Aerial photo from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve / NPS

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve staff will hold a public hearing in Tolsona, Alaska, on October 22nd from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Tolsona Fire Hall to take comments and hear resident testimony on Tolsona’s request to be recognized as a resident zone community for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
 
The resident zone is a National Park Service regulation (Code of Federal Regulations 13.430) which allows local, rural residents to engage in subsistence activities inside a national park. There are currently 23 communities in the resident zone near Wrangell-St. Elias: Chisana, Chistochina, Chitina, Copper Center, Dot Lake, Gakona, Gakona Junction, Glennallen, Gulkana, Healy Lake, Kenny Lake, Lower Tonsina, McCarthy, Mentasta Lake, Nabesna, Northway/ Northway Village/Northway Junction, Slana, Tanacross, Tazlina, Tetlin, Tok, Tonsina and Yakutat.

This 1983 study, prepared by the anthropology department at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and funded by the National Park Service, provides an in-depth look at the history of subsistence hunting in Wrangell-St. Elias, and how it's changed over many decades. 
 
The process for adding a community to the resident zone evaluates whether a community contains a significant concentration of current residents with a long-term history and a pattern of use of resources (without the use of aircraft to access them) for subsistence in the National Park which pre-dates the establishment of the regulation of the resident zone in June 1981. This public hearing is part of this evaluation.
 
The park invites local residents to attend the public hearing to provide comments on Tolsona’s request and welcomes testimony from residents with a long-term history of subsistence use in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
 
For more information, contact Barbara Cellarius, Subsistence Coordinator, at 907-822-7236 or email [email protected].