Save What You Love with Mark Titus

00:00:00:18 - 00:00:26:12
Mark Titus
Hello friends. Welcome to the Save What You Love podcast. I'm your host, Mark Titus. Today I sit down with AlexAnna Salmon. AlexAnna is president of the Igiugig Village Council in Bristol Bay, Alaska. She's a Yup'ik and Aleut descent and was raised in her home village in the Arctic. And in 2008, AlexAnna graduated from Dartmouth College with a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Native American Studies and Anthropology.

00:00:26:14 - 00:00:54:19
Mark Titus
After graduating, she returned to work for the Igiugig Tribal Village Council, where she was elected president and until 2016 also held the role of administrator. AlexAnna serves as a member of the Eagle Creek Native Corporation Board, which is responsible for the stewardship of 66,000 tribal acres. She's also serving on the Nilavena Tribal Health Consortium, and is a member of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History Advisory Board.

00:00:54:21 - 00:01:26:18
Mark Titus
She received her master's degree in Rural development from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2021. In her work as president of the Eagle Village Council. AlexAnna has been a driving force behind the community's efforts to generate its own energy from renewable resources. In 2015, she was invited to President Obama's roundtable discussion with Alaska Native leaders and was praised by Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan in 2017 on the Senate floor for helping strengthen her community and making it an incredible place to live.

00:01:26:18 - 00:01:58:10
Mark Titus
I know I've been there. I filmed with her for the upcoming The Turn documentary. AlexAnna loves raising our kids in a subsistence way of life, revitalizing indigenous languages and traveling, which she does a lot. She's a very busy woman. In this episode, we talk about what tribal village life is like in remote Alaska, AlexAnna's father's legacy, and how she is manifesting it, energy, health care, and food independence in wilderness, Alaska.

00:01:58:12 - 00:02:26:07
Mark Titus
Why Bristol Bay is a treasure to be protected for all time. Cultural wealth and more. AlexAnna is one of those rare people you feel deeply inspired by and almost instantly familiar with. I've definitely felt that way. She and her family, her sister Christina, have welcomed me into their home. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did reporting it onward.

00:02:26:09 - 00:03:02:21
Music
How do you save what you love?
When the world is burning down?
How do you save what you love?
When pushes come to shove.
How do you say what you love?
When things are upside down.
How do you say what you love?
When times are getting tough.

00:03:02:23 - 00:03:07:19
Mark Titus
AlexAnna Salmon, welcome to the show. Are you at home in a Igiugig today?

00:03:07:21 - 00:03:11:23
AlexAnna Salmon
Yes. I'm at the center of the universe, Igiugig Alaska.

00:03:12:01 - 00:03:33:03
Mark Titus
Yes, the center of the known universe. I would say so. It is such a beautiful home that you live in. And you work for. And we're going to talk a lot about that in a little bit. But let's get caught up a minute. And for folks who don't know you in our audience, can you just kind of give me, tell us your story.

00:03:33:04 - 00:03:42:17
Mark Titus
Tell us your your history, your background, how and, where you grew up. And, little about what brings us to now.

00:03:42:19 - 00:04:09:14
AlexAnna Salmon
Okay. Bobby. Now, what is commune? I'm AlexAnna, I'm from Igiugig. I am Yup'ik and Aleut. And I was raised out in this little village that, is at the headwaters of the Kvichak River as it flows from Lake Iliamna. We are a deep salmon culture. So we've been living in place for over 8000 years in a just a ancient lived landscape.

00:04:09:14 - 00:04:38:23
AlexAnna Salmon
I was raised by my elders that were, you know, they gave up their way of life out on the land to build a school in our community, to keep our youth at home. So in the, you know, in that I, I had access to the last generation of people who lived freely out on our landscape and then to see how quickly things got carved up and, the forces of colonization that resulted in us living year round in a community.

00:04:39:01 - 00:05:08:01
AlexAnna Salmon
And there were few children, and we always needed to keep about ten kids for the school to stay open. And that was the mission. So because of it, we were always a village to host kids from other places. we're just a welcoming community to try to keep the population stabilized. And then I went away to school, to Dartmouth College and it was through that education that I learned about through Native American studies and anthropology.

00:05:08:03 - 00:05:47:13
AlexAnna Salmon
I took on just this discovery period where I based all of my research off of the social, political, economic forces that created, the modern village of a geographic understanding, all of that. Doing interviews with our elders, to understand their understanding of the English language through these institutions as they were being imposed, to really understand how our community has preserved like a values based governance system, which has allowed for, you know, all of this innovation and initiatives that archeology is known for today.

00:05:47:14 - 00:06:16:08
AlexAnna Salmon
So all of that was really through my lifetime. And it was when I was in college that my father passed away. So and he was our tribal administrator. So I just kind of inherited, his team and, you know, with that knowledge of being raised here within the lifestyle, so we just have focused a lot on nationhood building in the last decade.

00:06:16:10 - 00:06:44:18
AlexAnna Salmon
And we're seeing the results of that. So we're seeing this we're in this period of time where we've made sure our basic needs are met. We've created the economy to initially stabilize that outmigration, growing our own expertise through these last two decades, growing our own independent revenue streams. And then, really planning for what our community needs to thrive in place.

00:06:44:20 - 00:07:08:21
AlexAnna Salmon
so that's kind of the nexus of our efforts here. And along the way, it's brought a lot of people to our community. through this Pebble, controversy has really come to be known. You know, before we were happy if we were on the map and now, you know, you can say, I'm from Bristol Bay. And then people will say, well, we're okay.

00:07:08:23 - 00:07:13:21
AlexAnna Salmon
Okay. So we've made it that far. And through that journey is, kind of how we met. Mark.

00:07:13:21 - 00:07:14:21
Mark Titus
And right.

00:07:14:22 - 00:07:28:15
AlexAnna Salmon
I really believe in the reciprocity. And I can see your storytelling benefiting our initiatives. And because of that, I was willing to, meet and speak with you on anything. Alaska.

00:07:28:17 - 00:07:48:15
Mark Titus
That's so great. And, I'm I'm it's one of the great treasures of my life. thank you for that. So a lot of a lot of listeners down here in the lower 48 have no idea what village life is like. Igiugig is special in that capacity. But what? Just just maybe you could paint a picture for us.

