T&H Watchman Totems for Trooper academy in Sitka to be dedicated this week

Willoughby Peterson, foreground, carves as Yaandu.éin Miller and Ava Korpieski paint a pair of totem poles being made Thursday afternoon at the University of Alaska's Sitka Campus for the Alaska State Troopers Public Safety Training Academy. (James Poulson / Daily Sitka Sentinel)

By Cole Haddock

Daily Sitka Sentinel

In the University of Alaska Southeast hangar on Japonski Island, two watchmen are being carved and painted, the highest figures atop two 10-and-a-half-foot red cedar logs.

One watchman sits atop a raven and wears a cedar bark strap and hat of Native Alaskan design. The other sits above an eagle, wearing a holster and an Alaska State Trooper hat.

The two kootéeyaa, or totem poles, were commissioned by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska for the Alaska State Trooper Academy's Village Public Safety Training Academy. They will be unveiled and dedicated in a public ceremony at the academy at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, September 17.

Project leader Ghunaaxhdují Willoughby Peterson of the L'uknax.ádi (Coho) Clan explained the significance of the poles to the Sentinel today.

"(Tlingit and Haida watchmen) had the duty of climbing the tallest mountains and sitting in a dedicated guard… In this role, they are true caretakers of the people, keeping an eye out on the water for incoming groups of neighboring clans or the return of European and Russian seamen," Peterson said.

The watchmen on these poles represent those historical figures and the modern-day public safety officers, he said. "Together they stand atop the eagle and raven moieties of the Tlingit tribe to protect the people of Alaska."

Tlingit and Haida is one of the two federally recognized regional tribes in Alaska, and administers the VPSO program for Southeast Alaska, serving communities including Angoon, Coffman Cove, Hydaburg, Kake, Kasaan, Pelican, Saxman, and Thorne Bay.

Jason Wilson, a public safety officer for Tlingit and Haida, explained why the tribe wanted to have the poles at the Public Safety Academy in Sitka.

"The Village Public Safety Officers that go through the training [in Sitka] are predominantly in our tribal communities, serving our tribal citizens…. Yet when you're at the academy itself, there's nothing that says anything about the people they're serving."

Wilson says the purpose of the poles is to educate and remind troopers who are training about Alaskan Native peoples, as well as to give Native people a sense of pride and belonging while they are at the academy. "I think the hope would be that the academy continues to improve representation. Representation matters — representation of our people and our lands."

The project was led by a father-son team. Reggie Peterson, a master carver of the Wooshkeetaan (Shark) Clan, designed the two poles and his son, Ghunaaxhdují Willoughby Peterson of the L'uknax.ádi (Coho) Clan, led the project.

Willoughby Peterson estimates that he has put about 2,000 hours into this project since May 2025. He said he's been around carving projects his whole life, though, making his first tools with his father 17 years ago. His father, Reggie Peterson, has been carving for more than 50 years.

Even his father's career, however, is just a small percentage of the tree's lifespan. The 23-ft red cedar log, which was provided by the Sealaska Institute, was more than 460 years old when it was logged on Prince of Wales Island.

The age of the log "begs us to think about the history that this tree has witnessed throughout its lifetime. It's witnessed many different eras of our people and land. It was here before any settlers of European or other Western descent came along. It's part of us, and we continue its story through our art form," Peterson said.

"We see ourselves inside of nature," explained Peterson. "These figures not only represent the animal figure, but they also represent us." This is evidenced in facets of the traditional design — the eagle's lips are painted red like human lips, and above the eyes are thick black eyebrows. "Eagles don't have eyebrows, but humans do. And these eyes don't necessarily look like eagle eyes; they kind of look like human eyes."

Peterson's work can be seen in two murals at the airport and at Blatchley Middle School. His work, along with his father's, is also featured in the Xút'aa Hídi gallery downtown.

Peterson's team in the totem pole project included many other practicing artists, including carvers Jose Figueroa, Mark Sixbey, and Soren Branthoover, as well as painters Rhonda Reaney, Yaanduein Mike Miller, Harold Jessy, Ava Korpiewski, Lydia Peterson, and Gail J. Peterson.

"We're still here," says Peterson. "This is a living art form — not just from ancient history. This is actively pursued by living people who have direct ancestral ties to this land and our culture. This is one of the most beautiful art forms in the world."

• This story originally appeared in the Daily Sitka Sentinel