Save What You Love with Mark Titus

00:00:00:14 - 00:00:23:02
Mark Titus
Welcome to Say What You Love. I'm Mark Titus. Today's conversation, I get to sit down with Aleesha Towns-Bain. She's the Executive Director of the Bristol Bay Education Foundation. And we talk about the incredible work she and her cohort are doing to empower the next generation of leaders in Bristol Bay. We also dig into the Neqa Derby, which is the event that Tyler and I just got to go to.

00:00:23:03 - 00:00:44:20
Mark Titus
Up in Bristol Bay a couple of weeks ago. It was incredible. We got to eat local traditional foods and catch king salmon and see the swallows as they emerged and fly over Bristol Bay in all its glory. So we talk about that and try to paint a picture for you. Now, if you're like in this podcast, I would be absolutely grateful if you'd go to Apple Podcasts and give us a rating.

00:00:44:20 - 00:01:02:20
Mark Titus
It really helps our visibility. Also, if you want to write a review that's cool to just do it in your own words. We'd love to hear from you. And lastly, it's summer. Summer is grilling time. Why not put the world's best protein on your grill? Head on over to evaswild.com. That's the word save spelled backwards.

00:01:02:20 - 00:01:15:16
Mark Titus
Wild dot com and order. Wild Bristol Bay, flash frozen sockeye filets directly to your door. Thanks for listening. Love having you along. See you next week. Enjoy the show.

00:01:15:18 - 00:01:52:21
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.

00:01:52:23 - 00:01:57:09
Mark Titus
Alicia Townes-Bain. The salmon are back in Bristol Bay.

00:01:57:11 - 00:01:58:18
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Woo hoo!

00:01:58:19 - 00:02:26:18
Mark Titus
Yeah, and we were just there. This is such an amazing opportunity to get to chat together because of the proximity to salmon showing back up and the work that you're doing. I'm going to get out of the way here and let you tell us about yourself. But we just had lunch. The other day, and during that conversation, you told me that you had a dream when you were in high school.

00:02:26:20 - 00:02:37:01
Mark Titus
Tell us your story. Tell me. Telling you about that dream that you had. And how did you come into the work that you do?

00:02:37:03 - 00:02:48:10
Aleesha Towns-Bain
right, Mike. You just dive right in to all of the deep places. I'll just point out, on behalf of all your past and future events.

00:02:48:12 - 00:02:50:20
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So, yes, I did.

00:02:50:20 - 00:03:30:19
Aleesha Towns-Bain
I had a I had a dream. Well, you know, I should say that, you know, to my we always said towns in Seattle, Mississippi, and the Issaquah, Washington, Tacoma and L.A. Ugashik Chili Pilot Point, you. So I said hello. And when we said Towns, then I was actually born here in Seattle. I grew up in Washington. My family, my elanga is from Pilot Points or our guys stick out in Bristol Bay.

00:03:30:19 - 00:04:02:04
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So that's my connection to my Bristol Bay route. And as it happens, I'm reporting from here in the car. So back home for a couple of weeks in the summer. Yeah. So I was born in Seattle, but I always knew that I had these roots in Bristol Bay and from a very young age, my mom and my dad really made sure that we knew where we were from.

00:04:02:06 - 00:04:22:23
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And I'll tell you two stories. One is that when my I was really young and my parents were still fishing out of pilot point, so commercial fishing, my grandma had a big net operation and my uncle ran a drift permit. And so mostly my parents would go my dad would go and fish for my uncle or my grandma.

00:04:23:01 - 00:04:44:06
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And when we were there, I got to go, I think once, maybe twice, when I was really little. But we would stay in what's called the White House in Pilot Point, which was a house on the cannery. And, you know, it's like the big bunkhouse that folks would stay in when they were used to work at the cannery years and years ago when it was still operational.

00:04:44:08 - 00:05:01:17
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And so I always had that stuck in my head like the White House. So when I was growing up and they would talk about the news on the news about the White House, I thought that they were talking about pilot point because I really thought that Bristol Bay was like the center of the universe.

00:05:01:19 - 00:05:18:06
Aleesha Towns-Bain
That's really true because for me was like, why wouldn't you be reporting from there regularly? Because, like, that's where all the good stuff happened. Yeah. Yeah, of course. So I, you know, I think we.

00:05:18:10 - 00:05:49:02
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Always had like, this tug on my and my family's heart and then on my heart as well, to be back in our community and back in region. And that just grew on me. And so the story that I shared with you at lunch was a few just a couple of years ago, we were getting ready to move. And I was, as we all do when we're moving, and I was digging through all of these thick old boxes and trying to get rid of stuff and found a box of like old, old papers.

00:05:49:03 - 00:05:53:03
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And in that was like my high school transcripts.

00:05:53:05 - 00:05:59:18
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And then also my college admission essay when I applied to go like, you know, we all.

00:05:59:18 - 00:06:01:00
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Right, when we're 17 years.

00:06:01:00 - 00:06:02:09
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Old.

00:06:02:11 - 00:06:28:15
Aleesha Towns-Bain
I was planning to go to Western Washington University. And in that I say as my intended professional goal that I am going to work for my native corporation in Alaska. And, you know, about 20 something years later that actually happened. So I now work at B and C at the Education Foundation, where the awesome job of being our executive director.

00:06:28:17 - 00:07:03:15
Mark Titus
Well, a couple of notes there. That's awesome. Such great stories. And you're a great storyteller. And I think that I think I saved my admission letter to college, too, because that's the only reason I got into college. I had a really great I had a really great teacher named Tess Music, and she she believed in me in my writing and encouraged me to write to this, to sing all of college and this this admission letter and yeah, I think it was it was one of the better pieces of writing that I did.

00:07:03:17 - 00:07:26:14
Mark Titus
And so it's funny that you saved that one one piece. And, and of course, the White House in Pilot point is the center of the universe. That that makes all the sense in the world. Well, so the BBC, of course, is the Bristol Bay Native Corporation. And I guess, you know, I was going to have you give us a 100,000 foot view of the Education Foundation.

