Louise Brady, Kh’asheech Tláa,  was born and raised in Sitka. She’s a Sitka Tribe council member and the founder and director of the Herring Protectors, a grassroots movement led by Indigenous women using ceremony and collective organizing to protect the yaaw (herring). It’s that depth of leadership, in ceremony and in tribal governance alike, that she brought into the room to open the cohort’s culmination.

That grounding set the stage for a deeper conversation about the future the cohort wanted to see for the Arctic. After 18 months of finding their voices and their own leadership styles, and stepping into internships meant to help build the future they hoped to see, one thread kept surfacing. Reflecting together in Sitka, the ambassadors named intergenerational leadership as central to the future they wanted for the Arctic.

That wasn’t a new idea to the cohort so much as a new angle. Over the past 18 months, ambassadors had done a version of that same grounding work themselves, sitting on panels and speaking in rooms full of strangers and policymakers, bringing the knowledge and traditions of their home communities into the conversation. Ambassadors came to that work from different starting points and different relationships to land and tradition, but shared a habit already built into how they moved through the world, receiving knowledge, wherever it came from, and finding ways to carry it forward into their work and advocacy. While the AYA program didn’t introduce that instinct, it gave ambassadors a new way of communicating their ideas on a bigger stage.

Ambassadors were clear, though, that being invited to share that knowledge isn’t the same as being given real influence over what happens with it. Some organizations have created youth board seats, a meaningful gesture on its face, but those seats frequently come without voting power. A seat at the table isn’t the same as a voice that counts in the decision made there.

What meaningful engagement looked like, in the cohort’s own experience, started with feeling safe enough to show up fully. Alexis Rexford described feeling “more comfortable and confident in owning my space and taking up space” over her time in AYA, and credited AYA staff and her fellow ambassadors with building “a big supportive safety net” she and her peers could lean on. That safety wasn’t incidental. Ambassadors described a program that made room for real limitations and boundaries. One ambassador reflected that there was no capacity for burnout because of the space that staff gave them to say, “I’ve reached my limit”. Being able to say that, and be met without judgment, is what allows ambassadors to engage honestly instead of performing confidence they didn’t yet feel or participate in events they weren’t passionate about.

That same care extended to removing barriers. For some ambassadors, like Hope Uele, one of the first obstacles wasn’t a lack of confidence or skill, but something as basic as not yet having a passport, a barrier that could have kept them out of international spaces before they ever got the chance to speak in them. Pooled funding the cohort drew on throughout the program, including support from WWF, helped cover costs like that and clear the path. Once that barrier was cleared, the harder work of building the skills to use that access could begin.

For Averon Katcheak, that work meant learning to represent a community he’d always been part of but hadn’t yet learned to speak for. “I just couldn’t public speak, and didn’t know how to network or follow up,” he explained. “I felt like I was part of my community, I just didn’t know how to present for them.” Kellie Miller described a similar arc, naming networking and public speaking as goals she’d hoped to grow into. “I got to say yes to a lot of opportunities that I didn’t think I would have,” she reflected, adding that the support of AYA and Alaska Conservation Foundation staff helped her narrow in on the issues she cared most about. “Being able to hone my interests and the things that I wanted to bring to light as an AYA was something that helped me become more confident in my abilities.”

Building that kind of voice took practice, and the culmination itself offered one more chance for it. Shelly Wade of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service led the cohort through a creative writing exercise, asking ambassadors to put themselves and their communities into story and poem form and share what they’d written with the group. For Mic Isham, also of USFWS, it was his first time meeting AYA ambassadors in person, and he came away struck by how openly and confidently they spoke about their own experiences.

That growing confidence showed up in rooms ambassadors hadn’t expected to enter at all. Kellie recalled being surprised simply by the access itself, sitting across from people who shape Arctic policy and advocacy, and realizing “how much people really can listen and be engaged with youth in a meaningful way.” One moment stood out in particular. During a conversation with then Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland about the future of the Arctic, Kellie ended up exchanging contact information with her, a small but telling example of what it looks like when a seat at the table comes with an actual, ongoing line of communication rather than a single, symbolic appearance.

