Impressions of Indian River

Historic cultural landscapes, the products of human interaction with the environment, express the values and perceptions of the cultural groups that have shaped them. This study traces the processes of landscape change that occurred in what is now Sitka National Historical Park, beginning with the time prior to European settlement (1804), and continuing up to the present; the investigation both documents the former landscape features of the site, and seeks to gain an understanding of the cultural dynamics that changed those features.The temperate rainforest, riparian, and tidal habitats that characterize the site were utilized by the Tlingit (the local Native Americans) for centuries prior to European colonization of the area. The significance of the site was heightened in 1804 when a battle between the Tlingit and Russian fur-hunters took place at the mouth of the river, an event that resulted in tragedy for the tribe. The study site was also valued for the resources it provided, both by the Russian colonists who utilized the area after 1804, and the American residents who moved to the region after the sale of Russian America to the United States in 1867. These early Russian and American enterprises resulted in the removal of large amounts of timber from the site and the clearing of several areas.However, the Europeans and Americans also appreciated the scenic qualities of the landscape. Ultimately, the rapid regeneration of the lush rainforest vegetation and a growing appreciation of the area's natural beauty, which stemmed from the nineteenth-century appreciation for romantic wilderness, led to the creation of a government preserve on the site in 1890. Known locally as Indian River Park, the site was also selected, in 1902 and 1906, as the locale for the display of a number of totem poles that had been originally collected from nearby abandoned Tlingit and Haida villages for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. The need to preserve the forest timber, the totem poles, and the 1804 battle site led to the designation of the park as Sitka National Monument in 1910.

The preserve has remained largely intact since that time. Protected from timber removal, it has become heavily forested again. The creation of the monument in 1910, which at the time was intended to recognize what was considered to be a dying culture, has now become a center for Tlingit cultural growth and expression; this is being accomplished through NPS and the Tlingit cooperation in the interpretation native history and culture. Local natives who work in the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center, a facility that is part of the park's visitor center facility, demonstrate and practice Tlingit arts and conduct research. The strength of contemporary Tlingit ties to the landscape was recently expressed in the Cultural Center's commission of a new totem, the "Indian River People's History Pole," which commemorates the history of the several clans that have inhabited the Indian River area. Carved in the Cultural Center, the pole was raised in the park in 1996. NPS efforts to develop areas of cooperative management with the tribe suggest the possibility that a synergistic relationship is now emerging at the site.

Selected list of Alanen's publications