and music and all these nintendo coming onto this table, holding pressure on these things that are trying to hold us and keep us together, and that's really making it hard. it's really a tough, trying time for us because part of us want to say, "no, i'm sukpik. i'll stay that way," or "i want to be a little modern." you get pulled in two ways. it's really hard. it causes a lot of, uh... i don't know, just confusion. [narrator] the people of nanwalek have survived the onslaught of russian and then american control. the people here are beginning to reclaim their history. they have not suffered from modern problems, such as alcoholism, that many other small communities across alaska have. some communities on the kenai peninsula were virtually destroyed, their memories obliterated. one such group is the kenaitze indian tribe.

they are dena'ina people-- a branch of the athabaskan native americans. it was his job to teach me to hunt. i was born in kenai right here in 1923-- born and raised here. [narrator] clare swan is chairperson of the tribe. i just looked back at my roots and began to put them together and realized really how much of that was important to me, and i had tried to, like everyone else, change that because in order to fit-- there was a time when it wasn't fashionable to be native. you were lucky if you were blond and you were light enough that you could pass. no one was allowed to speak the dena'ina language. they didn't allow it in schools, and a lot of the women had married non-native men, and the men said, "you're american now, so you can't speak the language."

so we became invisible in the community, invisible to each other, and then because we couldn't speak the language-- what happens when you can't speak your own language is that you have to think with someone else's words, and that's a dreadful kind of isolation. [narrator] today the kenai river has become a tourist destination. tourists are drawn here for the same reasons that the native alaskan inhabitants came-- the abundant fish and game. it was a migratory route which led from cook inlet up the kenai river to the russian river. today the area is marketed to tourists as wilderness. [man] they come to fish, to see the game. alaska is probably the last place in the northern hemisphere where things of those sights in nature are road accessible. there's still the wilderness in siberia and that,

but it just isn't accessible for people. alaska's a very special, unique place. i can go over these mountains, and it's just like it was a thousand years ago. o.k. where's my folks? you need a life jacket? look at the little arctic tern there. they have the longest migratory route. what are they? arctic terns. they go down to antarctica. [galbraith] different indigenous people of alaska would migrate to the valley, but the discovery of gold and the russians in the area-- a lot of the indigenous tribes contracted either smallpox or influenza and consequently have disappeared. [narrator] the misconception that the dena'ina had disappeared was reinforced by the fact that they had left little visible sign of their presence. many centuries ago, athabaskan hunters and gatherers migrated here from west of the alaska range,

recognized the richness of the natural resources of cook inlet and the kenai peninsula, and became the only athabaskans to adapt to a coastal environment. to ensure the continuance of these abundant cyclic resources, the dena'ina developed clans and a complex system of beliefs, but this knowledge has been virtually wiped out. albert baktuit is one of the elders of the tribe. [albert baktuit] they knew it was old house pits here, but they didn't want to let the public know about digging it up, and, uh... of course, there's no artifacts where the dena'ina indians were because they burnt everything. everything from the land they burnt and returned to the land, and from the sea, the fish bones and clam shells they'd return to the sea. anything personal that a guy had when he died, they'd burn it up with him because he'd need it on his next voyage, i guess they'd call it.

they figured all your game would return plentiful if you took care of it. [narrator] the kenaitze are now trying to find out more about their past and are realizing they could have a very important part to play in managing the environment. [clare swan] two years ago, people from the park service called me and asked would i look at this place. i said sure. i wasn't really sure what they wanted, but we came up and looked at it. when i came, i looked, and i was just absolutely furious. the house pits were full of garbage, and the trees had been cut down, and people had been allowed to drag their boats across from the road and tie them at the river. i was just astounded, and i said, "what did you want from us?" they said, "we were thinking about closing it in a year or so." i said, "you have to do it right now."

[narrator] the area was closed to camping and transformed into an interpretive site with the u.s. forest service in 1992. albert helped to create this footpath, which is one of the main features of the present site. [baktuit] this house pit here is carbon dated for 450 to 500 years. the entrance is right there, and the fire pit was right here where that stump is, and they'd heat rocks and carry them in the sweat lodges here at the entrance-- right there at that low spot. they'd put it in birch-bark baskets filled with water and then heat it until it steamed, and they'd have a sweat bath. right in back of here is a food cache, which is dug down to 6 foot deep, and they'd layer it with birch bark and moss

and then fish eggs and then a layer of fish and so on until it filled up, and that was good for the whole year's supply. the landscape's always changing, the river's changing... [narrator] the experience of running this project made the forest service realize the potential of historic sites such as these for tourists. their next project-- footprints--is more ambitious. [man] the basic concept we're trying to get is to bring people close to the land much in the same fashion that the kenaitze people lived here many, many years ago in this area, is to demonstrate their heritage, to demonstrate their closeness to the land, to try and get people to understand their culture-- not only their culture, but a native culture in general-- to show how they're linked with the land, the landscape, the vegetation, the water, the seasonal aspects, certain amount of mobility they would use

