Protect and Preserve: Warding against the incalculable loss of Alaska Native culture.

• Author: Mottl, Judy
• Position: ALASKA NATIVE

The Alaska Native population accounts for 15.2 percent of Alaska's 731,449 residents, according to July 2017 data from the United States Census Bureau. Alaska's Native population is dispersed among 229 federally recognized tribes, nearly half of the 562 Indian Nations recognized in the United States.

Alaska Native culture is diverse and deeply rooted, and there's a strong movement throughout Alaska to protect and share Alaska Native heritage, culture, lifestyle, and traditions.

Dozens of organizations and groups are driving preservation efforts, everything from public education programs to sharing tribal traditions with younger generations; cultural events highlighting Native heritage; ensuring tribal languages are not only kept alive but are expanded; and the development of a memorial park addressing historic and current issues regarding ancestral remains and archaeological sites.

A Park with Purpose

The Alutiiq Ancestors' Memorial park project is led by the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, a nonprofit organization focused on preserving and sharing the cultural traditions of the Koniag Alutiiq branch of Sugpiaq (the ancestral name for Alutiiq). It's slated to open next fall on a one-third acre lot in downtown Kodiak situated next to the museum.

The memorial space will feature four interpretive signs introducing the Alutiiq people and their heritage as well as historic preservation messages. The park will also feature a circular planter with bench seating and a pathway. The circle is an important symbol in Alutiiq culture as it represents the universe in Alutiiq art, and circular holes can act as passageways between the human and the spirit world. A circle is also symbolic of vision and awareness.

Groundbreaking is planned for late May with the official opening slated for September. The primary goal is to acknowledge the contributions of the Alutiiq and other Alaska Native communities to the cultural fabric of Kodiak and encourage respectful treatment of ancestral sites and burials.

"It's one of the things our director has wanted to do for a number of years--create a very visible presence for the Alutiiq people in downtown Kodiak. A place people could easily, freely gather to think about Kodiak's past and how the Alutiiq people have impacted the fabric of the community," explains Amy Steffian, the museum's chief curator.

The park is also a way to return a sense of dignity to the tribal population and acknowledge its history--the difficult parts as well as the celebratory parts--notes Steffian.

"It's an acknowledgement to those who shaped Kodiak with blessings and...