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| People | Yup'ik |
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| Headquarters | Bethel, Alaska, US |
| Government | |
| Chief | Walter Jim |
| Website | |
| orutsararmiut | |
Orutsararmiut Traditional Native Council (ONC) is the largest tribe in the Bethel, Alaska region. It is a federally recognized tribe and a governing body for the community of Bethel, Alaska.
As of 2017, the tribe had 3,192 members, 1,801 of whom lived in Bethel. A majority of those not residing in Bethel instead resided in Anchorage, Alaska.
The Orutsararmiut Native Council (ONC) is the largest tribe in the Bethel, Alaska region. [1] It is a federally recognized tribe and a governing body for the community of Bethel, Alaska. [2] Zach Brink served as the ONC executive director from 2011 to 2015. [3] In 2016, Gene Peltola Sr. was the ONC executive director. [4] Peter Evon also served as an ONC executive director before serving in as the Kenaitze Indian Tribe executive director of tribal administration. [5]
As of 2017, the tribe had 3,192 members, 1,801 of whom lived in Bethel. A majority of those not residing in Bethel instead resided in Anchorage, Alaska. [6] In the fall of 2018, the ONC received a two-year grant from the Administration for Community Living to help reduce the harm and maltreatment of Yup'ik elders. [7]
In 2021, the executive director was Mark Springer. [8] Springer was fired in late 2021. [9] On June 28, 2021, the ONC appealed the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation's about the Donlin Gold mine's water quality certificate. [8] According to a summer 2021 poll of 300 ONC tribal members, 76% opposed the Donlin Gold mine project, while only 10.5% supported it. [10] The mineral rights for the mine are owned by the Calista Corporation, an Alaska Native corporation that represents many Alaska Native groups including the ONC. [11]
In 2021, the ONC received US$ 17,000,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. [12] Some of the funds were used to provide US$ 1,500 payments to eligible tribal members. [12]
Former executive director Zach Brink resumed the role from August 2, 2021 until late March 2022 when he resigned citing health reasons. [3] [9] In July 2022, Brian Henry became the ONC executive director. [1] In 2022, Walter Jim was serving as the tribal chairman. [3] In July 2022, the ONC endorsed tribal member Mary Peltola's campaign for the 2022 Alaska's at-large congressional district special election. [13]
The Yupik are a group of Indigenous or Aboriginal peoples of western, southwestern, and southcentral Alaska and the Russian Far East. They are related to the Inuit and Iñupiat. Yupik peoples include the following:
Bethel is a city in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the Kuskokwim River approximately 50 miles (80 km) from where the river flows into Kuskokwim Bay. It is the largest community in western Alaska and in the Unorganized Borough and the eighth-largest in the state. Bethel has a population of 6,325 as of the 2020 census, up from 6,080 in 2010.
Kwethluk is a city in Bethel Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2010 census the population was 721, up from 713 in 2000. It is the birthplace of Saint Olga of Alaska.
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, 702 miles (1,130 km) long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area. The Kuskokwim River is the longest river system contained entirely within a single U.S. state.
The Alaska Native Regional Corporations were established in 1971 when the United States Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) which settled land and financial claims made by the Alaska Natives and provided for the establishment of 13 regional corporations to administer those claims.
The Denaʼina, or formerly Tanaina, are an Alaska Native Athabaskan people. They are the original inhabitants of the south central Alaska region ranging from Seldovia in the south to Chickaloon in the northeast, Talkeetna in the north, Lime Village in the northwest and Pedro Bay in the southwest. The Denaʼina homeland is more than 41,000 sq mi (110,000 km2) in area. They arrived in the south-central Alaska sometime between 1,000 and 1,500 years ago. They were the only Alaskan Athabaskan group to live on the coast. The Denaʼina have a hunter-gatherer culture and a matrilineal system. The Iditarod Trail's antecedents were the native trails of the Denaʼina and Deg Hitʼan Athabaskan Native Alaskans and the Inupiaq Inuit.
Calista Corporation is one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Calista was incorporated in Alaska on June 12, 1972. Although the Calista region is in western Alaska, Calista Corporation is headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. Calista is a for-profit corporation with 34,500 Alaska Native shareholders primarily of Yup'ik descent.
