Beringia: A Region of Collaboration

Evguenia (Jenya) Anichtchenko, Jeanette Koelsch, and Rudy D’Alessandro, National Park Service

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Dancers in traditional regalia at the 2005 Beringia Days celebration.

Photo courtesy of Vic Knox

2021 is a very special year for the National Park Service (NPS) Shared Beringian Heritage Program. Thirty years ago, at the end of the Cold War, the warming in political relations between the U.S. and (at that time) Soviet Union inspired the leaders of these two countries to sign an agreement to foster cooperation in the field of environmental protection, cultural preservation, and the study of climate change in the Bering Strait region. Following this agreement, an annual appropriation from the U.S. Congress to the Alaska Region of the NPS established the Shared Beringian Heritage Program and provided funding for natural resource and cultural heritage projects that bridge the Straits. The program’s key goals are to promote conservation, sustainability, and increased knowledge of the region’s natural and cultural resources; to preserve subsistence opportunities; and to foster cultural connections and the exchange of traditional ecological knowledge in this diverse international area.

During the following three decades, the Shared Beringian Heritage Program has extended over $12M in funding to 172 U.S.-Russian collaborative projects, selected through an annual call for proposals. These collaborations, some of which are reflected in the articles presented in this volume, were accomplished in very dynamic physical and political environments. Each project pursued its own set of objectives, but also contributed to the overarching goal of bridging political differences and sustaining positive dialogue and interactions between the U.S. and Russia. Thirty years may not seem like a long time, but very few (if any) U.S.-Russian initiatives besides the two countries’ collaboration in space and the Shared Beringian Heritage Program can claim three decades of continuous, mutually beneficial, and productive work.

The Shared Beringian Heritage Program staff (left to right): Jeanette Koelsch, Evguenia (Jenya) Anichtchenko, Jacob Martin, and Megan Withers (Nicole Braem is also on staff but not pictured).

NPS/Michael Thompson

This achievement would not be possible without the commitment and expertise of the program’s staff, interns, volunteers and collaborators. Bob Gerhard, Peter Richter, Katerina Solovjova Wessels, Paul Haertel, Dale Taylor, Bill Welch, Jeanne Schaff, Bruce Greenwood, Janis Kozlowski, Elizabeth Shea, Rebecca Talbott, Vladimir Bychkov, Andrey Khalkachan, Andy Tremayne, Ian Buvit, Leigh Welling, Max Graham, and Peter Neitlich all contributed to the program’s work in the past. Presently, the Shared Beringian Heritage Program team includes superintendent of the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve Jeanette Koelsch, Russian language and outreach specialist Evguenia (Jenya) Anichtchenko, cultural anthropologist Nicole Braem, Scientist in the Park intern Megan Withers, and newly hired program manager Jacob Martin.

With 21 ongoing projects, the program is looking forward to the next decade of international dialogue and collaboration. On behalf of the Shared Beringian Heritage Program team, we would like to thank all who contributed to this volume and our projects, as well as our communities at large: local residents, culture bearers, scientists, environmental activists, artists, and educators on both sides of the Bering Strait. Happy anniversary, Shared Beringian Heritage Program, and many more to come!

Celebrating Thirty Years of the National Park Service’s  Shared Beringian Heritage Program

Rudy D’Alessandro, Office of International Affairs, National Park Service

This special issue of Alaska Park Science celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of the National Park Service's Shared Beringian Heritage Program (SBHP). The priorities that the Beringia Program focuses on are those of shared ecosystems, climate change, population migrations, friendship flights, binational rapprochement, family reunions, recognition of traditional ecological knowledge, and cultural resilience.  Articles assembled in this issue reflect some of these themes and provide insight into projects recently supported by the program.  

During the 1990s, the Shared Beringian Heritage Program was at the forefront of valuing traditional ecological knowledge and instrumental in the thawing of relationships between Alaska and the Russian  Far East. According to early SBHP Program Manager, Superintendent Bob Gerhard:

"by listening, respecting, and using local knowledge, the program had many notable  achievements, most especially reuniting relatives and colleagues and documenting  languages and place names that might have otherwise disappeared."

To borrow from the 2011 report prepared by Kawerak, Inc. and project supervisor Eduard Zdor, Traditional Knowledge of the Native People of Chukotka About Walrus:

" . . . it is universally recognized that traditional knowledge of  Native people is the result of intellectual activity based on their traditions. It includes ability, skills, innovations, methods that form systems of traditional knowledge, and manifests itself in a traditional  way of life … passed through generations." 

The structure of the Beringia program  that made it unique and quite successful, is centered on community involvement and projects that reunite people for the wise management and use of shared resources across the Bering Strait. 

What we hope to impart with this special issue of Alaska Park Science is that the program is alive and well and is a component of a broader effort looking to meet and support the needs of local communities and stakeholders for whom Beringia is more than just a concept. It is an ongoing way of life that links two continents and their people, shared habitats, and species. In light of the existing tensions between the national governments on either side of the Bering Strait, the Shared Beringian Heritage Program is as vital today as it ever has been in providing common ground for two countries and their people to honor the land that gives them sustenance and a shared heritage.

Beringia during the last glacial maximum when Russia and Alaska were connected.

