Let us tighten our bond with each other, as a knot would, and unite in love's great power to redirect the present conditions we are facing in our lives.
Lena Sours
Kotzebue, Alaska
(from a poster by Jim Magdanz,
the Alicia Paterson Foundation)
Natural and cultural resources of international significance exist throughout the Beringian region. Across these lands walked the first people to inhabit North America. Today, this region holds great value to the descendants of those earliest people, and it continues to provide food for subsistence, raw materials for their economy, and great aesthetic enjoyment.
At the time of the land bridge an untouched continent lay before the people, but now pristine natural areas are slowly disappearing. Today there is a need to preserve land upon which man has caused little change. To do this, a variety of methods are available to each nation.
In the joint effort to preserve portions of the natural and cultural heritage of the Beringian region, several goals are shared by the Soviet Union and the United States.
Preservation would allow the discovery of new information about the earth's development, the evolution of flora and fauna, the genetic foundation of life that the region has supported, as well as insight into the culture of the native people.
Each nation also hopes to preserve some of the great aesthetic beauty of the region, as well as to restore the region's traditional cultural and economic links.
Finally, both nations view the result of the preservation effort as a means to introduce people of Beringia and other areas to the rich cultural and natural resources of the area.
These goals do not come without challenges. There is a need to create joint data banks so information about the common resources can be shared. Each nation will also face the challenge of proposing and ratifying the legislation necessary to recognize this joint heritage and to permit greater cooperative efforts in the future.
Effective management structures and mandates that recognize this joint heritage must also be put in place, and a greater emphasis must be placed on the training of specialists who will study these common resources.