Much of Sitka's history is directly related to the rich abundance of marine wildlife in the surrounding waters. Marine mammals were, and still are, an integral part of the Alaska Native Tlingit peoples' subsistence lifestyle.
For the past eleven years, Sitka WhaleFest’s "Scientists in the Schools" program has brought marine mammal scientists from North America into classrooms in the Sitka School District and, more recently, Mt. Edgecumbe High School.
