This past March and April, HIA was able to help coordinate some great opportunities for middle and high school students in Hoonah. Read more below!
Hunter’s Education
As part of a Hunter’s Education Course, middle and high school students learned about gun safety, the parts of a firearm, basic shooting/hunting skills, ethical harvesting, understanding wildlife, and basic survival skills. Students learned from online manuals in Ms. Kruger’s class and then attended an in-person practical training. At the in-person training, they learned how to load different rifles and shotguns, used decoys to talk about ethical shot placement, and took a shooting test.
Firearms remain integral to life in Hoonah, from bear protection to subsistence hunting. This training cultivated respect, responsibility, and leadership among students, preparing them to serve as future role models. Thank you to Mike Kelly from Alaska Department of Fish & Game and Rebekah Sawers for putting on the practical course, and to the Hoonah City Police Department for providing assistance.
Seal Workshop
Through a partnership with HIA and the RASOR program, middle school and high school students worked with local hunter Bob Hughes and visiting scientists Dr. Todd O’Hara, Dr. Ellen Chenoweth, and Rosie Cunningham to learn about the harvesting of seals as food. First, the students met with Dr. Ellen in the classroom. During this session, the students reviewed seal anatomy, discussed seals as knowledge bearers when it comes to ocean conditions, and reviewed the Tlingit names of seal body parts. They learned how, through examining the body and taking samples of certain organs, communities can learn about what is happening in the ocean environment.
The next day students walked down to the City Dock to look at the organs up close and help O’Hara and Chenoweth sample organs. At the same time, Bob Hughes taught the students how he hunts seal and how to harvest the fat, meat, and hide of the seal.
The event closed out at K’eidladee Park, where the community was invited to gather for a seal oil rendering workshop taught by HIA’s Darlene See and Breylan Martin.
The meat and oil were distributed to elders and will be used in future HIA events. The organ samples that were taken from the seal were sent to Texas A&M to be tested for possible heavy metals, contaminants and other nutritional data. These results will be shared with HIA and passed on to the community of Hoonah.
Commercial Fishing Skills
During their “Intensives Week,” students had the opportunity to take the AK On Board Commercial Fishing Skills and Marine Safety course. Students gained the knowledge, skills, safety training, and confidence to succeed in a commercial fishing career. They took part in “man over-board” drills, got hands on with boat maintenance, knot tying, splicing, marine radios, and charts. They also learned about some of the soft skills required for the career such as seafood handling/quality, working as a team, cooking on a boat, and basic financial literacy. Participants over 16 earned an Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) Drill Conductor Certification. Thank you to Gabe Dunham from UAS and Alaska Sea Grant for bringing the course to Hoonah, Stan Savland for giving students a tour of his boat, and Jeromy Grant and Jackson Combs for their assistance!
Forestry Training
Forestry training was also offered during the “Intensives Week.” Students that signed up gained training to carry out projects including deer monitoring, stream restoration, and forest management for wildlife. They collected important environmental data that affects our community and learned to use field maps, clinometers, and special measurement tools. They also explored the forest, worked on their tree identification skills, and practiced their nature sketching. The hope is that our youth grow to be the ones participating in data collection and management decisions that help shape the future of our forests.
Thank you to Ian Johnson and his Community Native Forest Partnership team for inviting the students to participate in their activities. It was great for our students to learn from and work alongside crews from Kake, Prince of Wales, Ketchikan, Angoon, Yakutat, Juneau, and Sitka.
Close Up
From April 12th to the 16th, Kyah Martin and Dietrich Lewis visited Washington D.C. through the Close Up Foundation’s week-long program. For this year’s trip, students had to write a pre-trip essay and complete volunteer/fundraising hours to be able to travel. Once in D.C., they had the opportunity to visit the nation’s capital and historic monuments while learning more about civics and how to impact their communities through politics.
On Capitol Hill Day, students from across the country got the opportunity to meet with their senators and ask them questions about the pressing issues in their home states. Lisa Murkowski was the visiting senator, and answered questions concerning trawling, teacher retention, and PFD’s.
Kyah and Dietrich were excited for the opportunity to visit the capital and to see multiple monuments up close. They were engaged in nightly discussions about the day and what they learned, and worked with other students in a mock congress the night before meeting their senators. Students were respectful and able to debate conflicting views without being overly antagonistic. It was an influential and highly informative week that we hope they carry into their adult lives.
Federal Subsistence Board
High school students earned college credit learning to navigate the Federal Subsistence Board (FSB) process as part of an UAS class (BIOL194). They traveled to Anchorage and heard proposals to change hunting and fishing regulations on federal lands like the Tongass National Forest.
Dietrich Lewis, James Erickson, and Jora Savland first met afterschool for classes at the Haa Toow’u Latseen, HIA’s Computer Lab. They learned how proposals get made, how regional advisory councils operate, and who votes on the board. Then, at the meetings in Anchorage, students’ assignments included networking with federal/state employees, interviewing professionals, following the proposals, and providing their own testimony in front of the board about “subsistence” issues of concern to them. Listen to their testimonies below:
Board members noticed how well the students represented their home communities and were impressed by their polished testimonies. It was a great opportunity to practice public speaking, networking, and to engage in the wider scientific, political, and professional community. Thank you to the professors and organizers Heather Bauscher, Ashley Bolwerk, and Kim Armendariz as well as HIA employees Catherine Bolton, Jackson Combs, and Julian Narvaez for helping make it happen.
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