Sarah Hannan, who is also sponsoring the bill, said the Department of Natural Resources had found the land has no commercial value. “But I think it may be more ideological and is not corroborated by any on the ground or local concern or hesitation about this proposal.” “I understand the concerns being highlighted by previous members,” he said. He said he had not heard any opposition to the bill from local residents or mining interests. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Sitka, is one of the bill’s sponsors. The Funter Bay families want to make sure they can care for the graves - and that the site will serve as a memorial of the Internment.ĭemocratic Rep. It’s on private land, and the owner has blocked access. The movement to protect the cemetery was motivated in part by what happened at another internment site, on Killisnoo Island, near Angoon. Most of the people who died at Funter Bay were elders or very young children who were left to survive without clean water or basic medical care in the remains of an old cannery, more than a thousand miles from their homes. “We don’t know what technologies and future mineral discoveries might happen involving this area.” “We are going in the wrong direction for a mere 30 interned individuals in the cemetery,” Eastman said. (Courtesy of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum) A recent photo of the Unangax̂ cemetery at Funter Bay.

Dave Eastman (Wasilla) said the bill could stand in the way of future resource extraction. Without the amendment, McCabe said, the state would be transferring additional acres, “including an island that’s offshore and not even part of this cemetery - that is unneeded transfer of Alaska’s wealth into a state park.”

Kevin McCabe, Big Lake, said he supports the intent of the bill, but he proposed an amendment that would transfer 90 acres to the park instead of 251. This year, a group of Republican representatives complained during floor debate that the bill transfers too much land to the park. Last year, the bill looked to be on its way to passing when the COVID-19 pandemic cut the session short. military forced them from their homes and held them for much of the war at the remote spot on Admiralty Island. George who died at Funter Bay during World War II after the U.S. The cemetery holds more than 30 graves of people from St. The bill would add about 251 acres of state land, including the cemetery, to Funter Bay State Marine Park. The Alaska House of Representatives is expected to vote today on a bill to protect the Unangax̂ cemetery at Funter Bay. Update: The bill passed 31-8 and is headed to the Senate. Funter Bay on the Mansfield Peninsula of Admiralty Island on Aug.

Funter bay cemetery bill