HB 10-FUNTER BAY MARINE PARK: UNANGAN CEMETERY  3:31:33 PM CHAIR HUGHES announced the consideration of 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 Unangan 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." She identified the invited testifiers. 3:32:20 PM REPRESENTATIVE SARA HANNAN, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, sponsor of HB 10, explained that this legislation proposes to add the cemetery in Funter Bay to the existing Funter Bay State Marine Park, which is located about 14 miles due west of Juneau on the northern tip of Admiralty Island. She said this was an ocean away for the Unangax people who were forced to relocate from the Pribilof Islands, and the ecosystem was completely different. She noted that this bill was heard in the 31st legislature, but did not make it through the process. 3:33:32 PM CHAIR HUGHES recognized that Senator Wilson had joined the committee. REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN continued the introduction of HB 10 relaying the information in the following sponsor statement: [Original punctuation provided.] HB 10 will transfer the parcel of land that includes the Unangax cemetery in Funter Bay from the Department of Natural Resources Division of Land Mining and Water to the Department of Natural Resources Division of Parks and Recreation. The parcel will be added to the Funter Bay Marine Park unit of the state park system for land management. HB 10 will preserve the cemetery and ensure its protection so that we may remember those who died and recognize the social and historical significance of the site. When the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands during WWII, the Unangax people were forcibly removed from the Pribilof Islands and interned in Southeast Alaska. Some were sent to Killisnoo near Angoon, others were sent to Burnett Inlet, some were sent to other Southeast locations and the rest were sent to Funter Bay near Juneau. They were given little notice and the villagers could take only what they could carry. It was hasty and traumatic. The Unangax were abandoned in old cannery bunk houses not meant to house so many people and not built for protection from winter's harshness. Entire families were sheltered in small cubicles that were separated sometimes only by blankets. The living conditions were unsanitary and there was inadequate food supply, no medical care, and no facilities for bathing, cooking or using the bathroom. Less than 30 miles away in Excursion Inlet, 700 Nazi Afrika Korps officers were imprisoned at a POW camp. The Nazis, sworn enemies of the United States and allies, were treated far better than the Unangax because their conditions were guaranteed by international law. The 700 German prisoners all returned home after the war without a single one dying during their imprisonment. Back on the Pribilofs, the homes of the Unangax were occupied by the U.S. military and looted, vandalized and some were even burned down. The Unangax men were forced back to the Pribilofs to harvest seal during the summer months because the revenue was a source of income for the U.S. government. The men did not want to leave their families but were told that they would not be permitted to return to their homes after the war if they did not help harvest seal. This is a disturbing parallel to when the Russians enslaved the Unangax nearly two centuries earlier and forced them to harvest seal on the then uninhabited Pribilofs. The Unangax were left in the camp almost two years after it was considered safe to return home. The deadly conditions of the camp left the Unangax people to suffer needlessly. As a direct result of this policy, many Unangax interned in Southeast died and some are buried in a cemetery in Funter Bay. The descendants of those who were lost have maintained the grave sites for 75 years. This bill will protect the cemetery and surrounding area for future generations without any additional cost to the state. REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN stated that HB 10 would move 250 acres of state land in Funter Bay into an existing state marine park that was established in the early 1980s. She explained that when constituents brought the idea for protecting the cemetery forward, she approached the Department of Natural Resources who suggested moving all remaining parcels of state land in the bay into the state park. The department pointed out that consolidating management under the Division of State Parks and Recreation would be more efficient than the current two agency management and oversight system. REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN said HB 10 will protect the historical and cultural significance of the cemetery that has about 35 graves. She directed attention to an image of the Unangax Cemetery and noted that the first headstone was for a baby that died in the fall of 1942, just a few months after arriving. She pointed out that the residents of the other internment camps throughout Southeast were able to return home two years earlier than those who were held in Funter Bay. She summarized that SB 10 preserves the cemetery by placing it in an existing state park, and it is at the request of descendants of those who have family members buried at the Funter Bay Unangax Cemetery. 3:40:09 PM CHAIR HUGHES asked if the baby whose grave marker she mentioned died the same year as the relocation. REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN answered yes; it was June 1942. CHAIR HUGHES asked what year the Funter Bay detainees were allowed to return to the Pribilofs. REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN answered that people from Dutch Harbor were allowed return home in 1944. 3:41:12 PM CHAIR HUGHES asked if there is any formal designation of the cemetery as an historical site and if it has a formal name. REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN answered that the cemetery has always been known and it will be protected by being in the state marine park, but it is rural and rustic. The Russian Orthodox Church has been working with descendants to arrange memorial visits and a working group has been cleaning up and maintaining the grave sites for five or six years. The working group and the Friends of Admiralty Island have plans to put up historical markers and signage. She deferred further explanation to her staff who is part of the working group. 3:44:25 PM TIM CLARK, Staff, Representative Sara Hannan, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, stated that the working group has been meeting weekly for about three years. This is a dedicated group of descendants from Saint Paul and Saint George, people from the Aleutians, the Tlingit & Haida community in Southeast, Friends of Admiralty Island, and the Juneau City Museum. He advised that the signage that was mentioned is intended to help identify the short trail from the beach to the cemetery. 