News Release
NPS Photo/Annie Carlson, Kiana village seen from the Kobuk River
News Release Date: October 16, 2026
KOTZEBUE, Alaska — Western Arctic National Parklands will present the 2026 Eileen Devinney Award to the Kiana Traditional Council, Tessa Baldwin-Cyrus, Robin Kornfield and Thomas Jackson in recognition of their longstanding partnership with the National Park Service and contributions to preserving and sharing traditional knowledge in Northwest Alaska.
The annual award recognizes individuals and groups whose service helps perpetuate traditional knowledge connected to Kobuk Valley National Park, Cape Krusenstern National Monument and Noatak National Preserve.
This year's recipients are being recognized for their collaboration with the NPS on a long-term ethnographic project documenting the relationships, experiences and connections of Kiana and neighboring communities with Kobuk Valley National Park. The work began in 2015 with interviews with Kiana Elders and built on earlier archaeological research led by Doug Anderson of Brown University with support from the Kiana Traditional Council.
“Our ability to care for these parklands is strengthened by relationships with communities like Kiana and by listening to the people whose knowledge and connection to these lands extend across generations,” said Jeanette Koelsch, superintendent of Western Arctic National Parklands. “The Kiana Traditional Council, Tessa, Robin and Thomas have generously shared their time, knowledge and perspectives with us. This award recognizes not only what they have helped preserve and document, but the enduring partnership that makes us better stewards of these lands.”
The project continued through collaboration with Elders and youth, including work at Kiana Elders Camp in 2023. From 2024 through 2026, Baldwin-Cyrus, Kornfield and Jackson also helped organize a community gathering at Swift Water Place, an important place for the Kiana community. More than 50 community members participated in the gathering this summer, which included Iñupiaq dancing by youth from the Opt-In program, a community potluck and participation by Doug and Wanni Anderson.
The completion of the ethnographic report in 2026 marks an important milestone in the long partnership between Kiana and the National Park Service to document and preserve knowledge, stories and connections to the lands that are now part of Kobuk Valley National Park.
Western Arctic National Parklands thanks the Kiana community for its longstanding partnership and for sharing knowledge that helps the National Park Service better understand and care for these lands.
The Eileen Devinney Award honors former NPS anthropologist and resource manager Eileen Devinney, who died in 2017. Devinney's work in Northwest Alaska championed the documentation, preservation and continuation of traditional knowledge and helped establish relationships and work that continue today. The award was established with the blessing of her family.
Previous Eileen Devinney Award recipients include Cyrus Harris of Kotzebue in 2025; the late Shield Downey Jr. of Ambler in 2024; and Hilda Booth, Thurston Booth, Ricky Ashby and James Adams of Noatak in 2023.
The ethnographic report, “I Love That Country — That's Why I Go There,” is available through Portland State University.
Last updated: October 13, 2026