Dune Lankard

President & Founder

An Eyak Athabaskan Native of the Eagle Clan, Dune grew up in Cordova, in southcentral Alaska. Born into a fishing family, his life education as a subsistence and commercial fisherman began at age five. He later earned a living as a fishery and processing consultant and commercial fisher in the Copper River Delta and Prince William Sound. The Exxon Valdez oil spill transformed him into a social change activist and Native Rights leader. He has founded and co-founded several key organizations, including the Eyak Preservation Council (EPC), the FIRE Fund (Fund for Indigenous Rights and the Environment); the RED OIL Network (Resisting Environmental Degradation of Indigenous Lands), and the Native Conservancy (NC). His work has helped win the preservation of more than 1 million acres of the Copper River Delta and wide recognition, including Time magazine’s Hero of the Planet, as well as fellowships with the Ashoka Foundation, the Hunt Alternatives Fund, Future of Fish, among others.

Winona Laduke, Anishinaabekwe Ojibwe

Director

An Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) Native enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg, Winona lives and works on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota. She is the mother of three children, the Executive Director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project and Program Director for the Honor the Earth Fund. She co-chairs the Indigenous Women’s Network and has served on the board of Greenpeace USA. Recognition for her work include the Thomas Merton Award, the BIHA Community Service Award, the Ann Bancroft Award for Women’s Leadership Fellowship, the Reebok Human Rights Award, Time Magazine’s 50 most promising leaders under 40 years of age, and Ms. Magazine Woman of the Year.

JADE BEGAY

Director

Jade Begay, Diné and Tesuque Pueblo, is a filmmaker, communications and narrative strategist, and an Indigenous rights and climate activist. Jade has partnered with a number of organizations on these issues, including Resource Media, United Nations Universal Access Project, 350.org, Indigenous Environmental Network, Bioneers, Indigenous Climate Action, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, Allied Media Projects, and Tribal Nations. She has worked in diverse areas, from the Arctic to the Amazon, to create multimedia, develop strategies and build storytelling campaigns to mobilize and create more engagement and impact around issues such as climate change, Indigenous self-determination, environmental justice, narrative change. Jade is the Climate Justice Campaign Director at NDN Collective.

LLOYD DAVIS

Secretary & Treasurer

Lloyd Davis is a member of the T’akdeintaan clan of the Lingít tribe Ḵéex̱ʼ Kwáan living in what is known now as the Organized Village of Kake, Alaska. He is currently serving his second term as Mayor of Kake after over 25 years of working for the town, tribe, and corporation. Lloyd brings a wealth of community experience to Native Conservancy gleaning from his role as Mayor of Kake where he is responsible for managing the challenges of life in a remote, rural community facing steep unemployment, an increased cost of living and preserving heritage on ancestral lands. Lloyd is also leading his community as a start up kelp farmer working in his waters where he’s worked since he began fishing with his uncle at age 11. Lloyd is passionate about serving Native Conservancy and the next generations and brings a wealth of experience, insight and the knowledge of his forefathers to bear while remaining a model in the community for how to contribute, feed his people, and how to give back to Mother Earth.

April Minnich

Director of Advancement - (Interim)

April Minnich is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and a dedicated advocate for arts, education and environmental programs around the world. For decades Minnich has been especially focused on climate change and ocean protection activism. As Executive Director and founder of the Baum Foundation, she was involved in work to implement Marine Protected areas, supporting partnerships with various programs to inspire stewardship of the planet including being an advisory member of the Presidential Climate Action Project as an advisor identifying top climate priorities for US President, Barack Obama. She continues to be an ocean and land back advocate in Alaska with a dedication to kelp farmers. During her professional career, April co-founded and was Vice President of Marketing for three successfully launched San Francisco based commercial film and interactive agency companies: Red Sky Films, Red Sky Interactive and Skyrocket.

