Anchorage hosts the 2004 Beringia Days conference: this free event brings together Russian and American scholars, researchers, environmentalists and more.

This month, members of an international community will again gather to share experiences, research and projects about life in our part of the world. The annual international conference--known as Beringia Days--will be held Oct. 21-23 at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. It is open to the public, free of charge, and brings together people from Alaska and Chukotka, Russia. Attending will be Russian and American scholars, researchers and environmentalists, as well as representatives of government and non-governmental organizations.

"The Russians hosted it last year," said Peter Richter, the park service's Beringia program manager. "It was their first time and they did a great job."

Members of the academic, scientific and cultural communities who receive funding and support from the program use the conference to report on the work they have done and what they have learned, Richter said. A highlight of this year's conference will be a keynote presentation by Charles Wohlforth, author of the book "The Whale and the Supercomputer." Another highlight will be the appearance of the Russian Native dance group "Ergyron." This professional dance group from Anadyr, Russia, performs traditional Chukchi and Yupik dances combined with modern music and choreography. In addition to the conference, Ergyron also will be performing at other venues in Anchorage, including at the Alaska Native Heritage Center and during the Alaska Federation of Natives banquet.

The name Beringia comes from Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer for the Russian czar in the 18th Century. The Bering Strait, which lies between Alaska and Northeast Russia, and Bering Island, in the Commander Islands, are named after him. In modern language, the term describes a vast area from the Kolyma River in the Russian Far East to the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is a region of worldwide significance for cultural and natural resources.

The National Park Service's Shared Beringian Heritage Program was established in 1991 after President George Bush and President Mikhail Gorbachev endorsed a proposal to establish an international park agreement between the two countries. The park would include already existing National Park Service units in Alaska and as of yet undesignated national park units on the Russian side. The summit conference agreement called for cooperation in studying ecology, archaeology and cultural heritage on both sides of the strait.

Scientist Walter Orr Roberts first proposed the idea of an international Beringian park in the 1960s. The idea, how ever, languished for decades. In 1989, American and Soviet teams presented the concept of an international park during a tour of Native villages in Northwest Alaska and the Chukotka Peninsula in Russia.

While a formal international park agreement has not yet been signed, the United States and Russia remain committed to the goal. With its Beringian Heritage International Park Program, the National Park Service is accomplishing many of the goals that an international park agreement would promote.

"It doesn't change our park system," Richter said. "It's a symbolic program."

Efforts have been made to seek increased local and regional participation in research, cultural and educational activities. In 1996, a panel was established to make recommendations to the NPS on priorities for funding of Beringia projects. Two members of the panel represent the park service and the other three members are representatives of the three Alaska Native regional corporations in North and Northwestern Alaska (Nome, Kotzebue and Barrow).

The NPS now has several projects ranging in scope from cultural celebrations to educational opportunities for village youths. Recent Beringia projects in Russia include a survey of the traditional use of seabirds, the facilitation of Native-to-Native cooperation on polar bear habitat use in both countries, and a retrospective study of how the opened border between the two countries has affected people in the last 10 years. More funding is available for new projects.

Check online at www.nps.gov/akso/beringia or call 644-3432 to find out more information about this year's conference or to find out about its history.