Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council (YRITWC) Internship

This summer, I had the privilege of interning with the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council (YRITWC) through the Anchorage Conservation Foundations' Ted Smith Conservation grant. YRITWC is a non-profit organization based out of Anchorage AK that was formed to support Tribes and First Nations within the Yukon watershed meet their local and trans-boundary environmental goals. YRITWC is guided by their mission statement to 'continue the clean up and preservation of the Yukon River for the protection of our own and future generations of our Tribes/First Nations and for the continuation of our traditional Native way of life,' and a 50-year goal of being able to drink directly from the Yukon River. During my time as an environmental science intern this summer, I gained hands-on experience directly related to both my internship-specific learning objectives and my coursework at Western Washington University within the Environmental Studies undergraduate program.