Master totem pole carver, TJ Sgwaayaans Young, has been in Wrangell since July guiding local Wrangell carvers on replicating a totem pole.
By Colette Czarnecki
This story was published by KTSK - Wrangell Public Radio. Read the full story here. The story features Wrangell Cooperative Association's SASS Investment projects that are geared towards cultural revitalization.
Photo from the KTSK article: Mike Hoyt (left) and TJ Sgwaayaans Young (right) continue carving the Kadashan Totem Pole on Aug. 5, 2024 in the Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Cultural Center. (Colette Czarnecki/KSTK)
Wrangell Cooperative Association’s Tribal Administrator Esther Aaltséen Reese said the tribe received over a half million dollars in funding from the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy. The goal of the grant was to promote a sustainable economy within Southeast Alaska.
“We were really excited to get a total of $660,000 for a lot of different projects, but this one was a very exciting project,” she said. “We got half a million. We did get some feedback that Wrangell had the very best proposal to the SASS funding, which was very exciting. And also want to acknowledge that the Forest Service was an amazing collaborator with us.”