The Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (YRITFC) held a quorum for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The YRITFC is comprised of 28 villages along the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers who work together to develop recommendations for fishery management, and to develop positions on other relevant fisheries issues for the upcoming season and in the fall post-season.
This year, the YRITFC was held May 2-4 in Fairbanks, where the commission experienced record attendance. The meeting provided an opportunity for the Commission to reconvene, reassess and revitalize their strategy toward protecting, conserving, and restoring subsistence fisheries resources.
The atmosphere, while serious, was also reunion-like and the exchanges jovial and communal. The message and the mission of Indigenizing Alaska’s rivers in order to save the salmon and the subsistence hunting lifestyle was universal. Janessa Newman, Tanana Chiefs Conference’s (TCC) Tribal Resource Stewardship Program (TRSP) Outreach Coordinator, called the audience in during an exercise where attendees were tasked with re-appointing the river units in ways that consider the villages’ locations as opposed to the state’s designations. “Unlearning government-assigned regions and re-visiting traditional ways of communicating along and about the river is how we are defining our assignments,” she asserted. There will be 9 territories representing 51 tribes in the Yukon River Drainage System – Alaska Side. Currently, 20 of those tribes are active members of the YRITFC.
Jonathan Samuelson, Chair of the Kuskowkim River Intertribal Fish Commission reiterated this point. “We have to wipe our slate clean, rely on our relationships with each other, and decolonize this process in order for this to work,” he said.
The next objective for the YRITRC is recruiting non-participating tribes to submit resolutions to join the commission.
Additionally, the Commission elected their new Executive Council. The new YRITFC is as follows:
YRITFC Chair: Karma Ulvi of Eagle (Term expires 2026)- YRITFC Vice-Chair: Bradley Painter of Grayling (Term expires 2026)
- Territory 2: James Landlord of Mountain Village (Term expires 2025)
- Territory 4: Percy Lolnitz of Koyukuk (Term expires 2025)
- Territory 5: Speedy Sam of Huslia (Term expires 2026)
- Territory 6: Charlie Wright of Rampart (Term expires 2025)
- Territory 7: Michael Peter of Fort Yukon(Term expires 2026)
- Territory 8: Chaiiy Albert of Northway (Term expires 2025)
The Commission’s newly elected Chair, Karma Ulvi from Eagle, aims to work with TCC staff and the Commissioners from the villages to nurture a strong organization that will collectively pursue initiatives that advocate for a traditional lifestyle. “Our people have been living on these lands for thousands of years and have managed these salmon stocks by only taking what we need,” she says, “Now our salmon are declining and not returning to the spawning ground and we need to understand why and how to fix that.” Karma also serves as the Chair of her local Fish and Game Eagle Advisory Council and has a seat on the Bycatch Advisory Council. She says she is very honored to be elected as Chair of the YRITFC. If you have questions about the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, please contact the Tribal Resource Stewardship Program at (907) 452-8251, ext. 3109, or by email at TRSP@tananachiefs.org.