00:07:48:15 - 00:08:10:06
Mark Titus
Like, what is it like to live in a remote Alaskan village with the seasons there? You're coming out of a very distinct season and coming into a new one. What are the challenges and what are the great joys about living in such a beautiful remote, land centered, recip reciprocal relationship with the land?

00:08:10:08 - 00:08:40:19
AlexAnna Salmon
Yes. So, right now we're, you know, April months is the time when the birds return. And so we just finished a week long goose camp, not just a quick, for our community. And when we do activities in the village, all ages participate. And the school is the heart of the community. So we had a lot of our partners come in and present.

00:08:40:19 - 00:09:10:13
AlexAnna Salmon
What I'm really excited about is not only do we have this deep understanding of our land and our relationship in it, we have, been using that to to really innovate and push the envelope, like we had a presenter who's been taking our light, our data, we did leader of our community, and he invented a tool to have the process for looking at our old archeological sites, which saves hundreds of man hours.

00:09:10:15 - 00:09:44:09
AlexAnna Salmon
Wow. In doing this. And so he's he's a native from King Cove initially, and that was the best demonstration of what we're trying to build here, which is we have enough jobs within our community to be filling all of these positions, co-management with other land entities like the Bureau of Land Management or National Park Service, and things will restore that and recenter our, our work, you know, in that broader context that they call management, we call land relationship planning.

00:09:44:09 - 00:10:03:15
AlexAnna Salmon
And we're just starting to assert ourselves on our own terms, despite the reality of of how things have been settled here, because our way of life is fully dependent on our on our land. So, book set a new date is our a may month. And that's the time when we go looking for bird eggs, unknown or islands.

00:10:03:15 - 00:10:34:02
AlexAnna Salmon
And it's really a rebirth and a renewal. You go from this, like, quiet period. Not only are there, like, no visitors to the community, really. The air traffic slows down. Things go into a deep freeze, and then this is the time where, you know, the ice is breaking up and making noise and, frogs are awake and they're like, right now there's already frog eggs out, and, the birds are all talking and the community is just alive.

00:10:34:02 - 00:11:04:22
AlexAnna Salmon
All of the community togetherness starts happening. So we just had the goose camp where kids were building forts and staying out overnight. These shelters with, the elders or older, you know, professionals like archeologists, social researchers, our consultants, our village leadership, all ages, all, all ages. And like we had, a community outside, which is a potluck where everybody eats around the fire.

00:11:04:22 - 00:11:26:23
AlexAnna Salmon
But we had that for everybody. And I've got some great photographs, because I think the only way to really capture that sense of community could be through photos. Me describing it doesn't help so much, and we've been inviting more and more of our partners out to partake in Goose Camp, for example, to show that reciprocity. You're doing some work for us.

00:11:26:23 - 00:11:53:01
AlexAnna Salmon
Our kids are growing up together and connected. you take care of us when we're in the urban environment or you're looking out for a gig. Should and should anything be coming across your desk or in the field of work you're in? they become informants and allies. Allies to that. So we're really a welcoming community and and because of that, we can gather fairly quickly.

00:11:53:01 - 00:12:26:02
AlexAnna Salmon
We we gather every day this week through meals and whatnot to hear all of these various presentations. And then, it'll be egg picking time. And we have Russian Orthodox Easter weekend this weekend, there will be a community egg hunt. Everybody works together. Everybody brings their own, skill set or what have you. And we had village cleanup yesterday, which is that whole community showing up to clean our community after the snow has melted.

00:12:26:03 - 00:12:54:08
AlexAnna Salmon
when I go home, it is so comforting because my siblings live around us. People I have known my whole life. Just that comfort and really knowing the people that you're with. and so generosity and the way we take care of each other, where each other's kids are, are they leaving? does the ante need to come in and talk to to my kids?

00:12:54:10 - 00:13:15:16
AlexAnna Salmon
You know, they're just there. Or maybe they need to go to grandma's house. Everybody is, We take the mission of collectively raising our kids in the healthiest, most safe environment that we can. And. We're really shifting the narrative. Like, when I grew up, it was imperative that you went to school somewhere else.

00:13:15:16 - 00:13:17:05
Mark Titus
And,

00:13:17:07 - 00:13:41:04
AlexAnna Salmon
There were a lot of ideas on what would be the best for you to do, and that this idea of success or succeeding was really validated when you stepped outside and we came back and really see our community as a land of opportunity, as our children are growing up with this unique connection, and they see the world differently through through that.

00:13:41:06 - 00:14:12:08
AlexAnna Salmon
And because of globalization and the arrival of like, you know, zoom, I'm zooming right from my office in remote Alaska. We can access anything. And it's, created an awareness amongst our youth that our homeland is special and it's changed the it's changed that narrative where we're looking for meaningful jobs right here and now. Like, our kids don't have to leave that the opportunity is here.

00:14:12:08 - 00:14:38:02
AlexAnna Salmon
And so there's a a lot of us working now with that. and to see that happen in one generation, for it to turn back around, has been so inspiring. And it really keeps me going because it's a, it's a, a lot of momentum and it's a marathon approach. You know, you just running a marathon that the further and faster you run the more things are aligning themselves.

00:14:38:02 - 00:14:41:08
AlexAnna Salmon
And so you have to keep you have to keep going.

00:14:41:10 - 00:15:06:07
Mark Titus
Yes. You know, it is so inspiring because I know you and I know your family and I love you guys, and I love the work you're doing. And I love to follow along with the pictures you so generously post. and, maybe I'll, with your permission, post a few of those on on the website here for this or on the Instagram feed for this show so folks can get an idea of what things look like.

00:15:06:09 - 00:15:48:22
Mark Titus
But also, you know, it is inspiring for what you're doing. It's inspiring for me. It's inspiring for the rest of us, too. You're you're you're holding a beacon of a community that we all aspire to, and you're doing it in your home land in, as you say, it's remote Alaska. But, you know, I think the world can shrink when we in the sense of, feeling like we're so separated when we get to a place of understanding that we are a part of this planet, we are a part of Mother Earth.

