SPRING SEMINAR
SERIES
2023

Ty was born on the Lake Traverse Reservation in northeastern South Dakota, and is of Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa descent. He is a graduate of Chadron State College (B.S.), South Dakota State University (M.S.), and Kansas State University (Ph.D.). Currently, Ty is a Vice Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow within the department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management at Texas A&M University. His research interests include the fields of Wildlife Management and Landscape Ecology. This work addresses questions that provide insight into the relationships between wildlife, native environments, and contemporary human-modified landscapes. He is committed to fostering a diverse learning environment to promote stewardship of our natural resources and training of future wildlife professionals. This semester he is teaching Techniques of Wildlife Management and Traditional Ecological Knowledge Seminar. Ty is also currently the Program Coordinator for the Native Student Professional Development Program administered by the Native Peoples’ Wildlife Management Working Group of The Wildlife Society.

Henry P. Huntington earned his bachelor’s degree in English at Princeton University and his master’s and doctorate in Polar Studies at the University of Cambridge. He is the owner of Huntington Consulting, in Eagle River, Alaska, and also the Arctic Science Director for Ocean Conservancy. Huntington’s research interests include the regulation of subsistence hunting in northern Alaska, traditional ecological knowledge of beluga whales and bowhead whales, Iñupiat and Inuit knowledge and use of sea ice, and assessing the impacts of climate change on Arctic communities and Arctic marine mammals. He has contributed to numerous Arctic Council assessments and published several books and dozens of scientific papers. Huntington was co-chair of the National Academy of Sciences committee on emerging research questions in the Arctic and a member of the Council of Canadian Academies panel on the state of knowledge of food security in the North. His conservation work includes helping achieve the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement and promoting sound governance of shipping and other human activities in Arctic waters. He has made long trips in the Arctic by dog team, open boat, and snowmobile.

Lydia is wolf clan from the Kanien’kehá:ka, more commonly known as Mohawk. She has a degree in History from Oregon State University, and has been working in nonprofit administration since transitioning from her career as a baseball play-by-play announcer. Lydia did not grow up hunting, but HOC co-founders Thomas and Jimmy encouraged her on her journey, thus establishing HOC’s proof of concept for the Mentorship Program. Lydia’s compassion for animals, the planet, and people is what drives her dedication to Hunters of Color’s mission. Lydia believes this work helps to restore the onkwehonwe (First People) balance with nature through hunting, caretaking, and land sovereignty. Lydia leads seminars on Indigenous history and antiracism. In her spare time she enjoys reading autobiographies, camping, and fishing.

Mateen Hessami is a wildlife ecologist who supports Indigenous communities in Western Canada with monitoring, recovery, and management of species such as caribou and moose. Mateen is also a proud citizen of the Wyandotte Nation, Canada, and the USA. He is passionate about weaving his diverse culture and education into the work he supports. Mateen earned his B.S. at the University of Montana and his M.S. at the University of British Columbia - Okanagan.

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Paige works for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters in Science Applications and the National Native American Programs where she serves as the Indigenous Knowledge and Co-stewardship Coordinator. During the first two decades of her career, Paige focused on the science of wildlife ecology and management. Throughout this time, she maintained her passion for elevating the role of Indigenous Peoples in the wildlife profession. She has served in numerous leadership positions with The Wildlife Society’s Native Peoples’ Wildlife Management Working Group focused on increasing the number of qualified Indigenous students to serve as Tribal wildlife biologists and represent Tribal interests to state and federal agencies and the larger conservation community. In her current role, she has worked to evaluate how the Service provides financial assistance to Tribes and represents the Service in the development of Federal guidance and Departmental policy for the consideration and inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge in federal activities. She has also worked to step down recent policy on co-stewardship with Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, Alaska Native Organizations, and the Native Hawaiian Community. Paige is honored to support Service efforts to engage with these groups in the co-stewardship of public lands and waters. Paige is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma and resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma with her son.

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Sarah Rinkevich received her Ph.D. in Wildlife Conservation from the University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment in 2012. Her research focused on a reintroduced population of Mexican gray wolves on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, homeland to the White Mountain Apache Tribe. Dr. Rinkevich received her Master’s degree in 1991 from Humboldt State University where she studied habitat preferences of Mexican spotted owls in Zion National Park, Utah. She has worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Endangered Species Conservation since 1993 and currently works in the Branch of Recovery and Restoration. Dr. Rinkevich works extensively with Tribes on management and conservation of threatened and endangered species on Tribal lands within the Southwest.

Raised on the St. Paul Island in the Bering sea, four-year-old Ilarion was given his traditional Unangan (Aleut) name: Kuuyux. There is one Kuuyux in each lifetime, and he was given the name by the former Kuuyux that came looking for the child to inherit him as Kuuyux: carrier of ancient knowledge into modern times; a bridge, a messenger. In his youth, Ilarion started climbing the conventional rat race ladder and became co-chair and head of 17 boards and councils until he switched paths. Since then he has lived the legacy of his traditional name: Kuuyux. Ilarion has over 50 years of experience serving his people and others around the world in a number of leadership capacities. Currently, he is president of the Global Center for Indigenous Leadership and Lifeways (GCILL) and co founder and ongoing key speaker for the Wisdom Weavers of the World, working to help humanity shift our consciousness from the mind to the heart. 

