Conservators To The Rescue In The Aleutians
Next week a team of historic building conservators from San Francisco will begin repairs to five World War II bunkers at the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area on Mount Ballyhoo in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor. Congressional funding to rehabilitate the former US Army bunkers is through a grant from National Park Service to the Ounalashka Corporation. All of the bunkers are part of the Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base National Historic Landmark and the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area, a park owned and operated by the Ounalashka Corporation in affiliation with the National Park Service. The Ounalashka Corporation is the Alaska Native Village Corporation for Unalaska, formed in 1973 under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.
Architectural conservators David Wessel and Evan Kopelson, both of Architectural Resources Group in San Francisco will begin work the week of August 23 and their first tasks will be water proofing, graffiti removal, and patching of the 60 year-old structures. Wessel and Kopelson are experts in historic concrete and started planning for this project two years ago. To better understand the types of concrete used during the war and to design the best patch and waterproof products for the buildings, Wessel and Kopelson spent a week on Mt. Ballyhoo in 2002 drilling concrete core samples in 65 mile hour winds to analyze in their conservation lab. Wessel, whose father was an Army Sargent in Unalaska during the June 3-4, 1942 bombing of Fort Mears, took the windy conditions in stride. Local Native corporation staff will work with the two conservators to learn the skills needed to continue the project next spring and summer.
Repairs to the bunkers are part of a series of improvements planned for the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area. This summer the Bureau of Indian Affairs will complete upgrades to Ballyhoo Road and once the heavy road equipment is out of the park, the Ounalashka Corporation plans to install new signs and interpretive markers.