00:07:26:16 - 00:07:40:01
Mark Titus
But I'm going to back the truck up, even a little further. Can you give us a sense of what a native corporation is and why they exist in Alaska? And then we'll talk about your work in the Education Foundation.

00:07:40:03 - 00:07:46:03
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yeah. So I'm going to give you, I guess, you know, 50 years of history and about 30.

00:07:46:05 - 00:07:51:20
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Maybe 60 seconds. But the I.

00:07:51:22 - 00:08:37:12
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Bristol Bay Native Corporation is one of 12 regional native corporations that exist in Alaska. They were founded in 1971 as a as part of the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act when it passed. And what that acted was settle native land claims between the United States and the native indigenous people of Alaska. So our leaders, when they were going through that process, the native land claims had not really been settled in Alaska up and to that point there had not been with a couple of exceptions, had not been treaties that were signed between the tribes and the US government.

00:08:37:14 - 00:09:10:00
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And so our leaders recognized that they were not interested in the reservation system that had existed in the Lower 48. They wanted an alternative. And so they created this kind of unusual system, I would say, of corporations. So Alaska Native people became shareholders. And each of these companies, you could affiliate kind of depending on where you lived or where you or your family was from.

00:09:10:02 - 00:09:38:08
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So, you know, there's it was a little bit by chance just kind of depending on, you know, where your grandparents or parents were living and affiliated at the time. My mom chose to become a shareholder in B, B, and C, And yeah, I think that over time, those these companies have grown. And now many of them, including including our village corporations, have become very, very successful.

00:09:38:09 - 00:09:42:15
Aleesha Towns-Bain
They're amongst the largest companies in the state of Alaska.

00:09:42:17 - 00:10:07:04
Mark Titus
That's a fantastic explanation. And I kind of piecemeal that together over the years. But that was a really great one. Stop shop. So out of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, which is fantastically successful and doing incredible work for the region and its shareholders, the Bristol Bay Education Foundation was formed and you are now the executive director of that foundation.

00:10:07:06 - 00:10:16:13
Mark Titus
What is that all about? What's the work that you do? And give us the big picture take?

00:10:16:15 - 00:11:14:13
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Well, you know, then I have to give all the credit and the leadership back to the amazing elders and founders at B and C who saw many years ago the need for education. I think when I think about learning so analytically, sexually, just where I went to learn or I'm learning. Learning is a central value for and I think our organization at the B and C Education Foundation, of course, but also there's a thread that runs through all of our people from Bristol Bay, you know, our Ubec, Alice Elliott Tech and in our people we recognize the importance of learning and both Western learning in a, you know, kind of the formalized Western education system,

00:11:14:19 - 00:12:00:10
Aleesha Towns-Bain
but also cultural learning as a kind of equally valuable and equally important. And so from the very beginning, folks recognized at the B and C that educating our students, educating shareholders was going to be critical for the company's future success as well as the region's future success. So they created this 501c3 nonprofit. Now we're private foundation to provide scholarship support to our Alaskan students and shareholders as well as more recently supporting cultural heritage activities, primarily in the Bristol Bay region, but also beyond.

00:12:00:10 - 00:12:10:07
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So we do a lot of support for things like culture camp and extracurricular weeks in our school districts in Bristol Bay.

00:12:10:09 - 00:12:11:22
Aleesha Towns-Bain
But what I always say about.

00:12:11:22 - 00:12:13:11
Aleesha Towns-Bain
What we do work is like.

00:12:13:13 - 00:12:15:22
Aleesha Towns-Bain
We work with students, like that's our bread and butter.

00:12:15:22 - 00:12:26:21
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And why we get up every day, you know, whether they're in kindergarten or whether they're finishing their study. We we just love and support students in their in their learning.

00:12:27:02 - 00:12:32:19
Mark Titus
So good. Is there a bird calling behind you?

00:12:32:21 - 00:12:43:03
Aleesha Towns-Bain
I'm sorry. Just I really, really interesting folks will know that it's like a rooster crowing in the background.

00:12:43:05 - 00:12:53:18
Mark Titus
That's fantastic. I just want to assure our listeners that there's not an actual ghost in the machine here. But I was looking at some sort of bird life happening back there.

00:12:53:20 - 00:12:54:12
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yeah.

00:12:54:14 - 00:13:29:04
Mark Titus
So we. We just got to have this incredible experience together in June and Tyler, who's back there in the control booth, virtually came with me and we met up with you and your team on the Nushagak River. Tell us about what we just experienced and I'll I'll chime in a little bit about what my observations were. But you know, give us the big picture on what we were gathering for there in June on the Chicago River in Bristol Bay.

00:13:29:06 - 00:13:32:14
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yes, I'm just going to confirm that we had the best time and everyone is.

00:13:32:14 - 00:13:38:16
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Invited every day for the last.

00:13:38:18 - 00:14:05:07
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Three years. This is where we really took a COVID gap year. Like everybody said, that this was our third year on River. We have launched our a fundraiser essentially for that education foundation, but we have wrapped it around inviting our closest friends, family and sponsors to come fishing with us on the New River. And it was it's a three day event.

00:14:05:09 - 00:14:26:17
Aleesha Towns-Bain
We essentially go to camp together for three days and experience that really wonder the majesty, the beauty, the friendships that are created when you get outside and on the land with people and have a really, really great and magical time. It was it was awesome.

00:14:26:19 - 00:14:31:06
Mark Titus
So it's officially the net not you can tell it officially.

00:14:31:08 - 00:14:33:10
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yes.

00:14:33:12 - 00:14:36:09
Mark Titus
I get hung up on. Yeah, that could do it.

00:14:36:10 - 00:14:46:18
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yes. Thank you. Thank you for pointing out the name of our event. Yeah, it is. It's an academy. And we named it.

00:14:46:18 - 00:15:15:09
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Because we were going to be fishing. And we do. It Is king fishing at that time on the New River. And we we chose that intensively because for, you know, for our communities, the king is so special. And really important. And we wanted to point that out and points that you're going to share that experience with folks that are that are out there and already coming.

