Programs
Nàk’ina.â Hèeni Dei (The Nakina River Trail Program)
For generations the Taku River Tlingit First Nation have used and maintained trails that connect important places within their traditional territory. The Nàk’ina.â Hèeni Dei (the Nakina River Trail) is of great significance to the Taku River Tlingit people since it remains the only overland route from the interior boreal plateau (Atlin area) into the T’àkhú (Taku River) watershed.
Historically, TRT people traveled the trail each year to connect with families residing in the Taku River Watershed and to harvest the abundant wild salmon found in tributaries of the Taku River. The enforcement of Government Indian Reservations significantly reduced the use of the Nakina Trail and led to parts of the trail becoming overgrown. However, the trail was reopened in 1998, based on direction from the TRTFN Elders Council, to assert Tlingit presence on the land and to protect the Traditional Territory from mining development. Since then, the trail has been an important symbol of land protection and cultural revitalization for the Taku River Tlingit community.
For many years, TAC supported efforts to maintain the Nakina Trail through trail clearing projects and also funded hikes organized and led by Taku River Tlingit community members and TRTFN Land Guardians. In 2024, TAC developed the Nakina Trail Program with the intent to provide yearly hikes that support Taku River Tlingit to keep the trail open and to continue to walk in the footsteps of their ancestors.
The Words We Live By:
A káa kududziteeyi yoo x’atánk Program
The Words We Live By: A káa kududziteeyi yoo x’atánk Program is devoted to revitalizing and applying the traditional laws of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation to benefit All Our Relations. Administered by the T’akhu Atlèn Conservancy, and led by a Steering Committee of Tlingit leaders and Elders, the program centers LingÍt knowledge and law in governance, healing, and environmental stewardship.
The program responds to the impacts of colonization, which disrupted traditional law transmission systems and harmed relationships with the land, animals, and within the community. The long-term goals are to ensure that Taku River Tlingit people are empowered to become experts in their own laws and to ensure that LingÍt law remains a living system, rooted in practice, and passed onto future generations.
Land-based training, on-the-land teachings, and community gatherings focused on cultural revitalization reconnect Tlingit citizens to their Kusteeyí (way of life) and deepen their capacity to lead and become future land protectors. By supporting community-led conservation, self-determination, and LingÍt law revitalization, this program strengthens the ability of Taku River Tlingit people to live and make decisions according to their own laws and values.
Tlatsini Gatherings
As an organization, TAC has always worked to weave together cultural revitalization, language preservation, and land conservation and stewardship—recognizing that you cannot protect land without protecting culture.
The Tlastini “the places that make us strong” Gatherings focus on reconnecting Taku River Tlingit members to Lingít Aaní (the land) to ensure that their relationships with the land, plants, and wildlife remains strong. The Gatherings are intended to be a space to strengthen cultural identity and to build community unity through land connection and healing.
The Tlatsini Gatherings facilitate shared lessons and teachings through storytelling, ceremony, and by engaging in traditional practices that ensure the transfer of Tlingit laws and Kusteeyi (way of life) to future generations.
