Program Will Help Protect Alaska Native Lands

The Alaska Conservation Foundation is launching a new program aimed at helping Alaska Natives protect their lands.

A new fund,  designed by an Alaska Native Steering Committee, will provide a  vehicle for Alaska Native tribes and  Alaska Native non-profits to protect the land, waters and wildlife integral to their way of life.

The  Alaska Native Steering Committee  has developed the grant guidelines and will make funding recommendations each year, Carr says.

Steering Committee members include Vera Metcalf, the Executive Director of the Eskimo Whaling Commission in Nome, and Orville Huntington, Tanana Chiefs Conference Wildlife and Parks Director.

The Fund will support the incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge to promote food security and sustainable economies, connect the importance of environmental health, and address the impacts of climate change.  In addition to grantmaking, the Fund will support a 2012 Gathering of Alaska Native non-profit organizations and foundations, to build understanding and leverage additional support for Alaska Native projects.

Alaska Native individuals and nonprofit organizations may apply for funding.  $100,000 will  be granted in the inaugural round.

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APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org  |  907.550.8446 | About Ellen

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