Alan S. Boraas is a professor of anthropology at Kenai Peninsula College in Alaska. He is known for his research into the culture, history, and archaeology of the peoples of the Cook Inlet area of Alaska, and in particular has worked closely with the Dena'ina people of the Kenai Peninsula. He is an adopted honorary member of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe, and is helping the tribe develop a program to teach the Dena'ina language.
Mary Sattler Peltola is an American politician and former tribal judge serving as the U.S. representative from Alaska's at-large congressional district since September 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as a judge on the Orutsararmiut Native Council's tribal court, executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bethel city councilor, and member of the Alaska House of Representatives.
The Donlin Gold Project is a large, undeveloped, refractory gold deposit located 12 miles (19 km) north of Crooked Creek, Alaska, on the Kuskokwim River, about 280 miles (450 km) northwest of Anchorage. The deposit has proven and probable reserves estimated to be 33.9 million ounces of gold at a grade of 2.1 g/t and could produce an average of one million ounces annually over a 27-year mine life.
The Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center (YPCC), also known as Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center and Museum, formerly known as the Yup'ik Museum, Library, and Multipurpose Cultural Center, is a non-profit cultural center of the Yup'ik culture centrally located in Bethel, Alaska near the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Kuskokwim Campus and city offices. The center is a unique facility that combines a museum, a library, and multi-purpose cultural activity center including performing arts space, for cultural gatherings, feasts, celebrations, meetings and classes. and that celebrates the Yup'ik culture and serves as a regional cultural center for Southwest Alaska. The name of Yupiit Piciryarait means "Yup'iks' customs" in Yup'ik language and derived from piciryaraq meaning "manner; custom; habit; tradition; way of life" Construction of this cultural facility was completed in 1995, funded through a State appropriation of federal funds. Total cost for construction was $6.15 million. The center was jointly sponsored by the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and at the present the center operated by the UAF's Kuskokwim Campus, AVCP and City of Bethel. The building houses three community resources: the Consortium Library, the Yup'ik Museum, and the Multi-purpose room or auditorium. The mission of the center is promote, preserve and develop the traditions of the Yup'ik through traditional and non-traditional art forms of the Alaska Native art, including arts and crafts, performance arts, education, and Yup'ik language. The center also supports local artists and entrepreneurs.
Tiffany Zulkosky is an American politician. She represented District 38 in the Alaska House of Representatives from 2018 until 2023, after she chose not to run for re-election. Zulkosky is a Democrat and caucused with the House Majority Caucus. In 2018, she was appointed by Governor Bill Walker and unanimously approved by House Democrats to fill the vacant seat in District 38. Zulkosky, who is Yup'ik, was the only Alaska Native woman to serve in the Alaska Legislature.
Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD), or Bethel Public Schools, is a school district headquartered in Bethel, Alaska. As of 2017 it is the largest rural school district in the state, with 4,300 students.
Valerie Nurr'araaluk Davidson is an American politician who briefly served as the 13th lieutenant governor of Alaska, from October to December 2018. She was sworn in after Byron Mallott's abrupt resignation from the post on October 16, 2018. In April 2020, Davidson became the 12th president of Alaska Pacific University, the first woman to serve as the university's president. She took a leave of absence from Alaska Pacific University to become interim president of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in March 2021. Her presidency of the Consortium became permanent in June of the same year and she resigned from Alaska Pacific University at that time. Davidson later became CEO of the Consortium as well. She left the Consortium in May 2024.
Tara MacLean Sweeney is an American businesswoman and former political appointee who served as assistant secretary of the interior for Native American affairs from July 2018 to January 2021. Sweeney is an Alaska Native and previously served in the cabinet of Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski. In 2022, she unsuccessfully ran to represent Alaska in the United States House of Representatives. The election was won by Democrat Mary Peltola.
The 2022 Alaska at-large congressional district special election was held on August 16 to fill the seat left vacant after the death of Republican incumbent Don Young. Mary Peltola was elected in a 3-way race against former governor Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III in the election, becoming the first Alaska Native and woman to represent Alaska in the House.
Willie Kasayulie is an American tribal leader, politician, and commercial fisherman who served as a Yup'ik chief and co-chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives.
The Native Village of Eek is a federally recognized Yup'ik Alaska Native tribal entity.
Eugene R. "Buzzy" Peltola Jr. was an American public servant and naturalist who served as Alaska director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and manager of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. He was the husband of Congresswoman Mary Peltola. Peltola died as the result of a plane crash in September 2023.
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