00:15:15:10 - 00:15:40:04
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You know, there's a lot of sports fishermen that come to New York every year in Bristol Bay, but they may not, as they fly into Dillingham, you know, and get on their small plane to head out to the new shack. They may not feel that connection to the people who live in Dillingham, the tongue tribe or, you know, just the people of Bristol Bay.

00:15:40:04 - 00:16:07:08
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And so we wanted to see if we could provide more links to, you know, to the people that live there and to our culture. And I said, yes, I wanted to point out that we are hosted on the river by the Trading Corporation, their village corporation that manages the lands and the river on behalf of their people and shareholders.

00:16:07:08 - 00:16:18:23
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And we're really, really grateful for that partnership because we did not do it without them. And we wouldn't, frankly, we wouldn't want to do it without them. So we're really grateful for that partnership.

00:16:19:01 - 00:16:21:17
Mark Titus
And what is nature mean?

00:16:21:19 - 00:16:38:03
Aleesha Towns-Bain
so nature means and I've gotten a few interpretations, but what I understand it to be is like the general word for says, thank you could say if you were talking about kind of any kind of fish in Yup'ik. But I've also heard it referred to as food.

00:16:38:05 - 00:16:41:06
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And I like that too, because like fish is so important to us.

00:16:41:06 - 00:16:42:02
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So that you can call it.

00:16:42:06 - 00:16:50:17
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Food or you know, it's a basic food, you know, a staple. So it's either fish or food.

00:16:50:19 - 00:16:53:16
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And we decided that because we wanted it to be.

00:16:53:18 - 00:16:54:10
Mark Titus
One and the same.

00:16:54:13 - 00:16:58:09
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yeah, Yeah. We wanted it to be.

00:16:58:11 - 00:17:03:00
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You know, to put our our culture at the center of this event.

00:17:03:02 - 00:17:12:16
Mark Titus
Beautiful. And so this was the fourth and there will be another one next year presumably. And other folks can participate in this.

00:17:12:17 - 00:17:24:05
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yes, folks are invited. The way it works is that you get in touch with us at Nugget Derby dot Nets.

00:17:24:07 - 00:17:24:19
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Or you can.

00:17:24:19 - 00:17:55:09
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Call the BBC Education Foundation. We have sponsorship so and sponsors, you know, decide to become part of the event. We really take care of most of your logistics, you know, fishing, logistics of getting you situated with a camp and all of your transportation me help you with that and really gets you from wherever you're coming from. We had folks from as far away as Atlanta come this year all the way to, you know, arriving at camp.

00:17:55:09 - 00:18:05:11
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And then you're there with us for three days fishing and eating and learning, of course. And and then you go and you whisk your way home.

00:18:05:13 - 00:18:17:22
Mark Titus
Yes, Tons. Tons of learning. And we're going to get a little more into that in a second here. And for those curious, we will put up our images, which are just amazing. And Tyler took a ton of them.

00:18:18:00 - 00:18:19:08
Aleesha Towns-Bain
God.

00:18:19:10 - 00:18:48:03
Mark Titus
As we were filming as well. And so there's lots of ways to see this coming up. But in the immediate, if you're curious, check out our Instagram at say what you Love podcast and we will have a slew of really amazing pictures from the Academy under Alisha's post for this week. And but just to paint the picture a little bit, you're flying into utter wilderness.

00:18:48:05 - 00:19:16:11
Mark Titus
This is if you've seen the wild or the breach at this point, you know that Bristol Bay is spectacular. It's gorgeous, it's vast, it's wild. So you're flying in there and then you're taking a smaller plane, a float plane, usually a beaver or an otter up onto the Nushagak River. And from that point, you are then taken by boat up to your camp, and there's various numbers of camps on the river.

00:19:16:11 - 00:20:01:18
Mark Titus
We stayed at Robb Point. This is beautiful Kingfisher camp. And you are so right. It was like summer camp. And Tyler even got a nickname. Merman, which involved some some, some time in the water in the chilly nushagak. And yeah, it's incredible the it's it's hard to adequately paint a picture but you know it's light pretty much all the time all the time because if you're up in the northern climes and we're fishing for kings, we're eating incredible food, we are seeing the swallows as they return and and really most importantly, communing together.

00:20:01:18 - 00:20:32:01
Mark Titus
And this was especially poignant this year after we've come out of this COVID spell of Connect being with other human beings and the land in and of itself. The food, though, was a big part of this. We were gifted this incredible experience of eating traditional foods like herring roe drizzled in seal oil, myrrh, eggs that were harvested from cliffs and even muktuk, which I'll let you explain.

00:20:32:03 - 00:20:51:19
Mark Titus
I, I notice how deeply felt the work was for you and Carol and Marie and Lucy and Irene and Angela. Why was it such a profound experience sharing your food and cultures with others that are coming from other parts of the country?

00:20:51:21 - 00:21:46:10
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Well, I have to, again, you know, give the credit away to all of the awesome team that you just mentioned. So Carol ran through is our VP of shareholder Development at BBC, Mary Paul, who is my board chair. And so Peacock, who's my deputy director, Irene Fritzy, who's my office manager. It's really a huge team effort. And so we every year kind of brainstorm about how we want to share our culture that year at the event and this year we had been asked before if we would consider doing some, you know, more sharing around how we traditionally prepare food and prepare salmon and kings in particular, because we've always done the cutting of the fish,

00:21:46:11 - 00:22:08:16
Aleesha Towns-Bain
like at our Waystation camp. we should mention that like we have a central kind of hub of activity during the event, which is our waystation, where people can come weigh their kings, also get some things, some food. And it's a really great it's not just the sponsors that participate in the event. It's open to anybody who's on the river that wants to purchase a ticket.

00:22:08:16 - 00:22:32:08
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So in addition to sponsors, we have a lot of community members, a lot of people who are just kind of interested in what we're doing. And so as people come by to the Waystation, we've given them the opportunity. Marie will split their fish for them and has demonstrated, I think, really beautifully how we keep every single part of the fish almost, you know, for sale at the place.