00:15:49:00 - 00:16:32:09
Mark Titus
We in colonial Western culture, we've separated ourselves so much to commodify the earth. And I think there is, as you are describing so beautifully, a turning, into a different level of consciousness that, hey, this is maybe there's more here, and we need to aspire to a community greater than ourselves. That's why I just think that your community and your work, your family's work and your community and your tribe's work is so important as a, as a, as an example, but also as a beacon for the rest of us to see that that type of that depth of community is possible.

00:16:32:10 - 00:16:57:04
Mark Titus
So I just quiana for for that inspiration, I wanted to ask you about. Well, as you know, my dad passed away last October and I miss him every day. I know you're dad, Daniel Salmon died young at age 49. If you're comfortable talking about it, what is your dad's legacy mean to you and how do you stay connected to it?

00:16:57:06 - 00:17:23:04
AlexAnna Salmon
That's a very deep question Mark. You know, he came from upstate New York and he wasn't. He wanted fisheries biology and he requested to work on the Kvichak River. And it's just part of this bigger narrative that I've been discovering that a lot of things were put into play to result in where we are today, and he was a big piece of that for me personally.

00:17:23:06 - 00:17:55:18
AlexAnna Salmon
So he was our tribal administrator. And the racism of the region, for our community to have a non-Native represent like that was rampant. And that bothered me because he had a good heart. He had a good sense of the right and wrong. He invested in community because of the future generations. And he he sacrificed not only his life, but he raised us up to be aware of the injustices so that we can change it.

00:17:55:18 - 00:18:27:15
AlexAnna Salmon
And it wasn't this powerlessness, it was that we were going to have the blood to actually serve in the positions to have this systemic change. And he was already blazing new power this, for example, setting up for profit tribal subsidiaries housed by the tribe rather than through the native corporation and using the eight a program took. And then it built the workforce development.

00:18:27:15 - 00:18:55:23
AlexAnna Salmon
And he could see he could see decades down the road. So a lot of our financial stability came from him, as well as the acts of Congress that were needed to actually have the tribe on a foundation in the community. Our, our, the way Alaska was settled, our federally recognized tribes have no foundation. We have no land. And so I, I really internalized all of this that I would hear.

00:18:56:01 - 00:19:15:11
AlexAnna Salmon
And our house was our house. We were like headquarters there. It was the meeting space for the native corporation and the council, and there were no places for people to stay. So anybody coming to work for the village would stay. And we just grew up in that environment of these deep discussions, and it was our way of life as well.

00:19:15:11 - 00:19:47:01
AlexAnna Salmon
As my father worked on the river, so we would help him at the, fish tower counting fish. And we got to see that from an early age, how they were managing, managing our fish relatives and then the sonar, the sonar technology and, the scale identification. So we were exposed to that type of science early, and then we got fish camp all summer with our grandmother, who was raised out on the land, and she was the most sovereign person we knew.

00:19:47:03 - 00:20:10:04
AlexAnna Salmon
So together we just had this combination where they were investing in us from a young age, knowing we were going to have to carry that torch. And, there was no play in that. Like, that was just understood. And so it was a collective effort. Even Western world like an education, is very individualistic. And I struggled with that.

00:20:10:06 - 00:20:34:16
AlexAnna Salmon
I struggle even with recognition or this idea that you need letters after your name, these credentials. But I approached it as if our words are to be taken seriously. Then we do need some credentials in this. so that's I went to college after doing a lot of community planning and what the what the consensus was where community needed to go.

00:20:34:16 - 00:20:57:15
AlexAnna Salmon
And that was, you know, we need our basic infrastructure. We would like to transition our energy. we would like a place to celebrate who we are, which is the cultural center. And then, you know, all the list of other things. And it was remarkable to see, once our community came together and discussed what the priorities were and put all of our efforts behind that, things would.

00:20:57:15 - 00:21:23:16
AlexAnna Salmon
We're moving a lot faster. And once housing our community, our leadership said we're going to have our younger people apply. So I had applied for a house and kept that current while I was at college, and lo and behold, the funding finally came through when we graduated in two. By 2009, we were building those homes that took at least a decade of, forethought.

00:21:23:18 - 00:21:44:07
AlexAnna Salmon
And now we were at capacity again. We have another housing crisis, but we know if we address that and we open it up for our young people who are looking to come back, that it'll create that. And as soon as I came home, that's when I was asked to, be the president of the tribe. But it was because they watched, in a in a very Yup'ik way.

00:21:44:09 - 00:22:14:05
AlexAnna Salmon
Our community is you picked in it in a, in we're pretty diverse community of our size. And they, they invested in I worked for the tribe from ninth grade on one of my first projects was to put these photographs like a photographic display of our of our history here and to have every family represented along the wall. And this is the only spot most tourists maybe can see of our culture when they come out to fish.

00:22:14:07 - 00:22:42:15
AlexAnna Salmon
And so I got to collect those, and that it was through story that I, really my, my passion lied. Listening to all of those stories and finding a way to keep it relevant to guide our future generations. So some of those stories, for example, were collected in 2007, and today they're being published by the tribe as children's books with curriculum.

00:22:42:17 - 00:23:00:23
AlexAnna Salmon
And we've changed the system where our kids are actually getting credit for learning our language and other things that needed to happen. So anyway, any way and where you turn out here, it's like the story of the little red hen. You have to build the whole thing from the ground up. you have to you have to provide it that holistic approach.

00:23:00:23 - 00:23:27:14
AlexAnna Salmon
So I think that's where we have become experts in, just, you know, in the actual planning and then implementation and recognizing the value of the process. You know, it doesn't need to be something for the end product. But my dad brought that in because he passed away so tragically in 2008. All my dreams of where I thought I needed to go and things I needed to see before moving home, I just took the shortcut.

00:23:27:14 - 00:24:00:03
AlexAnna Salmon
I moved home directly after graduating, and this network of people were. They just reached out and were generous in reciprocating for and that racism had to go away. Because once I came in, I am of I am of this community. I do belong, I can there aren't two worlds. There's one world. And wherever I walk in it, I will bring this perspective and this voice because it is so highly endangered.

00:24:00:05 - 00:24:27:00
AlexAnna Salmon
And it took, you know, it, it survived all of that. and it provides a more sustainable path forward for the world. So it's needed now more than ever. And because we have 20 years of very strategic approaches to save what we love, which is our community, I feel that we have the confidence and expertise, and we're at a strong point right now.

