| Hello Ryan, |
January in Alaska has a way of focusing your mind on place. The light is low. The ground is frozen. Cold and weather remind us constantly of our northern latitude.
This month, the Arctic has been firmly in global view, as the region’s resources and strategic importance have drawn heightened attention. For Alaskans, this is not a revelation. We have long understood the significance of these northern places, and the deep connections of culture, kinship and landscape that link Arctic communities.
Another quieter but no less significant reason the Arctic matters on a global stage is what it holds beneath the ground. Frozen soils across the North store massive amounts of carbon — more than twice the carbon currently in the Earth’s atmosphere. As warming accelerates and wildfire intensifies, that balance is beginning to shift, raising urgent questions about stewardship, adaptation and resilience.
In this email, we share work from the Alaska Wildfire Resilience Initiative and introduce Erin Harrington, who is leading our new Alaska Climate Impact Project focused on carbon management — work grounded in place and guided by the understanding that what happens in the North matters everywhere.
To learn more about our work, please drop us a line.
The Alaska Venture Fund Team |
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| Alaska Venture Fund - News & Views |
| Project updates, stories and perspectives shaping our work. |
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The Power of Preparation: Adapting to Alaska’s Changing Wildfire Landscape
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| As wildfire season grows longer, more severe and more unpredictable, communities across Alaska are preparing in new ways to protect lives, homes and local infrastructure. Through the Alaska Wildfire Resilience Initiative, Alaska Venture Fund is helping communities build the capacity, coordination and leadership needed to adapt — while also protecting globally significant carbon stored in Alaska’s landscapes. |
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| Stewarding Alaska’s Climate Future |
AVF Partner Erin Harrington leads the Alaska Climate Impact Project, a new effort to turn Alaska’s vast carbon resources into practical climate solutions, good jobs and long-term economic opportunity. At its core is a simple idea: what happens in Alaska matters far beyond its borders.
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Project Spotlight: The Cooperating Agency Roles For Tribes Handbook
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“AVF's Public Lands Project is creating tools for communities and Alaska Tribal governments to advocate for their priorities as part of land management decision-making processes and meaningful consultation. In 2025, we worked with our partners at Nashoba Consulting to create The Cooperating Agency Roles for Tribes Handbook in anticipation of federal actions that will impact Alaska's Tribal governments. Our goal is that this guidance can help Tribal governments advocate for their priorities throughout planning processes, like the Tongass National Forest Land Management plan revision now underway. We will continue to use this handbook as reference for future webinars and trainings supported by AVF.” — Dr. Natalie Dawson, Director of Strategic Partnerships
Read the Handbook here.
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| Stories Across Alaska |
| Big stories from the biggest state |
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Indigenous Leaders Stand with Greenland: For many Alaskans, Greenland is not a far-off place known only through headlines: Alaska and Greenland partner on scientific research and Arctic policy, and have long shared deep cultural connections, traditions and kin. Reflecting these deep connections, Alaskan Native leaders are voicing solidarity with Greenland amid threats of U.S. annexation
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New Arctic Report: NOAA has released its 2025 Arctic Report Card, which highlights both the accelerating impacts of climate change in Alaska and the important Indigenous science monitoring being done at the community level. The report reminds us how crucial it is to invest in climate-resilient communities, while continuing to mitigate further climate impacts.
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Subsistence Under Threat: Changes are being considered to how subsistence fishing and hunting are managed on federal lands in Alaska. The review, prompted by an Outside lobbying group, could not only threaten the subsistence priority guaranteed to Alaska Native and rural communities, but could also remove all Native and public voices on the Federal Subsistence board. AVF is working with partners across the state to respond to this urgent threat to Alaskans’ way of life.
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| In case you missed it |
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Over a dozen Southeast Alaska tribal governments have formed a new partnership to address regional tribal priorities and concerns. [KRBD]
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“Who knew it would feel as if the air itself is full of ancient wisdom, and nearly all of it just blowing past.” — A Northwest Alaskan resident reflects on what was lost after the storm. [Anchorage Daily News]
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As Alaska looks ahead, this opinion piece underscores that Alaska has no shortage of potential — it needs implementation. [Anchorage Daily News]
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In this column from our partners in Southeast Alaska, Raven Hotch (Klukwan) shares traditional practices for stress reduction rooted in Indigenous knowledge. [Sustainable Southeast Partnership]
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Video: Alaska Native Birthworkers Community |
To round out January, we wanted to share this beautiful video from Alaska Native Birthworkers Community (ANBC), highlighting their mission, role and impact in supporting sovereignty from first breath through culturally-matched care. The video was produced last year as part of ANBC’s application to the Action for Women’s Health Awards, for which they were selected as an awardee in November.
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