That same spirit carried into how the cohort was welcomed into its next chapter as alumni. During the culmination, ambassadors sat down with several AYA alumni, who offered guidance on what comes next, how to stay engaged, where to plug in, and how to keep the relationships and momentum from the program alive once the formal cohort ends. Averon credited alumni for that same support throughout his time in the program. “I feel more confident being in those spaces, especially because the alumni help with us speaking and try to support us in any way they could.” Ambassadors also thanked Reth Duir and Macy Kenworthy, both members of the program’s very first cohort who now serve as the program’s coordinators, for staying present as guides rather than stepping back once their own cohort ended. Several ambassadors also pointed to Ann, who helped shape the direction of the program from its earliest days and was pivotal in making sure staff and partners actually listened to ambassadors rather than just inviting them into the room. She’s less involved in day-to-day coordination now, but her support for the AYAs, and for Reth and Macy as staff, hasn’t gone anywhere.

That sense of community showed up in smaller, quieter ways too. During the culmination, Macy found herself texting back and forth with an alum from the program’s fourth cohort, who was attending the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO) at the time, asking him to send updates so she could share them with the group. It was a small moment, but it captured something the cohort had spent 18 months building, a network that keeps reaching back for the next person, even in passing.

Some of the most meaningful moments of the culmination happened away from formal programming entirely. One evening, the cohort gathered at the Halibut Point Recreation Site to decompress together, grilling food, walking the beach, and watching the sunset, with a few ambassadors braving a polar plunge into the cold water. On their final night, ambassadors cooked dinner together at the house they rented. Averon taught Reth how to make pizza dough from scratch, and the two of them fed the group pizza while everyone watched the WEIO livestream, cheering on friends and siblings competing.

Ambassadors were quick to celebrate how far the program has come, but just as quick to name what’s still unfinished. Real decision making power for youth, not just a seat in the room, is still the piece they’re pushing for going forward. That, cohort members made clear, is the real measure of intergenerational leadership. Not whether youth are invited, but whether their voice carries weight once they arrive.

Louise Brady had shown them what that looks like in practice before the celebration even properly began. As Cohort 5 closed this chapter in Sitka, they stepped into their role as alumni carrying forward the very thing they described wanting to build, a leadership chain with no missing links, one that equips youth to carry it forward, and insists that a seat at the table come with a voice that counts.

The post Reflections from the 5th Arctic Youth Ambassadors Cohort: Carrying the Chain of Leadership Forward first appeared on Alaska Conservation Foundation.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — July 29, 2026 — Alaska Conservation Foundation (ACF) announced today the launch of the Bart Koehler Rapid Response Fund, a living tribute to one of Alaska’s most influential conservation organizers who is now struggling with Parkinson’s disease. 

“Bart has spent more than four decades organizing for wild places, but Alaska is where his work met its greatest tests, and its greatest victories. He helped build the grassroots movement behind the Tongass Timber Reform Act, then helped defend it when it came under attack just five years later. Through it all, his gift trusting local people to lead the campaign. This fund is our way of keeping that model alive for the next generation of Alaskans standing up for their public lands.” – Michael Barber, President & CEO, Alaska Conservation Foundation

Few people have shaped the map of protected lands across Alaska as much as Bart Koehler. He began his career as a wilderness organizer in Wyoming in the early 1970s with The Wilderness Society, where he was mentored by Alaska conservation icons Mardy Murie and Celia Hunter. In 1977, Hunter assigned him to help mobilize citizens across the West in support of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Koehler moved to Alaska in 1984 to lead the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC), beginning a 32-year relationship with the organization as both its director, twice, and a board member, through some of the most politically tumultuous years for the Tongass National Forest. Working alongside SEACC staff, volunteers, and members, he helped build the grassroots movement that led to the passage of the Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990, which protected 1.4 million acres of Southeast Alaska’s most productive fish and wildlife habitat. When those protections came under attack in Congress five years later, Koehler led the effort to defend them, a fight that ultimately shut down two large pulp mills and brought a lasting sea change to how the Tongass is managed.

In 2016, Bart Koehler accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award from Alaska Conservation Foundation, a fitting tribute to a career that also earned him ACF’s Olaus Murie Award for Outstanding Professional Contributions in 1990. 

The Bart Koehler Rapid Response Fund will channel gifts through ACF’s existing Rapid Response Grant Program, which is ACF’s longest standing grant program, and has moved more than $180,000 to frontline organizations in just the past two years alone. Rapid Response grants provide quick support for direct advocacy during urgent legislative or regulatory windows, ensuring organizations can participate in key policy decisions that shape Alaska’s future.

