Document Type

Masters Project

Abstract

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) is undertaking the proposed West Susitna Access Road Project which aims to construct a new road that extends from West Susitna Parkway in Big Lake, Alaska through State Lands west of the Susitna River.  The project would include land clearing and construction of transportation infrastructure across waterways including the Little Susitna River, Fish Creek, Susitna River, and Alexander Creek.

The proposed project footprint lies in the traditional ancestral territory of several Upper Cook Inlet Alaska Native cultures, and project activities have the potential to adversely affect cultural and natural resources in the region. As a component of Tribal consultation, Chickaloon Village Traditional Council requested that cultural resource investigations preceding the West Susitna Access Road Project include a survey of Culturally Modified Trees. Culturally Modified Trees (CMTs) are a living part of the natural and cultural landscape of Alaska and a necessary component of cultural resource survey in the traditional Dene lands of the Lower Susitna Valley.

This cultural resource survey was undertaken by Nicholas Maness doing business as Southcentral Cultural Resource Consulting (SCRC) in partnership with Chickaloon Village Traditional Council (CVTC) between May 1, 2025, and August 13, 2025. The survey team conducted a pedestrian survey of the 22.3-mile project corridor and documented CMTs in each mile section.

The substantial amount of CMTs found in the centerline survey indicate that project activities will adversely affect cultural resources, and additional survey is recommended to aid in project planning which minimizes impacts. The cultural resources documented in this survey have been made available to the DOT&PF on a shared geodatabase, and the results are summarized in the following report.

Publication Date

12-1-2025

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Available for download on Monday, June 01, 2026

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