Explore articles in this issue of Alaska Park Science

Qatŋut: Celebrating the Legacy of Trade, Dance, and Connection at Sisualik
Hannah Atkinson, Alisa Chen, Caelie Butler, and Justin Junge

Ocean Currents and Food Security: The Crucial Role of Bering Strait Traditional Knowledge
Julie Raymond-Yakoubian and Anastasia Yarzutkina

Nome Archaeology Camp: Using Place-based Education to Inspire the Next Generation of Stewards in the Bering Strait Region
Jillian Richie, Hannah Atkinson, Justin Junge, and Lisa Ellanna

Studying Long-term Patterns of Bering Strait Cultural Interaction and Exchange Through Archaeological Ceramic Analysis
Shelby Anderson, Irina Ponkratova, and Irina Zhushchikhovskaya

Frank Churchill’s 1905 Documentation of the Reindeer Service in Alaska
Amber Lincoln, Varpu Lotvonen, and Patrick Plattet

Moving the Needle: Enhancing the Conservation of Iconic Shorebird Species of the Beringia Region
Daniel Catlin

A Thousand Miles of Islands: Building Relationships Between Young People of the Commander and Pribilof Islands
Ann Harding, Natalia Fomina, Olga Belonovich, Anastasia Barsukova, Tonia Kushin, Ram Papish, Aquilina Lestenkof, Kendra Bush, Heather Renner, Karin Holser, and Priscilla Wohl

The Aleutians: Observing Recent Floristic Changes Along the Stepping Stones of the North Pacific
Eric G. DeChaine and Michael P. Williams

The Fur Seals of Early American Alaska
Amanda L. Shirnina

Beringia National Park: Preserving the Natural and Cultural Heritage of Eastern Chukotka
Vlada Valchenko

Cite this article as

Anichtchenko, E., J. Koelsch, and R. D’Alessandro. 2021. Beringia: A region of collaboration. Alaska Park Science 20(2): 1-3.

Thank you to the contributing authors

Shelby Anderson, Associate Professor, Anthropology Department, Portland State University

Evguenia (Jenya) Anichtchenko, Guest Editor, Shared Beringian Heritage Program Outreach Specialist, National Park Service

Hannah Atkinson, Cultural Anthropologist, Western Arctic Parklands, National Park Service

Anastasia Barsukova, Head of Development Department, Commander Islands Nature and Biosphere Reserve

Olga Belonovich, Senior Researcher, Commander Islands Nature and Biosphere Reserve

Kendra Bush, Environmental Education Specialist, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Caelie Butler, Archaeology Graduate Student, Portland State University

Daniel Catlin, Research Assistant Professor, Virginia Polytechnic and State University

Alisa Chen, Undergraduate Student, Reed College

Rudy D’Alessandro, Office of International Affairs, National Park Service

Eric G. DeChaine, Professor of Biology, Western Washington University

Lisa Ellanna, Director, Katirvik Cultural Center

Natalia Fomina, Educator, Aleut National Local History Museum

Ann Harding, Biologist and Coordinator, Seabird Youth Network

Karin Holser, Grant Writer

Justin Junge, Archaeologist, Western Arctic Parklands, National Park Service

Jeanette Koelsch, Shared Beringian Heritage Program Director and Bering Land Bridge National Preserve Superintendent, National Park Service 

Tonia Kushin, Educator, Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District and Seabird Youth Network

Aquilina Lestenkof, Unaaĝix̂ Unangax̂, Director, Office of Cultural Affairs, Pribilof Islands Aleut Community of St. Paul Island

Amber Lincoln, Curator: Americas, The British Museum

Varpu Lotvonen, Postgraduate Student in Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Ram Papish, Artist and Educator, Seabird Youth Network

Patrick Plattet, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Irina Ponkratova, North International University, Russia

Julie Raymond-Yakoubian, Director, Social Science Program, Kawerak, Inc.

Heather Renner, Supervisory Wildlife Biologist, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Jillian Richie, Archeologist, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, National Park Service

Amanda L. Shirnina, Historian

Vlada Valchenko, Communication Specialist, Beringia National Park, Chukotka, Russia

Michael P. Williams, Research Affiliate and Instructor, Biology Department, Western Washington University

Priscilla Wohl, President, Northern Research Technical Assistance Center (NORTAC), University of Northern Colorado

Anastasia Yarzutkina, Head of the Scientific and Educational Center of the Chukotka Branch of the Ammosoy North-Eastern Federal University, Anadyr, Russia

Irina Zhushchikhovskaya, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of Peoples of the Far East, Russian Academy of Sciences

Alaska Park Science

Editorial Board

Grant Hilderbrand
Tahzay Jones
Jim Lawler
Jennifer Pederson Weinberger

Guest Editors

Evguenia Anichtchenko
Peter Neitlich

Managing Editor

Nina Chambers

Copy Editor

H. W. Murphy

Design

Nina Chambers

Alaska Park Science is the semi-annual science journal of the National Park Service Alaska Region. Each issue highlights research and scholarship important to the stewardship of Alaska’s parks.

Publication in Alaska Park Science does not signify that the contents reflect the views or policies of the National Park Service, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute National Park Service endorsement or recommendation.