Many past and present leaders of the conservation movement have shared the impact Bart has had on the people and communities of Alaska. “Bart Koehler is a wildlands rock star. His strategic leadership and easygoing manner of working with people from all walks of life led to thousands and thousands of acres of Alaska being protected for generations to come,” said Jim Stratton.

“I use the things Bart taught me about organizing people for positive change every single day,” said Tim Bristol, Executive Director, SalmonState.

ACF is inviting anyone who worked with Koehler, was mentored by him, or shares his commitment to Alaska’s wild places to help build the fund. Gifts to the Bart Koehler Rapid Response Fund make more of that work possible.

Those interested in contributing can do so at alaskaconservation.org or by contacting Anna Dalton at adalton@alaskaconservation.org, or 907-433-8213.

About Alaska Conservation Foundation Founded in 1980, Alaska Conservation Foundation is the only public foundation solely dedicated to conservation in Alaska. Our priorities are protecting Alaska’s public lands and waters and building resilience to the impacts of climate change. As a proud intermediary funder, ACF prides itself on shifting power and resources to Alaska’s grassroots and providing value-added services to ensure statewide coordination and collaboration. To date, ACF has awarded more than $63 million in grants to support Alaska. Learn more at alaskaconservation.org.

Contact: Anna Dalton, Vice President of Program DevelopmentAlaska Conservation Foundation

adalton@alaskaconservation.org | (907) 433-8213 | alaskaconservation.org

The post Alaska Conservation Foundation Launches Bart Koehler Rapid Response Fund to Celebrate a Lifetime of Wildlands Organizing first appeared on Alaska Conservation Foundation.

This year’s honorees include a Tribal government that has spent five decades rebuilding cultural sovereignty in the face of resource extraction and forced assimilation, a wildlife cinematographer whose work has reached audiences on National Geographic and the BBC, and lifelong advocates whose careers span policy, land protection, science, and grassroots organizing across the state.

“These awardees represent the heart of Alaska’s conservation movement, people who lead with integrity, curiosity, and an unwavering commitment to the places and communities that define our state,” said Michael Barber, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alaska Conservation Foundation. “Each of them reminds us that conservation is not a single path, but a collective journey, carried forward by teachers, artists, organizers, and decision-makers alike.”

The awardees will be honored at the 2026 Conservation Achievement Awards Ceremony on September 24, at 6 PM at the Anchorage Museum. The evening will gather conservation leaders, partners, and supporters to celebrate the honorees and reflect on the work ahead. Join us, along with your friends and colleagues, in celebrating these remarkable individuals and honoring the entire Alaska conservation community.

Meet the 2026 Awardees

Lifetime Achievement Awards:

Joel Bennett – A wildlife attorney and advocate since coming to Alaska in 1968, Bennett helped craft early state legislation on wildlife and the environment and served 13 years on the Alaska Board of Game under four governors. As Defenders of Wildlife’s first Alaska representative from 1996 to 2003, he led the citizen’s initiative that prohibited aerial wolf hunting by the public and later represented the Alaska Wildlife Alliance in litigation that struck down a brown bear predator control program as unconstitutional. A wildlife photographer and filmmaker, he has directed more than 27 films for television and written two award-winning children’s books on Alaska wildlife.

Tim Troll – Troll came to Alaska in 1978 as a VISTA volunteer lawyer in Bethel, later settling in the Yup’ik village of St. Marys and then Dillingham in Bristol Bay. While in Dillingham, he initiated the founding of the Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust, which has since conserved 92,040 acres of private land, including acreage in Wood-Tikchik State Park and habitat protecting a rare population of freshwater harbor seals on Lake Iliamna. With Ekwok Tribal Chief Luki Akelkok, he also started the Bristol Bay Fly Fishing & Guide Academy, which has introduced more than 200 youth to fly fishing, guiding, and conservation since 2008.

