Local Teen Finds Hope in Tradition at Tribal Climate Conference

Amelia and her grandma Faye Ewan. Passing down skills, stories, and knowledge is important. Faye is making sure youth in our region get involved. Photo by Colleen Merrick.

Amelia Aguila

In early September, seven of us from the Copper River Basin took time to attend the National Tribal and Indigenous Climate Conference in Anchorage. Hosted by the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, this biannual gathering brought together people from all over to talk about climate change, and honestly, it changed my whole perspective on the issue.

Before the conference, I didn’t really think much about climate change. It felt like something far away that I couldn’t do anything about. But after hearing the presentations and especially listening to our Elder, my grandmother Faye Ewan, I realized just how real and urgent it is. It's happening quickly, and we’re already seeing it here at home. 

Fall blueberries, an important local subsistence food. Photo by Colleen Merrick. 

Last spring, the Glenn Highway flooded, cutting off access and leaving people without power and water. We’ve seen fewer moose, and even the berries are becoming unpredictable. It’s a lot to take in, and yeah, it can feel scary and overwhelming. But what I learned at the conference gave me hope.

The biggest thing that hit me was that there are solutions, and they’re not all about new technology or stuff we don't understand. The solutions come from our own traditions—Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). I wasn’t taught much about climate change in school, so hearing from our elders and people from different Indigenous communities around the world really made me think. Their words mean something, and we should listen because they’ve lived through so much. You have to respect your elders.

Back in the Copper Basin, Faye Ewan showed Amelia how to use elements of nature to tan and prepare a moose hide. Photo by Colleen Merrick. 

I also left the conference feeling like we, the youth, need to be more involved. We’re the ones who are going to inherit this land, and we have a different way of looking at things. We’re creative, we have energy, and we’re ready to carry this work forward. If more young people could come to these conferences, it would be even better. We need to know what’s happening so we can make decisions for the future, and we need to speak up. People are going to depend on us, and we have to be ready.

One of the coolest parts of the conference was learning about cultural burning. It’s something our people have done for thousands of years to care for the land. When we listened to other communities talk about how they’re bringing this practice back, it made me think—why aren’t we doing this here? Cultural burning helps improve habitat for moose, boosts berry growth, and makes the land healthier overall. It’s also a way to bring people together. Usually, women lead these efforts, and they pass down the traditions to the younger generation. Cultural burning isn’t just about fire—it’s about taking care of everything: the moose, the salmon, the berries, and the land for the next seven generations. And the best part? Tribal Sovereignty says we have the right to bring it back to our lands.

Fireweed is a succession plant, and one of the first on scene after a fire.  It is also one of the first plants to return to a site after disturbances such as construction. Photo by Colleen Merrick. 

If you’re interested in learning more or getting involved, you can reach out to Colleen Merrick at CRNA (cmerrick@crnative.org). Or you can check out Frank Kanawha Lake’s article “Indigenous Fire Stewardship: Federal/Tribal Partnerships for Wildland Fire Research and Management” in Fire Management Today.

This conference really opened my eyes. It’s not about feeling hopeless anymore—it’s about knowing there’s a way forward, and it’s in our traditions. We just need to listen, learn, and take action.