
.png)
Tsin'aen
A Bit About Me
Deanna was born and raised in the Copper Basin. She originally started working for AITRC as the Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) Project Coordinator and has since moved into the role of Subsistence Resource Specialist. Deanna grew up in Gulkana Village; her grandma was fluent in Ahtna Kenaege’, cultural and traditional practices, and taught anyone willing to learn. Deanna did not know her grandma's influence would lead her to continue to learn and help preserve and protect cultural and traditional resources. Deanna is taking classes at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Tribal Governance and is learning Ahtna Athabaskan through the Kenai Peninsula College.
​
Currently, Deanna is working to set up a THPO in the Native Village of Chitina and attending regulatory meetings to help protect subsistence rights. The THPO project plans to survey sites in the Chitina area, develop and grow a geodatabase, develop regulations and training for the office's operations, and be a point of contact for the tribes as it asserts sovereignty over cultural sites. Chitina's THPO is a pilot project and AITRC hopes to create THPO's for all interested villages. Deanna’s driving force to carry out this project preserving and protecting cultural sites, and to continue her education is her three children.