CASEY RANGEL

Director of Operations & Finance

Casey has led numerous projects to success, supporting and organizing teams and individuals throughout her 12-year career in health and human services. Casey’s shift and interest in ocean commerce 3 years ago were led by her love for Alaska and a desire to advance a more vibrant economy. Since the time she was young, Casey had an affinity for the environment, even starting a paper recycling program in high school which is now a state-wide venture. Having grown up in a boating family, Casey’s passion for water and marine life prompted her to seek work focused on advocating and promoting Alaska’s natural resources and economy. Casey has four young boys, and she is passionate about instilling in them a responsibility toward preserving and fully utilizing Alaska’s natural resources.

Kanisha Tiedeman Lohse, Alutiiq

Kelp Compost Fertilizer Indigenous Agriculturalist

Kanisha Tiedeman Lohse is a Native Alaskan with indigenous roots in the Prince William Sound and the Copper River Delta in Cordova whose spirit is deeply rooted in the land and sea. As Native Conservancy's Kelp Community Compost Manager, she will develop opportunities within the kelp compost space. Kanisha enjoys cultivating her culture with native foods and sharing her knowledge about harvesting, foraging and preserving plants. She is passionate about the responsibility we have, as humans, to be good stewards of the planet by seeking truth and living with positive intention. She honors her Native traditions by living a subsistence lifestyle with her husband and three children; homesteading, raising livestock and growing a garden. She is also co-owner of the family’s fishing business,Tyee Fisheries. In her free time, Kanisha creates artwork inspired by the spirit of the Copper River making beadwork earrings, barrettes and fobs, which she sells through her business, Mountain Blossom Ridge. She enjoys teaching her children her art and passing on her skills that she hopes will thrive for many generations to come.

JIM SMITH

Program Director - Reclaiming Land & Water Ties

Jim Smith is an Eyak Native from Cordova, Alaska who grew up in the fishing industry. He was raised in a commercial fishing family and has fished the United States west coast waters of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California. He got his first job when he was just 10 years old working for a man who would teach him how to hunt and skin seals and otters. Like many people in Cordova, he watched his parents set aside portions of their catch and hunts to give to grandparents, aunties, uncles and other Elders in the community. Jim sees the need for continuing this important tradition and feels compelled to play a role in furthering it. Jim’s fishing experience gave him the practical knowledge and tools to manage people whose livelihoods require the skills for making nets, for providing subsistence foods from best practices, and for deploying research vessels for kelp seed sourcing, outplanting, harvesting, and processing. Today, Jim serves Alaska’s coastal communities as Native Conservancy’s Program Director of Reclaiming Land & Water Ties both as a fisherman and a ‘kelper’.

TESIA BOBRYCKI

Program Director - OceanBack

Tesia (she/her) leads Native Conservancy's Oceanback Program; overseeing the Community Kelp Seed Nursery, Kelp Research Sites, Ocean Farmer Trainings, Marine Research & Restoration and more. Tesia joined the team with five years of program management in the nonprofit sector and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, where she focused her work and education on indigenous land rights and conservation. She has a passion for finding community driven solutions, believing that environmental justice follows land and cultural sovereignty. Tesia is thrilled to be working with Native Conservancy on programs that tangibly and radically advance the sustainability and prosperity of communities and the marine environments on which they depend.

BRANDYN ASHLEY COMPARAN, Mesoamerican Indian

Program Coordinator - OceanBack

Brandyn serves as the Native Conservancy's Oceanback Program Coordinator. Her body of work at NC begins with support for Native People in all aspects of kelp farming and feeding elders. Having grown up in Prince William Sound and a fishing family, Brandyn brings a range of creative thinking, a deep respect and relationship for the ocean and “just in time solutions” for the entrepreneurial aspects of kelp farming. Brandyn facilitates the details of kelp farmer permitting, field observation for monitoring, harvesting and processing tied to the details of program administration. In the Fall she works as a laboratory technician at NC’s Community Kelp Seed Nursery while scuba diving for kelp sorus collection. Brandyn is a valued next generation team coordinator committed to Native Conservancy’s mission of serving Indigenous people and healing our ocean. Her keen passion for food and her inventive approach to new recipes have spurred innovative experimentation blending traditional subsistence food with nouveau cuisine. In her free time you might find her exploring glaciers or climbing mountains with her dog and camera.

