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Our History...
The Sitka Tribe's Kayaani Commission began meeting in 1997 in direct response to the USDA Forest Service's plans to create Special Forest Products monitoring guidelines for the Alaska region. The USFS considers all manners of non-timber forest resources such as plants, bark, roots, moss, mushrooms, and so forth to be "Special Forest Products."
These efforts were supported by:
The U.S. Forest Service;
The Sitka Native Education Program;
The Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood;
The National Park Service;
The Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center;
and many other interested parties and individuals along the way.
Other regions where plants and forest materials have been commercially harvested have experienced problems with community involvement when regulations for permitting were established. To this end the Southeast Alaska Tribes have been very involved in working with the Forest Service to ensure that traditional uses of local plants are not only considered, but also respected and encouraged.
The Sitka Tribe of Alaska formally recognized the Kayaani Commission by tribal ordinance in 1998. In 1999, the Commission submitted a grant to the National Park Service Historic Preservation to reach out to the other communities in Southeast Alaska. It was with this grant that the commission was able to host a regional plant conference with the Sitka Tribe in Kayaani Disi (May) 3-5, 2001 and to assist with travel, lodging, and coordination for the conference.
The original founding members of the Kayaani Commission were:
-
Naomi Kanosh,
- Irene Jimmy,
- Jessie Johnnie,
- Ethel Makinen,
- Robert Sam,
- Marion Donthier, and
- Lori Peterson.
Naomi Kanosh has passed on in recent years, but is fondly remembered. The Commission would like to honor Naomi for all her work and the wisdom she shared with the Commission. Naomi was Clan Mother for the Kaagwaantaan Clan, and she was a voice and founding member of the Commission. In fact, a portion of a speech made by Naomi is includedin the Commission's governing ordinance. In an article in the Sitka Daily Sentinel, April 30, 1998, Naomi is quoted:
We need to think long and hard about what we are doing, and we need other people to hear us. I would like to have a legacy for my grandchildren and their grandchildren.
Naomi Kanosh, Founding Commissioner
