Ahtna and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve: An Ethnographic Overview and Assessment

multiple woven blankets hanging up abouve snow on the ground
Cover of the Ahtna and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve: An Ethnographic Overview and Assessment

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Ahtna and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve: An Ethnographic Overview and Assessment by William E. Simeone and Odin T. W. Miller, 2024.

Ahtna and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve: An Ethnographic Overview and Assessment.
(pdf format, 8.8 MB)

This overview of Alaska Native history and culture in the Ahtna Region focuses on the Ahtna communities associated with Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. These communities include Mendaesde (Mentasta), Tsis Tl’edze’ Caegge (Cheesh’na or Chistochina), Ggax Kuna’ (Gakona), C’uul C’ena (Gulkana), Tezdlen Cae’e (Tazlina), Tl’aticae’e (Kluti Kaah or Copper Center), and Tsedi Na’ (Chitina). The Ahtna are a Northern Dene people who have inhabited the Copper River Basin and surrounding parts of Southcentral Alaska for thousands of years. Because Ahtna Traditional Territory encompasses a majority of today’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the history and culture of the park cannot be understood without knowledge of Ahtna history and culture.

The report is based on existing ethnographic and historical sources along with information from the authors’ own fieldwork and describes Ahtna culture as it existed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It also examines the longstanding relationships of Ahtna to lands in and near the park, primarily in the northern part of the Copper River Basin. Recommendations are made for future historical and ethnographic research to address identified data gaps. The Annotated Bibliography included in the report contains both the sources used in this report and other materials that can be consulted for further information about the culture and history of Ahtna. The report is illustrated with maps along with numerous historical photographs.

Ahtna and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve: An Ethnographic Overview and Assessment is the result of collaboration between Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve and the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission.

Last updated: November 13, 2024

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Mailing Address:

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve
PO Box 439
Mile 106.8 Richardson Highway

Copper Center, AK 99573

Phone:

907 822-5234

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