Maija Katak Lukin

Changing Weather, Changing Traditions

About the Speaker

Maija Katak Lukin, Inupiaq, was born in Kotzebue and raised on the shores of Cape Krusenstern National Monument at Sisualik.  Lukin attended Eastern Oregon University for Early Child Development, hoping to become an Inupiaq immersion teacher.  She is the former Regional Communications Manager for NANA Regional Corporation, and Tribal Environmental Manager for Maniilaq Association, representing 12 tribes in northwest Alaska.  She is also the former Mayor of the City of Kotzebue.  Currently, Lukin is the superintendent at the National Park Service’s Western Arctic National Parklands.  The parks include over 9.2 million acres of federal public land in three parks in Northwest Alaska:  Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Kobuk Valley National Park and Noatak National Preserve.  Lukin is responsible for protecting and preserving the natural and cultural resources within the parks, as well as community relationship building, subsistence management and preparing for changes in the arctic climate.   Katak and her husband have four children, one granddaughter, two dogs and a variety of chickens, and lives in Kotzebue.  She still visits Sisualik as often as possible. Talk Overview: Managing over 9 million acres of federal public land in Northwestern Alaska as an indigenous superintendent, Lukin describes the connection of local users to the land and waters that have sustained the local population for at least the last 12,000 years.  She shares the implications of a rapidly changing environment from both a professional and traditional perspective.  Three major implications are discussed:  The loss of cultural resources including thousands of years of archaeological data being washed away by ocean waves, lives being lost at a surprisingly high rate due to the uncertainty of ice thickness, and cultural traditions that previously were passed on for generations being forgotten.  The question that most often shows up is, "what can we do now?"