WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs this week held an oversight hearing to focus on promoting traditional subsistence in Native communities through testimonies from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Indian tribes regarding tribal subsistence activities and federal regulatory structures or circumstances which impede these activities. During the hearing U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), a member of the committee, introduced Alaskan Mary Sattler Peltola, Executive Director of the Kuskokwim Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, to testify in the hearing.
YourAlaskaLink.com: Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Holds Annual Forum, Bethel
Anchorage, AK – Almost every village situated along the Kuskokwim River ventured to Bethel during breakup season this week, to participate in this year’s Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, to examine how to protect its fish population.
Thirty-three tribes reside along the Kuskokwim River and share its fish, who formed the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission four years ago.
KYUK: Kuskokwim Tribes Commit To King Salmon Conservation This Summer
On the Kuskokwim River, it’s not an easy decision to travel during breakup. There are chores to be done to prepare for summer, and flooding is a constant risk that keeps people close to their homes, standing guard. But on Monday and Tuesday, a group traveled to Bethel from nearly every village along the river to discuss how to protect the fish that swim by.
Thirty-three tribes live along the Kuskokwim and share all the fish within it. Four years ago, the tribes came together to form the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. It was a historic agreement that allowed tribes to co-manage the Lower Kuskokwim salmon under federal jurisdiction alongside federal managers at the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
KYUK: Building community fish harvest monitors to create ‘change on the Kusko’
KYUK: Science And Culture Merge As One At Summer Camp On The Kwethluk
In July, Orutsararmiut Native Council, or ONC, held its first Science and Culture camp for high school students. Campers collected juvenile fish, like baby king and red salmon, and participated in activities in avian biology, ethnobotany, and workshops on federal and state subsistence management. KYUK reporter Christine Trudeau filed this report from their campsite.
ADN: Where are the kings? Kuskokwim River may see its worst run on record.
ADN: Archery camps aim to help build relationships between wildlife officers, Kuskokwim villages
KWETHLUK — Word spread through Facebook, and kids made their way to gravel mounds at the edge of the village of Kwethluk for an afternoon with the feds shooting arrows and firing air rifles.
A trio from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had traveled by skiff from Bethel, up the Kuskokwim River, then Kuskokuak Slough, then the Kwethluk River for archery and rifle lessons, part of a village-by-village effort to build good relationships.