GLACIER BAY Land Reborn: A History of Administration and Visitor Use in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

My involvement in this project began in August 1991 when Regional Historian Kate Lidfors met with Sociologist Darryll Johnson of the Cooperative Park Studies Unit, Professor John Findlay and me at the University of Washington. I am indebted to all three of them for arranging the project to coincide with my graduate studies. Kate's quick sketch of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve's past and present management issues indicated that this would be an absorbing project, and I was not disappointed. Darryll's explanation of the National Park Service's accommodation to subsistence use of parklands in Alaska sparked an interest that flared into a full-blown study for my dissertation, and I have benefitted greatly from all our subsequent discussions on the subject. John persuaded me that a national park administrative history could and should be thesis-driven, and gave the report two critical readings.

In the two years since that meeting I have been helped by many other people. Former Regional Historian William E. Brown and former Superintendent Michael Tollefson took time to share their perspectives with me at an early stage in the project. Former Superintendent Robert E. Howe, Superintendent Marvin Jensen, Chief Naturalist Bruce Paige, Management Assistant Kevin Apgar, former Park Biologist Gregory P. Streveler, former Resource Specialist Gary M. Vequist, Hoonah Mayor Al Dick, and Tribal Elder Amy Marvin and her daughter Mary Rudolph all granted me interviews. Marv, Bruce, and Kevin also provided helpful comments on the draft report. I received assistance from many librarians and archivists, and special thanks are due to Doris Howe at the national park, Bruce Parham at the National Archives in Anchorage, and Richard Boyden at the National Archives in San Bruno, California. I thank Professor Richard White for reading somewhat different versions of the four chapters involving NPS relations with the Tlingits. I thank Connie Westcott for producing the maps. In the NPS Alaska Regional Office, Regional Historian Sandra Faulkner, Frank Norris, and Tim Cochrane critically reviewed the report, as did Chief Historian Edwin C. Bearss and Bureau Historian Barry Mackintosh. To all of these NPS reviewers I owe thanks for kindly steering me away from many misstatements while commendably allowing me wide latitude to express my own opinions. In addition, Frank undertook the sizable task of collecting photographs and formatting the final document for printing. Lewis Sharman, Mary Beth Moss, Bob Howe, and Chuck Janda helped Frank with the photo collection. Finally, I thank my wife Kristi for cheerfully covering the home front during three invigorating trips to Alaska, and my sons Wally, Ben, and Eli for letting their dad hog the computer.

Theodore Catton
Seattle, Washington
December 1993