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Hello Friends, 
Our team believes deeply in Alaska’s potential and our work is shaped by love for our shared home. Like many Alaskans, we have spent this summer fishing, gathering wild foods, being outside on the land and waters, and in deep conversation with friends, family and colleagues about what the future holds. The reality of climate change, salmon declines and shifting geopolitics is changing how people think about Alaska’s resources, and how we best equip ourselves and our communities for the challenges – and opportunities – ahead. Unconventional partnerships in energy, economic development, and even politics are emerging in the state and unlocking new paths forward. 

Below you’ll hear more about our work to promote these conversations, partnerships and pathways to a more sustainable future. If you would like to learn more about this work or any of our ventures, we would love to hear from you. 

The Alaska Venture Fund Team
 

Alaska Venture Fund - News & Views

Project updates, stories and perspectives that inspire our work.
AVF and Climate Resilience: Matt Rafferty [Video] 
AVF Partner Matt Rafferty is focused on expanding equal access to philanthropy as the moral, just, and most effective way to ensure stewardship of Alaska’s lands and waters, and to work towards climate resilience. “I feel a great urgency with climate change and with everything shifting so fast right now. We have an opportunity to balance that short-term urgency with the long-term need to change systems.”
Harvard Kennedy School Report: River-Wide Approach 
Master in Public Policy candidates Vic Hogg and Leah Kessler joined AVF staff and community members to research the intersecting climate crises impacting Indigenous communities in Interior Alaska. Their research received Distinction Honors and the resulting report identifies immediate next steps, including philanthropy’s unique potential to accelerate tribally led solutions.
In the News: EPA Administrator Regan in Alaska
At the end of August, EPA Administrator Regan spent five days touring Alaska as part of the EPA’s Journey to Justice program. The Administrator met with Bristol Bay tribal leadership in Igiugig. "It was an immense honor to host the EPA Administrator and to share the heart of Bristol Bay – the clean water, air, intact environment, and a way of life our tribes have worked so tirelessly together to protect." – AlexAnna Salmon, Igiugig Tribal Village Council President
Grantee Spotlight: Indigenous Sentinels Network
The Indigenous Sentinels Network is integrating time-honored Indigenous knowledge into resource management practices in Bristol Bay as environmental challenges become increasingly urgent. An AVF grantee and one of many Indigenous co-management efforts in the state, this groundbreaking initiative empowers local Indigenous communities to play a pivotal role in safeguarding ancestral lands by fusing traditional knowledge with modern science.
Welcoming Chalalin (Chala) Giron to Alaska Venture Fund!
Chala is AVF’s new Development and Operations Coordinator and has a dynamic background that spans environmental sustainability to creative writing. With family serving in the U.S. Forest Service in Southeast Alaska for decades, Chala has been connected to Alaska and our green spaces since childhood. She recently taught agroforestry in Zambia with the Peace Corps, and is excited to be back in Alaska and passionate about building a sustainable future in the lands that have always welcomed her home. Get to know Chala.
From Across Alaska
News, articles, events, videos and more.
Bristol Bay Update – Alaska is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene on behalf of the Pebble Mine: In a highly unusual legal move, the state of Alaska has sought to completely bypass state courts in Alaska and instead has asked the U.S. Supreme Court directly to reverse the EPA’s ruling on the Clean Water Act in order to allow the Pebble Mine to be developed. Contrary to the state’s position, recent polling in Alaska finds that voters all across the political spectrum are significantly concerned about long-term protection for Bristol Bay and don’t want to see large-scale mining in the watershed.

Energy Transition – The Inflation Reduction Act is accelerating renewable opportunities in Alaska: Federal funding for clean energy projects and Alaska's “all-of-the-above” approach to energy are generating unexpected partnerships and innovative projects from the Kenai Peninsula to Juneau. With a looming natural gas shortage in Cook Inlet, a diverse range of Alaska-based projects are quickly becoming economically viable. (For an excellent exploration of how Alaska can realize its clean energy potential check out “From the Grid” – a series of articles by Alaska Center for Energy and Power’s Gwen Holdmann.)

Indigenous Knowledge – Pairing community observations with hard science: As part of the Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub, Inupiaq observers across northern coastal communities in Alaska have gathered more than 10,000 place-based observations over 15 years tracking changing sea ice, wildlife, weather and coastal water temperature and salinity. The findings: Arctic seasons are shifting, storms are increasing and traditional foods are being impacted.
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