On a clear day from the high ground of Big Diomede Island, one can see, with a turn of the head, the remnants of a great land bridge that once existed between the Asian and North American continents.
Those land remnants and the people who inhabit them, though separated by the sea, have retained much of their common heritage. The animals and fish on which they subsist, the storms, ice, and great migrations of birds and wildlife that dictate the rhythms of their lives, and the traditions and language used by indigenous people on both sides of the Bering Strait are tangible examples of Beringia's common bonds.
Thousands of years ago the Bering land bridge emerged, forming a flat, treeless plain - not a finger of land, but the stocky shoulders of two continents stretching hundreds of kilometers from north to south. Across this land moved the people who became the first North Americans, following the earlier movements of land mammals and plants. Unlike later migrations from Europe to North America, these migrations were not a conscious efforts to populate a new continent, but rather a simple pursuit of food and shelter - the basic necessities of life.
That pursuit continued as glaciers melted and a shallow sea took the place of the land bridge. But the sea did little to stem the exchange of ideas, people, and items of trade. The great migrations of fish and wildlife continued, and the lands that were once joined retained a common character. The people of Beringia were united by language, traditions, and invironment.
This common life in Beringia contined without interruption for thousands of years. Even under the flag of the Russian empire - and during the later American and Russian commercial whaling periods - people, ideas, and goods moved across the sea. However, the flow of culture and ideas, which could not be stemmed by the submergence of the land bridge, was disrupted by the tide of politics.
Still, the recent hardness of the political reality has not changed the fundamental interrelatedness of the Beringian region. Resources, and the threats to them, do not respect the boundaries made by man. Indigenous culture, with roots going back thousands of years, is not quicly moved by political winds.
While communications between the Soviet Union and the United States are often strained, natives of Beringia continue to share common Yupik and Inupiat languages. Walruses and whales remain a vital part of the diet and social fabric of the native people. Archeological sites in both countries show dramatic similarity, silent witness to the common struggle of a hundred generations to carve a life on the demanding shores of the Bering Sea.
For years the common heritage of Beringia has been recognized, and many proposals have been made for the two countries to take steps to protect important sites that attest to this heritage. However, until recently, the general political climate between the two countires did not lend itself to in-depth discussions about cooperative international designation of protected areas.
Recent political changes have been significant, though, and the trust, cooperation, and agreement among the inhabitants of Beringia have been improved by several developments. These include exchanges of native residents from coastal communities; the proposal to create a joint science center on the Chukotskiy Peninsula under an agreement between the Insitute of Biological Problems of the North, Far East Branch, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences in Magadan and the University of Alaska in Anchorage; the resumption of airline flights across the Bering Strait; and trade missions from each nation striving to renew commercial ties. These improved political relations, and the focus of activities between Alaska and Chukotka, have provided the right atmosphere for the joint discussions of an internationally recognized Beringian heritage site.
In 1986, under the authority of the 1972 U.S.-U.S.S.R. Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection, Working Group 02.04-20 was established to address "Conservation and Management of Natural and Cultural Heritage." Secific activities, characterized as themes, were developed by the working group in protocols of June and October 1987. Theme 2 is "Research, Conservation and Management of the Beringian Heritage."
In September 1989 a joint Soviet and American planning team implemented theme 2 with a 10-day assessment of park or protected sites on the Chukotskiy Peninsula (see map of sites visited). The group - which included expert planners and scientists from the Soviet Union and the U.S. National Park Service - continued its work in northwest Alaska, with an 8-day assessment of existing park units and native coastal communities.
This report, cooperatively developed by the joint team, identifies key areas that show the common heritage of Beringia. It covers the natural resources, the migration of man over the land bridge and archeological evidence of that crossing, the influences of more recent developments, and the common traditions that endure - language, arts ,traditions, and the subsistence use of resources.
The team has recommended to its respective governments that an international park - embodying an existing national park in the United States and a newly created preservation unit in the Soviet Union - be designated by the national legislatures. The principal goals of parks united across international borders would be to promote cooperation among nations, to preserve natural and cultural sites, and to provide opportunities for the coordinated administration of resources.
An international park spanning the Bering Strait would recognize this region's common heritage, it would constitute a joint effort to preserve the important natural elements of the land bridge and the cultural traditions that continue today, and it would create a dramatic symbol of cooperation between two world superpowers.
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