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| Julia Cooper and Dorothy Cook, the Eklutna native village president, stand outside the tribe's rustic community center. yereth rosen |
A tiny native village in Alaska copes with urban encroachment
Members of the Dena'ina Athabascan tribe, completely surrounded by metropolitan Anchorage, struggle to preserve their language and culture.
from the January 28, 2008 edition
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At Ship Creek, the waterway on which modern-day Anchorage was founded as an early 20th-century tent city, the ancestors of today's Eklutna villagers hauled in huge catches of stickleback, a dietary staple.
To this day, Eklutna Dena'ina have struggled to keep their identity from being overwhelmed by the outsiders who have transformed their homeland into Alaska's dominant city. "It was hard for us because we lost our language," says Dorothy Cook, president of the Eklutna native village. "If we were more remote, we would have held onto it."
Still, efforts are under way to revive the culture, starting with the local dialect. "Chi'an, Gu Ninya," says a wooden sign by the churchyard, which translates to "Thank you, you came here." Tribal members are excited that Anchorage's new convention center, now under construction, will bear the Dena'ina name. That is the result of a warm relationship with Mayor Mark Begich, who locals say has made special effort to recognize the indigenous culture.
The state-owned Alaska Railroad has struck a deal with village elders to return a pair of cultural icons to the Eklutna people. Two geologic "knobs," initially quarried during World War II to supply gravel for the railroad without permission from the natives, are central to the tribe's cultural identity.
Overlooking a branch of the Cook Inlet, the knobs were used as lookouts for fish and game and possible invaders. They were also critical landmarks for travelers. "When you saw those two knobs – and you saw them way before you saw the Eklutna River – you knew you were getting home," says Curtis McQueen, chief executive of the native-owned Eklutna Inc.
In a departure from the past, a corporation set up to make money for the Eklutna people is increasingly promoting the tribe's culture as well. Eklutna Inc. is a for-profit corporation created by the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Like other native corporations in the state, Eklutna Inc. operates separately from its tribal counterpart.
While the company's mission is to make money for its native shareholders, the tribal government's mission is social. The company is the biggest private landowner in Anchorage. The village government owns no land. Even the venues of the two entities are starkly different: While the tribe operates out of rustic buildings in the village, Eklutna Inc. is headquartered in a Comet-clean business park in an upscale suburb.
To help preserve the tribe's heritage, the corporation is likely to lease rather than sell land in the future – particularly parcels near the Eklutna Village. "They don't want to sell the land. Once it's sold, it's gone," says Jim Arnesen, Eklutna Inc.'s land manager.
The corporation is now focusing on a hoped-for buyout of land long held by National Bank of Alaska and its successor company, Wells Fargo. That is an important berry-picking and food-gathering site for villagers, who fear it will be developed into some subdivision.
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Despite the proximity to supermarkets, shopping malls, and drive-by espresso stands, Eklutna tribal members still rely on local woodlands and rivers as an important source of food. The village's surrounded-by-a-city status merits it a special "educational" fishing permit from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for personal harvests.
Where do these "educational" harvests take place? On a sun-splashed late fall day, Ms. Cook, the tribal village president, kibitzes with other tribal members at the spare community center. She is, not surprisingly, mum about the whereabouts of the harvests. After all, she doesn't want more civilization encroaching on their ancient culture – in this case in the form of masses of urban sport fishermen.
"We get our fish," is all she will say.
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