Olaus Murie Award for Outstanding Professional Contributions:

Sue Mauger – In the 26 years since she arrived in Alaska, Mauger has studied climate and land-use change in wild salmon streams, working to connect research with public policy and decision making. As Cook Inletkeeper’s Science Director and later Executive Director, she helped establish statewide protocols for water temperature monitoring, led a regional effort to collect decades of stream temperature data across Cook Inlet, and published the first regional assessment projecting Cook Inlet stream temperatures through 2060. She also collaborated on a study providing the first evidence linking Chinook salmon declines to climate-driven habitat change.

Celia Hunter Award for Outstanding Volunteer Contributions:

Lou Brown – Brown arrived in Fairbanks from California in 1988 and spent much of her working life writing grant proposals and raising funds for nonprofits serving the deaf community, low-income housing, the environment, and Alaska Native education. She served six years on the board of Fairbanks’ women’s shelter and eight years on the board of the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, and her current advocacy is with Save Our Domes, supporting property owners protecting their homes from the impacts of mining. An avid outdoorswoman, she has paddled remote rivers in Guyana and Prince William Sound and, at 74, still skis, hikes, kayaks, and gardens.

Denny Wilcher Award for Young Environmental Activists:

Izzy Brown – Raised in Denali National Park and Preserve, Brown has carried a lifelong connection to the land into her advocacy work with Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA), where she has built a network of peers taking action for the future of their communities. She has presented at the Alaska Forum and served as a featured speaker at the Alaska Natural Resource & Outdoor Education Association. Brown describes herself as a local environmentalist, dedicated steward, passionate educator, and inspired researcher, and says she is grateful to hear the many stories of why individuals’ lands matter to them.

Lowell Thomas Jr. Award for Outstanding Achievements by an Organization Doing Conservation Work:

Alaska Wildlife Alliance – Founded in 1978, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance is dedicated to protecting Alaska’s wildlife for its intrinsic value and for the benefit of present and future generations. The organization advocates for healthy ecosystems that are scientifically and ethically managed, working to protect the state’s wildlife amid an increasingly dynamic world. The Alliance attends Board of Game and Board of Fish meetings each year to advocate for science-based wildlife management, takes legal action to defend critical habitat and hold agencies accountable, and works to recover Alaska’s threatened and endangered species, which include 13 endangered and 8 threatened species statewide.

Jerry S. Dixon Award for Excellence in Environmental Education:

Lauren Bien – As Education Director at the Prince William Sound Science Center in Cordova, Bien works alongside enthusiastic educators, lifelong learners, and committed community partners. Her academic background is in biology and marine science, but experiential education and conservation are her true passions. Drawing on her scientific training and the knowledge of community partners, she brings scientific depth and a sense of wonder into immersive education programs, using the Chugach National Forest as a living classroom.

Daniel Housberg Wilderness Image Award for Excellence in Still Photography, Film or Video:

Erin Ranney – A wildlife cinematographer specializing in behavioral filming, remote fieldwork, and deep sea video engineering, Ranney’s footage has appeared on National Geographic, BBC, PBS, and Smithsonian programs. She has filmed extensively in Alaska over the past decade, including a personal project following her family’s stories as the state’s landscape, climate, and wildlife have changed. Drawing on her family’s background in commercial fishing, she focuses on community-based conservation solutions and has contributed to campaigns including efforts opposing the proposed Pebble Mine. She co-founded and chairs the Wildlife Cinematographer Diversity Fund.

Caleb Pungowiyi Award for Outstanding Achievements by an Alaska Native Organization or Individual:

Chickaloon Traditional Council – Nay’dini’aa Na’, an Ahtna Athabascan Tribe based in Sutton, has occupied the Chickaloon area for 10,000 years and was among the first Alaska Tribes affected by outside resource development, including mining, oil and gas drilling, and logging, as well as the forced removal of children to assimilation-era boarding schools. In response to these injustices and the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, Tribal Elders re-established the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council in 1973 to restore traditional Athabascan culture, language, and spirituality and to reunify Tribal citizens. The Tribe gained federal recognition that same year and continues to govern through a nine-member Traditional Council.

About the Awards

First launched in 1986, the Alaska Conservation Achievement Awards recognize individuals and organizations making extraordinary contributions to the protection of Alaska’s environment and cultural heritage. Award categories honor lifetime service, grassroots leadership, environmental education, media, youth activism, and professional conservation efforts.

Join Us

The 2026 Conservation Achievement Awards Ceremony will be held on September 24, 2026 6-9pm at the Anchorage Museum.