00:24:27:00 - 00:24:48:23
AlexAnna Salmon
We are at a really good place in time. And so how do we come together to dream what the next, what that next looks like, knowing there are so many external circumstances that are affecting our way of life. And before I before I close the thought there. Yeah.

00:24:49:01 - 00:25:17:02
AlexAnna Salmon
When we think about the reasons they had to settle Alaska the way they did, which were for our fish and our oil resources, it set up a system that we're very well aware of. We we see that systemic exclusion from our way of life, from our practicing, of our way of life, which is a deeply spiritual and sacred relationship.

00:25:17:04 - 00:25:46:03
AlexAnna Salmon
I don't understand in a country where you can have freedom of religion, how we have been so criminalized for exercising our inherent right to, sustain that relationship because it is a relationship of renewal and reciprocity and deep respect, and that's the relationship that informs how we self-govern so that preserves that value system and informs that relationship of self-governance.

00:25:46:03 - 00:26:20:16
AlexAnna Salmon
And this is what teaches us that we are the wealthiest people on the planet. We have clean air. We can drink the water that flows down our river without any treatment. We have an unlimited supply at the moment of our sockeye salmon, which we have relied on for thousands of years. Our children grow up with a five star education, knowing they are loved and valued and have an a very important role in all of this.

00:26:20:18 - 00:26:45:07
AlexAnna Salmon
And because of that, we don't have crime rate, we don't have homelessness, we don't have active violence. we may be characterized as 100% low to moderate income when it comes to government standards. We recognize there is very little poor or nonexistent data for some of the critical areas that that should be measured. but it's but we keep going.

00:26:45:07 - 00:27:13:16
AlexAnna Salmon
We don't let anything kind of stop. And we certainly we feel empowered as little as we are to make change. So I think if we can share that more broadly and, and also hold people, hold the broader society as accountable to also have that same recognition that our lands were traded in an exchange. We have rights that are preserved in the US.

00:27:13:16 - 00:27:29:15
AlexAnna Salmon
Constant, and why we have to be the ones to teach this all the time is beyond me, but that we let the rest of the world profit from their their standards of success. and they've made big profits.

00:27:29:17 - 00:27:30:07
Mark Titus
Yeah.

00:27:30:09 - 00:28:04:14
AlexAnna Salmon
You know, and I'm kind of working more in that private philanthropy world. And there are rules and regulations like the 5% giveaway that then native people are applying. And really, I think 0.03% of that, those dollars come back. And so when we get when our tribe, you know, we've come from this history that we're very aware of and it's a very like in order to overcome, we have to have a holistic approach.

00:28:04:16 - 00:28:29:20
AlexAnna Salmon
And so we're very strong on that sovereignty perspective that everything we do is under this umbrella of sovereignty and needs to be recognized and upheld for that, and that the best care of our lands and waters is under tribal law. so just never backing away from that as a, as a, as a fundamental and fundamentally that our way of life and what we have is actually priceless.

00:28:29:20 - 00:28:57:07
AlexAnna Salmon
So it can never be equated. and one one thing about archeology is not only do we recognize that we've surveyed it and measured it, and we continue continually, revalidate and reinforce that when we meet as a community to plan. And we're meeting every day for planning. You know, we have an energy plan. We just meet again for our cultural heritage planning, and we're underway with a wildfire.

00:28:57:10 - 00:29:21:09
AlexAnna Salmon
Right. Any any kind of fire planning as a community. And that goes back to what is life like in our community. We still meet together and share our concerns. every day, every time I walk into a space or hear a conversation, that's that's a time, to address address that. And there are different periods throughout the calendar, like right now we have a lot of togetherness.

00:29:21:09 - 00:29:46:18
AlexAnna Salmon
And then we're going to people will go commercial fishing. We'll go to camp. You kind of go back into your family unit. Everybody is putting up their winter supply. Then. Then the return comes, everybody come, comes back. And then it's kind of moose hunting time. And then we have the school really shiners over the winter months of where we gather and put our time and energy with our students are youth.

00:29:46:18 - 00:29:57:11
AlexAnna Salmon
And then, you know, it just cycles. It's a very fluid, renewing, close knit, caring community.

00:29:57:13 - 00:30:19:17
Mark Titus
It's apparent. Is it just spending a little time there? And, just for a point of clarification, I just thought you said something earlier. I had never heard before about the 5% and the 0.3% returning in terms of giving, as a paradigm. Well, what were you what were you meaning about that?

00:30:19:19 - 00:30:29:17
AlexAnna Salmon
All of these systems are in play to turn to create a situation where native communities are forever asking for what the what the world views as a handout.

00:30:29:19 - 00:30:30:11
Mark Titus

00:30:30:13 - 00:31:01:22
AlexAnna Salmon
And we want that narrative changed and it, you know, that's going to but it takes examples like Iggy. Org where you can really study, you know, all the data talk about data sovereignty. We have really good data. We here, to tell a story, to tell a story from our perspective of, Alaska, you know, the we deal with, largely ignorant society.

00:31:02:00 - 00:31:29:03
AlexAnna Salmon
But our community has shown that not only are we going to provide the best education on this relationship with our land, through our elders and our language and our culture, but we're also going about our Western educations very strategically. We have a fisheries biologist. We have a business finance major. We have an engineer. I'm anthropology, rural development and native studies.

00:31:29:08 - 00:32:11:07
AlexAnna Salmon
We're going out into the world and doing exchange it. We're actively seeking out those new models, and then we're coming home and talking about it. And it's created a living nationhood building lab that you in may have referenced. And I am going to work on storytelling a little, a little more of that. The lab was a name to describe what we were doing, and now I'm looking at creating the infographics and actually sharing the concrete details of that, because what I have learned is people have like aspirational ideas or theories, and then it's very hard when you see something concrete on the ground, it's hard to make the connection.

00:32:11:07 - 00:32:44:23
AlexAnna Salmon
How do you go from A to Z? We have many examples now that maps that outline. And so you could learn learn from that. and recognizing each one of our communities is different. And what I love about our model of, of moving forward is that, it respects the diversity, like our diversity is our strength. And rather than a cookie cutter blanket solution, those have never worked and they're still working for our communities.

