News Release

Noatak Placenames collaborators recognized & Eileen Devinney Award for Savaqatigiiyułiq (Cooperation) Announced

Discussing traditional placenames along the Noatak River.

Emily Creek

News Release Date: May 2, 2024

Contact: Emily Creek, 907-442-8342

Noatak, AK -- The National Park Service (NPS) office in Kotzebue, Alaska, is pleased to announce a new annual award, the Eileen DeVinney Award.

For the inaugural Eileen DeVinney Award, NPS staff traveled to the Native Village of Noatak to thank the Noatak Placenames project 2023 field team: Hilda Booth, Thurston Booth, Ricky Ashby, and James Adams for their energy, hospitality, and incredible depth of expertise on the Noatak River summer of 2023. It was extra special to give this award to Hilda Booth, who worked closely with Eileen and has been championing placenames work for her community for many years.

The Eileen DeVinney Award will be presented annually to a member of the Northwest Arctic community. Recipients will be recognized for their contribution to service and perpetuation of traditional knowledge in Kobuk Valley National Park, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, and/or Noatak National Preserve.

This award is named after former NPS anthropologist and resource manager, Eileen DeVinney, who deeply loved the northwest Alaska communities. Eileen passed away in 2017 of cancer. Her work in the region championed the recording, preservation, and continuation of traditional knowledge and set the stage for the work that is being done today.

The Noatak Placenames work began with a series of oral histories conducted in 2004 by Eileen DeVinney and re-started in 2020. After several COVID-19 delays, fieldwork kicked off in 2022. In July 2023, the research team made it “almost” to our destination before experiencing a malfunction in one of our boats. Facing a very slow and long tow back to Native Village of Noatak through incredibly high waters, spirits remained high, invaluable knowledge of river navigation by Thurston Booth and James Adams was highlighted, and long and meaningful conversations continued to take place.

Thank you to this team for all your work—and the excitement to continue our work on placenames and cultural practices along the Noatak River. This research project and all its members embody the spirit of this award –and the work of Eileen DeVinney—perfectly.

The Western Arctic National Parklands staff also want to thank Eileen Devinney’s family for their support of this community award.

For more information on the Noatak Placenames Project contact NPS Cultural Anthropologist Emily Creek at e-mail us or NPS Archeologist Justin Junge at [e-mail].

You can also follow Western Arctic National Parklands on Facebook, Instagram, and FLICKR.

NPS Photo/Emily Creek

James Adams receiving the Eileen DeVinney Award for his work on contributions to the Noatak Placenames Project in summer of 2023.

NPS Photo/Emily Creek

Hilda Booth and Ricky Ashby receiving the Eileen DeVinney Award for their contributions to the Noatak Placenames Project in the summer of 2023. Not pictured is Thurston Booth, who also received an award.