Edward GreyBear has joined Ahtna, Inc. as the new Customary and Traditional (C&T) Coordinator based out of Ahtna’s Glennallen headquarters office. Edward is of the Naltsiine (Sky) Clan. His mother is the late Ava GreyBear, his grandparents are Vivian and the late Abraham GreyBear Sr., and his great-grandparents are the late Ina and Nick Lincoln.
An internship with Ahtna’s Land and Resources Department after his freshmen year of college kicked off Edward’s experience in the natural resources field. He continued to hold various positions with Ahtna during the summers in on-call and seasonal positions, and the remainder of the year he attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), where he’ll start up online classes again this spring. In 2020, Edward worked as a park ranger at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, expanding his knowledge in dealing with hunting permits and understanding how the system works.
In his new role, Edward is responsible for providing written comments on hunting and fishing regulations and attending state and federal meetings that pertain to the Ahtna Region. He also coordinates the Ahtna Community Subsistence Hunt program and will assist the Land Department with various C&T-related projects such as wildlife enhancement, fisheries monitoring, and habitat improvement across the Ahtna region.
“Growing up in this area, I spent a lot of my time at the Glennallen office. My mom worked in the Land Department, so that allowed me to see what Ahtna does. I always knew I wanted to work for Ahtna since a young age, and what really initiated that spark was seeing how much Ahtna cares for its shareholders, traditional values, the youth and Elders, our land and how much growth and opportunities it offers to everyone,” shared Edward.
Edward serves on the R.O.A.R (Recycling Our Areas Resources) Board and spends a lot of his free time outdoors, especially in the winter. He likes to hike, rock/ice climb, snowboard/ski, hunt and fish, and travel.
“I am looking forward to a long and successful career with Ahtna. I will continue to grow and expand further in this position.”
We invite you to check out the following Copper River Basin carbon stock research papers that Edward co-authored:
- Long-term Recovery of Soil Carbon Stocks and Permafrost Depth Lags Recovery of Organic Layer Thickness Following Fire in Black Spruce Forests of the Copper River Basin, Alaska: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2020-0194
- Cryoturbation and Carbon Stocks in Gelisols Under Late-Successional Black Spruce Forests of the Copper River Basin, Alaska: https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2019.07.0212