00:32:45:01 - 00:33:12:20
AlexAnna Salmon
But for me, what would Alaska look like if we invested in nationhood building for 229 federally recognized tribes across the state? Yeah, big opportunity here. So I use it for an example of like, yes, we might be the smallest. Yes, maybe some of these ideas are easier to do because we are a small community. well, in the last two years we have focused on growing it out to the subregion, which is Lake Iliana.

00:33:12:22 - 00:33:38:10
AlexAnna Salmon
We've created Nila Venice Sustainability Forum, and the model is working. And then we through it, through our telecom initiative, we've brought together 16 tribes and the model is working. So even though we used one of the smallest, a nation of 70 people, we're also fairly easy because we don't have a city government. and we're within a borough.

00:33:38:10 - 00:34:10:15
AlexAnna Salmon
But like that was a starting point. And the fact that we were able to work government to government in a region this big is proving that it does work. And. Then it can scale to the size of Alaska. And when you look at Alaska being one third the size of the United States, when we talk about Recentering, this relationship with our land and that we sit on, you know, one third of the nation's federal lands, what is good for what is good for the area, commute is good for the world.

00:34:10:15 - 00:34:15:11
AlexAnna Salmon
And if it's if it's, you know, we can scale this, we can scale it.

00:34:15:13 - 00:34:44:18
Mark Titus
That is why we are talking today. Because I love this example and this story, and I want to continue to amplify it and be a part of it. Half time. Did you know you could have the world's finest wild salmon shipped directly to your door? It's true. Our Ava's wild Bristol Bay sockeye salmon is the lowest carbon footprint center plate protein on the planet, and it's packed with heart healthy omega three fatty acids.

00:34:44:20 - 00:35:07:14
Mark Titus
Don't take our word for it, as chefs like Seattle's Tom Douglas and Taichi Kitamura, who are serving our sashimi grade wild salmon in their award winning restaurants, you can have the exact same filets we deliver to them, shipped flash frozen to your door. What's more, Ava's Wild donates 10% of our profits to indigenous led efforts to protect Bristol Bay in perpetuity.

00:35:07:16 - 00:35:35:18
Mark Titus
That's the place we sourced the salmon from right now. That looks like supporting the Bristol Bay Foundation, granting Bristol Bay's indigenous young people scholarships to four year colleges, universities and trade schools. Visit Eva's welcome to join our growing community doing good by eating right. That same spelled backwards wild.com and eat wild to save wild. Now back to the show.

00:35:35:20 - 00:35:50:13
Mark Titus
Drilling down a little bit here. Energy, health care and food supply are huge challenges in remote places like your home. Can you tell us about the work you're doing in engaging to address those challenges?

00:35:50:15 - 00:36:09:12
AlexAnna Salmon
So energy is a big one, and it's a big concern for me now. And it's one that we are so vulnerable. Everything matters. So you have to take a holistic approach for it. I don't have it in front of me, but I use our energy planning as the best example of putting a plan on paper. And while you're actually implementing.

00:36:09:14 - 00:36:31:14
AlexAnna Salmon
So it has climate change and adaptation as a bucket of our energy plan. Under that bucket, you have what the Tribal Stewardship Office is doing. and then you have climate impacts, like when our bulk fuel farm almost washed into the river. and that had to be protected. So you have infrastructure. So then you have infrastructure as another bucket, knowing how they're all related.

00:36:31:14 - 00:36:57:18
AlexAnna Salmon
So the infrastructure we have our generator that needs to speak with our battery energy storage system, which has been designed to plug in different types of renewables. We have our river hydro kinetic project. We have a proposed solar project. We've been using wind turbines and we have had a wind feasibility study. So we've had all of those running concurrently, put in the battery energy storage system that can accept all of that.

00:36:57:18 - 00:37:18:21
AlexAnna Salmon
We're having a lot of programing challenges right now, and there are permitting, you know, the permitting. We have two devices in, in the water. but that's an example of the infrastructure and defining and putting a dollar amount to what's needed, needed there for this transition. all the while we have to keep the diesels maintained as well.

00:37:18:23 - 00:37:47:07
AlexAnna Salmon
And the diesel generator and the way we generate electricity from that has become highly computerized. And everything has become more expensive in this, in this modern era where, workforce development is another is another bucket. And a lot of what we've been doing is, training on the job, how to, you know, maintain and operate these systems. And so, like, we just held a solar home energy course in conjunction with the Bristol Bay campus.

00:37:47:09 - 00:38:13:10
AlexAnna Salmon
The professor came over, about 15 of our 70 people, took a home energy class in conjunction with our with our Gus camp. and then the other is energy efficiency and conservation. Conservation not, you know, using excessive amounts just because it's available or finding a way to maybe we can electrify things. And so we're informing our new construction to be able to be all electric, if should we.

00:38:13:12 - 00:38:35:21
AlexAnna Salmon
And then really defining the problem by user who are the biggest users. Why you know, what can what are the measures in going back. energy conservation is really important. It's not talked about a lot in relation with renewable energies. but it's a very important part of the equation. And, I use the steel oil lamp a lot.

00:38:35:23 - 00:39:11:17
AlexAnna Salmon
If our people living up here in the harshest conditions on the planet have found the most efficient way to use fuel, and it was all, you know, it was always related to our our way of life out on the land, harvesting the seals, rendering the seed oil, using natural materials, creating light and heat. And today, we're still trying to harness this from our natural environment and create light and heat and, use, use our indigenous city, our ancient indigenous city.

00:39:11:19 - 00:39:34:16
AlexAnna Salmon
To promote that project or to bring that project to fruition. And that means using it to even select your device like devices and where we'll put them. We don't want to be interfering with the waterfowl, we don't want to be interfering outmigration, and we want to be the authority. So so pursuing this through the lens of tribal sovereignty, it is energy sovereignty.

00:39:34:18 - 00:40:04:04
AlexAnna Salmon
And it's related because the fish is our source of food, and that's our food security. it's a $2 billion renewable industry. A lot of that would assume that our community receives a lot of our revenue from fish, and would be mortified to find out that people living in Nigeria receive more from the Permanent Fund, which is initially off of oil based, then we do from the Bristol Bay fishery.

