For the first time this year, tribal members were hired as ambassadors to share their own experiences and culture with visitors.
Jinkasee.ee Rose Willard explains a náxw, or halibut hook to visitors. She is one of 10 cultural ambassadors at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on June 13, 2024. (Photo by Yvonne Krumrey/KTOO)
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When tourists come to Juneau, the Mendenhall Glacier is usually near the top of their sightseeing list. It gets hundreds of thousands of visitors each summer.
And now, those visitors will have the chance to learn more about Indigenous connections to the glacier through cultural ambassadors.
For the first time this year, tribal members were hired as ambassadors to share their own experiences and culture with visitors.
Jinkasee.ee Rose Willard sat at a table inside the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center Thursday, while tourists milled around her. They peered at the spread in front of her: books about Lingít culture, small button blankets and pieces of beadwork, and a piece of wood the size of her hand carved in the style of a kootéeyaa, or totem pole.
A young girl visiting the glacier with her family pointed to a deerskin drum.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“This is a drum. We call it a gaaw. Can you say gaaw?” Willard said.
Willard handed her the drum, and she beat it a few times before saying it was cool.
Willard is one of 10 cultural ambassadors from the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska that will spend their summer teaching visitors about Lingít culture — and about how Lingít people are connected to the glacier. It’s part of the new co-management strategy between the U.S. Forest Service and the tribe.
“That’s the first question people ask: Are you Lingít? Are you of this area? Are you a local? People want to know: are you a representation?” she said. “So I think it’s really important for them to know that they are speaking to a person who is from this area.”
The rest of the year, Willard is a Lingít language teacher at Sítʼ Eetí Shaanáx̱ Glacier Valley Elementary School. So she likes to share pieces of language with visitors, like teaching them to say gaaw for a drum, or náxw for a halibut hook.
She said when she first introduces herself, people are sometimes confused about why she’s there, and what the connection between Lingít culture and the glacier is.
“But a lot of times people don’t know that our history — our Lingít people are here because of the glaciers, and our histories are all tied to the mini-glacier period. So when they receded, our people were able to travel over and under the glaciers to reside on these coastal areas,” Willard said. “Then they’re like, ‘Oh, wow.’ Then they make a connection between Lingít people and this amazing glacier.”
And, she said, it still feels like these interactions are authentic, not superficial or theatrical glimpses into her heritage.
“I love that we are not selling the culture out here. We are simply sharing the culture about this amazing place,” Willard said.
Jinkasee.ee Rose Willard is one of 10 cultural ambassadors at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. June 13, 2024. Photo by Yvonne Krumrey/KTOO.
Sarah Strand has been working for the Forest Service for three years now, and she said Lingít representation at the glacier used to be mostly limited to the short film shown to visitors.
“I think that’s very important to not only talk about the importance of our environment around here,” Strand said. “But the importance of the culture around it as well.”
Cultural Ambassador Supervisor Aankadax̱steen Jeremy Timothy said the Forest Service staff who they work with daily have made it easy for the ambassadors to experiment with the new program.
He said this first summer is only the beginning. They hope to fill more of the space in the visitor center with even more cultural items and information.
“We’re looking at pop-up artists, maybe having a Chilkat robe, maybe tunics, hats. We’re looking at a kootéeyaa that’s coming back, that used to be out here,” Timothy said. “So we’re looking at possibly doing a ceremony for that, just kind of bringing more of our traditions to light here, and letting the visitors engage with us.”
But for now, Willard and the cultural ambassadors are set up and eager for your questions.