00:22:32:08 - 00:22:45:08
Aleesha Towns-Bain
But we keep the heads, the bellies, a lot of the kind of the material part of the fish that mostly in the sports fishing industry, sadly, will just get tossed back in the river, you know, But it's really.

00:22:45:08 - 00:22:47:02
Mark Titus
Usable.

00:22:47:04 - 00:22:48:19
Aleesha Towns-Bain
As you know, you can eat.

00:22:48:19 - 00:22:50:04
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Those parts.

00:22:50:06 - 00:23:09:16
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And they're delicious. And so we wanted to kind of share that with folks. And we had been encouraged and asked like, you should like demonstrate how to how we do that. So this year we have a awesome planning committee and we put out the call to the planning committee that we wanted to do some native food sharing.

00:23:09:18 - 00:23:48:20
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And I have to say that I was blown away and so touched by this amazing array of food that was the result. And I think people have to go look at the pictures. I get that sense of like just all the different ways that, you know, food was offered to the people and, you know, afterwards, like we were kind of debriefing with the team because, you know, I think we were curious, too, about how it would be received, you know, because it's maybe unusual for people who are not from Bristol Bay or from Alaska to have to eat a mere egg or, you know, some of these other delicacies.

00:23:48:22 - 00:24:13:16
Aleesha Towns-Bain
But I think the awesome part was like people were so open to it. You know, they really did like, try everything. People were interested and, you know, just had this kind of mind blowing experience of eating beluga for the first time and or a pickled fish or just, you know, some really, really, you know, I think like eyes opened.

00:24:13:19 - 00:24:43:01
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And that was what I experienced as people were tasting these things. And I think it's so important because when I taste those things, it just opens your senses. It's another way to connect, to like really deeply with the land because to me it tastes of the land and that's why I love it. You know, I just you feel I don't know if you can feel more deeply that you're there, but you feel more deeply that you're there when you when you taste these things.

00:24:43:03 - 00:25:08:02
Mark Titus
I, I absolutely agree with you. It was profoundly moving. And, you know, I've spent a fair amount of time in Bristol Bay in my life. And this was the first time I've had this opportunity to be gifted in this way from people who have been in and with the land for thousands of years. And you're right, you're transformed.

00:25:08:07 - 00:25:37:03
Mark Titus
It is a sacrament. Eating all every bit of what was offered. It all had its own flavor. It was all very surprising. It wasn't you know, I think my preconception was that it would be fishy or it would taste very odd. It tasted everything, had its own unique flavor to it, and there was a potency to the food that it's very hard to describe.

00:25:37:04 - 00:26:10:00
Mark Titus
And unless you had this opportunity to do this. And I also noticed in you and in Anne Marie, who who's an elder and then her sister Lucy, this absolute delight and joy and and I know they and you and we have eaten salmon thousands of times, but there is this genuine reverence and joy for being given this gift from the river and again and again.

00:26:10:02 - 00:26:36:14
Mark Titus
And that's the sacrament we talk about when when we discuss salmon and it coming home to give itself so life itself can continue. And that was absolutely completely apparent on everyone's faces. And with with the giving of these gifts in these in the food in its various forms. So I want to say thank you. I know Tyler was incredibly moved as well by that that gift.

00:26:36:14 - 00:26:51:13
Mark Titus
And it was something that was transformative. So good on you for bringing that to people who ordinarily wouldn't get a chance to experience the land in that way. It was really a wonderful gift. So thank you.

00:26:51:15 - 00:26:55:01
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You're welcome. I'm glad. I'm glad.

00:26:55:04 - 00:27:22:00
Mark Titus
Yeah, me too. Very glad and grateful. And let's get into the Education Foundation's work now. And what was the result of the Academy Financial. But then also, you know, like, why are we doing this? I got to meet some incredible people that have received assistance from the education Foundation, people like Terry Schroeder, people like really try to look.

00:27:22:02 - 00:27:34:17
Mark Titus
Can you tell us a bit about the success that you've seen as a foundation and the success that you've witnessed with the people that you have assisted through this work?

00:27:34:19 - 00:27:36:15
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yes.

00:27:36:17 - 00:27:58:20
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So as the executive director, you know, part of my job is to spread the word about the B, B and C Education Foundation, and also, you know, really celebrate our students and what we do. And I was just reading, you know, for all the nonprofit nerds out there, the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

00:27:58:22 - 00:27:59:22
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And there.

00:27:59:22 - 00:28:01:12
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Was an article in there.

00:28:01:14 - 00:28:02:05
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Was actually.

00:28:02:05 - 00:28:14:02
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Suzanna morgan who used to run the Alaska Foodbank, and now she's at the Oregon Food Bank in Portland. And her team is really kind of turning development on its head, which I.

00:28:14:02 - 00:28:15:06
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Think an.

00:28:15:06 - 00:28:43:09
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Interesting way. And at the Oregon Foodbank, what they were talking about in this article was that they're no longer going to judge the success of events or any fundraising activity on the dollar amount alone, and they're trying to use that instead. These other they're not going to abandon dollars completely. But the other benchmarks are really like human connectivity and connectivity to to mission, right?

00:28:43:10 - 00:29:04:13
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Because I think Mike, Mark, that's like what we're all looking for, right? We're looking for the good things that are happening in the world and how we can support them and how we can how we can connect with them as we kind of move through our own lives. And but we know what you know. We know we want to contribute in some way.

00:29:04:15 - 00:29:08:17
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So I loved that because I had been thinking like, I want to reframe.

00:29:08:19 - 00:29:09:23
Aleesha Towns-Bain
How we how.

00:29:09:23 - 00:29:47:20
Aleesha Towns-Bain
We think about and talk about like the success of an event and, you know, based on this model, because I do think it's you know, it's critical, it's critically important. So when I think about the success of this event that we just had and we've now been having for a few years, it is this connectivity to Alaska and our opportunity to bring folks who don't who haven't experienced it before to, you know, to, you know, to participate and to learn and to meet with our, you know, with our students.

00:29:47:22 - 00:30:07:11
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And in that, I think it was really wonderfully successful. And I my huge client at all of that was all those folks who've made the journey. Because I recognize, too, that it's a sacrifice. You know, they can be home with their families. It's the summer they you know, they have things, you know, that you know, that they could be doing.

