Fishtrap project
Whitefish are an important subsistence food for the Inland Dena’ina. These freshwater fish are harvested in spring and fall, using traps set in streams running from lakes after breakup in the spring and before freeze-up in the fall.
Dena’ina elder Helen Dick and her family were commissioned by the Anchorage Museum in 2009 to make a traditional whitefish trap. In the short video you can watch below, Helen’s husband Alan documented the construction process from gathering materials through completion of the trap.