to move to where the resources were at that time of year. the footprints site will be a larger, more developed interpretive opportunity. the real value is tying the prehistoric past with contemporary people and getting across the idea that cultures aren't static. cultures are changing things just like the landscape is a changing thing. you don't lose the culture that you had in the past. it continues on and gets modified and gets added on to. it doesn't go away. a lot of people have thought for 10, 20, 30 years that the dena'ina athabaskan indian culture was something that was long gone, something you might read about in a textbook or you might be able to go look at a few house pits out in the woods or something, but that's absolutely wrong, because the dena'ina folks are still around. they're still in the area,

and their culture's still strong and alive. [narrator] the elders of the kenaitze tribe, whose memories were virtually obliterated, never imagined that their history would survive. peter kalifornsky was responsible for keeping the culture alive at a time when all the odds were stacked against them. eva is his stepdaughter and remembers the time when he was alive. he never spoke english to me when i went to visit him. he always spoke indian, and i answered him back in english. ha ha ha! before he passed away, he was talking to me about the dances and all the language that he has revived back, and the last words he told me was to keep going to the indian classes and to keep it going so that my grandchildren could at least speak a little bit of the language. he told me so many things.

he told me stories when he was married to my mom, and he told me to keep my culture... and told us to try our best to keep it going for the younger generation. this little place has a great deal of meaning for us because it's something that our ancestors used and walked on, and it's nice to see that other people have begun, for whatever reasons, that they've begun to realize that it's a valuable thing that's disappearing, and that we're the only ones who can really make it whole again. captioning made possible by the annenberg/cpb project captioning performed by the national captioning institute, inc.

>> mayor for the city and county of san francisco. >> tonight, san francisco has a new interim mayor. >> a few minutes ago, city administrator now interim mayor ed lee, emerged happy but humble. >> in 2011, a temporary or interim mayor was selected by the board of supervisors, what is an interim mayor? why do we need one? is it the mayor's supposed to be elected by san francisco voters? how did this happen? let's rewind the story a little and look at the people and complicated process that led to this historic transition. the last time san francisco had an interim mayor was 30 years

ago, when, in 1978, george mosconi, was assassinated by supervisor dan white. >> both to grow rather mosconi and harvey milk have been shot and killed. >> they needed a new mayor at the time. the board got together and appointed dianne feinstein. >> we did not have much to go on and looked at 1978. there were no hints as to who put it on the board, if any discussion occurred about a process. >> what triggered san francisco's search over 30 years later was gavin newsom's election to the office of lieutenant governor. >> i put myself up as a candidate for the tenant governor, won, thanks to the overwhelming support of the city. >> that is when we try to look for someone to take over his

final year of the mayoral term. >> it is clear we have to do something in san francisco. we have to pick a mayor. that job was not up to the voters but the board of supervisors. by a majority vote, supervisors are able to choose the interim mayor. that is when the fun began in city hall. who would he be? >> we needed to protect -- perfect the process so that once the board asked us for that process, we could actually have something in place that was well tested that we could provide to them. >> mayor newsom would be sworn in as lieutenant governor in early january. so the board of supervisors had barely two months after the november election to select an interim mayor to complete gavin newsom's term. but how would the board do this? san francisco's charter guided -- offered little guidance. >> although it was obvious we

would appoint an interim mayor, there was no time line for the two to occur. we looked to outside counsel for answers. they researched those questions. while they researched the legal angle, we began the research on the parliamentary level. at the beginning of the calendar year 2010, we started to craft a generic process for a successor for mayor. being a parliamentarian of the board, i have been working on the process itself. i have been working with two one and parliamentarians in the city. we did some role-playing and tried to contemplate all of the different variables that the board would encounter in appointing a successor mayor.

>> the first time i became aware of the process as when my editor and myself asked us how the process would work. we quickly became tongue tied and did not have an answer. you went to the clerk of the board of supervisors to ask, the difference supervisors, the city attorney's office how it would work, and no one really had the rule book on it, so they had to figure it out. >> just seven days after gavin newsom was elected to the office of lieutenant governor, on the member 9, the board of supervisors began to grapple with the responsibility of choosing an interim mayor. >> colleagues, i am concerned about the transition to successor mayor, in term mayor, for the city in -- and county of san francisco. we need a collaborative process. the earlier we get started, the better. >> with all these are the

questions about procedures, there was an extra twist. the city office recused his office. >> the city administrator recused himself from the beginning. he is running for mayor himself, so he did not want to have any ideas of conflict of interest. santa clara county will be providing information to the board of supervisors on how they can proceed. the board met again on the clinic to revisit the issue. >> it is my understanding there are at least four authorities that could potentially govern the process we are talking about. it is incumbent upon us that we have a process that is consistent with all of those things. >> on the member 16, you saw the board of supervisors direct me as the clerk to create a process that the board could utilize to nominate, select, and appoint a successor mayor.

