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Cook Inlet Region Villages
Explore the Alaska Native villages and communities recognized under ANCSA within CIRI’s regional boundaries.
The CIRI Region
The geographic boundary of the CIRI region, shown on the map below, closely approximates the traditional homeland of the Dena’ina Athabascan people. Within CIRI’s regional boundary are villages and group sites recognized under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). In addition, within the regional boundary is the municipality of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest urban center. Anchorage is often referred to colloquially as Alaska’s biggest Native “village” due to the large number of Alaska Native people who live within the municipal boundaries.
There are seven villages in the CIRI region. The Dena’ina villages of the region are Eklutna, Knik, Tyonek, and Salamatof. The people of Chickaloon are a mixture of Ahtna and Dena’ina Athabascan. The people of Ninilchik and Seldovia have ancestors of Aleut and Alutiiq descent, as well as some Dena’ina.
ANCSA also recognized two additional categories of Alaska Native localities—groups, which had smaller populations of Alaska Native people than villages, and four cities with significant Native populations: Kenai, Kodiak, Juneau and Sitka. The groups within CIRI’s regional boundaries are Caswell, Gold Creek, Montana Creek and Point Possession. The city of Kenai also lies within CIRI’s regional boundary and is home to many people of Dena’ina heritage.
Our Villages
Each village holds a unique cultural identity and history within the traditional Dena’ina homeland.
Tyonek
Native Name:Tubughnenq’
Name Meaning:“beach land”
Location:Tyonek is located on a bluff on the northwest shore of Cook Inlet, about 45 miles southwest of Anchorage
Population:415 (2020)
Language:Dena’ina Athabascan
Tribe:Native Village of Tyonek
Seldovia
Native Name:Seldovia is derived from the Russian word “Seldevoy”
Name Meaning:“herring bay”
Location:Located on the Kenai Peninsula, along Kachemak Bay, approximately 25 miles southwest of Homer, Alaska
Population:238 (2021)
Language:Sugpiaq, Aleut, Dena’ina Athabascan
Tribe:Seldovia Village Tribe
Salamatof
Native Name:Ken/Kena
Name Meaning:“flat, meadow, open area with few trees; base, low ridge”
Location:Western coast of the Kenai Peninsula, approximately 164 miles southwest of Anchorage
Language:Dena’ina Athabascan
Tribe:Salamatof Tribe
Ninilchik
Native Name:Ninilchik is derived from the Russian word “Niqnalchint”
Name Meaning:“a place where a lodge is built”
Location:Ninilchik is located along the Sterling Highway, 38 miles southwest of Soldotna, Alaska, overlooking the coastline of Cook Inlet
Population:898 (2020)
Language:Dena’ina Athabascan
Tribe:Ninilchik Village
Knik
Native Name:Niteh
Name Meaning:“among the islands”
Location:The village of Knik is now a ghost town located 13 miles south of Wasilla, Alaska
Population:Matanuska-Susitna Valley: 107,081 (2020)
Language:Dena’ina and Ahtna Athabascan
Tribe:Knik Tribe
Kenaitze
Native Name:Yaghanen
Name Meaning:“the good land”
Location:Western coast of the Kenai Peninsula, approximately 159 miles southwest of Anchorage
Language:Dena’ina Athabascan
Tribe:Kenaitze Indian Tribe
Eklutna
Native Name:Idluget Qayeht’ana (derived from “Idluytnu”)
Name Meaning:“plural objects river”
Location:About 24 miles northeast of Anchorage, Alaska, two miles from the mouth of the Eklutna River
Population:About 70; many tribal members live in surrounding communities
Language:Dena’ina Athabascan
Tribe:Eklutna Native Village
Chickaloon
Native Name:Nay’dini’aa Na’
Name Meaning:“the river with the two logs across it”
Location:Sutton, Alaska, 26 miles northeast of Palmer
Population:173 (2020)
Language:Ahtna Athabascan
Tribe:Chickaloon Native Village
