Ahtna Custoinary and Traditional Use | Our Land Sustains Us.

• Author: Johns, Ken

Since the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, the Ahtna people have learned and applied new ways of managing the food and resources that sustained us for a millennium. In one lifetime, we went from being the only inhabitants of our region to co-managing the resources of our homeland alongside state and federal actors. With the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971 and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980, new options for protecting our peoples' resources appeared, accompanied by challenges for preserving subsistence and traditional knowledge.

During World War II, highways were built providing access to the Copper River Basin. As a result of this and other development, Ahtna, Inc. is the only Alaska Native regional corporation whose villages are all road accessible. At times, that accessibility has proven helpful, but it has meant increased traffic through our lands from non-Indigenous residents and pressure on the area's limited fish and wildlife resources. We set out to solve this problem with the knowledge that securing our traditional food sources is an integral part of our culture. Subsistence is more than putting food on the table; it is who we are. Similarly, traditional knowledge is more than history; it is essential in maintaining the resources of our lands for future generations.

After the passage of ANCSA, Ahtna was entitled to 1.77 million acres. The question of how to manage resources was at the forefront of their minds as our elders carefully selected our lands to sustain our traditional foods for future generations. Today, the remainder of our traditional homelands are accessible to state, federal, and private landowners, underscoring the need for a comprehensive resource management approach that recognizes the fundamental truth behind ANCSA: these lands were ours, and our knowledge is essential to sustaining them.

Today, we continue to work with state and federal authorities to fulfill the promise made by Congress, that our traditional hunting and fishing rights would be recognized. There have been progress and setbacks, but Ahtna is heartened by the growing recognition in academic, political, and economic circles of the importance of traditional knowledge in sustainable resource management.

Both state and federal governments use the word "subsistence" to define Alaska Native hunting...