TURNING "TRADITIONAL" ON ITS HEAD: SUBSISTENCE ACCESS TO KATMAI NATIONAL PRESERVE IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE.

The concept of "tradition" gained widespread usage throughout the twentieth and early twenty first centuries, as members of rural communities sought to identify their uniqueness, especially in relation to new ideas and technologies associated with modern globalization. In turn, ideas about what is "traditional" are often used to critique contemporary subsistence practices that use "modern" technology. In this article, we critically examine a legal framework for "traditional" subsistence practice in Alaska's National parks, monuments, and preserves, outlined in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA; U.S. 96th Congress 1980). We examine this framework in the context of an ethnographic case study, in which residents of Kokhanok and Igiugig, Alaska, submitted formal requests to the National Park Service for authorization to access Katmai National Preserve using off- road vehicles (ORVs). Through participant observation and ethnographic interviews, we explore the challenges subsistence hunters face as technological adaptation creates tension between etic notions of "traditional" subsistence and the emic experience of contemporary subsistence in a climate-changed environment. With an eye toward applied outcomes, our intent is largely to inform federal policy and decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]