Walking with our Ancestors
Youth, NPS, and NV Tazlina staff celebrate their time together with fur mascots and community spirit. Photo by Colleen Merrick
August 28, 2025
Madison Cozzen – CRNA YETI
Nowadays, you don’t see younger people camping too often. Whether it be due to the infatuation with technology, being scared to go, or just being busy with their lives in general. You also don’t see a lot of younger people understanding or really looking into gaining knowledge about our land, its past, and how it was used by our ancestors.
However, Copper River Native Association (CRNA), Tribal Community Services, the National Park Service (NPS), and Native Village of Tazlina worked to get a group of young adults, teenagers, and a few chaperones to go camping at the Kendesnii campground together. Now I wouldn’t call myself super outdoorsy, but I don’t mind a few camping trips here and there. So honestly I was looking forward to this trip and wasn’t disappointed.
Starting our trip off, we set up our tents in the rain and started a fire. After that we got settled in, made dinner, and got to know our Archeologists Lee Reininghaus and Allyson Pease. Right off the bat they were very sweet and eager to teach us and overall a pleasure to be around.
Youth from CRNA YETI and NV Tazlina camped at Kendesnii, learning Ahtna history and career skills alongside NPS partners. Photo by Colleen Merrick
Allyson also brought along her sweet little dog, Ruby. In fact, there were a few furry friends that decided to join us on our trip: Ruby, Ash (Tribal Community Services Department Supervisor Colleen Merrick’s dog), and a three-legged dog that lived close to the camp named Jake.
The first activity we did was bear safety training. NPS Wildlife Biologist Kyle Cutting taught us the basics about safe camping and bear prevention. We learned the differences between bear species, their prints and their physical appearance. He also taught us how to use bear spray and let us practice (with safe practice spray, of course).
The only word to describe the weather we had would have to be “unpredictable.” For the most part it was very hot and sunny, which might be some people’s ideal weather, but it was too hot for me. However, there would be random spells of rain, especially at night. That proved to be way too cold for a lot of the campers, but it was a nice break from the heat for me. I guess the perfect camping weather would be dry and warm, minus mosquitos.
After we had our activities throughout the day, we were bound to be hungry. Our meals were delicious, and one stood out to me in particular. Just about everyone helped make fajitas and they were absolutely divine. Not to mention the amount of toasted marshmallows that I ate throughout the trip. I would basically have a marshmallow with every meal and snack.
Near the end of the camping trip Lee and Allyson took us on a hike and showed us some important pieces of history, like an old burial ground which we thought may be the resting place of the mother of Katie John. The NPS is working to preserve that site. There were also old walking trails along Jack Creek leading to historic foundations of cabins.
The hike, though very informative, was hard to work through due to the blasting heat and the mosquitos that followed soon after. Mosquito dope was of no help and most of us came back from the hike riddled with bites. It was great to learn and gain the knowledge of our ancestors, but let’s just say my itch relief ointment was all used up by the end of the trip.
At the time, being in the heat and dealing with bugs made me overlook the reason we were doing this. The cultural knowledge and the connection to the land was essential. Especially for the youth. It was an eye opener to see what our ancestors went through and how they lived on a day-to-day basis. It also made me appreciate the life lessons they must have learned to get us where we are today. They built such a strong foundation for us, and it is our responsibility to continue building upon and teaching the next generations.
We need to be connected to the land because preserving the land and resources is essential to protect our culture. The Copper River basin is where our ancestors were, it holds memories, knowledge, tradition, and a deep sense of identity. Lose any combination of these and you will lose your connection to our ancestors and even a bit of yourself.
Camping and visiting these sites made me have a deeper respect for tradition and greater knowledge of myself. Our values tie us to our ancestors, and camping at this site refastened a string I had forgotten about.
NPS archaeologist Lee Reinghaus shares site history and preservation efforts with youth and Tribal representatives. Photo by Colleen Merrick
Overall, I had a great time and the other youths did as well. A great big thanks to Wrangell St. Elias NPS, archeologists Lee and Allyson for their knowledge, anthropologist Amber Cohen for her perspectives, and Native Village of Tazlina for bringing their youth program along for the ride. If you are interested in learning more about the Ahtna cultural sites and artifacts reach out to NPS for more information. If you want to know more about the YETI program reach out to Tribal Community Services at CRNA.
The Youth Employment and Training Initiative (YETI) program is run by the Copper River Native Association (CRNA). Participants are Copper Basin youth ages 15-19 who are employed for the summer to work with various regional organizations and agencies. Youth aged 14-25 are eligible to participate. YETIs are learning career skills, gaining mentors, and helping their communities. Tsin’aen, YETIs!
