Legislature(2021 - 2022)DAVIS 106
03/09/2021 08:00 AM House TRIBAL AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB10 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 10 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 10-FUNTER BAY MARINE PARK: UNANGAN CEMETERY
8:01:26 AM
CHAIR ZULKOSKY announced that the only order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 10, "An Act relating to the Funter Bay marine
park unit of the state park system; relating to protection of
the social and historical significance of the Unangax cemetery
located in Funter Bay; providing for the amendment of the
management plan for the Funter Bay marine park unit; and
providing for an effective date."
8:01:36 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN, as prime sponsor, introduced HB 10
regarding the protection of Unangan Cemetery on the Northern tip
of Admiralty Island. It may remind members of House Bill 122,
the Funter Bay Protection Bill, which passed the House and
Senate and had only been awaiting scheduling from Senate Finance
in the spring of 2019 when committee recessed due to COVID-19.
Similarly, the purpose of HB 10 was to transfer about 250 acres
of state land from the Division of Mining, Land and Water into
the purview of the Division of Parks & Recreation ("Parks").
Land would be transferred but management wouldn't change, as the
land had already been managed for recreation for a long time,
she put forth. Transferred land will become part of, and
continue to be maintained, as part of the Funter Bay Marine
Park.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN shared Unangan Cemetery was adjacent to
what had been a relocation camp in World War II. After the
bombing of Dutch Harbor in 1942, the US military relocated
Alaska Native people from the Aleutian Peninsula and Pribilof
Islands to six different relocation sites, two of which were in
Funter Bay. One of these such sites (Funter Bay Cannery) was a
former cannery that had been abandoned due to lack of water.
Across the bay, at an abandoned mine, was another camp (Funter
Bay Mine); another (Killisnoo) was located near Angoon; another
(Ward Lake) near Ketchikan; one (Wrangell Institute) near
Wrangell, and lastly, Burnett Inlet. Ungangan and Aleutic
people, about 800 in total, had been relocated within days. It
had been determined in as much time it was an inadequate place
and wholly uninhabitable; furthermore, men were still forced
during subsistence times to return to the Pribilofs to hunt for
seals.
8:06:07 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN shared the Ungangan people have always
marked, maintained, and noted the graves were there at the
cemetery. Though it is close to Juneau, only about 15 miles, it
is a severe passage of water and not able to be served from
Juneau. Burnett Island was able to be served by Wrangell, she
added. The camp remained a horrible place to people to survive,
she offered. Folks from the cities of St. Paul and St. George
were not allowed to return to their homes for an additional 18
months post- war when other communities could be returned to,
partly because their communities had been destroyed by the US
military to prevent the Japanese, if they invaded, from being
able to use village sites as reinforced compounds. In about
2011, the cemetery located on private property in Killisnoo
changed hands, forbidding descendants from visiting family
members who had been buried there. This is what activated
Unangans whose family members were in Funter Bay to seek secure
and permanent access to their families' cemetery so that they
always had access and could visit in peace.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN added Funter Bay was an undeveloped park;
also, that there was a zero fiscal note and no additional cost
to the state. The group Friends of Admiralty Island has been
involved and would put some signage up explaining what the
remains are, she stated. It did not impact any private property
landowners and is supported by most of them, she added.
8:10:47 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CRONK asked for a more detailed map of Funter
Bay.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN replied there was a map in members'
packets, the added land an "island" between existing state
parcels. When it came time to select the land, so that there
were not two management overseers, a survey would have had to be
done at a cost. It was put forth the sliver of bog land with a
cliff behind it had never had commercial interest.
8:13:06 AM
CHAIR ZULKOSKY added two individuals from Parks were ready and
available to testify to this.
8:13:59 AM
TIMOTHY CLARK, Staff to Representative Sara Hannan, Alaska State
Legislature, walked the committee through a PowerPoint including
visuals from Unangan Cemetery. The image from 2017 in slide 2
was taken after an attempt at restoration had been made after
decades of neglect and isolation, he said. He moved on to slide
3, a map showing where the cemetery in Funter Bay was located
from Juneau, quite a bit more circuitous than its mere 15 miles
when taken by boat. Different parcels in the existing Funter
Bay Marine Park, and the areas to be added by HB 10, would join
to noncontiguous parts of the marine park, was seen on slide 4.
Transfer to park meant protections would not only be maintained
but enhanced, he shared. Friends of Admiralty Island and the
working group were also committed to enhancing and maintaining
trails to the park, mainly from the beach head, he stated. As
depicted in slide 5, infrastructure of cannery today was
decayed; what those found in WWII was not dramatically better,
he pointed out. Funter Bay and other internment camps were
depicted on slide 6, he said.
8:18:35 AM
CHAIR ZULKOSKY asked regarding slide 4, if track A02 was
currently not pursued for any commercial interests, so in
addition to the island in the bay would be managed by DNR who
also managed the other tracts.
MR. CLARK replied yes that the individuals from Parks could
speak to it, that there was nothing to be sacrificed, and that
the transfer required no additional surveying which kept the
cost at zero.
8:20:19 AM
RICKY GEASE, Director, Division of Parks & Recreation, supported
HB 10 and said Parks would be happy to manage it, as it was
important to the culture and history of the state and Unangan
people. He pointed out the Division of Mining, Land and Water
was Parks' sister agency, and as such were able to form
Interagency Land Management Agreements with the authority of
going up to 640 acres to be managed as though it were state park
land. The agreements were an easy way for agencies to
coordinate land management at a reduced cost, he said.
Considering the cultural and social significance, he stated
Parks division was happy to permanently authorize the transfer.
8:23:43 AM
PRESTON KROES, Southeast Region Superintendent, Alaska
Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks & Recreation,
shared he was approached by Citizens Advisory Board, Friends of
Admiralty Island to find a way to protect the parcel of land and
have it classified as a national landmark and had been asked to
advise. The benefit of going through legislature is it will be
outright part of state park and much more sufficient in terms of
protection.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 10 Sponsor Statement 1.15.2021.pdf |
HTRB 3/9/2021 8:00:00 AM |
HB 10 |
| HB 10 Sectional Analysis Version A 1.15.2021.pdf |
HTRB 3/9/2021 8:00:00 AM |
HB 10 |
| HB 10 Version A.PDF |
HTRB 3/9/2021 8:00:00 AM |
HB 10 |
| HB 10 Fiscal Note.pdf |
HTRB 3/9/2021 8:00:00 AM |
HB 10 |
| HB 10 PowerPoint Presentation 2.18.2021.pdf |
HTRB 3/9/2021 8:00:00 AM |
HB 10 |
| HB 10 Support Letters.pdf |
HTRB 3/9/2021 8:00:00 AM |
HB 10 |