00:40:04:06 - 00:40:30:16
AlexAnna Salmon
Meanwhile, we're at the headwaters of the river, providing like 70% of the world's last remaining sockeye salmon. So yeah, there are big systemic issues. so it's like you've got to change the system. You've got to prove out, your own diversified portfolio, whatever that looks like. And maintain a happy, healthy community. Well, doing that.

00:40:30:17 - 00:40:58:03
Mark Titus
Well, and here's a spoiler alert. or not, maybe it's just a plug, but, for our listeners out there, AlexAnna is going to be featured in my third film, The Turn as is agog. And you're going to be able to see images and some of what we're talking about here in action, this village leading the way and coming to life in a very beautiful and holistic way.

00:40:58:05 - 00:41:21:14
Mark Titus
When we talk about food, obviously salmon are the lifeblood. They are the lifeblood of the land and the river systems there. But you're also you've taken steps. And I know this came from your dad. You you're taking steps to have healthy greens and vegetables available for your residents. Can you talk a little bit about that as well?

00:41:21:16 - 00:41:50:10
AlexAnna Salmon
Yeah. So food security is very important to us. And out of the visioning the community did starting in 2001, they really wanted, a local foods program and a greenhouse and supplementing our subsistence way of life with more of an agricultural way of life. And so we set aside a plot of land. I joined the Alaska marketplace competition and actually won the initial greenhouse that we have, which is a potential for a Four Seasons greenhouse.

00:41:50:10 - 00:42:16:15
AlexAnna Salmon
But that was put in by 2009, and we started holding local classes on gardening and doing soil testing, and then expanded upon that. And in partnership with, like Calypso Farms, there's a lot of partnerships available, even through cooperative extensions and whatnot, to bring these resources to the community and to also pursue this on our own, on our own terms.

00:42:16:19 - 00:42:43:10
AlexAnna Salmon
Like with our adaptation work, we're also looking into salmon berries, our own, our own berry that lives on a latitude where it might migrate north through what we see happening with climate. So let's study and understand that to, just so we can be aware of, you know, what is the greatest impact, impact to this. But we you mentioned health care as part of it.

00:42:43:10 - 00:43:09:16
AlexAnna Salmon
Yeah. It was really, you know, we were underserved or not even served, when it came to health care, behavioral health care was non-existent. And so in 2000, in the 2000, we, the lakes tribes, which had been in Dalton, Iliana, new Hale and Pedro Bay, Cork, not going to Giago, we banded together and created built a regional clinic up in the community of Villa Omnia.

00:43:09:18 - 00:43:39:19
AlexAnna Salmon
And then by 2015, we moved all of our health care services under Southcentral Foundation, and now we have behavioral health. And now our clinics. We have really good data on our clinics. And, The communities are prioritizing what our clinics need, like a backup generator or whatever new improvements in for our clinic. we really have been trying to hire, grow, grow our own that are working in the clinic.

00:43:39:19 - 00:44:04:01
AlexAnna Salmon
So we do have one position that's open right now, and that's being able to bring in people also is related to the housing crisis. so we don't have enough housing for another health aide to move in at the moment. But we do. If a local would sign up for the sign up for the job. But that health care is really, really important, knowing what the costs are.

00:44:04:06 - 00:44:32:12
AlexAnna Salmon
So every tribe has a health representative and we meet quarterly. At the end of this month, I will be going to Piedra Bay because we have a ribbon cutting for their new clinic and the IHS Indian Health Service director, who is a Navajo. Rosalyn. So she's coming out for that event. so when we meet quarterly, it's a chance to meet with all the tribes and talk about opioid settlement funding and how we are using that, like receive dollars.

00:44:32:12 - 00:44:59:22
AlexAnna Salmon
And we've been using it for cultural abatement activities and sharing and sharing what that looks like and helping inspire what other communities are doing. but it was through my position as the health representative that I got a deeper look at at the inequalities of the world, which was facts. It costs 6 million to operate staff and run all of our clinics every year.

00:45:00:00 - 00:45:30:23
AlexAnna Salmon
It costs 9 million for them to have an internet connection for telehealth. Okay. Wow. So let's let's follow the numbers here and then find out through federal government subsidies that pay for up to 99%, the schools and the health clinics, we're not raising a fuss over how telecom was building out to our region. Fiber runs through my village, to serve those institutions.

00:45:31:01 - 00:45:57:10
AlexAnna Salmon
Because of tariff law, we were having poor service. And during Covid times, we found out that we didn't have the ability for our little village of 70 to get everybody on the phone at one time. Shocking. And then nobody had an internet connection where we could reach everybody at one time. So what does that look like? It looks like salmon that now southwest Alaska long haul microwave optical network.

00:45:57:10 - 00:45:58:09
AlexAnna Salmon
This is the first time.

00:45:58:13 - 00:45:59:21
Mark Titus
That's so awesome.

00:46:00:00 - 00:46:35:16
AlexAnna Salmon
In funding so that we can own the final mile and that we would have leverage for the mega corporations that are extending fiber throughout all of our land for us not even to be the beneficiary. So we're changing that. And it's been a combination of awareness, awareness of all these new systems, who's serving in them and how are they working, and then the funding opportunities and what funding opportunity these are coming through where a tribal applicant, where it's a tribal set aside.

00:46:35:18 - 00:46:46:06
AlexAnna Salmon
And then, how do we also invest in the programing to grow our workforce development and to maintain it once it's built?

00:46:46:08 - 00:47:24:01
Mark Titus
Wonderful. Well, as you know, in the work that we do with selling the salmon from the most prolific salmon region in the world and the most sustainable and regenerative, we're donating 10% of our funds back to the region to give four year college scholarships and trade school scholarships because of what you are saying, this is the most, in my mind, the most effective way we can contribute back to where we're taking something from the region is to invest in her other greatest treasure, which is you, the people of the region.

00:47:24:03 - 00:47:50:07
Mark Titus
And, and again, you are leading the way on this. Speaking of salmon, I would be remiss if we didn't talk a little bit about, what makes Bristol Bay so spectacular, killer and unique as this, sanctuary, this stronghold for wild salmon, for wild sockeye salmon in particular.

00:47:50:09 - 00:48:26:16
AlexAnna Salmon
It's an indigenous place. Bristol Bay has the it's the convergence of the blue tick, the in the U.P. everywhere you see the overlap and thousands of years of coexistence, it means it's a rich, rich place. It's got rich waters. and, and we have these rich cultures that taught us inherently the sustainability, you know, aspect that we are to pass this on to our future generations.