Dr. Jessica Hernandez (Binnizá & Maya Ch’orti’) is a transnational Indigenous scholar, scientist, and community advocate based in the Pacific Northwest. She has an interdisciplinary academic background ranging from marine sciences to environmental physics. She advocates for climate, energy, and environmental justice through her scientific and community work and strongly believes that Indigenous sciences can heal our Indigenous lands.   She is the author of the award-winning book, Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science. She is currently in the process of writing her second book, Growing Papaya Trees: Nurturing Indigenous Roots of Climate Displacement & Justice. Hernandez has been named by Forbes as one of the 100 most powerful & influential women of Central America.

Karen Linnell is the Executive Director for the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission. Ms. Linnell has 
been involved with AITRC since its inception and has served as chair from 2011-2015 and brings more 
than 18 years of experience in project management and cost control. Having worked in Ahtna’s land 
department and served as Land Committee Chair, Ms. Linnell has been actively participating in resource 
management and protecting customary and traditional hunting and fishing rights for many years. Ms. 
Linnell was appointed by the Secretary of Interior to the Wrangell-St. Elias Subsistence Resource 
Commission and has served from 2011-2017. She has served as an officer to the Copper Basin Fish and 
Game Advisory Committee from 2008-2016 and 2021-Present. Ms. Linnell has served on Alaska 
Governor Bill Walker’s Transition Team as the Chair of the Wildlife Committee and has served Alaska 
Board of Game 2016-2019 and the Governor’s Tribal Advisory Committee Natural Resources 
subcommittee 2017-2018. Ms. Linnell currently serves as Co-Chair to the Western Region-Tribal 
Conservation Advisory Committee and as an Alaskan Representative to the Tribal Interior Budget 
Committee.

Rob Croll is a policy analyst in the Division of Intergovernmental Affairs at the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) where he coordinates the Climate Change Program. The GLIFWC Climate Change Program was created with the goal of integrating Scientific and Traditional Ecological Knowledges to provide a holistic and culturally appropriate approach to climate adaptation in the Ojibwe Ceded Territories in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. As Program Coordinator Rob oversees the activities of CCP staff, serves as liaison to tribal, state, federal, academic and NGO partners and works directly with counterparts at the eleven GLIFWC member tribes. Rob is a member of the Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu author team and the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center Consortium Leadership Team. Prior to GLIFWC Rob spent 18 years as a Conservation Officer with the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, Bureau of Law Enforcement. His educational background includes a BS in Environmental Studies from Northland College and a Master of Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School. Rob is originally from Southeastern Pennsylvania and now resides in the 1842 Ojibwe Ceded Territory in Northern Wisconsin.

Dr. Serra Hoagland (Laguna Pueblo) currently serves as the Tribal Relations Specialist for the USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) of the US Forest Service. She focuses on building local, regional and national partnerships with tribes and intertribal organizations, mentoring students in natural resources, and conducting research that is relevant to Native communities. As the first Native American to graduate from Northern Arizona University with a PhD in forestry, Serra studied Mexican spotted owl habitat on tribal and non-tribal lands in south-central New Mexico. In 2020, Dr. Hoagland was nominated for a professional of the year award and was selected as the most promising scientist by the American Indian Science & Engineering Society. Over the years, she has been actively involved with the Society of American Foresters, the Intertribal Timber Council, the Native American Fish & Wildlife Society as well as The Wildlife Society.

Dr. Stephen J. Langdon is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology in the Department of
Anthropology at the University of Alaska Anchorage where he taught from 1976 until June, 2014. Dr. Langdon obtained his doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University in 1977 based on three years of commercial fishing with Tlingit and Haida purse seine captains in Craig and Klawock.  He has specialized in southeast Alaska on topics related to precontact, historic, and contemporary fisheries of the Tlingit and Haida people. He has carried out numerous research projects throughout Alaska on a variety of public policy issues related to Indigenous Alaskans including , mixed subsistence-cash economies, traditional ecological knowledge, tribal self-determination, customary and traditional trade, limited entry, and other issues. 

Richard Meyers (Richie) is the former Director of Graduate Studies and associate professor at Oglala Lakota College (OLC) on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. As an Oglala (Lakota) Sioux tribal member, he is one of a small group of federally recognized tribal members to achieve a PhD within the discipline of anthropology. Richie’s had a long and satisfying journey off the reservation pursuing his education and anthropological experiences prior to returning home. He holds a Master’s and PhD degree in Anthropology from Arizona State University, as well as a Master’s degree in English from the Breadloaf School of English at Middlebury College in Vermont, where he was both a fellow and faculty member. At South Dakota State University, he served as Director of Tribal Outreach to the President, was Program Coordinator of American Indian Studies, and served as Assistant to the Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences on matters of inclusion, diversity, and equity. Meyers has served as a writer for the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs under, both, the Bush and Obama administrations and was a fellow in the Anthropology Department at the Smithsonian. He’s a member of the executive board of the Association of Indigenous Anthropologists (AIA), among a few boards he sits upon. He currently works at the Black Hills National Forest as the Tribal Relations Specialist. He lives with his wife and two daughters on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the Eagle Nest District.