Orville Huntington

DepartmentOrganizationEmailPhoneAddressHuslia , Alaska 99746United StatesBioOrville Huntington is presently the Chair of the Interior Athabascan Tribal College. He also currently is serving as the Interior Villages Representative on the Alaska Federation of Natives Board for the 43 villages in the Doyon area, and makes his home in the Athabascan community of Huslia, a village in the Yukon-Koyukuk region of Alaska.

Orville works exclusively with professors, non-profit organizations, and colleges regarding the issue of "Climate Change Impacts and the Sustainability of Rural Communities." He also uses and continues to develop the Native American Traditional Ecological Knowledge database.

His research interests are the direct and indirect impacts of subsistence use on fish, animals, and plants of northern ecosystems; the evaluation of currently policy and regulations and their affects on the subsistence methods and means of harvesting fish, wildlife, and plants. Orville is also committed to education and outreach projects that help non-Alaskans understand the culture and subsistence lifestyle of his people.

Orville has extensive experience in presenting to the public. He has given keynotes at various ARCUS Arctic Forums and has spoken on panels at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. In 2000, he participated in the Arctic Visiting Speakers' program as a presenter at the Marine Science Institute at Port Aransas, Texas. He enjoys the Arctic Visiting Speakers' program because it allows him to, "share and add to what little knowledge is out there on matching Native American Traditional Knowledge with contemporary western science."

He is interested in presenting to school audiences (K-12), academic audiences, graduate seminars, and the general public. Orville is not available during mid-June through mid-July or September due to subsistence activities.

Science Specialties

subsistence, Indigenous knowledge, Alaska Native corporations

Current Research

Research directed at how subsistence hunters and gatherers are managing fish and wildlife populations in Interior Alaska through their harvest.Monitor predation on moose and caribou by wolves and bears in the Western Interior of Alaska, and assess population dynamics of these animals and how those change will affect subsistence harvest.