KNBA News

In Alaska, repatriations can range from as small as an individual bone or skull, up to hundreds of sets of remains. Between 1910 and 1941, Czech anthropologist Aleš Hrdlička curated the U.S. Museum of Natural History. In the 1930s he removed remains of more than 1,000 individuals and funerary objects from Larsen Bay and brought them to the Smithsonian Institute. In the early 1990s, the Smithsonian Institute returned many of those remains to the community. Here’s former Larsen Bay resident and

In early 2021, the Harvard Peabody Museum issued a statement apologizing for its reluctance working with Tribes to return some remains and funerary objects . The social unrest of 2020 reignited the conversation of returning ancestral remains and sacred objects to their people . Since contact, Indigenous people and settlers have had a contentious relationship, particularly as settlers appropriated items from traditional Native homelands. These items include totem poles, funerary and cultural

Curyung Tribe Second Chief J.J Larson and the council spent most of the year working on their action plan to address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons epidemic in the region . Larson expects to adopt it at a meeting June 8. “That was really amazing to get through that and get introduced to law enforcement and other entities across the state," Larson said. "Once we adopt the plan, there’s still going to be lots of work to do.” Ingrid Cumberlidge is the MMIP Coordinator for the U.S.

Aleknagik is a small community 20 miles up the road from Bristol Bay’s western hub of Dillingham. It has around 200 residents, but no local police. So, for years, when someone in Aleknagik called 911, the person on the other end of the line couldn’t offer direct help . That was dangerous, said Kay Andrews, Aleknagik’s city administrator. “Five years ago, my daughter tried to call 911, and she was told to call another number,” Andrews said. “This was an emergency. She has no means to write

A booming Canadian mining area known as the Golden Triangle is key to northwest British Columbia’s economy. But Southeast Alaska Tribes, fishermen and other concerned citizens say that the Canadian mining sector enjoys all the economic benefits, while those downstream bear much of the ecological risks. Efforts to elevate the issue to the international level have had some successes. And recently, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights informed a coalition of 15 Tribes that it had agreed to

Every 10 years, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration analyzes data from its thousands of weather stations and releases new climate “normals,” providing temperature touchstones for any given day or month of the year . The data shows how Southcentral Alaska, and the country as a whole, is heating up. Brian Brettschneider is a research physical scientist with the National Weather Service Alaska Region. He’s been looking at the new data for a while. It’s a lot of information. “My computer

A state corporation is in the middle of making another big push to try to get an 800-mile-long natural gas pipeline built from the North Slope to the Kenai Peninsula. It’s a massive and complicated project that’s been talked about for decades . Supporters say it will be good for the state’s economy and for energy costs. But critics argue that it’s way too expensive, and it’s time to give up on the pipe dream. “There’s just no money in it. It’s never worked out. It’s never gotten built,” said

Three and a half months after its water plant burned down, the village of Tuluksak has secured enough funding to build a new one . When Tuluksak lost its water plant and source of drinking water to a fire on January 16, grant applications for a new one were already underway. The water plant was an old building that needed to be replaced. According to a representative from the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, the building had lasted 40 years, double its projected lifespan. The

Quannah Chasinghorse, a Han Gwich’in and Oglala Lakota fashion model and climate justice activist from Fairbanks, is the most recent face on the cover of Vogue Mexico . Chasinghorse said her phone started to buzz with messages as soon as the cover photo began circulating online . It hasn’t stopped since. Across Alaska, Indigenous women have told her that it marks an important turning point in how Alaska Natives are portrayed in the fashion industry and in mainstream media. “I knew people would

A new study from Alaska Native Tribal Health Center shows that cancer rates among Alaska Native people have gone up over the last half-century. Researchers say the data points to opportunities for prevention. The most common cancers among Alaska Native people are breast, colorectal and lung cancer. With screenings like mammograms and colonoscopies, they can be detected and treated early . Yet cancer remains the leading cause of death for Alaska Native people — and it has been for decades. “This