00:48:26:16 - 00:48:49:14
AlexAnna Salmon
So that led to you didn't have disturbance of this watershed. There were no major disturbances. We're not talking about a restoration project of any sorts. When it when we look at Bristol Bay, it's pretty much a blank slate. That's what you have, the glacial fed, you have the minerals. Those minerals are all serving a purpose for the nutrient rich watershed that we have.

00:48:49:14 - 00:49:19:10
AlexAnna Salmon
And the ecosystem, all of it, the birds, the waterfowl, the role that they play, the, deep cold that we get and the break up in the renewal that comes, that renewal is this environment and that it's resilient to climate change that the warming climate has. But our deep lake has preserved the colder temperature, water temperature, even though we're warming, it's just been able to be more resilient.

00:49:19:12 - 00:49:51:23
AlexAnna Salmon
I think locally, I'm new to think about. Imagine standing on the shores of Lake Ontario, but not but having its natural shoreline. Lake Eliana still has that, and that's what I would like to see. Letting a lake of this size keep its natural state because of the harm that happens. The more you make Mother Nature stay and do the same thing and not not not have the ability to renew itself in ways Western science has still not figured out.

00:49:52:01 - 00:50:09:15
AlexAnna Salmon
And so, until Western science figures out some of this, you know, it's not a good idea to go and have large scale disruption of an ecosystem you don't yet understand. And that's also the main message. This ecosystem is so rich and complex and diverse. It is not understood.

00:50:09:17 - 00:50:42:00
Mark Titus
Well, speaking of that, and if you've been, not come out of the Covid shadows yet or, have been living under a rock or just tuning into this podcast for the first time, perhaps you have not heard about the proposed Pebble Mine. And in that case, Alex, would you give us a quick primer on what that is and where we are today with the threat that resides upstream of your village and has for several decades?

00:50:42:02 - 00:51:10:13
AlexAnna Salmon
Yes. So the hills that feed, the mountains that feed into the lake Valley, I'm no watershed, also contain copper, molybdenum and gold. And so the Pebble project, which the junior mining company is Northern Dynasty, they proposed, opening up North America's largest open pit mine. And there's a pebble west and a pebble east. And it's all, for the most part, on state land.

00:51:10:15 - 00:51:57:06
AlexAnna Salmon
So they were applying for the permitting for this mega project, which would have resulted in a situation where our own communities would become minorities in our own homelands. That's how massive of a project. And that we have 70% of the last run of wild sockeye salmon. And they were proposing that mining and the fish can coexist, even with massive disruption at the headwaters of our creeks that are known for saving our people during starvation times of the past the lava Creek, Lower Tyler creeks, those creeks are, what saved during starvation times long ago are people like the breadbasket of our the bread baskets of our watershed.

00:51:57:07 - 00:52:25:20
AlexAnna Salmon
So during the mining or during the permitting, era, we were celebrating January 30th of 2023 when the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency has a 400 acre see where they would not permit, fill material and dredge into our into our waterways, which was a big win. However, a lot of people kind of felt like the, like the Pebble problem was solved with that.

00:52:25:22 - 00:52:47:09
AlexAnna Salmon
And there isn't there isn't one solution when you have a deposit of this magnitude. And our people knew it, like the old prophecies, they would say fish, furs and gold. They're good people from the outsider. We're going to be coming for those things, and once they get them, they will leave. Meaning where we will still have to live here with the impacts.

00:52:47:09 - 00:53:16:18
AlexAnna Salmon
And we did. We lived with the fur industry impacts. We're living with the fishing industry and what that has done, when it comes to the mining, it was an all or nothing. We gave our entire lives, to not in three areas advocacy, advocating for these protections, and then blocking access, trying to block the areas that the mining industry was using for permitting, including logging.

00:53:16:20 - 00:53:48:12
AlexAnna Salmon
OG's own, lands for the port. So we've we've been front and center at that, at those, consultations and then community initiatives because at the end of the day, our communities do need to survive out here. We do need an economy. Pebble was proposing the easy button to come out here and extend power and electricity and, put our people to work so that we have so that we're not sitting 100% low to moderate income or all the solutions.

00:53:48:12 - 00:54:11:12
AlexAnna Salmon
And they would provide the infrastructure so that we would have cheaper cost of living out here. It was it was being proposed as a complete easy button. instead, what does that look like? Today we've opened up Tribal Stewardship Office and we, you know, it's a start. We're providing some part time jobs that are aligned with what our people are most concerned or passionate about.

00:54:11:14 - 00:54:40:02
AlexAnna Salmon
We are we have opened a language program, and we're partnering to make it a region wide program. But it's it's providing meaningful employment, and we're proving out career paths in language and culture work. we've got students in school right now getting their certification and didn't earn a certification degrees. So and then we have a community cultural center, which I'm actively fundraising for at the moment.

00:54:40:02 - 00:55:03:05
AlexAnna Salmon
But we are, you know, we are an entrance point for Katmai National Park. And how how do we look at cultural and eco tourism? What is the future we're envisioning knowing we we also need to survive in place, but it's those three things. It's advocating continually blocking the access. And then it's providing the economy, the regenerative economy that our people want.

00:55:03:07 - 00:55:30:20
AlexAnna Salmon
and I think it'll create healthier and happier communities. But just on Wednesday, we had Congresswoman Portola introduced the bill to prohibit and restrict certain actions in the Bristol Bay watershed and for other purposes, which will codify that for for the decision of the EPA and, and at the same time, we need the private philanthropic world more than ever.

00:55:30:21 - 00:56:01:10
AlexAnna Salmon
So this summer, AOG is opening up for some trips. So we can have information exchanges on our land, back campaigns on the work that we're doing with language and stewardship. So so that people can get a holistic idea of all that it entails to protect in place and sustain in place this community that has given everything to protect what we love, which is our people, our culture, our deep connection to our lands and waters.

00:56:01:11 - 00:56:22:14
Mark Titus
It's just beautiful. I know to win this down now for today, we're going to be in touch for the long haul. But, to win this town for today, I know there's some joyous news. You're going to be getting married in August, and I am so grateful to have an opportunity to go and take some pictures with you and spend some time together.

