Interior Alaska Community & Environmental Summit Proceedings
Jacqueline and Cherilyn in a team building yard exercise
Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) hosted the Interior Alaska Environmental and Community Summit to bring together tribes from across the state to acknowledge and document community and environmental challenges across Alaska. Regions from the Interior, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Kodiak, Naknek, and Nome area were represented. The goal was to hear directly from community leaders about issues and concerns and how local, state, and federal partnerships can be created to address them.
We heard from participants that they want us to share themes from the summit with a wider audience so that decisionmakers and funders can understand the types of issues and solutions that leaders across rural Alaska are addressing. In addition to sharing the final report with summit participants and their networks, we will also share the report through our communication channels and funder networks.
“Our village voted to relocate 30 years ago, it hasn’t happened yet.”
Community History Timeline: A Visioning Exercise
“The history timeline activity, it connects all of us.” —Flora Horner, Shungnak
Photo: Inter-generational sharing (Byron, Andrew, Anishia)
One of the interactive activities was the co-creation of a community timeline. Why a community timeline? It puts into perspective what we have and what we walk past and no longer notice—whether it’s historical buildings or any sort of old infrastructure that’s become unimportant to our attention. Nevertheless, it holds value, it tells a story. A community timeline also helps build an interconnection among generations, and it helps new generations preserve the history and patrimony of those who came before them. At the end of history, the present and future present itself. Communities can see what occurred in the past and what they can dream, envision and accomplish in the future.
What the leaders dream for their future is powerful. Here are some examples of listed dreams:
Upgrade air travel infrastructure
Camps in allotments
More employment opportunities
Alternative energy infrastructure
Healthy fish stocks
Refocus on subsistence economies
Better solid waste solutions
Keep traditions and culture alive
Provide the next generation with healthy land to preserve subsistence traditions
Language preservation
