The Wilderness Society supports repatriation of remains to Alaskan island

WASHINGTON, DC (October 6, 2023) – The Wilderness Society has learned that Olaus Murie – a naturalist and wildlife biologist who joined the organization’s governing council in 1937 and became its president in 1950 – took human remains from a cave on the Aleutian island of Kagamil in 1936 that were later donated by his family to Wyoming’s Teton Science School, which is taking steps to repatriate them to the village of Nikolski under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. 

According to a story from Wyoming news site Buckrail.com and a statement from the Teton Science School, the partial remains from three individuals went missing from the school’s collection in 1973 and were found in a storage closet in 2021 by a graduate student working at the Murie Museum in Kelly, Wyoming.  

The school then hired a consulting firm that specializes in the process of returning Native American remains and objects that are considered sacred or of cultural importance to the appropriate descendants or Tribal Nations. Efforts are underway to contact officials in Nikolski on Umnak Island – the nearest community – and make them aware that the remains exist and are subject to repatriation requests. The remains are being stored at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North.  

In response to this news, The Wilderness Society President Jamie Williams said the following:  

We are saddened to learn that one of our early leaders was involved in the removal of Alaska Native remains from their proper resting place. On behalf of all past and current members of The Wilderness Society, I want to express our remorse and apologize. 

We recognize the historical harms of the environmental and conservation movements to Indigenous communities and that the legacy of those harms persists today. We are listening to, and learning from, the Indigenous communities we work with and will continue working to build new partnerships on a foundation of mutual trust and respect. We recognize that the trust and partnership of these communities is earned, not assumed. 

As part of our shared responsibility to correct historical harms by the environmental movement, The Wilderness Society remains committed to ensuring both equitable access to public lands and equitable decision-making about public lands while building a conservation movement that both reflects and centers Indigenous communities across the country. Elevating these perspectives helps us eliminate the harmful practices of the past and unites us in building a future in which people and wild nature flourish together.  

We thank the Teton Science School and Museum of the North for their work in identifying and protecting these remains and stand ready to do whatever we can to see that the somber and necessary process of repatriation is handled with respect, grace and dignity. 

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The Wilderness Society is the leading conservation organization uniting people to care for America’s wild places. Founded in 1935, and now with more than one million members and supporters, The Wilderness Society has led the effort to permanently protect 111 million acres of wilderness and to ensure sound management of our shared national lands. www.wilderness.org.