Tuntutuliak

Tuntutuliak is part of Unit 7

commissioner spotlight: james charles

James Charles was born in fish camp near Helmut Point and moved to Tuntuntuliak in 1945 when he was five years old. His parents were Willie and Emma Charles. When he was eight years old, his father, uncle, and grandmother all died from tuberculosis.

“My mom helped us survive. She was a hunter and trapper. She kept us together,” James said about these years of hardship for his family.

James attended school until the fourth grade and fondly remembers Anna Alexie as his teacher. When he was 17 years old, he began working at a cannery in Dillingham. He later became the maintenance man at the Bureau of Indian Affairs School in Bethel. When that shut down, he worked a few years for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a Refuge Information Technician and was assigned to several villages, including Eek, Quinhagak, and Goodnews Bay. In 1982, he started working for the Lower Kuskokwim School District as a preventative maintenance supervisor, traveling to all the schools in the region. James retired from the Army National Guard after 22 years of service. He is also a private pilot. James and his wife, Nancy, have raised many children and grandchildren together.

James was an original member of the Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group, which was formed by the Board of Fisheries in 1988, and he continues to serve the Working Group today. In 1997, Charles began serving as a Fish and Wildlife Advisory Council member. He is also a former manager of Qinarmiut Village Corporation. James served as Tuntuntuliak’s representative to the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Executive Council and In-Season Manager from 2015-18, and an Elder Advisor until 2021.

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