Proposed park bridges sea, politics

June 24, 1993

Michael Gerhardt
Arctic Sounder

Thousands of years ago, a land bridge linked Asia to the North American continent. Even after melting glaciers caused water to again flow back across the land, the peoples on both sides of the Bering Sea retained their contacts and common bonds.

Those connections remained until tensions between two western powers dropped an ice curtain through the Bering Straight.

Now, with the melting of that curtain and with the current interest in Russian-American relations, there are attempts to once again connect the two continents — not by land, but with an international park that would leapfrog the Bering Sea from the Chukotskiy Peninsula to Northwest Alaska.

The Beringia Heritage International Park would encompass national park lands in Northwest Alaska and a yet-to-be-created equivalent in the Chukotka Autonomous Region of Russia.

Since the late 1980s, the U.S. National Park Service, the National Audubon Society, and scientific organizations in the U.S. and in Russia have been working towards creation of the park. In 1990, then-Presidents Bush and Gorbachev endorsed the idea of creating the park. The idea now is supported by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and by President Clinton.

Beringia would be used to unite countries to better study and preserve the cultural heritage of the areas.

The park would "enhance the cooperative study, conservation, interpretation and understanding of shared resources," according to draft U.S. legislation to create the park.

The National Park Service originally intended that the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve on the Seward Peninsula be used as the American side of the park. But use of that park has been met with opposition from Native village councils on the Seward Peninsula.

Concerns about possible restrictions on subsistence rights and on access to lands in the park has prompted a negative view of the idea, according to Kawerak Corp. President Loretta Bullard.

Kawerak is the non-profit division of Bering Straits Native Corp. and represents 20 village and traditional councils in the region.

"There's pretty overwhelming opposition," Bullard said.

When the Kawerak board of directors visited villages in the region last fall, 23 out of 32 villages were opposed to the idea of creating the park, Bullard said. Only one was in favor, while Kawerak and the others chose not to take a position.

She said Kawerak decided to defer to the IRA and traditional councils.

That lack of support for the idea caused a shift to park areas in the NANA region. First, Cape Krusenstern National Monument was considered. Later, the other parks in what is known as the Northwest Alaska Areas parks were included in the plan.

"Because of opposition from Kawerak, NANA (Corp.), working with the Audubon Society, drafted a new bill for introduction in congress that changed the focus...from Bering Land Bridge area to Northwest Areas," said Bob Gerhard, superintendent of the Northwest Alaska Areas parks.

A bill to create Beringia was introduced several years ago by a U.S. senator from Rhode Island, but it was quickly withdrawn after opposition from Alaska's congressional delegation and from Native groups who were not consulted on the legislation.

Since then, the NANA Corporation has been working on the Beringia plan and has been looking at parks in its own region.

"Originally, it was only Bering Land Bridge and not the Northwest Areas, but its been NANA's efforts that has added those areas," Gerhard said.

And although NANA has been more involved in the park project, the Native corporation also has concerns about the park, according to NANA Vice-President Pete Schaeffer. He said that one of those concerns was that Native organizations were not involved in the park planning until they spoke up.

Schaeffer said NANA is still working with the Audubon Society — and with Kawerak — on the draft legislation.

The draft emphasizes that the park will also be used for the preservation of Native culture and subsistence rights within the area.

One aspect of Beringia's possible creation that appeals to both NANA and to Kawerak is the potential for jobs, something that is also mentioned in the draft.

For the idea to fly in either the Bering Straits region, or in the NANA region, the park service is going to have to get its message out, Schaeffer said.

"It's going to involve a lot of work on the park service's side to convince people that it is a good idea," he said.

Bill Welch of the National Park Service's Alaska Regional Office said that a lot of their work is going to involve assuaging the fears that Beringia will evolve into a park that will curtail subsistence.

"Will it affect subsistence? Will it mean new areas will be created by the National Park Service? The answer to these questions is no, it's not going to affect subsistence, it's not going to affect the way we manage the National Park Service, it's not going to create any new lands," Welch said.

"Legislation is not going to be created by the National Park Service — legislation will be created by the people of Northwest Alaska," he said.

Schaeffer said that NANA will continue to work on the park and that the corporation will make a recommendation on Beringia. After that, NANA will travel to villages in the region to put the idea before village and traditional councils, much in the same manner as was done in the Bering Straits region. That would probably be done around December of this year, he said.

Meanwhile, on the Russian side, legislation is pending in Moscow. There is not a Russian equivalent to a national park at this time — something that is required for the park to be created. At one point, the governor of the Chukotka region designated the whole peninsula as a park in an attempt to support Beringia. However, the action created more of a state park than a national park and has never been recognized for use as the Russian side of Beringia.