Heritage

The Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust promotes awareness of the deep historical and cultural ties people have to Bristol Bay.

From the very beginning we wanted the Land Trust to be more than just a conservation organization. Conservation is generational. There is really no guarantee that what we value or protect in our time will be valued and protected by future generations. For this reason one of our key objectives at the Land Trust is to promote awareness of the deep historical and cultural ties people have to Bristol Bay. For some of us these ties go back thousands of years. For others it may be a century, decades or just a few years. Regardless how long our time connected to Bristol Bay we are all shaped by its lands, its waters, and the generations that lived here before us.

Our Story

Occasional Notes from the Life, History and Lore of Bristol Bay and Southwest Alaska as Heard on KDLG Public Radio between 1998 and 2008

1. Sailboat Days in Bristol Bay. Reflection on the days when the Sockeye of Bristol Bay were harvested from sailboats – https://bristolbaylandtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/01-Our-Story-Sailboat-Days-01.m4a
2. George Krause. George tells story of his first cannery job in 1939. George was born in Kulukuk the son of Peter Krause. He was a cannery worker, sailboat fisherman, World War 2 Veteran and well known local aviator – https://bristolbaylandtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/08-Our-Story-George-Krauss.m4a
3. Joe Clark. Reindeer Days. Joe Clark, distinguished elder and fisherman from Clarks Point recounts his experiences herding reindeer and reflects on the causes for the disappearance of the reindeer – https://bristolbaylandtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Our-Story-WK-12-6-Joe-Clark-Reindeer-Days-repeat-2.mp3
4. Cross at Nushagak. Reflections on the large Russian Orthodox cross designed and built by Gusty Wahl and erected at Nushagak by Dillingham’s Russian Orthodox community. The cross lasted nearly 20 years, but sadly has now fallen. – https://bristolbaylandtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Our_Story_000815_Cross_At_Nushagak.mp3
5. One Night at Reindeer Camp: A Bristol Bay Christmas Story. An old reindeer herder’s story of a strange visitor who stopped in for some tea and dry fish one Christmas Eve a long time ago. https://bristolbaylandtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/One-Night-at-Reindeer-Camp-A-Bristol-Bay-Christmas-Story.mp3
6. Harvey Samuelsen: Celebrated Leader and Elder talks about fishing and his early days in Bristol Bay. https://bristolbaylandtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Harvey-Samulsen.mp3
7. Robert Kallenberg: School teacher Klukuk and Dillingham, Fisherman, Trapper, Territorial Board of Fisheries. Excerpt of interview with Mike Davis. https://bristolbaylandtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Our_Story_020311_Robert_Kallenberg__1.mp3

Sailing for Salmon

In 2009 the Land Trust put together an exhibit Sailing for Salmon and a book of the same name to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Bristol Bay Commercial Fishery. The Land Trust also worked with partners to help organize a similar exhibit to celebrate cannery workers and cannery life in Bristol Bay. The project is called the Diamond NN Cannery History Project,

Click here to purchase from Amazon the book Sailing for Salmon: The Early Day of Commercial Fishing in Alaska’s Bristol Bay – 1884 to 1951 .

Collecting Native Place Names

With Funding through The Nature Conservancy in Alaska the Land Trust collected Native place names for the Nushagak, Mulchatna and Wood Rivers and the Wood-Tikchik State Park. Native place names for Bristol Bay can be found at: https://bbonline.bbnc.net/

Compilation of Place Names in Wood-Tikchik State Park

Remembering the Great Flu of 1919

In the spring of 1919, the Spanish Flu struck Bristol Bay, resulting in the great loss of life. In 2019, the Land Trust collaborated with Bristol Bay Native Corporation to create an exhibit and book remembering those who were taken by this tragic event and recognizing the orphans who survived. Many descendants of those orphans are today the residents and leaders of Bristol Bay.

Click here to purchase from Amazon the book: Bristol Bay Remembers: The Great Flu of 1919

Click here to view the short film Bristol Bay and the Spanish Flu

Repatriation of Igiugig Ancestors

The Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust represented the Igiugig Tribal Council in a request to the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. for the repatriation of the remains of 25 individuals who were removed in 1932 from nearby graveyards on the Kvichak River by anthropologist Ales Hrdlicka. In 2017 the remains were returned and the Director of the Natural History Museum, Kirk Johnson, came to Igiugig to participate in the reburial ceremony.

Memorial at Nushagak

In 1840, residents of the village of Nushagak erected a monument to honor Fedor Kolmakov, the Russian trader who founded the first trading post there in 1819. Nushagak became the birthplace of the Russian Orthodox church in Southwest Alaska. The monument, a pole topped with a globe and a Russian Orthodox cross, can be seen in early photographs of the village. In 2017, with help from the Land Trust, the monument was restored by the community of Dillingham and a team of Russian adventurers and historians led by Dr. Mikhail Malakhov, a well known Arctic explorer. The new monument also commemorates the Alaska Natives who helped build the trading post and John W. Clark, the first American trader at the village and a founder of the Bristol Bay Commercial Fishery.