Purchase your tickets HERE.

Media Contact:

Sophie Komornicki

Director of Communications & Storytelling

skomornicki@alaskaconservation.org

The post Alaska Conservation Foundation Announces 2026 Conservation Achievement Awardees first appeared on Alaska Conservation Foundation.

Established in 2016 to unite conservation efforts and provide essential resources to defend Alaska’s landscapes, communities, and ways of life, the Alaska Defense Fund ensures ACF has the resources to support grassroots advocacy partners during times of great need. As federal policy toward Alaska’s public lands and waters continues to shift, the fund remains more critical than ever, enabling ACF to deploy resources in support of partners’ communications, community organizing, and legal defense efforts. 

What sets the Alaska Defense Fund apart is that the money is entirely unrestricted, allowing organizations to spend it wherever they see a need. Instead of being tied to narrow project goals, these flexible funds can directly support organizations’ core operations. It reflects ACF’s role as an intermediary funder, moving resources straight to the grassroots groups and Tribal entities working to protect the state’s lands, waters, and ways of life.

This year’s Alaska Defense Fund awards represent continued growth in ACF’s investment in the conservation movement, up from $350,000 in 2025 and $252,500 in 2024, an increase of roughly 50% over two years. Grant recipients are working on the front lines to protect some of Alaska’s most treasured public lands and waters, including the Susitna River Watershed, Tongass National Forest, Cook Inlet, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Brooks Range, and Bristol Bay.

More than a quarter of this year’s grantees are Indigenous-led or Tribal organizations, including United Tribes of Bristol Bay, Chilkat Indian Village, Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, Gwich’in Steering Committee, Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission, and Grandmothers Growing Goodness. This reflects ACF’s strategic commitment to elevating Indigenous voices and the perspectives of underrepresented people throughout its work.

“Alaska’s lands and waters are facing serious pressure right now, from continued efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to the important fight to address wasteful bycatch from  trawling in federal and state waters. Our grantee partners are the ones showing up for these places every day, and they need resources that can keep pace. The Alaska Defense Fund exists for exactly this moment. We are proud to provide resources to the grassroots groups and Indigenous-led organizations holding the line. By providing unrestricted funding, we’re making sure they can use it where they need it most, whether that’s for legal defense, community organizing, or just covering costs like staff salaries to keep their vital work going.”

— Anna Dalton, Vice President of Program Development, Alaska Conservation Foundation

Since 1980, Alaska Conservation Foundation has awarded more than $63 million in grants to support conservation across the state. As the only public foundation solely dedicated to conservation in Alaska, ACF works as an intermediary funder, shifting power and resources to grassroots organizations and Tribal entities while providing value-added support that strengthens statewide coordination and collaboration.

FY26 Alaska Defense Fund General Operating Support Grantees:

• Trustees for Alaska
• Cook Inletkeeper
• Susitna River Coalition
• Southeast Alaska Conservation Council
• Alaska Center Education Fund
• Sitka Conservation Society
• Alaska Wilderness League
• National Parks Conservation Association
• Alaska Community Action on Toxics
• Northern Alaska Environmental Center
• United Tribes of Bristol Bay
• SalmonState
• Gwich’in Steering Committee
• Alaska Wildlife Alliance
• Alaska Marine Community Coalition
• Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition
• Chilkat Indian Village
• Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic
• Renewable Energy Alaska Project
• Sierra Club Alaska
• Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association
• Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission
• Grandmothers Growing Goodness

About Alaska Conservation Foundation

Founded in 1980, Alaska Conservation Foundation is the only public foundation solely dedicated to conservation in Alaska. Our priorities are protecting Alaska’s public lands and waters and building resilience to the impacts of climate change. As a proud intermediary funder, ACF prides itself on shifting power and resources to Alaska’s grassroots and providing value-added services to ensure statewide coordination and collaboration. To date, ACF has awarded more than $63 million in grants to support Alaska conservation. Learn more at alaskaconservation.org.

Contact
Anna Dalton, Vice President of Program Development
Alaska Conservation Foundation
adalton@alaskaconservation.org | (907) 433-8213 | alaskaconservation.org

The post Alaska Conservation Foundation Awards $378,000 to 23 Grassroots Organizations Defending Alaska’s Public Lands first appeared on Alaska Conservation Foundation.

