Barbara ‘Wáahlaal Gidaak Blake is the Vice President for Ocean Conservancy, leading the Arctic & Northern Waters Program. A dedicated advocate for Indigenous rights and environmental stewardship, she has an extensive background in Alaska Native policy and governance, having served in key leadership roles at the state and tribal levels. With deep roots in Haida, Tlingit, and Ahtna Athabascan heritage, she is a passionate cultural practitioner and a committed leader.
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Our food is so much more than calories and nutrients. Our favorite dishes connect us to people, places and times that matter in our lives. For Alaska Native Peoples, our traditional foods do all this and more. For us, food is not just a matter of what we eat, but also the ways we gather that food, the ways we store and prepare it, and the milestones in our lives that center around food. It connects us to our ancestors, demonstrates a balance of care for our non-human beings (our kin in the natural world) and is our connection to our spirituality in maintaining that balance.
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Image Descriptions
Image 1: K’alaagáa Íihlangaa (Nathaniel) Blake harvesting salmon along a river in Dzantik’i Héeni (Juneau), Alaska.
Image 2: K’alaagáa Íihlangaa (Nathaniel) Blake receiving a Halibut Hook and listening to Tlingit teachings from his uncle Xeetli.éesh (Lyle) James. Xeetli.éesh was one of many leaders who stood to acknowledge this moment and gift knowledge and tools to aid K’alaagáa Íihlangaa as he grows in the responsibility to care and provide for his community.
Image 3: K’alaagáa Íihlangaa (Nathaniel) Blake, learning from his great great uncle, Dennis Demmert, how to clean, filet, and prepare a salmon.
Our ability to carry on our ways, to sustain the cultures and knowledge that have existed for countless generations, is too often minimized if not directly threatened by today’s systems of managing lands, waters, hunting, fishing and gathering. Understandably, caring for and stewarding our lands, waters and non-human relatives requires a holistic approach that honors the interconnectedness of the natural web of life. Keeping plant and animal populations healthy is an essential foundation for human life. Economics also factors in: What value do we gain from a healthy environment and what is the cost of keeping it that way? Culture, however, is all too often ignored.
In a recently published essay, Ocean Conservancy staff joined several Alaska Native authors and researchers who have long worked with Alaska Native communities, to explore what it would mean to place Indigenous cultures at the heart of wildlife and fisheries management. This is not to ignore ecology and economics, but simply to recognize that among many possible decisions, only some have the effect of supporting Indigenous cultural vitality and continuity. In other words, we have choices about who can harvest fish and animals, who can access lands and waters. Those choices matter. It is also a reminder that as we center the continuity of cultural relationships with the natural world, we are protecting the entire web for all who depend on continued harvesting for their ways of life.
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Long-term solutions require lasting, respectful relationships with our surroundings and all those with whom we share our planet. Indigenous Peoples have demonstrated what it takes to create and sustain those relationships for centuries and millennia. Today, more than ever, we need to pay close attention to those hard-won lessons. Making choices that celebrate and uplift cultural practices of Indigenous peoples is the best place to start. This approach is central to Ocean Conservancy’s Arctic and Northern Waters conservation work. Please join us in sharing these ideas with all who care about the future of our ocean.
The post Indigenous Cultures and Environmental Management appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
