Kenaitze Indian Tribe

Kenai Peninsula College hosted a discussion last week about the history of salmon and the region’s Indigenous people. The presentation drew from archaeological, explorer and oral accounts to tell the story of the Dena’ina peoples’ connection to salmon in the nineteenth century.

The Kenaitze Indian Tribe will host a free suicide prevention workshop next week. Participants will learn how to recognize the signs of suicidal ideation, how to intervene and how to develop a safety plan to connect those struggling with support.

Last week, the Kenaitze Indian Tribe held a ceremony in recognition of National Suicide Prevention Month. The event aimed to remember those in the community lost to suicide and help those who are grieving.

The lessons will be held at the tribe’s K’beq’ Cultural Heritage Interpretive Site as part of its summer cultural program.

Many southcentral Alaska forests are dotted with devil’s club, a bush-like plant with thorny stems and large leaves. Alaska Native groups have historically used the plant for medicine, and a recent workshop in Kenai trained youth how to process and harvest the plant.

As part of its summer cultural program, the Kenaitze Indian Tribe held a presentation about the history and uses of the atlatl last Friday. Commonly known as a spear thrower, the technology was once used by the Dena’ina people for hunting.

This month marks ten years since the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s Dena’ina Wellness Center opened its doors in Kenai. The tribe held a celebration to commemorate the milestone and honor its strides in holistic care and indigenous healing.

The Kenaitze Indian Tribe recently celebrated the grand re-opening of a cultural heritage site in Cooper Landing. The site is one of the only places on the Kenai Peninsula for visitors to learn about the tribe’s history.

The tribe hosted an information-gathering meeting Thursday to learn what parents and community members would want in a K-2 charter school.

The tribe has been developing a fixed-route public bus system for years. The new building will serve as a transportation hub for the bus, and for the tribe's other vehicles.