GRAFTON SCHIKORA

Captain, Program Manager - OceanBack and Reclaiming Land & Water Ties

Grafton Schikora was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and moved to Cordova at the age of 12 when he quickly embraced the fishing lifestyle. Ocean sciences and commercial fishing have been two of Grafton’s main focuses throughout his life, and he got his first “boat” job at 14 years of age. Grafton was the Science Club President at Cordova High School and went on to study marine biology and natural resource management at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. At Native Conservancy, Grafton is the captain of the boat Noctaluka, which is used for kelp research test site operations and subsistence food harvesting. He has extensive maritime experience, and before becoming a captain, he was a deckhand on 22 different boats across nine fisheries. We feel privileged to have Grafton on board, and his invaluable knowledge and experience will serve us well.

TYLER QUALES

Program Assistant, Deckhand - OceanBack and Reclaiming Land & Water Ties

Tyler Quales, a descendant of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe in Washington State, was born and raised in Cordova, Alaska where he attended Kindergarten to grade 12. After high school, Tyler became a commercial fisherman, and during his 10 years of fishing, he gained valuable maritime skills and experience. For the next six years, he worked in the hospitality and service industry. Tyler joined Native Conservancy in 2020 as a deckhand and research assistant. In this capacity, he is playing a key role in the Kelp Research Test Pilot Projects and Native Elders Subsistence Foods Program. During the winter months, Tyler monitors Native Conservancy’s research sites, running the skiff to check on the test lines; gear and kelp growth. In the spring, he helps with the harvesting and processing of kelp, while at the same time continuing to monitor the research sites water quality. The summer and fall are devoted to subsistence harvesting and preparing kelp gear for the following season.

BRYANNA PATINKA

Advancement Manager

Bryanna humbly serves as the Advancement Manager for Native Conservancy. Her passion for activism developed at a young age: she joined the Two Row Wampum renewal campaign while in high school. Later, during her time at American University, she went to Standing Rock in support of the Indigenous community’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. This environmental injustice, coupled with her previous experience, motivated Bryanna to seek work at non-profits that serve Indigenous communities. Bryanna graduated from American University with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Economics. Her years of project management experience in development, as a consultant for Institutions of Higher Education and Oneida Nation (NY), comes at an important time during Native Conservancy’s growth. In her free time, Bryanna enjoys the outdoors. Her hobbies include skiing, rock climbing, and backpacking.

JESSE MACDONALD

Crew Hand Program Assistant, Deckhand - OceanBack and Reclaiming Land & Water Ties

Jesse MacDonald is an Aleut native born in Cordova, Alaska. He later moved to Oregon at the tender age of 9 where he was exposed to the fishing scene helping his brothers offload Dungeness crabs. Additionally, around this time Jesse developed a passion for the great outdoors. He would pack up fruit in a backpack and set out to explore wooded hillsides for hours at a time, often until dark. He'd scale cliff sides, climb trees and occasionally admire live animals up close and personal, deepening his appreciation for the wilderness around him. Later on Jesse would investigate the fishing scene more thoroughly working in the Prince William Sound area in the summertime and working on Dungeness crab boats on the coast of Washington and Oregon in the winter fortifying his work ethic and optimism. Jesse joined Native Conservancy in 2022 working as a crew hand helping to build, repair, and monitor mariculture arrays. He also is involved with the subsistence program acquiring animal pelts and meat for his community

DAMIEN VALERA-SCOBIE

Communications Manager

Scobie supports Native Conservancy programs from daily operations to culturally focused planning and research assistance. He has a passion for environmental justice and wants to help people have access to fresh, healthy, and culturally significant food, especially those who are marginalized and face food insecurity. He believes that all peoples can benefit from having a more personal connection with their food systems and is proud to support Native Conservancy. An urban Native American from the Tlingit Tribe of Alaska growing up in San Francisco, California, Scobie has dedicated his academic career to informal interpersonal education, prioritizing on building a connection with one another. He received his B.A. in Environmental Studies in Monterey, California. He is focusing his work on cultural pathways, connecting with his tribe and others that Native Conservancy is working with.