3:46:48 PM CHAIR HUGHES commented that she has roots in the general area of Funter Bay, but she did not realize that the people relocated to Funter Bay were from Saint Paul and Saint George, which is where her husband spent time in the 1970s to the 1990s providing medical care. She asked how long it takes to travel from Juneau to Funter Bay by water. 3:47:22 PM REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN answered that it depends on the speed of the boat but generally it is from 60-90 minutes. She noted that the limiting factor often isn't the distance, but that the water from the northern end of Admiralty Island down to Funter Bay can be treacherous. 3:49:08 PM CHAIR HUGHES commented on the possibility of a committee field trip to Funter Bay and asked how many graves were in the cemetery. REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN answered that the U.S. National Park Service looked at the possibility of an historical designation for all the relocation camps and that survey determined that there are 32 documented graves at Funter Bay. However, that does not account for the unmarked graves and those that were moved to the cemetery in Juneau where there was a Russian Orthodox priest. CHAIR HUGHES asked Mr. Clark to proceed with the PowerPoint. 3:50:28 PM MR. CLARK advised that the PowerPoint provides visual aids for the information Representative Hannon has already given. He directed attention to the image on slide 2 of the Unangax Cemetery in Funter Bay in 2017. This was the trip that he accompanied then Speaker Edgmon and his constituents from the Pribilofs and other locations in western Alaska to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the relocation. He noted that the very moving ceremony included Tlingit elders, Russian Orthodox Church officials, and other interested parties. A large cross was erected to mark the entrance to the cemetery. MR. CLARK displayed the maps on slides 3 and 4 that offer a perspective of the location of Funter Bay on the west side of Admiralty Island relative to Juneau and a close up of the land designations around the shoreline of the bay. The sections marked A01 reflect the 162 acres of the existing Funter Bay Marine Park. The section marked A02 is the primary area that HB 10 proposes to add to the existing park; it comes close to connecting the noncontiguous A01 areas. It also includes an island of state land in front of the cannery that would be added to the park. 3:53:07 PM CHAIR HUGHES asked if there was still a gap between the existing A01 areas. MR. CLARK answered yes, it reflects private land in the area. He referenced the large area on the south side of the bay colored yellow and offered his understanding of the ownership. [This area represents old mining claims in the area, shoreline portions of which are private recreational properties.] 3:53:52 PM MR. CLARK displayed the images on slide 5 of a baby's headstone and the remnants of one of the old cannery bunk houses that was used to house the [Unangax people from Saint Paul] who were relocated to Funter Bay. [The people from Saint George were housed across the bay at the old mine site.] He concluded the presentation with a graphic showing the location of the internment camp in Funter Bay relative to the internment camps in Killisnoo near Angoon, the Wrangell Institute, Burnett Inlet, and Ward Lake near Ketchikan. 3:55:11 PM SENATOR MYERS asked when and why the existing Funter Bay State Marine Park was created. REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN answered that the park was created in 1983 as a rural marine park. She offered her understanding that it was created to ensure that recreational boaters always have access and that the shoreline is not entirely private. She deferred further explanation to the current superintendent of the park. 3:57:07 PM PRESTON KROES, Superintendent, Southeast Region, Alaska State Parks, Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Juneau, Alaska, explained that the Funter Bay Marine Park was created to set aside state land for recreation purposes. The state has a number of state marine parks but in the Juneau area there is St James Bay, Taku Harbor, Funter Bay, Pavlov Harbor, and the 14 Channel Islands in the Auke Bay area. 3:58:11 PM RICKY GEASE, Director, Division of State Parks and Recreation, Department of Natural Resources, Anchorage, Alaska, stated support for HB 10 on behalf of the division. He said it would be easy to accept the management responsibility for this site, which has historical significance to the state and the culture and memory of the Unangax people. He related that Mr. Kroes and his staff have been privileged to work with a diverse group of organizations and individuals on ways to provide better management and protection for this significant cultural resource. 3:59:22 PM CHAIR HUGHES asked when the request first was made to add the cemetery to the Funter Bay State Marine Park and who brought it forward. 3:59:57 PM MR. KROES answered that the issue was brought to his attention shortly after he became superintendent 3.5 years ago. At that time he learned that Martin Stepetin, whose grandparents were interned at Funter Bay, already was working with the division's citizens advisory group on ways to protect the cemetery. Mr. Kroes related that when he looked at the issue he suggested a possible solution to provide protection was to add the cemetery to the existing state marine park. He credited Mr. Stepetin with trying to get the site designated a national landmark and said that while that was unsuccessful at the time, it might be revisited in the future. MR. KROES addressed earlier questions. He advised that the name of the park would continue to be the Funter Bay State Marine Park and the cemetery would be an historic site within the park. He noted that the division was working with tribal members and elders from Saint Paul and Saint George to develop four interpretive panels that will be placed in Funter Bay. With regard to the question about funding and improving the cemetery area, he clarified that there is no funding attached to the bill. He expressed hope that funding from an existing grant program could be used to reroute and improve the trail, make improvements to the cemetery itself, and install the interpretive panels. CHAIR HUGHES thanked him for the information and asked him to consider whether the stakeholders might want a formal name in statute for the cemetery. 4:03:53 PM CHAIR HUGHES held HB 10 in committee for future consideration.