Ian Johnson

HIA Environmental Coordinator

Sustainable Southeast Partnership Community Catalyst

 

Ian Johnson is the Community Catalyst in Hoonah, Alaska. He also serves as the Hoonah Indian Association (HIA) Environmental Coordinator.  Ian was born and raised in small town Minnesota, completed his undergrad in Biology along the shores of Lake Superior in Wisconsin, and then took a job working for a non-profit wildlife research organization, Biodiversity Research Institute, in Maine. In 2015, Ian graduated with his masters in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His thesis took an interdisciplinary approach to research subsistence access to moose and wolf movements in the Yukon Flats. In Hoonah, Ian is coordinating crews, data, and the diverse partners for the Hoonah Native Forest Partnership. He will also be developing the HIA environmental program to enhance capacity in the community and improve on energy and food issues. Ian is an avid photographer with website (www.ianajohnson.com), a fiddler-guitarist-singer, and an outdoors-man. He hopes to meet you in his office, via email (hoonahcatalyst@gmail.com), on the water with a rod in his hand, or in the field during deer season!

Phone: (907) 945-3545 Ext 140

Email: ian.johnson@hiatribe.org

 

Jeromy Grant

IGAP Program Manager

Jeromy Grant serves as the Hoonah Indian Association (HIA) IGAP Program Manager. I attended Allied American University where I studied to be a Network Administrator, and Clover Park Technical College where I went through the Computer Networking Information System Security (CNISS) program. In Hoonah, I oversee HIA Environmental’s PSP monitoring program, which includes setting up sampling sites, weekly water samples from those sites and at least once a month shell fish samples from the sites as well. This spring I am working on doing a E-waste backhaul. I also write The Tide Newsletters and monitor our Facebook page www.facebook.com/HIAEnvironmental/ . I am an avid hunter, fisher and out the road explorer, I practice Bush Craft and other minimalist survival practices.

FY21 Projects

• Water samples (Phytoplankton)
• Shellfish Sampling
• Ocean Acidification data collection
• Shellfish Biomass Survey 
• Stream Temperature data collection
• Environmental Plan 2021 
• Tools for schools air quality study
• E-Waste Backhaul/collection event
• Tide Newsletter

Phone: (907) 945-3545 Ext 132

Email: jeromy.grant@hiatirbe.org

 

Ricardo Contreras

IGAP Assistant

Ricardo Contreras serves as the Hoonah Indian Association(HIA) Indian General Assistance Program (IGAP) Assistant. Ricardo has lived in Hoonah, Alaska for most of his life and spent all school years (K-12) in Hoonah City Schools District. He has been working with HIA for 3 summers as a Hoonah Native Forest Partnership(HNFP) crew member before becoming the IGAP Assistant. Ricardo wants to learn more about our environment and ways we can protect it for our future generations so they can continue to feel connected to the Tlingit culture through gathering and maintaining the local resources. In his free time Ricardo enjoys being with family, playing video games, playing basketball, skateboarding, and hanging out with friends.

Phone: (907) 945-3545 Ext 133

Email: ricardo.contreras@hiatribe.org

 

Sean Williams

Coastal Resilience Program Manager & Diving Safety Officer

The HIA Coastal Resilience Program began in 2017 when Sean joined HIA as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Since 2017, Sean has created a series of interrelated projects designed to build tribal capacity in ocean and coastal management, to understand the impacts of oceanic change on local waters and people, and to protect and steward coastal resources and biodiversity. We hope to address the historic exclusion of Native Americans in coastal zone and fisheries management through 3 principal strategies: accredited environmental education and youth workforce development, grassroots environmental policy and co-management, and co-production of knowledge and scientific information. Sean serves as the Diving Safety Officer for scientific diving and loves being underwater, and offers affordable community training in SCUBA and local youth. Sean holds a M.S. in Environmental Sciences from LSU College of the Coast and Environment where he studied environmental planning and management and applied sciences.

Sean.Williams@HIAtribe.org

Phone: (907) 802-3213

 

Julian Narvaez

Environmental Education Coordinator

Julian Narvaez is the Education Coordinator for HIA Environmental. Julian has spent most of his adult life working in rural Alaska, Latin America, New Zealand, and the lower 48. He’s spent his career focusing on youth environmental education and working on land management projects, especially involving remote facilities and trails. For HIA Environmental, Julian coordinates and facilitates dual enrollment courses in the school and the summer AYS program for local high school students. He also assists with HIA’s scientific diving program. He’s looking to develop more environmental education and workforce development initiatives for Hoonah’s youth relevant to forest ecology and fisheries, climate, and marine sciences.

Phone: (907) 802-3220

Email: julian.narvaez@hiatribe.org