ELIZABETH ARNOLD

Office Assistant

Lizzi serves as the Native Conservancy Office Assistant. She is an Eyak from Cordova, Alaska, and spent her youth learning about her culture. She grew up participating in activities like Nuuciq Spirit Week, Tatitlek Cultural Heritage Week, Native Youth Olympics, Native Dance, and attended the Alaskan Federation of Natives conference every October. She also served as President of the Tribal Youth Council for three years and represented her people by speaking Eyak at the House Bill 216 signing. Lizzi has a great passion for the outdoors and spent three years working on the Trail Crew for the Forest Service in the Chugach National Forest. She enjoys using her previous skills in administrative duties and land conservation to support the Native Conservancy in all that they do.

MARINA MADISON

Program Assistant - Reclaiming Land & Water Ties

Marina is an Eyak Alaska Native artist and a lifelong Cordova resident. She serves as the Reclaiming Land & Water Ties Program Assistant, a program that offers Native people seasonal, traditional, locally attained nourishing foods. Marina has always held a deep connection to the land and heritage she comes from. Inspired by the abundant land of the Copper River Delta she’s a versatile artist and graphic designer. She loves sharing her art with her community and tribe. In her spare time she loves to make pottery, cook and share delicious food, travel during the off season and spend time outdoors.

AMANDA WILLIAMS

Executive Assistant to the President

Amanda Williams serves as an executive assistant to the president of the Native Conservancy, Dune Lankard. Amanda’s role provides logistical support to our founder and is a liaison for Dune to stay on the pulse and deeply connect with the plethora of tribes, partners, media, and the like to convey our organizations message and continue our mission. Amanda is an AmeriCorps Alumni and a military Veteran who served four years in the US Navy. She was honorably discharged as a third-class petty officer and awarded several medals including Good Conduct and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. Amanda has many years’ experience as a professional writer, photographer and shooting video for multi-media use. Her most recent work includes being a staff reporter for the local newspaper here in Cordova, Alaska supporting the community through story telling. She is passionate about the work the Native Conservancy does to protect these sacred ancestral lands for indigenous peoples and promote wellness and food sustainability in Alaska. When she isn’t busy at the Native Conservancy, you might find her out in the wilderness exploring, singing on stage and recording music, and traveling.

MICHAEL BESANCON

Michael brings more than 40 years’ experience in the natural and organic food industry. Beginning as the Director of Purchasing for Mrs. Gooch’s Natural Foods Markets, a Whole Foods-owned company, Michael then served as their Southern Pacific Regional Vice President and eventually as Senior Global Vice President of Purchasing, Communications and Distribution. Michael also led the company’s Green Mission task force that lead an unprecedented 100-percent electricity offset of wind renewable energy credits.He also co-founded a number of companies, including: Follow Your Heart Natural Foods Store, one of the first and longest continuously operated natural food stores in the United States; the Naturally Fast restaurant chain; and B & W Natural Food Brokerage, a national food brokerage group.

NELS EVANGELISTA

Nels Evangelista is a commercial fisherman, professional photographer, and filmmaker based out of Cordova, Alaska. As an entrepreneur, he markets fish harvested during the commercial salmon season in the Prince William Sound. He studied Studio Art at the University of Alabama, concentrating on Photography, and Painting and earned a B.A. in Art and Political Science from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA. There he worked for 24th Congressional District Representative Lois Capps and then for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central and Northern Arizona. After a purse seining centered project with The Nature Conservancy re-ignited his desire to work on the ocean, he purchased his own fishing vessel and now captains his own gillnetter to harvest salmon in the Prince William Sound of Alaska.