00:30:07:11 - 00:30:23:10
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And then but they chose to, you know, give us really this gift of their time and, you know, interests and investments, because I think that's a you know, it's so easy to not so easy, but it's easy to write a $250 record, you know, Venmo.

00:30:23:12 - 00:30:24:13
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You know, and.

00:30:24:15 - 00:30:51:00
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Like, write, you know, of course, now in our current age, our relationships can so easily be transactional, you know, and then you kind of move on with your day. But this is a really a gift of time that I think is unusual and amazing. But financially, we did really well to work. So we did raise, I think, $156,000 in these three days, including our broadcasting kind support.

00:30:51:00 - 00:31:17:17
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So which I really think we're really excited about that. And we use those dollars to support our students and our cultural heritage activities that you mentioned a couple of people. So Dr. William Tice work, he is now on our Education Foundation board, but he is an alumna of the foundation We supported him all the way from, you know, early college freshman all the way up.

00:31:17:19 - 00:31:38:21
Aleesha Towns-Bain
He's now a family physician. He works for the Puyallup tribe here in the greater Seattle area. You know, just giving back to our native community, I think, you know, broadly, but also really enjoys the opportunity to get back to Bristol Bay. So he was with us on the river for those days and is really an amazing human being.

00:31:38:23 - 00:32:06:22
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And then we Mark, you and Tyler had the opportunity to meet Tierra Schroeder, who's one of our current students that we're right now. FANNING She also is on the track. I just happened to be pointing out to students that we have a lot of different types of students, that Tierra is also on track with her. See and in and I'm going to I don't want to misquote, but I think it's in psychology.

00:32:07:00 - 00:32:09:00
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And we're just really.

00:32:09:00 - 00:32:41:16
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Thrilled because she so yeah this is so poignantly points out you know, her desire to, you know, attain this level of education, but then bring it back to her community and really give back in really substantial way from the understanding of Native people. But also, she's doing some really interesting research around alcohol and alcohol misuse and how that can either mischaracterize mischaracterizations around native people in alcohol.

00:32:41:16 - 00:32:51:13
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So we're we're just really proud of her, I think, number one, and just excited to see where she goes and her education and her career.

00:32:51:15 - 00:33:20:14
Mark Titus
Honestly, one of the big watershed moments for me was doing an interview with her and and talking about why she's doing what she's doing. And the gratitude was overflowing in her and out of her. But she she got emotional at one point and talked about how she had to go out out of the region, meaning out of Bristol Bay for a mentorship because there wasn't a clinical psychologist in in Bristol Bay.

00:33:20:16 - 00:33:20:22
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yeah.

00:33:21:04 - 00:33:49:01
Mark Titus
And she wanted to be the first one in Dillingham. And that that kind of sealed the deal for me. That was like, okay, this is this is an investment. If this is the result, this is this is a woman who is brilliant, who is driven and who is compassionate and is absolutely passionate about bringing it home and perpetuating a new and resilient cycle in in region.

00:33:49:01 - 00:34:10:11
Mark Titus
And, you know, first of all, she's incredible. Tara, if you're listening, you're you're an amazing human. And and I can't wait to do more work with you in the future. But I know that there's all kinds of other folks that you help to like you mentioned, it's not just Ph.D. candidates. It's people that are looking to get their commercial pilot's license.

00:34:10:11 - 00:34:19:10
Mark Titus
It's trades. It's Can you speak a little bit more about other folks in the region that and what the kind of broader scope is of what you're hoping to accomplish?

00:34:19:12 - 00:34:43:07
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yes. So we we support students no matter where they're at in their education. So whether you are college bound or you are interested in a vocational trade, we're going to support you. We have two main programs where we that we work with. So we have our higher education program that's kind of the traditional four year or two year for your master's degree.

00:34:43:09 - 00:35:17:06
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You track students that are going through four professional careers. And then we also have a new program we're calling it the career focused Vocational Education Scholarship, because that has a ring to it. Don't you agree? The fee scholarship and those are much larger awards. They can be up to $15,000 to support students who are going to emerge from a program with a kind of career ready certificate.

00:35:17:06 - 00:35:42:14
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So that's if you wanted to be a welder or you know, if you wanted to go to cosmetology like beauty school. And, you know, those are very expensive programs that are kind of concentrated into like nine months for 18 months, like if you're going to be an aviation mechanic. But we went as fully not fully support you, but significantly support our students through those programs, and then they come out on the other side.

00:35:42:14 - 00:36:17:07
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So we have just started that this year. We had our first cohort, we had 16 applications, we were blown away and our next deadline is coming up here at the end of this month. So we'll see how that goes. But we're really excited about the potential. Also, we did a pretty big evaluation of our of our whole scholarship program since its inception and actually going back to like 1986 and what we found was that the majority of the students that we had supported in the college going area of our work were women.

00:36:17:09 - 00:36:52:18
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You know, I think 76% women. And so we really wanted to try to focus our efforts on how we can better serve. So additionally, Alaska Native men, and we recognize that a lot of our men want to be at home and want to be in region, and we get that. And so we're trying to change our programs and adapt so we can provide what they need when they need it and they can get back back home and into the good like awesome paying jobs.

00:36:52:20 - 00:37:19:13
Mark Titus
Yes. Well, as mentioned, and we're going to as a entity, as Avis Wilde, be supporting the work you're doing, you guys in the in the future here and I know other folks can get involved and we'll we'll get all the URL's and the ways to participate here at the end of the show. But it's it's just it's incredible and it's really inspiring this this work that you put together.

00:37:19:15 - 00:37:42:17
Mark Titus
But there's another part of it. It's you are also and this is to me, it's just as inspiring. You are also perpetuating the culture you are lifting up and working to revive and also, you know, perpetuate this thriving culture that's been here for thousands of years in different ways. Can you speak to that a little bit?

00:37:42:19 - 00:38:08:22
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yes. So I would say that this is the newer work for the education Foundation. But when I say new or we've been at it for maybe five years now in terms of supporting cultural heritage activities in the Bristol Bay region, I do have an awesome program. Officer Kayla Blair, who I shout out to K is doing amazing work and working with our communities and people.

