Hi - 

This is India Neville , an EarthScope Reporter and Intern with the Teen Environmental Media Program....

Last week we had the amazing opportunity of meeting Dune Lankard and hearing all about all the projects and organizations he’s involved in.  A native Athabaskan Eyak from the Copper River Delta on the Gulf of Alaska, fishing was always a huge part of his life. He would spend his summer months out with fishing with his family on Prince William Sound and Copper River Delta off of Alaska. “ I lived…out in the wild just chasing fish pretty much all my youth,” Dune recalled. “All of [my family] grew up living from the sea…I remember almost every meal we’d come in and we go ‘oh man we’re having seafood again?!’ ” It wasn’t until he tried a hamburger as a teenager that he realized just how lucky he was for having all that fresh, delicious fish.

Fishing and living off the sea was always a part of Dune’s childhood and it carried over into his job as a commercial fisherman. However on March 24, 1989 all that changed when hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound. For Dune, the Exxon Valdez oil spill not only changed his life, but the entire community; his family and friends and the environment. So many had lived off the sea, which was now saturated with oil.  All of the creatures who found the ocean their home were affected and salmon fishing, that had been the livelihoods of numerous people, was brought to a halt.

That day of the oil spill Dune decided to become an activist and leader fighting for environmental rights and making sure that people’s voices are being heard. He focuses a lot on indigenous peoples rights and emphasized the fact of protecting native rights as well as the conservation of wildlife was key to success. He started many organizations that followed these guidelines including the Native Conservancy Land Trust. “We wanted to protect endangered peoples and culture not just endangered plants and animals like the rest of the conservation community,” he said. 

Dune has had and still continues to have a lasting legacy and powerful voice in the activist movement.  He has founded numerous organizations and is on the board of many others.  He has won Supreme Court cases and is always fighting hard for what he believes in.  

If you are interested in learning more about Dune be sure to visit http://www.redzone.org.

The Redzone network name was chosen shortly after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill because local people wanted to highlight endangered wild red (sockeye) salmon, Indigenous people and sacred places in peril. Redzone is the virtual home to Chinook, Sockeye, Coho, Chum and Pink salmon that have been part of the Eyak people's way of life on the Copper River Delta and in eastern Prince William Sound for over 3,500 years, and counting. The still intact thriving ecosystem, with its wild salmon returning annually to spawn in their millions, is home to eagle, bear, beaver, wolves, moose and millions of migratory shorebirds and waterfowl.

Dune's Eyak name is Jamachakih, which means ‘the little bird that screams really loud and won’t shut up’ “.

Soon we will have the interview with him posted as well.