Alaska Indigenous Peoples have been living, playing, and thriving in Alaska for thousands of years. However outdoor recreation and tourism are generally perceived as being primarily a white person’s game. Many people are trying to change that by encouraging, many times by example, people of color to venture outdoors. Jody Potts-Joseph is Han Gwich’in and grew up in Eagle Village. She is a dog musher, a wilderness guide, founded “Native Youth Outdoors,” and is a North Face Explorer Fund Council member all while living in rural Alaska. On this Outdoor Explorer, we talk with Jody about her life and efforts to diversify the outdoors.
HOST: Paul Twardock
GUESTS:
- Jody Potts-Joseph, founder of Native Youth Outdoors
LINKS:
Teton Gravity: Indigenous Outdoor Organizations
BROADCAST: Thursday, June 2nd, 2022. 10:00 am – 11:00 a.m. AKT
REPEAT BROADCAST: Thursday, June 2nd, 2022. 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. AKT
SUBSCRIBE: Receive Outdoor Explorer automatically every week via:
Eric Bork, or you can just call him “Bork” because everybody else does, is the FM Operations Manager for KSKA-FM. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the FM broadcast. He produces and edits episodes of Outdoor Explorer, the Alaska-focused outdoors program. He also maintains the web posts for that show. You may have heard him filling in for Morning Edition or hosting All Things Considered and can still find him operating the soundboard for any of the live broadcast programs.
After escaping the Detroit area when he was 18, Bork made it up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he earned a degree in Communications/Radio Broadcasting from Northern Michigan University. He spent time managing the college radio station, working for the local NPR affiliate, and then in top 40 radio in Michigan before coming to Alaska to work his first few summers. After then moving to Chicago, it only took five years to convince him to move back to Alaska in 2010. When not involved in great radio programming he’s probably riding a bicycle, thinking about riding bicycles, dreaming about bikes, reading a book, or planning the next place he’ll travel to. Only two continents left to conquer!
Paul Twardock is a Professor of Outdoor Studies at Alaska Pacific University, where he has worked since 1988. He is the author of Kayaking and Camping in Prince William Sound and help found the Alaska Sea Kayaking Symposium/Paddle Sport Fun Day. At APU he teaches a variety of undergraduate classes included Sea Kayaking, Recreation Program Design, Nordic Skiing, The Business of Recreation, and Wildland Ecosystems and Human Impacts. Paul received his BS in Outdoor Recreation from Western Illinois University, went to work instructing for NOLS in Alaska, then received his MBA from APU. Paul’s research includes monitoring of campsites in Prince William Sound and Chugach State Park for human impact, trail use in Chugach State Park, and the Alaska Recreational Boating Safety Incident Database. His passions include sea kayaking, river boating of all sorts, hiking, mountain running, climbing, skiing of any kind, and birding. One of his last adventures involved a mule ride.
Paul is one of several hosts for Outdoor Explorer