00:38:09:00 - 00:38:38:16
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So we do have a grant program that supports all kinds of cultural heritage activities so that can I'm always blown away by kind the breadth of things that our schools are doing. And Bristol Bay, we have four school districts that serve our communities. And also, you know, Anchorage based or elsewhere in Alaska and even in Washington state, there's some activities that are happening down here that can be we've had folks make like dog sleds with students.

00:38:38:16 - 00:39:15:10
Aleesha Towns-Bain
We've had traditional tool making and traditional plant medicines gathering and making sounds with students, just all kinds of really cool, really cool activities. We also have a Native Place Names Grant program, which serves to document the native place names of around the region, both in all three of our traditional languages, and those are kept in the place names database that's maintained by the B, B and C Land Department.

00:39:15:10 - 00:39:51:05
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So we're really great partnership with Grant and Muskie and the whole team there and capturing our native place names. And then in this last year, Kay and her leadership did what we kind of dubbed like the Cultural wellness check for Bristol Bay. And we interviewed folks and almost all 30 of our village communities around what things are, what activities are really thriving in our region, and then what needs more support.

00:39:51:05 - 00:39:55:17
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And so what we heard in that effort we created Big report.

00:39:55:17 - 00:39:59:00
Aleesha Towns-Bain
See, you're welcome to read it.

00:39:59:02 - 00:40:39:00
Aleesha Towns-Bain
But we what we heard was that subsistence activities are really rich and, you know, being continued by families and communities. And that to those traditional gathering salmon, you know, that is those are alive and well and celebrated in our communities. And where we need more support is really around language preservation and learning. So, you know, we have like I've mentioned a couple of times, these three languages and two of them are pretty endangered and one of them is the.

00:40:39:01 - 00:40:41:16
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Peninsula are the.

00:40:41:18 - 00:41:15:18
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Peninsula dialect of the Elliptic language, has very, very few speakers left. And and similarly with that DNA in a language that's spoken in that kind of lakes region of Bristol Bay and also is critical so and then Yup'ik is more well spoken but whereas there was lots and lots of you know young speakers at one point in time there's there's still a lot of young speakers but fewer than there were.

00:41:15:18 - 00:42:10:01
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So we want to, you know, be able to support our children and learning language, but also are young adults who are interested in becoming language speakers. And then and and of course, capturing the knowledge of our elders to who still and who so have that and important those language skills but also the all of that information that is contained in language that kind of goes so beyond what were and, you know, kind of the basic nouns and verbs that there's there's this deep well of I think we call it deep knowledge that is contained in language that we think it's just critically important to, you know, to preserve honesty.

00:42:10:03 - 00:42:29:06
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So we're really thinking about how we can do more of that work. And we are going to be out in that working with the communities. Of course, like we're one. I also want to mention, you know, we are just one of many, many awesome organizations in B and C who have, you know, who care about these things, right?

00:42:29:06 - 00:42:52:06
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So everything we do, we want to do in partnership with our tribes, with the organized other nonprofit organizations that are serving our region. And I think that's critically, critically important because it's going to take all of us and really focus energy to know to do this type of cultural work.

00:42:52:08 - 00:42:53:17
Mark Titus
Secondly, Doc.

00:42:53:19 - 00:43:01:23
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You you remember here you think word yes.

00:43:02:01 - 00:43:31:17
Mark Titus
It's all good. It's so yeah. Gosh And yeah, I did download the epic app and I'm going to be I'm going to pound pounded on that for the next visit which is coming up. My wife and I are heading up at the end of July. We're going to be able to fish and spend some more time with folks in region and hopefully we'll see but hopefully get a chance to visit.

00:43:31:19 - 00:43:52:13
Mark Titus
I think it's your first culture camp. Yeah, which just blows my mind if we're if we're able to put this together and and have this incredibly gracious invite to come visit and say hello to the young folks. Tell us about this incredible culture camp that you've got going this year, the first time in Bristol Bay.

00:43:52:15 - 00:44:10:22
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Well, this was has been, I think, a long time dream of Jason Mitrokhin, who is the BBC CEO and just an amazing supporter of all education and cultural heritage, you know, activities. So really hands down to Jason's leadership for, you know, having an.

00:44:10:22 - 00:44:12:07
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Idea and then.

00:44:12:07 - 00:44:43:06
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Bringing it, I think to fruition and providing all the support and identifying the people to make it happen. So, yes, we are hosting the first B and C culture camp for students. It's going to happen here at the end of July and at Snyder is our culture camp director. She's an amazing teacher and Yup'ik instructor from Dillingham. And she is our our camp leader.

00:44:43:06 - 00:45:19:14
Aleesha Towns-Bain
I think folks are going to have a really great time. It's aimed at high school age students. And I think one of the really beautiful things about it is that there's some intentionality around inviting students. It was an open application and we invited students from, you know, from a wide variety of communities. So there there are folks coming from, you know, the Who already live in Bristol, these students who live in Bristol Bay currently, but also live in other parts of Alaska.

00:45:19:14 - 00:46:04:09
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And I think we may even have a couple of lower 48 students who are going to come up to Alaska. And for me, that really touches my heart because we know, Mark, how expensive it is, right, to get to Alaska, number one, and then to in into our village communities. And that can be a real barrier. And, you know, for, you know, I think about my own experience and growing up and how powerful and amazing it would have been to be able to, you know, go to Bristol Bay as a, you know, high school age student and youth and have that connection to your to your community and your people and where you're from.

00:46:04:11 - 00:46:27:18
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You know, when you're in that formative like those formative years and 14 and really kind of, you know creating your own personal identity and having so having folks that are, you know, teens that are able to come and have that experience, I think it's going to be really, really powerful. I'm so excited for them. So it's going to be a good mix.

00:46:27:18 - 00:46:30:14
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Of activities too, you know, And well, there.

00:46:30:16 - 00:46:35:19
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Be you know, we made sure that there's going to be lots of swimming.

