DogSled Digital Stories
Reconnecting Alaska Native youth with their heritage through hands-on learning and digital media.
Our Mission:
Alaska Native youth today are learning integral life lessons and preparing for their futures, while getting firsthand experience with dog teams and digital media.
One of seven communities in the Ahtna region of Alaska, the village of Chistochina sits on the western shore of
the Copper River. Though the village of Chistochina was established in the 1920’s, Ahtna people inhabited the
area, which is rich with salmon streams, caribou, and sheep, for generations.
The Ahtna homeland encompasses vast mountain ranges and river systems in Alaska’s Interior. Bordered by
the Alaska Range to the north and the Chugach Mountains to the south; stretching from the Wrangell
Mountains, near the Canadian border, west to the Susitna River valley near Knik Arm on Cook Inlet the Ahtna
region is approximately 40,000 square miles. If comparisons help in understanding the vastness of this land
area, think of the state of Ohio or the country of Iceland.
Surrounded by towering mountain ranges and coursed by powerful rivers, the land is fundamental to the
cultural identity and physical and spiritual well-being of the Ahtna people.
Since time immemorial, Ahtna have lived in the Copper and Susitna River basins. The seasons determine the
rhythm of life with what the land provides. Hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering plants and berries governed
how and when the Ahtna people traveled throughout the region. Winter village sites were interconnected by
extensive trail systems and transportation routes to outlying fish camps and traplines. Prior to 1900 travel
was on foot. After 1900 dog teams became an integral part of transportation of people and goods.
Always striving to ensure that current and future Ahtna generations remain connected to their culture,
traditions, values, and history based on the land that provides their identity, Mount Sanford Tribal Consortium
began the Digital Dogsled Stories project. This website serves as a bridge from the past to the present and
future. The following digital stories help to enhance awareness and connectedness while increasing pride
through connection to self, community, and culture.