Huna Tribal House Programs | P20AS00054

Opportunity Information: Apply for P20AS00054

The Huna Tribal House Programs grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number P20AS00054) is a National Park Service (NPS), Department of the Interior cooperative agreement centered on the continued planning, operation, and public-facing programming of the Huna Tribal House at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Bartlett Cove, Alaska. Glacier Bay is the ancestral homeland of the Huna Tlingit, whose communities relied on the bay's rich resources for generations. After glacial advances in the 1700s displaced villages inside the bay, the Huna Tlingit returned as the glaciers retreated, re-establishing fish camps and seasonal settlements. Later, the creation of Glacier Bay National Monument and then the national park contributed to a long period of alienation and tension between the Huna Tlingit community and the NPS. The Tribal House initiative emerged from requests by the Hoonah Indian Association (HIA) to create a physical and cultural anchor in the homeland that could honor ancestral villages while supporting cultural continuity and a renewed relationship with the park.

The Tribal House itself was envisioned in park planning as far back as a 1997 Comprehensive Design Plan for Bartlett Cove, with environmental compliance completed through a 2013 Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact. The facility was designed as a traditional-style plank house adapted for modern use, with a roughly 2,500 square foot gathering area and an adjacent comfort station with restrooms and a small kitchen, as well as utilities like electricity, heat, and information technology wiring. Construction began in 2015, the building was completed in early summer 2016, and it opened publicly with a grand celebration on August 25, 2016. The site is intended to serve multiple functions: a place for tribal members to reconnect with traditional life-ways and ancestral knowledge, a hub for educational programming and interpretation that shares the story and values of the Huna Tlingit, and a setting for appropriate NPS administrative activities connected to park operations and visitor services. Related cultural elements have also been added, including totem poles installed in front of the Tribal House (raised May 20, 2017) and a Healing Totem Pole raised on August 25, 2018.

The core purpose of the cooperative agreement is less about constructing new infrastructure and more about sustaining a long-term, collaborative operating model for this unique facility. The NPS describes the work as a framework for rebuilding trust with local communities, strengthening government-to-government relationships with HIA as a sovereign tribal nation, and creating jobs for Huna Tlingit community members. A key challenge addressed by the agreement is that, while some comparable facilities exist in the national park system, there are essentially no NPS-owned facilities that are cooperatively managed by a tribal entity in quite the same way, meaning the partners must develop policies, procedures, and shared management approaches with limited external templates.

Program activities supported by the funding focus on four major areas. First is the continued development and refinement of foundational planning documents needed for day-to-day and long-term management, including finalizing a Strategic and Operational Plan and revising earlier products such as the Interpretive Plan, Tribal Use Policy/Plan, and annual operating and work plans as new information and partner input is incorporated. Second is interpretive and educational delivery, including providing personal interpretive services during the visitor season and producing interpretive media and on-site communication materials outlined in the Interpretive Plan. The opportunity explicitly references producing interpretive products such as two feature-length films and a series of wayside exhibits. Third is planning and hosting an annual Celebration at the Huna Tribal House, which functions as a cultural and community-connection centerpiece and a visible marker of the renewed relationship. Fourth is support for additional cultural programs associated with, or in support of, the Tribal House, with an emphasis on prioritizing tribal use of the space to maintain cultural relevance and strengthen ties between the community and the site.

Administratively, this is a discretionary award made as a cooperative agreement, reflecting a shared-role partnership where the NPS and the award recipient work closely together on planning and execution. The eligible applicant category is federally recognized Native American tribal governments, but the posting is explicitly a notice of intent to award to the Hoonah Indian Association, meaning it is not open for competition and applications will not be accepted from other entities. The opportunity lists an award ceiling of $1,375,000, with one expected award. The funding activity areas are framed under arts/cultural affairs, education, and humanities, which aligns with the emphasis on cultural preservation, interpretation, storytelling, community engagement, and visitor education grounded in Huna Tlingit history and living traditions.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the arts (see cultural affairs in cfda), education, humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Huna Tribal House Programs" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.946.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 06, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by This is a notice of intent to award to Hoonah Indian Association. Applications will not be accepted from any other entity.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,375,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized).

Apply for P20AS00054

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