>> usually, when the board rules are silent, the role of order is the controlling parliamentary authority. so my recommendation is that the sports that have a process, received a draft, and then make modifications to it as you see fit. >> how do you start the voting, when does a supervisor have to leave a room if he or she is nominated? at what promises to you begin taking nominations? >> what is not formal this town that is manifested, the details of it. it is a challenge. the last time we did this on when mayor feinstein became mayor -- supervisor feinstein became mayor, under difficult to infanta's. in this case, we had more for morning. we have the ability to come up with a deliberate process. >> we knew almost immediately it would be a challenge. the charter does not have time frames associated with how long

the board president could be the acting mayor, nor how long the board could wait for them to appoint a successor bayer. that was compounded by some questions that surfaced around multiple board nominations, whether or not they could participate in the process. it was not until an outside counsel was retained that some of those answers were provided, that a board member could not nominate themselves, that they could not participate in the process, if neighbor interested in being nominated to be the successor mayor. >> san francisco citizens never had a loss of opinion during the public comments. several suggested the more experienced board to make this election, rather than the new board in january. >> there are two problems with the new board coming on. one is the experience level, but more importantly, there is a part of me that believe you

should already know your password and e-mail address before you get to hear. that is the reality of it. >> the board saw this as a golden opportunity to select a progressive mayor. >> for progressives, this was the mother of all great opportunities. they have been chomping at the bit to be in room 204 years. the city generally votes more moderately on the whole. >> there is one in term mayor from the progressive side to make sure in the next year, it will be a progressive mayor with a progressive majority board. then maybe in the election, they can have another elected progressive mayor. >> another issue was to consider selecting a caretaker mayor. several may run in november and preferred that the interim mayor be a caretaker. >> the board of supervisors

should respect the people's current choice, which was extended a few years ago, and at least have a caretaker that is awful, judicious, fair minded, -- they do not have to agree on anything -- everything -- but they will not play the kinds of political politics that one might play. >> that would really get the hornets' nest stirred up between the mayor and board of supervisors. if you are incumbent mayor and you decide to run for office, you have a leg up. some say, that is not fair. how about david chu, who is considering running for mayor, giving him nine months in office before he becomes mayor? you have people like bevan dufty, david chiu, even john avalon's common john campos, and ross mirkarimi, all had indicated an interest.

so you have people on the board who want to run for mayor. do they go for the caretaker mayor, or do they put those interests aside and best themselves with a politician that has a good chance of being elected? with that dilemma in front of them, we saw what happened. they could not put their egos aside. they generally would with the caretaker mayor. that person would pose no threat of running against them. >> when the board met next week on november 23, the clerk of the board proposed a process for nomination for mayor, which the board debated, amended, and eventually passed. >> a board member read the nominated may not produce pig in the discussion or vote on the competitor nominees. if the nominee of a board member nominee has been withdrawn, the board member may no longer have a conflict and could return to the room and to dissipate. >> basically, a process that i am proposing is one in which, one, would maximize per dissipation.

members of the board of supervisors. it would in franchise as many of our individual electors as possible in the decision making. >> this vote we will be taking is without question the most important vote we will cast as members of the board of supervisors. >> alioto-pier, there are 11 ayes. this motion is approved as amended. >> there was a lot of ambiguity run the process. to have the board to settle on a process felt really good, that we had to tackle that part of it. >> if you are a supervisor, you cannot vote for yourself. if you are nominated for that office, you cannot participate in the discussions, so you have to leave the room. you cannot text people, you cannot get on facebook. you can watch the process in your office, but you cannot let anyone know what your thinking or doing.

the most you can say is i accept the nomination, and then leave. if you do not accept the nomination, and you can participate, and then you will be out of the process for consideration. >> with the process agreed upon, board member chris daly call for nominations to begin. >> could we please at least spend a moment talking about what we would like to see in the next mayor of san francisco. >> were but board members retired and the item continued until after the thanksgiving holiday. >> to continue with my shakespeare aim, it is cold and i am sick of heart. i would like to continue this discussion to the next time we meet. >> chris daly was tried to push this early on, let's get someone in their early on. there was pressure to get someone from the left tube lined up the vote.

was it going to be a tom ammiano, david campos, an arin peskin, a former supervisor? >> but then mayor newsom said that he may delay his wearing him that as a lieutenant governors for a week. then the border supervisors, the modern new board with let the mayor. >> the question is when i do that. i have no charter obligations to do that. my term does not expire for another year-plus. so i have to resign first before a new mayor can take that oath of office. i have a role to play, even though the board of supervisors is the official who. >> mayor newsom, infuriatingly, frankly, kept his cards close to the best until the last moment. people did not know if he was going to stay in office to allow the new board to vote, people did not know if he was going to

go to sacramento early. >> the key to this whole process that the board of supervisors cannot appoint an interim mayor until the office is actually vacant. he did not want to be the necessarily to the sport of supervisors, which were his political adversaries for so many years. >> anything can happen at the board of supervisors. as long as they publicly notice it, they could call a meeting every day until january 3. >> meanwhile, several names were mentioned as potential candidates to be interim mayor. >> it was fascinating to watch the trial balloon go up. people's name would be floated for a week. there was a flavor of the week. david campos. former mayor art agnos was floated as a potential in term mayor. so was sheriff mike hennessey. so was the chair of the public so was the chair of the public utilities commission.