State takes steps to return sacred lands to Gulkana village

Bridges usually connect communities. But one built in 1943 during a realignment of the state's oldest highway sliced the old Alaska village of Gulkana in two, destroying homes and part of the cemetery.

And if that wasn't enough, nearly three decades later, after villagers had abandoned the old site, a federal official deeded the unused land with some of the graves to the state to support another realignment of the Richardson Highway.

Now, a state parking lot and camping area sit atop what was the old village, giving fishermen access to the Gulkana River, while road-trippers have damaged what remains of the cemetery atop the hill.

The residents in the Athabascan community of 116 — now living across the river from the old village — want their ancestral land back. They say the site is sacred and was given to the state without the village's approval, heaping another injustice on top of the earlier injustice during World War II. They add that efforts to recover the land from the state have failed for decades.

Now, Gov. Bill Walker, having walked among the graves during a visit with key state officials in June, is taking steps to return the site.

"It's a deep cultural hurt, and it's time to correct it," Walker said Friday.

Walker said he was "deeply moved" by his visit — and stories from elders who spoke of "decades of impasse" with the state and no legal rights to stop travelers from trampling on burial sites.

In an August letter to the village, Walker said he has formed a team to explore a quick, legally appropriate way to return the sacred lands back to the village.

"We can't go back and rewrite history … but we don't see an impediment to getting this resolved," Walker said.

Residents of the village, working with Ahtna, the Alaska Native corporation for their Southcentral region, are offering to trade the state an equal amount of land — 13 acres — located across the highway.

The new site would permit the same level of river access for boaters but would include additional facilities for campers and fishermen to reduce pollution and human waste dumped into the river. The village gets its water from the river.

Residents say they weren't informed in 1943 before bulldozers with the Alaska Road Commission began tearing up the land for the road realignment. The work came during a frantic military buildup. Road planning intensified in Alaska when Japanese forces occupied two Aleutian islands in 1942, and the Alaska and Glenn highways were built and tied into the Richardson during World War II.

In 1971, to support construction of the existing 405-foot bridge built a few years later, an official with the Bureau of Land Management deeded the land to the state without the village's consent, said Eileen Ewan, president of Gulkana's tribal government.

Gravel fill from that effort was dumped onto the old village to support the parking lot.

The village isn't seeking compensation for the lands it lost, Ewan said. It just wants them back to help protect the river and the cemetery.

"A lot of people felt at first, why should we give something up when something was taken from us wrongfully?" Ewan said. "But that's not how it is now. When the state is giving up an asset, we have to give something back, even though we came in on the short end."

People can't control who visits the old cemetery, now overgrown with brush. Many of the crosses and picket fences that once surrounded the old gravesites were carted off long ago.

Gulkana resident Bobby Neeley, 67, said he had to wait two years to bury his sister's ashes near their father because the state owned the right-of-the-way to the land.

"Within the first five minutes of hearing about her dying, I decided to fight for that land," said Neeley, a Vietnam war veteran.

He said he made the request to former Gov. Sean Parnell in a letter, and received approval for the burial about a year later. The small piece of land for the burial was turned over to the village, officials said. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities crew surveyed the site before he could bury Alberta Jane Neeley, who was 62 at her death.

Bobby Neeley said the old village should also be returned because it has sentimental value to residents. His father was born in a white tent there, on land buried by the parking lot.

Villagers said they've fought for a land transfer for decades, making repeated requests as new governors came along. They said this time it feels like it will happen.

"It's come along a lot more than we have seen in the past," Ewan said. "For the governor to come and visit is a message alone. He heard elders speak and talked to council members and the message he got was heartfelt for him."

The exchange is expected to take two to three years, she said. The first meeting of state, village and Ahtna leaders since Walker's visit is set for Friday, to plan next steps, she said.

Walker, speaking from his Anchorage office last week, said a key requirement will be ensuring that the public will still have access to the Gulkana River.

The process must also include public input, Walker said.

To help facilitate the transfer, Ahtna has paid for cultural surveys of the proposed land it hopes to trade. The corporation also has a design in place for a new parking lot, camping area and boat ramp, using a plan commissioned by the state division of parks in the 1980s, during one of the village's earlier attempts to get the land back, said Joe Bovee, vice president of Lands and Resources for Ahtna.

The Native corporation is planning to pay a contractor at least $500,000 for the new parking lot, with amenities that currently don't exist, such as septic tanks where RVs can dump waste, instead of into the river as sometimes occurs now.

The corporation hopes to start construction next spring.

Litigation against the state wasn't the right approach, said Bovee, because it could have taken years and cost as much as the construction.

Ahtna is working with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources on the plan, he said. People will pay a small fee to camp and use the new site — they pay nothing now — but the money will help support trash disposal and other upkeep, Bovee said.

Ahtna and the village hope to overcome another obstacle that has complicated past efforts by ensuring that the DOT will have right-of-way access to the bridge from the old site, Bovee said.

He said the land transfer may never happen if not now.

"There are enough people now who know something wrong was done, and there are good people in the state offices trying to resolve this issue," he said.

As a first step after the land is transferred, the village has plans to improve what's left of the cemetery by identifying unknown graves and fencing it off to keep scavengers away, officials said.

Getting the cemetery and old village back will right a wrong that has lasted decades, said Ewan, president of the tribal government for about 20 years.

"Knowing this land was taken without our consent, it has hurt the people, because when we lose things that belong to us, we feel bad," she said.

Correction: This story originally identified photographer Brice Habeger as Brice Haberger.