Announcements & Opportunities

• All the notes collected from our session at the 2024 Annual Meeting are online here.

• Connect with the FILR CWG at the 2024 NNA Annual Community Meeting. There are two sessions where you can connect with us. 

  • Wednesday, March 6th from 3 - 5 pm EST: Community Check-In: A Discussion Around NNA Successes and Challenges in Co-Production Research

  • Thursday, March 7th from 1:30 - 3 pm EST: New Practices for NSF Grantees: Responding to "Nothing About Us Without Us" and EO 13985, Inclusive of Indigenous Input

• If you are at the Alaska Forum on the Environment (February 5 -9), check out our session with Indigenous Elders who are creating a space for sharing and healing.

• The FILR CWG has just completed our strategic plan!

Group Members

Not Pictured

Valerie Tony

Committee Activities

Navigating the New Arctic Annual Meeting Session - Community Check-In: A Discussion Around NNA Successes and Challenges in Co-Production Research

We had a successful session that served as a vital check-in on the collaborative progress the NNA projects and the NSF are making in co-producing research with Indigenous communities. Participants discussed the NNA critique letters by Kawerak, Bering Sea Elders Group, Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, and Association of Village Council Presidents, as well as the subsequent NSF responses, individual project strides in co-production, and essential policies requiring modification to advance this collaborative objective. 

Alaska Forum on the Environment Session: Safety and Healing Through Water

We hosted a session at the Alaska Forum on the Environment February 8 and 9!

Water sustains all life - 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, and our human bodies are more than half made up of water. Across many indigenous worldviews, water is not just a life sustaining material, it is sacred. As stewards of the waters and land, many Alaska Native peoples historically had both a material and spiritual relationship with water. Yet, for over half a century, the disruption and violence of colonization have been changing that relationship. Communities are increasingly facing “water insecurity”, defined as difficulties in accessing, using, and benefiting from water to sustain life. The creation of permanent settlements placed Alaska Native peoples in areas prone to flooding, storm surges, and erosion. Sanitation infrastructure has commodified water, creating inequalities around who has access to safe drinking water. These changes have caused harm that needs to be recognized and we need a reimagining of how to move forward without causing harm. Addressing water insecurity, flooding, and sanitation challenges through western technological ways will always be limited without centering the cultural and spiritual importance of water. In these combined sessions, we will enter an Indigenous space, the qasgiq (or "gathering place" in Yup'ik), to engage in healing and ceremony to learn about water holistically. To ensure our safety and survival as Indigenous peoples, we use the qasgiq as our holistic model to direct Our Way of Life. For the purpose of this AFE space, we will use elements of the qasgiq to help us learn through Indigenous ways from our Elders. The qasgiq is intended for the immediate sharing of knowledge - where we will learn from each other about our unique, place-based knowledge of safety in our communities. We will listen to the stories and wisdom of Alaska Native Elders who participated in a study to document Indigenous Knowledge and observations related to water security and water-related safety in all seasons.  

This session included:

• Jennifer Dobson, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

• Laura Eichelberger, National Tribal Water Center / Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

• Valerie Tony, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

• Richard Oney Sr

• Nick Andrew Sr.