2026 Traditional Stewardship Project

This assessment project is multifaceted and rooted in racial environmental injustices faced by the Saskinax̂ ama Alaiit Unrecognized Nation. To regain what was taken and is no longer part of our way of life, our organization will focus on assessing how the Federal government has ,managed our birds, lands, and oceans. Throughout this project birds are mentioned. This is because our people are the people of the birds. Currently, there are around 70,000 seabirds on Atux̂, which does not include the other species of birds. Historically, there were well over 100,000 birds within our five islands.

Our direct need statement is to reestablish ourselves more fully as Traditional Stewards of our birds, lands, and oceans. To do that we first must understand what has and has not been done within our five islands, Atux̂, Angatux̂, Samiya, Anvayaax̂, ama Alaid (English: Attu, Agattu, Shemya, Nizki, and Alaid). This project will do the very first-ever assessment of our Sovereigns Nations’ efforts on tribal stewardship. Tribal stewardship is not in place for managing the ‘environment’ as known in the Western system. This stewardship is deeper and spiritual to our way of life. The birds, lands, and oceans are within us and not external. As a result, we will be beginning to return to ourselves through this project and thus will improve our community.

We hired an Environmental Stewardship Researcher to assist with our research efforts. Our focus will be on examining the management practices of the U.S. National Park Service across the three quadrants they oversee. Additionally, we will analyze all management reports from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as they are responsible for our islands. A comprehensive study of the significant environmental clean-up of Atux̂ in 2017 will also be conducted. Gaining insight into how the federal government has managed our traditional homes is crucial for understanding how to better support our Traditional homelands in the future. During this Tier I Assessment, if there is time within the one year period there will also be two additional objectives. One will be to assess the environmental damage caused by the U.S. Coast Guard and secondly, environmental damage caused by the U.S. Air Force. The objectives outlined in this executive summary will serve as our roadmap to achieving success with this project. Next post will be about our new hire!