Some Ethnographic and Historical Information on the Use of Large Land Mammals in the Copper River Basin
Simeone WE. 2006. Some Ethnographic and Historical Information on the Use of Large Land Mammals in the Copper River Basin. Cultural Resources Report. Cultural Resource Report, NPS/AR/CRR-2006-56. NPS Alaska Regional Office, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
This study was conducted for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve to document Ahtna traditional knowledge of large land mammals, particularly caribou, Dall sheep and moose. Mountain goats are not included because there is no evidence that they were a significant resource. The research focused primarily on lands within the northern portions of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, a part of which is also the territory of the upper and lower Ahtna (see Figure 1). The territory of the latter encompasses all of the Chitina River and the Copper River from below Wood Canyon to about the mouth of the Tazlina River, while that of the former includes an area from the Sanford River north to Tanada and Copper Lakes, and the upper Nabesna River. Although National Park lands are the primary focus we have also included interviews with elders whose families hunted and trapped in the Gulkana River drainage, the Tangle Lakes and Crosswind Lake. The report has two objectives. The first is to provide information on the distribution and changes in the populations of caribou, Dall sheep, and moose within the Copper Basin. This information comes from interviews with a number of Ahtna and observations made by an assortment of nonNative prospectors, explorers, geologists and big game hunters that moved through the country between 1885 and 1945. The second objective is to document the relationship between caribou, Dall sheep, and moose and the Ahtna, who have inhabited the Copper Basin for at least a millennium. For most of that time the Ahtna people have depended on these animals for food and for materials to make tools and clothing. Over the last 125 years this relationship has changed in that the Ahtna no longer rely entirely on these animals for food and clothing, yet as the interviews make clear this relationship remains close and intimate.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Simeone, William
- Date of Issue
- 2006-08
- Units
- WRST
- Keywords
- Ahtna, Athabaskans, big game, Chitina River, Copper Lake, Copper River, Copper River Basin, Crosswind Lake, Culture, Ethnography, Gulkana River, Harvest, historic use, History, Hunting, hunting , Mammals, Nabesna River, Native Alaskans, NPS, Sanford River, Subsistence, Tanada Lake, Tangle Lakes, Tazlina river, traditional knowledge, Trapping, Wildlife, Wood Canyon, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park And Preserve, WRST