Lake and Peninsula Borough Death Records

The Lake and Peninsula Borough death index covers one of Alaska's most remote and sparsely settled organized boroughs, stretching along the Alaska Peninsula between Bristol Bay and the Pacific. Searching the death index for this borough means working through Alaska's state vital records system, since the borough government itself does not maintain vital records for the communities within its boundaries.

About Lake and Peninsula Borough

Lake and Peninsula Borough covers a vast stretch of southwestern Alaska, including most of the upper Alaska Peninsula and portions of the Aleutian chain. King Salmon serves as the borough seat, though the population is spread across dozens of small communities including Port Alsworth, Nondalton, Iliamna, Kokhanok, Pedro Bay, and Pilot Point. Total borough population is quite small relative to its enormous geographic size.

The borough was incorporated in 1989 and provides a limited set of services: planning and zoning, property assessment, and emergency services coordination. It does not operate a school district and does not maintain vital records. This matters a great deal for death index research, because it means there is no borough-level office you can contact for a death certificate. All certified records come from the state.

Most communities in Lake and Peninsula Borough are Alaska Native villages, many of them Alutiiq, Dena'ina, or Yup'ik. Access to most villages requires a small plane. There are no road connections to the outside highway system. This geographic isolation has shaped how records were kept historically and how researchers must approach the death index today.

The borough government's website is at lakeandpeninsula.com. The mailing address is 246 Myrtle Lane, King Salmon AK 99613, and the phone number is (907) 246-3421. Staff there can point you toward property and assessment records, but for death records you must contact the state.

Alaska Vital Records Through HAVRS

The Health Analytics and Vital Records Section, HAVRS, is the state agency that holds all certified death records for Lake and Peninsula Borough. HAVRS maintains the Alaska death index and issues certified copies to those who qualify. Their Juneau office is at 5441 Commercial Boulevard, Juneau AK 99801, at (907) 465-3391. The Anchorage office is at 3901 Old Seward Hwy Suite 101, Anchorage AK 99503, at (907) 269-0991.

Death records less than 50 years old are restricted under Alaska law. Immediate family members, legal representatives, and others with a legitimate documented purpose can request these records. Records 50 years old or older are open to the public. For historical genealogy research in Lake and Peninsula Borough communities, the 50-year threshold means records back to the mid-1970s are now publicly accessible.

You can order through the HAVRS web portal or through VitalChek online at vitalchek.com. Mail orders go to P.O. Box 110675, Juneau AK 99811-0675. Include the full name, approximate date of death, and the name of the requesting party along with your relationship to the deceased.

The HAVRS vital records orders page at health.alaska.gov explains the ordering process in full, including required documentation and processing timelines.

The fee for a certified death certificate is $30 for the first copy. Each additional copy ordered at the same time costs $25. Expedited processing is available through VitalChek for an extra charge.

Tribal Records and Alaska Native Resources

A significant portion of Lake and Peninsula Borough residents are Alaska Native. For research involving Alaska Native individuals, tribal records held by village tribal governments and regional health organizations can fill gaps in the state index. The Iliamna Natives Limited, Pedro Bay Corporation, and other village corporations may maintain records relevant to their communities.

The Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation provides health services to many Lake and Peninsula Borough communities. Health records are not public, but they can be accessed by family members of deceased individuals under appropriate circumstances. Contact the health corporation directly for guidance on accessing records for a deceased relative.

FamilySearch at familysearch.org holds a large Alaska vital records collection covering 1816 to 2005. Their collection is free to search and includes records from rural southwestern Alaska. Searching by individual name often works better than searching by location for remote borough communities, since place names and spellings have varied over time.

For village-level records, researchers should also consider contacting the tribal council of the specific community where the individual lived. Many villages have kept their own records over the decades, particularly mission records from Russian Orthodox and Catholic churches that were active in the Alaska Peninsula region from the nineteenth century onward.

Alaska State Archives

The Alaska State Archives genealogy collection spans records from 1816 to 1998, with over 1.1 million records digitized. Their portal is at archives.alaska.gov. This is one of the most useful tools for searching historical death records in remote Alaska communities.

The Alaska State Archives genealogy portal provides a searchable index of digitized vital records that includes deaths from communities across the Alaska Peninsula, covering a time span well before the Lake and Peninsula Borough was even established.

After searching the archives index, researchers may need to request physical copies of records that have not been fully digitized. The archives staff can assist with identifying relevant record groups and explaining how to request copies of specific items.

Law Enforcement and Coroner Records

Alaska State Troopers handle law enforcement across Lake and Peninsula Borough. Their website is at dps.alaska.gov. In many small communities throughout the borough, Village Public Safety Officers, known as VPSOs, serve as the primary local law enforcement presence and work alongside the state troopers.

When a death occurs and the cause is unclear or potentially criminal, the Alaska State Troopers coordinate with the state medical examiner. Coroner and medical examiner records are separate from vital records and are not held by HAVRS. If you need records related to a coroner investigation, contact the Alaska Department of Public Safety directly.

Deaths at sea, which can occur in the fishing and commercial maritime industries active in Lake and Peninsula Borough waters, may also generate records through the U.S. Coast Guard. Federal maritime records are a separate track from state vital records. The National Archives at archives.gov holds federal records that can be relevant in some cases.

Property Records and Estate Research

Land and property records for Lake and Peninsula Borough are accessible through the Alaska Land Records Information System, ALRIS, at dnr.alaska.gov. While property records are not death records, they often come up in estate and probate research following a death. When someone dies owning land in the borough, those property records become part of the estate process.

Probate cases for Lake and Peninsula Borough residents are handled in the Alaska Superior Court with jurisdiction over the region. The nearest courts with Alaska Peninsula jurisdiction are in Anchorage. Probate records are court records, not vital records, and are accessed through the Alaska Court System.

Nearby Boroughs and Census Areas

Cities in Lake and Peninsula Borough

The borough's communities are small villages spread across an expansive and mostly roadless region. King Salmon, Iliamna, Nondalton, and Port Alsworth do not have their own pages. Use the state-level resources on this page to search the death index for any community in the borough.