will be designed so that they can be used by other federal and state resource management agencies as a template to help inventory important ethnographic landscapes in other settings. This work builds on a Cultural Landscape Inventory undertaken previously by the PSU Principal Investigator at the University of Washington under a separate Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit Task Agreement.