DAVID GREEN

David has worked to make medical technology and health care services sustainable, affordable and accessible to all. He directed the establishment of Aurolab for affordable, intraocular lenses suture and pharmaceuticals. He co-founded Sound World Solutions, a social enterprise for affordable hearing devices; LegWorks, for affordable, high-quality prosthetic knees; and the Eye Fund, a $15M social investing fund in collaboration with Ashoka and International Agency for Prevention of Blindness. David also worked with Pacific Vision Foundation, as a vice president at Ashoka, and as an eye care consultant with the WHO. A faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute, David’s work is widely recognized, including the 2009 “Spirit of Helen Keller” and the 2009 University of Michigan Humanitarian Service awards. He holds a B.A. in General Studies and an MPH from the University of Michigan.

DR. ELIZABETH HOOVER

Elizabeth Hoover is Manning Assistant Professor of American Studies at Brown University. She received her BA from Williams College; her MA from Brown in Anthropology/Museum Studies, and her PhD from Brown in Anthropology, with a focus on environmental and medical Anthropology as it applies to Native American communities responding to environmental contamination. She is the author of ‘The River is In Us;’ Fighting Toxins in a Mohawk Community, (University of Minnesota Press, 2017) and From‘Garden Warriors’ to ‘Good Seeds;’ Indigenizing the Local Food Movement on Native American farming and gardening projects around the country. Elizabeth has published articles about food sovereignty, environmental reproductive justice in Native American communities, the cultural impact of fish advisories on Native communities, tribal citizen science, and health social movements.

BREN SMITH

As GreenWave Executive Director and owner of Thimble Island Ocean Farm, Bren pioneered the development of restorative 3D Ocean Farming. A lifelong commercial fisherman, he was named one of Rolling Stone’s “25 People Shaping the Future” and featured in Timemagazine’s Best Inventions of 2017. He is the winner of the Buckminster Fuller Prize and was profiled in CNN, The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, National Geographic and elsewhere. He is an Ashoka and Echoing Green Climate Fellow and author of Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures as a Fisherman Turned Restorative Ocean Farmer.

RION SCHMIDT, Chugach Alutiiq

Rion is a Native Village of Eyak (NVE) tribal member, Chugach Alaska Corporation shareholder, commercial and subsistence fisherman, and environmental activist. He has worked to protect his ancestral homelands and participated in many of Eyak Preservation Council’s successful conservation victories: stopping the Carbon Mountain Road across the Copper River Delta with direct action and stopping oil and gas development in Katalla. Rion's professional background includes former positions for the Alaska Center for the Environment and NVE.

BRIAN SHILLINGLAW

Brian Shillinglaw is an expert in natural resource impact investing, has led teams that have accomplished over 430,000 acres of sustainable forestry investments and over 375,000 acres of forest carbon investments, including the conservation of old growth forests in the Kenai Peninsula and across the Gulf of Alaska. In 2017, Brian collaborated with Chugach Alaska Corporation, the Native Conservancy and the Nature Conservancy to secure the conservation and permanent retirement of the Bering River Coal Field assets held by Chugach, one of the largest proven coal deposits in Alaska. Brian has worked extensively with Native American governments on carbon-financed forest conservation and land repatriation, including the repatriation of thousands of acres of forest to the Yurok Tribe in Northern California. Brian is advising Native Conservancy on the development of a cooperative social enterprise to support Native seaweed farming and processing in Alaska.

SARAH JAMES

Vice President

A member of the Gwich’in Nation from Arctic Village, Alaska, on the southern border of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Sarah is a leading voice in the struggle to protect the Arctic Refuge from oil development and to defend the rights of her people. Sarah serves on the Board of the International Indian Treaty Council, the Gwich’in steering committee, the Alaska Action Center, the Honor Day Organization, and is a Special Advisor to the Yukon River Intertribal Watershed Council. Recognition of her work includes the Goldman Environmental Prize and the Ford Foundation Leaders for a Changing World Award.