A Sioux rancher who heads the technical assistance program for the Intertribal Agriculture Council will deliver the keynote address at the seventh annual Alaska Tribal Conservation Alliance Symposium on Oct. 23 in Anchorage.
Zachary Ducheneaux’s work at the IAC focuses on educating people about the critical role of improved food systems, value-added agriculture and foreign exports in any successful economic development model aimed at addressing poverty on reservations.
Ducheneaux and his brothers operate the family ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in north central South Dakota, where they are raising the fourth generation of their family.
Robert Stephan Sr., chairman of the ATCA, and Angela Peter, ATCA executive director, will deliver opening remarks on Oct. 23. Symposium participants will also hear from half a dozen other speakers, including Karen Linnell, executive director of the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission, and Alaska gubernatorial candidate Mark Begich.
Dennis Nickerson, environmental planner for the Prince of Wales-Tribal Stewardship Consortium, and Tonya Kaloa, program assistant for the Tyonek Tribal Conservation District, are among speakers for the second day of the symposium, and Charles Parker, chief executive officer/president of Alaska Village Initiatives, will address the symposium on the third day.
The complete symposium agenda is online at http://www.aktca.org/docs/2018_Update_10-10-2018.pdf
The AKTCA, established on March 30, 2011, is a multi-tribal organization whose representatives include tribal conservation district for Tyonek, Kuigglugmiut (Kwethlu), Asa’carsamiut (Mt. Village), Nunivak Island, Copper River Ahtna Inter-Tribal Resource, Kuuvanmiut (Ambler), Knik, Nuvendaltun (Nondalton), Tuyuryaq (Togiak), Akiacuarmiut (Akiachak), Prince of Wales, T’eeDrin Jik (Arctic Village/Venetie), Yakutat, Eklutna, Ketchikan, Nuiqsit and Tanana.
The symposium’s objective is to bring together tribal conservation districts, Native corporations, government agencies and other stakeholders to identify and address natural resource concerns, exchange knowledge, support common goals and overcome challenges tribes face in natural resources and subsistence agriculture activities.
Learn more about the work of the Intertribal Agriculture Council, with headquarters in South Dakota, at http://www.indianaglink.com
