Prepare Kijik National Historic Landmark Cultural Landscape Report

Project ID: P18AC00234

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Partner Institution: Portland State University

Fiscal Year: 2018

Initial Funding: $83,747

Total Funding: $237,247

Project Type: Technical Assistance

Project Disciplines: Cultural

National Park: Lake Clark National Park and Preserve

Principal Investigator: Deur, Doug

Agreement Technical Representative: Rupp, Elizabeth

Abstract: The objective of this Agreement is to prepare a Cultural Landscape Report, an updated National Historic Landmark nomination, and a management plan for Kijik National Historic Landmark (NHL). Sitting within Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (LACL), Kijik NHL contains the remnants of one of the largest and most significant A Iaska Native settlements in central Alaska ­ home to inland Dena’ina Athabaskans until epidemics displaced the community to Nondalton and other nearby communities roughly a century ago. The NHL remains an outstandingly important cultural and historical site within the state of Alaska, a focus of ongoing archaeological research, a venue for formal historical and cultural education programs for tribal youth, and a keystone place of enduring importance to Dena’ina communities now living in other communities outside of LACL. It is also experiencing growing interest, and unprecedented visitation, from park visitors.
However, the NPS does not currently have complete documentation, or a complete management plan informed by the perspective and values of nearby Dena’ina communities, that will allow the agency to at once foster visitation and access, and protect the integrity of the irreplaceable cultural resources of Kijik. The current project achieves these things by a) producing a Cultural
Landscape Report that documents all of the resources of cultural and historical importance within Kijik NHL and addresses their contributory role to the NHL’s status on the National Register of Historic Places, b) producing a management plan that documents the sensitivity of particular cultural resources to natural causes (e.g., tire risk, or bank erosion) and human activity (e.g., camping, other recreational uses, or commercial uses within the NHL), based on scientific documentation and the expressed needs and values of Dena’ina people, and c) producing a revised copy of the original NHL nomination that is updated in light of all project findings. Final documentation will also identify interpretive and educational opportunities for Dena’ina and other youth, based on project findings. The project will also clarify the roles and responsibilities of the NPS and Dena’ina communities in coltaboratively managing the NHL in the future -for the benefit of all stakeholders, including non-Native resident zone communities and park visitors in addition to tribes.