The Roadless Rule in Alaska has been controversial and succumbed to many changes throughout the last couple of decades. Joining us today is someone who not only lives in Alaska, but has also been fighting for protecting Roadless Areas for years.

Yolanda Fulmer is a Tlingít Matriarch of The Raven Nest House from Glacier Bay, Alaska. She has been a tireless advocate for Indigenous rights, forest protection, and climate justice for over 3 decades. As a representative of Women for Forests and the Tongass Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN International), Yolanda has rallied for the protection of the Tongass National Forest and the codification of the Roadless Rule to ensure the survival of ecosystems, cultures, and food sovereignty in Southeast Alaska. Grounded in her ancestral traditions, Yolanda works to amplify Indigenous women’s voices in environmental policy, ensuring that future generations inherit a thriving, just, and sustainable world.

Tlingít & Haida's mission is to: "Preserve our sovereignty, enhance our economic and cultural resources, and promote self-sufficiency and self-governance for our citizens. In 1935, the Central Council of the Tlingít and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska was established to pursue a land suit on behalf of the Tlingít and Haida people. We evolved out of our people’s struggle to retain our way of life, strongly based on subsistence. Today, we are one of the two federally recognized regional tribes in Alaska. The Tlingít and Haida people are brought together by common interests in protecting, preserving and advocating for the rights of our people, including our rights to claim lands we have used from time immemorial, lands we were given no claim to under the Western concept of land ownership." (Source: Official Tlingít & Haida Website)

To learn more about the Roadless Rule, listen to our previous recording of Episode 5: The Roadless Rule (Apple Podcasts & Spotify).

Follow WECAN International on Instagram: @wecan_intl
Learn more about Yolanda & Women For Forests - Tongass Forest, Alaska here: WECAN Website

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