The post Save the Date: 2026 Conservation Achievement Awards first appeared on Alaska Conservation Foundation.

Indigenous Guardians programs employ community members to monitor and protect their traditional lands, waters, and cultural resources, combining Indigenous Knowledge with scientific methods and maintaining community ownership over the data they collect. For many, they represent a meaningful alternative to extraction-based economies. As one participant and environmental justice advocate who grew up in Alaska described it, Guardians are about Indigenous and rural communities “taking the research, science and the environmental monitoring into their own hands.”

ACF’s Northern Latitudes Partnerships program helped organize and convene the gathering alongside the Native American Fish & Wildlife Society, Alaska Sea Grant, Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center at UAF, Permafrost Pathways, and Spruce Root. Music, storytelling, and presentations by people doing this work in their own communities filled the program. Topics ranged from developing and sustaining Guardians programs to food sovereignty, wildland fire, climate adaptation, and tools for Tribal self-determination. 

Canada’s network of over 1,500 Guardians offered hard-won lessons about what these programs look like in practice. The Kaska land guardians in British Columbia, for example, collar bison, monitor river ice and water quality, study bird migrations, collect hunter observations, and conduct first aid and water rescue trainings in their communities. Programs like theirs demonstrate that Indigenous-led stewardship is not just a vision, it is a functioning model with real outcomes for lands, waters, and people. As Guardians programming gains momentum across Alaska, the wisdom and experience of established Canadian programs has had an immediate impact on how these efforts are being shaped. There is a growing movement to expand such programs throughout the state, building on the foundation that Indigenous-led stewardship can and does work.

During the closing talking circle, several people called it the best gathering they had ever attended. One Elder reached out to organizers afterward, grateful for the energy of the young people in the room, their openness and willingness to listen and lead. He told organizers that seeing that gave him reassurance that the next generation would carry things forward in a good way, and that it allowed him to rest a little easier.

Participants left wanting more and planning for it. NLP’s Northwest Boreal Partnership is pursuing an on-the-land retreat in Yukon Territory this summer and working on funding proposals to deepen cross-border Guardians connections. 

Guardians programs create rural jobs grounded in caring for the land, generate critical ecological data in under-monitored regions, and as countless participants and program members across Canada and Alaska have attested, reconnect people to their lands and practices in ways that matter deeply. The momentum is already underway. This gathering was one step in continuing to build it here.

The post Rooted in Place, Building Across Borders first appeared on Alaska Conservation Foundation.

In 2025, we awarded Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA) a $9,500 Rapid Response grant in support of their concerns related to the proposed Colville Delta 8 (CD8) oil project. 

Founded and led by Iñupiat peoples, SILA believes the health of communities and the health of the land are inseparable. Colville Delta 8 (CD8) is a proposed oil and gas project located two miles from the Iñupiat village of Nuiqsut, Alaska that puts both at risk. Nuiqsut has about 500 residents and is currently surrounded by oil and gas projects such as the massive and controversial Willow Project.

When The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced a 30-day scoping comment period for the CD8 project, the first public hearing in Fairbanks was held a week later. This short notice resulted in only a few people being able to testify. Unfortunately, SILA’s written request for the comment period to be extended and for an additional hearing in Fairbanks to be held was denied.

Although SILA’s requests were denied, Alaska Conservation Foundation was able to provide a Rapid Response grant to support SILA in organizing additional testimony for the virtual and in-person Anchorage hearings. Funds also supported a rally, and a video about public opposition to CD8.

Five people testified against the project in the virtual meeting, and 15 people organized by SILA and Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) attended the Anchorage hearing, including two people whom SILA flew into Anchorage for the meeting. One Nuiqsut lifelong subsistence hunter spoke of the realities of native subsistence, “Since 2012 we have been getting sick fish, since development [around Nuiqsut began]. These man-made compounds introduced to our area were not there, until this day we have not gotten an answer on the impacts of our village.”

Beyond the individual testimonies that SILA’s organizing led to, they galvanized broader concerns about the development and the industry. SILA’s Executive Director, Nauri Simmonds explained, “People in Nuiqsut who have long supported and profited from the oil and gas industry are finally questioning the costs of ever expanding development. We believe the CD8 development and SILA’s rapid response organizing to the comment period are part of an inflection point among North Slope Inupiat who are reconsidering their relationship to the oil and gas industry.”

