Sponsor
Funded by the NPS Alaska Region Cultural Resource Advisory Council and the Subsistence Advisory Council.
Document Type
Report
Publication Date
2025
Subjects
Kobuk Valley National Park (Alaska) -- History, Inupiat -- Alaska -- Kobuk River Valley -- History, Iñupiaq -- Alaska -- Kobuk Valley -- Social life and customs, Ethnoarchaeology -- Alaska -- Kobuk Valley
Abstract
North of the Arctic Circle in far northwestern Alaska, Kobuk Valley National Park is a remote, roadless protected area transected by the Kobuk River—one of the northernmost salmon-bearing rivers in North America. Characterized by tundra, taiga, and the dramatic 25-square-mile Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, the park serves as a critical pathway for nearly half a million migrating caribou. Significant archaeological sites have been documented along the Kobuk River, demonstrating thousands of years of human settlement, fishing, caribou hunting, and many other cultural activities. At the time of European contact, and into the early 20th century, there were still Iñupiaq “Eskimo” villages in what would become the park. Though this place may seem like wilderness to park visitors, it remains a key part of the homeland of contemporary Iñupiaq communities. Iñupiaq families maintain myriad connections—hunting caribou, especially where the herds cross the Kobuk River; subsistence fishing; gathering plants; carrying out social and ceremonial events; maintaining small cabins on allotments; guiding outside hunters and fishers; traveling by such means as snowmachine and dogsled; and reconnecting with places of personal and ancestral importance. Despite these communities’ gradual relocation to villages outside the park through the 20th century, their detailed knowledge of and deep attachments to Kobuk Valley endure. This monograph summarizes these themes, based on several years of direct collaboration between researchers and the residents of Kiana, Alaska, with a particular focus on the knowledge and values of those families who descend from Kobuk Valley village communities and continue to value and return to this part of their homeland in the present day.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/45024
Citation Details
Deur, Douglas, Jamie Hebert, Emily Creek, Tricia Gates Brown, Hannah Atkinson, the Knowledge-Holders of Kiana, Alaska, and Christina Westlake 2025. I Love that Country, That’s Why I Go There: Enduring Kiana Village Ties to Kobuk Valley National Park. USDI National Park Service, Alaska Region Office, Anchorage Alaska.
Description
Completed under Master Cooperative Agreement P16AC00003 between the USDI National Park Service and Portland State University.
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