00:46:35:19 - 00:46:45:13
Aleesha Towns-Bain
That's like advice. We got like, kids want to swim, make sure that you're ready for a swim by the lake. You know, they'll be boating. And then there'll also.

00:46:45:13 - 00:47:10:22
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Be a lot of traditional activities in terms of fishing and fish processing and fish canning and language learning like number one. So Arctic as one of our language warriors. And she's working with, I think, you know, Alexander Salmon and Sarah Midsoles and Michelle Raven, women, amazing language teachers from our communities and language learners themselves. And so they'll be there as well.

00:47:10:22 - 00:47:34:08
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And of course we have many elders and that will be present at camp camp because that's critical. And we sort of mentioned that I think too, with that with the next derby, everything that we do, I think having elders there is just really it makes our experience richer and it's critical. So we'll have elders and there'll be others.

00:47:34:08 - 00:47:38:01
Aleesha Towns-Bain
That culture camp too. So I hope you get to get there.

00:47:38:03 - 00:47:39:14
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Mark I hope you get to get over.

00:47:39:14 - 00:47:40:01
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And.

00:47:40:03 - 00:48:17:01
Mark Titus
To that I know we're we're working on the logistics right now, but it would be an incredible honor. And if we do, I will report on it and certainly take some pictures, of course. So you just mentioned elders and in thinking about folks like Joe Chai folk and and elders in region, but also kind of other people that are outside our region, all of us, we're all concerned about our futures, I think.

00:48:17:01 - 00:48:46:11
Mark Titus
And we're facing some unprecedented challenges as a species with climate change and other, you know, super intense kind of, you know, concerns. Why is preserving the salmon ecosystem and the singular salmon culture in Bristol Bay and catalyzing it to thrive for future generations? So incredibly important to you?

00:48:46:13 - 00:49:16:05
Aleesha Towns-Bain
I think it's hard for me to separate those things. Right. So, you know, in my work, I get up every day. I think about, you know, students and youth and really our future, you know, in that our future. And you can't separate those the children's future, our youth to future from the land. They they go hand in hand.

00:49:16:11 - 00:49:55:21
Aleesha Towns-Bain
They and, and the salmon are just a critical part of that. And because they are the lifeblood, they are the lifeblood of that region, you know, it is just incredibly important. But I think important is even the right word. I mean, it's like it's essential. It's critical. And it is. I think, you know what binds our communities together is that, you know, is salmon culture.

00:49:55:21 - 00:50:09:15
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Even as we were building the culture camp, you know, one of the things that we kind of continuously refer back to and as we work in our cultural heritage, work is like, we have these three kind of distinct, you know.

00:50:09:17 - 00:50:10:11
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Groups.

00:50:10:11 - 00:50:33:15
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Right, with Allmusic and Yup'ik and then Tina and they all have their differences. But where we all come together is around the salmon, you know, and the lands and our communities. And in that there are no there aren't differences. I think we just they are, you know, central.

00:50:33:17 - 00:51:19:11
Mark Titus
Well, it's amazing. Even non-Native folks who have been fortunate enough to stumble into this landscape or been deposited here by our parents and have found a reverence for salmon. It is this central connector. And, you know, when you when you grow up and spend a lifetime fishing for salmon and being enamored of them and, you know, frankly, you know, obsessed with them, and then you start learning about how they've been the foundation for people, for thousands of years before, you know, any of my immediate ancestors came to to come to this part of the world.

00:51:19:13 - 00:51:43:14
Mark Titus
It it kind of blows your mind. And and you have this deeper and profound understanding. And then you go to and take it up a notch from a place like the Northwest here in Seattle and Puget Sound, and go to a place like Bristol Bay where the runs are still completely intact and massive and beautiful and healthy and you want to fight for it.

00:51:43:15 - 00:52:16:19
Mark Titus
And so it's it's apparent to me, you know, when when you talk about people and their lineage and the the profound sense of connection that salmon bring them it it's palpable. And it makes me just grateful to even be, you know, touching that in some in some way because it's it's a it's a thread that's unbroken. And I think we are all searching for that kind of continuity in our lives.

00:52:16:21 - 00:52:30:18
Mark Titus
And so, again, thank you. And as we start wrapping up here, what gives you hope for the future, especially in Bristol Bay?

00:52:30:20 - 00:52:34:20
Aleesha Towns-Bain
I have a ton of hope. I think I'm.

00:52:34:22 - 00:52:39:13
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You know, enthusiastically hopeful person.

00:52:39:15 - 00:53:01:20
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You know, ever the optimist for our our communities and our in our future. And I think part of that is because I get to work, you know, we get to interact with students, you know, so regularly. And I always tease folks, if you're ever having a bad day, let me read you a part of a student essay.

00:53:01:22 - 00:53:03:09
Aleesha Towns-Bain
That they've turned and as part of their.

00:53:03:09 - 00:53:34:15
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Scholarship applications, because they are hopeful, you know, they see a bright future for our communities they see, you know, they want to give back. They want to build our future know the most, I think passionate like language warriors and culture bearers. Some of them are like 18 and 19 years old. You know, they're just amazing human beings. And it's all about community.

00:53:34:15 - 00:53:47:07
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You know, for for so many of our students, it's very rarely, I don't think I've I don't think I've ever read a student essay from a student from Bristol Bay who's like, I want to become a.

00:53:47:09 - 00:53:58:13
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You know, like some type of mogul and just amass billions. I honestly never read that. It is it is all about how they can support the.

00:53:58:15 - 00:54:24:09
Aleesha Towns-Bain
You know, the Bristol Bay region, how they can support our culture, how they can give back in some way, whether that's to become a teacher or a doctor or a pilot or a fishing boat captain. They're just all like all in in terms of preserving and, you know, working towards our community. So that gives me hope every day.

00:54:24:09 - 00:54:33:13
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And I think maybe one of the pictures that you'll have is we had to go over to Robin Samuelsson's house. Do you remember that one, her and Dylan hand.

00:54:33:15 - 00:54:35:22
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Because they were, you know, doing so I.

00:54:35:22 - 00:54:37:08
Mark Titus
Was just looking at those pictures.

