The U.S. Department of the Interior recently announced an investment of more than $16 million in Alaska's Yukon, Kuskokwim and Norton Sound regions.
This investment, a co-stewardship with Alaska Native Tribes, will enhance the resilience of ecosystems and salmon in the area, according to a March 31 news release. The funding will come from President Joe Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
"This historic funding to restore salmon and protect its habitats in the Yukon-Kuskokim Rivers and Norton Sound Watershed will create a foundation to conserve and restore the region's cultural heritage through long-lasting co-stewardship agreements and immediate responses to the worsening climate crisis," Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau said in the release. "The Department of the Interior is committed to investing in Alaska Native communities so that their traditional lifeways and ancestral homelands are protected for future generations to inherit and steward."
"We're proud of this public-private partnership between our community of conservation funders and the administration," CEO of Native Americans in Philanthropy Erik Stegman said in the release. "Philanthropy has a powerful role to play in supporting this critical indigenous-led work alongside our federal partners."
This effort is a component of what the Department of the Interior refers to as a restoration framework, according to a DOI fact sheet. This framework consists of a set of goals that include keystone initiatives that consider key ecosystems in restoration efforts.
These initiatives align with priorities such as improving biodiversity, climate resilience and advancing co-stewardship and equity, the fact sheet reported. Restoration efforts are driven by a locally-led, collaborative restoration strategy that is either in place or in the process of being developed. Those efforts leverage funds from a variety of sources.
The investment will provide funding for grants totaling $5 million, with the goal of incorporating the perspectives of Tribal partners, indigenous knowledge and local experience into the planning and decision-making process, the release reported. DOI partnered with Native Americans in Philanthropy to offer additional matching financing for Native American Tribes.
This will help Tribes create a strong foundation for co-stewardship, where indigenous knowledge will help develop collective action plans to support resilient ecosystems and local communities, the release said. This will also support Tribes in their efforts to preserve their cultural traditions.
The mission of the organization known as Native Americans in Philanthropy, which has been around for 30 years, is to promote "equitable and effective philanthropy in Native communities."