Just a few months later, in December 2025, the Trump administration’s Interior Department abruptly cancelled a landmark agreement designed to give local communities authority over protections for 1 million acres of vital caribou habitat for the 60,000-strong Teshekpuk caribou herd.

Originally signed during the Biden administration, this “Trilateral Right of Way” was designed to offset the impacts of the Willow project by granting Nuiqsut’s Tribe, city, and village corporation leaders authority over development within key habitat in the Teshekpuk Lake region—an ecologically sensitive area and critical source of traditional foods for the Iñupiat.

While a case challenging the cancellation was pending, the administration offered this acreage to the oil and gas industry anyway in a March 18, 2026 lease sale. However, just days before the sale, a federal judge granted an injunction, putting the Right of Way back in place. Ignoring this, four companies—including ExxonMobil—bid on nearly a quarter million acres of protected lands.

The good news is the Department of the Interior hasn’t issued any of the leases yet, and the court’s decision made clear that leasing or development can’t happen without permission from the Nuiqsut Trilateral. This initial court order demonstrates the power of Indigenous communities forming agreements with federal agencies to protect their homelands from rapid industrial expansion.

As for what’s next related to the CD8 project, SILA expects USACE to release a Draft Environmental Impact Statement this coming October. We have no doubt SILA will be present and prepared to comment, regardless of how long or short the comment period is.

The post SILA Mobilizes Against Oil Expansion in the Western Arctic first appeared on Alaska Conservation Foundation.

The webinar covered Tribal-led and community-driven consent protocols for addressing hardrock mining projects and related infrastructure in Alaska, and explore the answers to questions you may have related to Consent-Based Tribal Resolutions:

• Why should Tribes put protocols in place?
• What are some successful examples?
• How can my Tribe use protocols when interfacing with mining companies and state and federal agencies?

AKMIN envisions an Alaska where stewardship of the land is prioritized and where local communities have the power to ensure that mining and associated development happens only with their free, prior, and informed consent, under rigorous protective policies and practices, enabling a future where the land, air, and water will continue to provide traditional and cultural livelihoods for present and future generations.

This webinar is being hosted as a result of recommendations compiled through surveys, focus groups, and interviews with AKMIN participants that developed the Consent Analysis Report: AKMIN’s Collective Vision on Consent in Hardrock Mining. One of the key recommendations was: “Develop Indigenous-led and Community-driven Consent Protocols”. These Consent-Based Tribal Resolutions webinars aim to address this recommendation.

The post Consent-Based Tribal Resolutions Toolkit & Webinar Recording first appeared on Alaska Conservation Foundation.

Thank you for your interest in our webinar marking the 45th anniversary of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).

Whether you joined us live or plan to watch the recording, we’re grateful for your commitment to protecting Alaska’s irreplaceable public lands.

Our conversation with John Leshy, Fran Ulmer, and Pat Pourchot offered crucial insights into both ANILCA’s historic achievements and the urgent challenges facing Alaska’s protected areas today. If you missed the live discussion, you can watch the full recording here; passcode: kg9!a%ta.

The threats to ANILCA that were discussed—from Arctic Refuge drilling to precedents that could erode protections across Alaska—require immediate action. Your engagement in conversations like this one matters, but defending these landscapes takes sustained resources and advocacy.

The post A Grand Vision for Alaska: Forty-Five Years of Public Lands Protections first appeared on Alaska Conservation Foundation.

Last month, Adelaine (Addy) Ahmasuk brought this issue into sharp focus. Through Sacred Kigluait, a community-based organization focused on educating community members about hardrock mining impacts and revitalizing ancestral connections to the Kigluaik as a sacred site, Addy convened 23 tribal leaders, knowledge holders, and concerned community members with support from a grant from Alaska Conservation Foundation (ACF). Over two days, participants from Nome, Teller, Brevig Mission, Mary’s Igloo, Elim, and Anchorage united around a common cause: ensuring their voice and concerns related to the Graphite Creek project backed by Canadian company Graphite One were heard.

This gathering exemplifies exactly why ACF created the Alaska Mining Impacts Network (AKMIN). As an engaged AKMIN member and ACF grant recipient, Addy’s work demonstrates how local leaders, equipped with resources and connections, can mobilize their communities to protect what matters most.

