This was during July 2025, when Wrangell raised five totem poles and honored the carvers who shaped the logs into Haida and Lingít masterpieces.
Standing over the front of the clan house are the Gunakaadeit Pole and Bear Up the Mountain Pole. Around back, facing the water, stands the Underwater Sea Bear Pole.
Relying on Their Culture
“This event is a statement that our culture was simmering 100 years ago, and five poles going up here is a big statement that our culture is thriving and on the rebound,” George Nix, who made a two-day canoe journey with others from the village of Kaasan to be part of the pole raisings, says.
Nix, along with his brother Frank, works to provide food security for their village, is all about doing this work for their future generations. Nix also works with Home Planet Fund’s partner, Spruce Root.
“The youth here are seeing the support, and hearing these stories retold. We are not afraid to teach our children how to be Native,” he adds. “We are not ashamed of it anymore.”
Dozens of children are present. Many are singing, dancing, laughing.
“They can now rely on our culture to become something in this world,” Nix adds. “These events provide stability to the younger generations. I am a seed planter, that is my most important job.”
Nix remains passionate about laying the groundwork so future generations from his community can thrive.
“These kids are our future carvers and storytellers.”
Modern Heroes
Master Carver TJ Sgwaayaans Young, Kaigani Haida from the Yaadaas Eagle Clan, is the lead carver of the Kadashan pole.
“It’s a privilege to do what I do, and an honor to share my knowledge and pass it on to have positive impact,” he says of his work.
Given he has carved more than 20 “big ones,” each totem in different locations and environments, requiring its own unique logistics, his humility speaks volumes.
“This wasn’t an option for my grandpa,” he adds. “It was illegal back then. But we picked it up in the ‘80’s, and now all the carvers in our communities are heroes. We were lucky to grow up in a generation where we could do this…it’s a true privilege.”
The Power of Community
Val Massie is the Community Planner for Spruce Root. She worked for months helping plan events around the totem raisings. She is deeply aware of the importance of all of it.
“This is one of the few things that brings people together here. Events like this are when Wrangell feels most alive. Bringing people together in such a remote place is deeply meaningful.”
Like others, she is especially excited for the younger generations who are part of it.
“It’s always magical to see the process when people understand how much power they have. Whether it’s the paddlers getting here under their own power, or the event of these pole raisings. All it takes are a few folks in your community actually taking the lead to make something real in the community, and that is exactly what happened with this event.”
Planting Seeds
As people gathered for the event, a 92-year-old elder welcomed and thanked everyone for being here.
“My only disappointment,” he said, “Is that our young people don’t know who they are or where they come from.”
But now, thanks to the work of Home Planet Fund’s partners, that is changing, dramatically, and in real time.
Ken Hoyt, Lingít and a member of the board of the local Tribal Government in Wrangell, shares a different perspective about his confidence in the future.
“Hopefully these kids here will take all this for granted,” he says with defiant irony. “So they’ll never know what it’s like to go without this.”
In this way, every supporter of Home Planet Fund is helping all of our partners across Southeastern Alaska whose work is preparing the soil for future carvers, beaders, storytellers and culture bearers.