00:56:22:16 - 00:56:51:23
Mark Titus
You're marrying a great guy. And I have no doubt that that your dad, Daniel, will be there in spirit. and I know from the recent article that came out vis-a-vis your alma mater, Dartmouth, which we will link to in the show notes. It's a beautiful piece, that you and I share. a feeling and a resonance about news from the unseen that kind of help.

00:56:51:23 - 00:57:35:20
Mark Titus
Whether, however, those things manifest, guide us in our in our daily lives, in in our bigger vision. And it feels like, especially according to this article, that, you know, your your dad certainly did that when, when he left this scene part of the world. do you want to talk just a little bit about, that inspiration that your dad gave you after he passed from from this room and, and your your hopes and visions for the future, such that he, you know, instilled in you and on this joyous occasion that's coming up in August, what your what your dreams are for the for the near future, for your family and for

00:57:35:20 - 00:57:38:23
Mark Titus
this wonderful place that you call home.

00:57:39:01 - 00:57:51:10
AlexAnna Salmon
So I do have a little nephew who carries on his name, and he's Daniel Salmon, and he will be wearing a bow. That is the topography of the Jack River in the color. Forget me not blue.

00:57:51:12 - 00:57:52:05
Mark Titus
Oh my God, no.

00:57:52:09 - 00:58:21:14
AlexAnna Salmon
I have, you know, really sentimental pieces of the wedding because I am worried about I how I will feel. But he I have to be thankful. I have this new awareness of all the guiding influences I've had, whether from the spiritual realm or from my friendships. Like with you, Mark, that I have been able to reflect on my dad could see so far into the future.

00:58:21:16 - 00:58:43:11
AlexAnna Salmon
And he would put his he would go all or nothing when he had a vision, and that was so risky to me. But what I, I also couldn't see that far ahead. What has started to come to me are the visions of where, which I don't know if that comes with the age that I'm at or like, have I had enough life experiences?

00:58:43:13 - 00:59:03:20
AlexAnna Salmon
I do miss having elders to go and visit with because those elders guided me. Even after my father died, they would come by and they would share story and they would say in what they were telling me were like how they ended up gaining trust and confidence in his leadership. So it was hearing leadership stories and really everything coming full circle.

00:59:03:20 - 00:59:49:12
AlexAnna Salmon
I've been a lot more reflective and the more reflective I am, the further forward I'm able to see and I'm really excited by that. And, I'm open. I'm trusting, and it's bigger than us. It's really bigger than us, and we're at the point of being able to manifest these visions we have, even if the system appears and feels full of challenges and obstacles and the momentum, the wild fire that happened with our community and the language of sovereignty and that that inherent right to tribal stewardship, that type, it's rippling out.

00:59:49:12 - 01:00:16:16
AlexAnna Salmon
It's rippling out from a geographic. And I think, he would be so proud. But what what's been since Dartmouth published that article, he knew what Dartmouth meant, and I did not. I didn't even know what Ivy League meant. I didn't really watch TV either. I just did not know about this. About this institution or that it even started as an Indian college.

01:00:16:16 - 01:00:31:10
AlexAnna Salmon
But when I got accepted, he took those papers and he went running around the house, the outside of it, in this small community where you hear everything, everyone doing and you wondering, we are going to Dartmouth.

01:00:31:12 - 01:00:32:10
Mark Titus
Oh my God.

01:00:32:15 - 01:00:59:15
AlexAnna Salmon
And when I look at what Dartmouth is doing with their tribal governance program and what what the Dartmouth network has provided for logging in our in this collective quest, and what we're doing here will benefit Indian country to like some of our novel tribal designated protected areas and, turning conservation into the new development. Like, I, I just think there's so much opportunity here.

01:00:59:15 - 01:01:37:05
AlexAnna Salmon
But he was right. It was we like the degree was our degree. And if I do go for a PhD, it will be for our PhD. I haven't decided what that should look like. I haven't received enough information, you know, for that. But everything we do, whether it's under my name or somebody else's, it's for the collective. And so even though that article, I am proud of that article because it's talking about nationhood building in a way that people can see it and, and hopefully it'll draw that network even further.

01:01:37:07 - 01:01:58:12
AlexAnna Salmon
so he is still he is still with us, Mark. And, you know, there's a sense that you get when I walk down the road, this is a road designed, built, done by our own people. And I can feel him walking there. So but it's it's my father, but it's also the hundreds of generations of our ancestors that are also here.

01:01:58:14 - 01:02:06:20
AlexAnna Salmon
It's that they're they're still here. and we're still here. And we have that on our side.

01:02:06:22 - 01:02:27:21
Mark Titus
I can't think of any better way to leave this for today in that beautiful space. And, I just want to thank you, my dear friend Bobby, for your your wisdom and your generosity of your time and spirit today. I know how busy you are, and I cannot wait to see you in August if I don't see you sooner.

01:02:27:23 - 01:02:41:21
Mark Titus
but for today, thank you from my heart for coming on this show and for sharing, the wisdom and the work that you are doing with your family and your village. And, for now, we'll we'll see you down the trail AlexAnna.

01:02:41:23 - 01:02:47:12
AlexAnna Salmon
Mark, always a pleasure to be with you, Glen.

01:02:47:14 - 01:03:18:20
Music
How do you say what you love?
How do you say what you love?
How do you say what you love?
How do you say what you love?

01:03:18:22 - 01:03:42:22
Mark Titus
Thank you for listening. To save what you love. If you like what you're hearing, you can help keep these conversations coming your way by giving us a rating on whatever platform you're listening from and leaving a comment on Apple Podcasts. It really helps get the word out. Check out photos on our Instagram feed. We're at SaveWhatyouLovepodcast, and you can get links from today's featured guest in the show notes of this episode.

01:03:43:00 - 01:04:11:21
Mark Titus
Join our growing community by subscribing to our newsletter at Eva's wild.com, and then clicking on connect in the upper corner. You'll get exclusive offers on wild salmon shipped to your door, and notifications about upcoming guests and more great content on the way. That's at Eva's wild.com. The word save spelled backwards wild.com. This episode was produced by Emilie Firn and edited by Patrick Troll.

01:04:11:22 - 01:04:17:19
Mark Titus
Original music was created by Whiskey Class. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you all down the trail.