What the Graphite Creek Project Threatens 

If this mine is permitted, it could cause irreversible damage to the region’s homelands, culture, and health. The proposed mine would inhibit hunters, gatherers, fishers, hikers, culture bearers, and the public from accessing the mine site and surrounding areas.

Participants from the Villages of Teller, Mary’s Igloo, and Brevig Mission spoke about how the mine would disrupt harvesting and teaching at Windy Cove, a place where families gather to pick berries, collect greens, fish, and pass on knowledge. One participant said, “Most of the food we eat is what we hunt and gather. We fill many freezers every year with Native foods that we eat and share.”

The open pit mine would permanently scar the mountains, generate toxic waste that could require centuries of cleanup, permanently eliminate over 380 acres of waters and wetlands (an area larger than 290 football fields), and release large amounts of diesel emissions. It could also threaten water quality in communities that still rely on springs for drinking water. The US Department of Defense has already invested tens of millions of dollars in Graphite One without legally required tribal consultation.

Decades of Knowledge

A participant shared a technical review of Graphite One’s feasibility study that highlighted major gaps. The study focuses on financial outcomes but does not show whether water treatment and tailings systems can withstand extreme weather or prevent toxic spills. Elders shared the cultural geography of the area: springs, sacred places, and generational practices tied to the land. They shared the cultural geography of the Kigluaik Mountains: sacred sites, springs, and ancestral practices. These perspectives reveal what no feasibility study can measure: the mine would disrupt an interconnected way of life dependent on healthy land, water, and community.

Austin told participants, “You carry decades of knowledge and that knowledge belongs in the permitting process.” Participants reiterated that a single disturbance to water quality would immediately endanger both human consumption and the fish and animals people rely on for food.

Imagining a Different Future

A participant from Teller, posed the central question: “This mine is just one generation, what about these other revenues that are multigenerational?” The gathering wasn’t just about raising concerns with a potential mine; it was about imagining a future where the Kigluaik Mountains support sustainable livelihoods, cultural practices continue, and communities can pass down knowledge and resources to future generations. 

Participants discussed sustainable, community-led alternatives that prioritize long-term well-being over short-term extraction, such as revitalizing reindeer husbandry, developing Indigenous-led ecotourism in the pristine Kigluaik Mountains, building game processing facilities and Native food restaurants, establishing guardian programs to compensate local stewards of the land, and supporting traditional arts markets and cultural preservation initiatives. 

These solutions are rooted in sustaining what already exists. “We have a subsistence economy with a cash overlay,” one participant said, a reminder that hunting, fishing, gathering, and bartering are not just cultural tradition but an active, functioning economic system.

What’s Next?

The US Army Corps of Engineers has opened a public comment period on a permit Graphite One needs to move forward. This permit would allow the company to dig up and fill wetlands, streams, and other waters and to build an industrial road through Mosquito Pass. In its notice, the agency states that the mine plan would permanently remove hundreds of acres of wetlands and divert streams. Tribes have the right to be consulted, and the public has the right to comment before any permit is granted.

Public comments on the Graphite Creek permit are due Nov 30, 2025. Sacred Kigluait is calling on anyone who cares about sacred lands, clean water, subsistence, and Indigenous rights to submit comments.

With many residents unaware of the ongoing permit process, Sacred Kigluait partnered with Alaska Community Action on Toxics to build an online tool that provides background information and enables people to submit a comment directly to the agency.

How the Alaska Mining Impacts Network Makes This Work Possible

As a funder, Alaska Conservation Foundation’s role is to provide resources when frontline leaders like Addy need them most. Our grantmaking programs offer flexible funding so grassroots organizations can respond to urgent threats on their own terms, with their own strategies.

Through the Alaska Mining Impacts Network (AKMIN), we help connect these leaders across Alaska so they can share knowledge, strategies, and solidarity with each other. The expertise, the vision, and the power comes from communities themselves. AKMIN creates space for that connection, and can provide funding through the Alaska Mining Impacts & Prevention fund. Community-led conservation means frontline leaders define the path forward, organize on their own terms, and protect what matters most.

The post Community Leaders Gather To Protect the Kigluaik Mountains first appeared on Alaska Conservation Foundation.