00:54:37:09 - 00:54:40:17
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yeah. And, you know, his.

00:54:40:17 - 00:55:05:22
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Grandsons, we're getting ready to get their boat, you know, because they're all commercially fishing, but they're also a couple of them are in college. And I think that picture of of them standing aboard, you know, their boat and just getting ready, like to me, that's like a picture of the future and, you know, pragmatic, awesome leaders that it will be coming up.

00:55:05:22 - 00:55:09:16
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So that's why I have such hope for our future.

00:55:09:18 - 00:55:37:23
Mark Titus
Me too. And seeing that was just a bolt of electricity and that wisdom being passed down from Robin to his his grandkids and the trust in the faith and the hope that he has. I agree it's beautiful and yes, we will post that up in our Instagram feed as well at Save What You Love podcast. Okay. We have now moved onto the bonus round.

00:55:38:01 - 00:55:55:15
Mark Titus
my gosh. Everybody gets a stab at the bonus round here and it's a it's always a variation of the same question. And in your case, it's going to be let's just, you know, knock on wood here, it's not going to happen. But let's say that there was a river flooding and it was going to take out your house.

00:55:55:17 - 00:56:04:19
Mark Titus
What's the one physical thing other than getting your family out? Of course, and pets? What's the one physical thing that you take with you?

00:56:04:21 - 00:56:06:02
Aleesha Towns-Bain
my gosh.

00:56:06:04 - 00:56:07:19
Aleesha Towns-Bain
This is so like I.

00:56:07:19 - 00:56:35:13
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Feel like I should have prepared better for this bonus round. What's the one thing that I would take with me, you know, of course, that your family. I would say that there's a book I've carried around with me for many years. It is called Hearth in the Snow. It's out of print. But it is the story of my great grandmother in pilot plane.

00:56:35:18 - 00:56:40:21
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And so it's a really special book that, like my sister has a copy, my mom has.

00:56:40:21 - 00:56:42:05
Aleesha Towns-Bain
The copy, but I like I.

00:56:42:05 - 00:56:43:18
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Treasure my copy of that.

00:56:43:18 - 00:56:44:02
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Book.

00:56:44:02 - 00:56:49:21
Aleesha Towns-Bain
So I would grab it on the way out.

00:56:49:23 - 00:57:04:14
Mark Titus
Perfect. The perfect to metaphysical things about you. Like what are the two characteristics about you? If you could only take two out of that flood?

00:57:04:16 - 00:57:13:18
Aleesha Towns-Bain
well, like I think that the number of times I've been called salt of the earth many.

00:57:13:20 - 00:57:30:05
Aleesha Towns-Bain
And I love that character about myself, I guess. And I think one of things that I like is like, you know, I am what I am. What you see is generally what you get when it comes to you. So and maybe the.

00:57:30:05 - 00:57:42:19
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Second is I have a really deep sense of integrity and, you know, justice. That is what drives me through this, through this world.

00:57:42:21 - 00:57:54:09
Mark Titus
I couldn't agree more on both counts and keep it coming. Lastly, is there anything that you'd leave behind in the torrent to be washed away?

00:57:54:11 - 00:58:00:03
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Is this like metaphysical or just like all my old laundry?

00:58:00:05 - 00:58:03:22
Mark Titus
You could either have that answer before.

00:58:04:00 - 00:58:09:16
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Yes. Yes. my clutter can just be washed away and then flat. It would be fine.

00:58:09:18 - 00:58:11:17
Mark Titus
That's also metaphysical. Yeah.

00:58:11:19 - 00:58:13:14
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Right.

00:58:13:15 - 00:58:39:17
Aleesha Towns-Bain
I think we've talked about it in our like many lunch conversations, but one of the things that I try to work on letting go of is perfectionism. I think Brené Brown And but it's like a daily practice of, you know, things don't have to be perfect and it's okay to, you know, for it to be just, okay, chunky talk.

00:58:39:19 - 00:58:41:05
Aleesha Towns-Bain
It's okay.

00:58:41:07 - 00:59:07:23
Mark Titus
So we know that couldn't be a better final word. Alicia Towns-Bain, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you, sir. It's an honor and always a joy to hang out. I can't wait for our next lunch. And for folks that want to get involved with the Education Foundation, how do they follow you? How do they how do they get involved in tracking down?

00:59:08:01 - 00:59:35:08
Aleesha Towns-Bain
We are on all the ways you can find us on Facebook or follow our page on Facebook. We have a great Instagram, BBEF of on Instagram. Even if you're old fashioned, you can go to our BBEF website and find us there. And I think those are you can sign up for our newsletter and we'll email you an inspirational student story every single month and let you know what we're up to.

00:59:35:08 - 00:59:45:03
Aleesha Towns-Bain
Those are the ways. And if you're interested, more about the event, I think we mentioned earlier, it's on Nugget Darby dot net and it's an E to a derby dot net.

00:59:45:06 - 00:59:49:16
Mark Titus
Perfect until our next visit down the trail, my friend. Take care.

00:59:49:18 - 00:59:54:06
Aleesha Towns-Bain
All right. Thank you, quyanaqvaa.

00:59:54:08 - 01:00:01:22
Music
How do you save what you love?
How do you save what you love?

01:00:09:07 - 01:00:35:06
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 Apple Podcasts. You can check out photos and links from this episode at evaswild.com. While there, you can join our growing community by subscribing to our newsletter, you'll get exclusive offers on wild salmon shipped to your door and notifications about upcoming guests and more great content on the way.

01:00:35:08 - 01:01:13:21
Mark Titus
That's at evaswild.com. That's the word Save spelled backwards Wild dot .com. This episode was produced by Tyler White and edited by Patrick Troll. Original music was created by Whiskey Class. This podcast is a collaboration between Ava's Wild Stories and Salmon Nation and was recorded on the homelands of the Duwamish. People. We'd like to recognize these lands and waters and their significance for the people who lived and continued to live in this region whose practices and spiritualities were and are tied to the land in the water, and whose lives continue to enrich and develop in relationship to the land waters and other inhabitants today.