28. September 2019 – Earth Conversation Podcast with guest Ilarion Merculieff

Ilarion (Larry Merculieff) was raised in a traditional Unangan (Aleut) way and received his Unangan name Kuuyux. The name is given to one person in each lifetime amongst his people. Kuuyux means an arm extending out from the body, a carrier of ancient knowledge into modern times, a messenger. Today he is living the legacy of his name.

Larry Merculieff has over five decades of experience serving his people, the Unangan of the Pribilof Islands and other Indigenous peoples around the world in a number of capacities. His reach has been broad and varied—a few of the positions he’s held include; City Manager of St. Paul Island, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce and Economic Development, President and CEO of Tanadgusix Corporation, Chairman of the Board of The Aleut Corporation, Co-chair of the Japan-Alaska Fishery Cooperative, Chair of the Alaska State Bond Committee, Vice-chair of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Committee, and Deputy Director of the Alaska Native Science Commission. 

From 2000–2003, Merculieff served as the Director of the Department of Public Policy and Advocacy in the Rural Alaska Community Action Program. As Director, Merculieff led the largest subsistence rights march in Alaska’s history and emceed the subsistence rally after the march. The march was instrumental in protecting Alaska Native subsistence rights, which were legally contested by the State of Alaska, to fish for salmon along Alaska’s rivers. He also successfully led a four-year effort to gain federal and state recognition of Alaska Native subsistence rights to catch and eat halibut throughout coastal Alaska. 

Merculieff is co-founder and former chairman of the Alaska Indigenous Council on Marine Mammals; former chairman of the Nature Conservancy, Alaska chapter; former co-director of the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, Alaska chapter; as well as co-founder of the International Bering Sea Forum, the Alaska Forum on the Environment, and the Alaska Oceans Network. Merculieff served on the National Research Council Committee on the Bering Sea Ecosystem and presented at numerous scientific conferences. He chaired the Indigenous knowledge sessions (that involved representatives from 80 nations) at the Global Summit of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change, chaired the scientific working group for Snowchange that involved representatives from 8 Arctic nations focused on climate change, and served as the U.S. chair for the 2008 North American Gathering of Indigenous Peoples for the Healing of Mother Earth in Merida, Mexico

Close to Merculieff’s heart are issues related to cultural and community wellness, traditional ways of living, Elder wisdom, climate change and the environment. Having had a traditional upbringing, Merculieff has been and continues to be, a strong voice and activist calling for the meaningful application of traditional knowledge and wisdom obtained from Elders in Alaska and throughout the world in dealing with modern-day challenges. His present work is with a new organization he has founded called the Wisdom Weavers of the World, www.wisdomweavers.world to take the messages of Elders from throughout the world to global attention.  

Merculieff has shared Elder wisdom locally, nationally, and internationally, and his writings and interviews have appeared in such publications as the Winds of Change, YES, Red Ink, Alaska Geographic, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Cultural Survival, and Kindred Spirits. He has given keynote addresses at such forums as the National Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting, Pan-Pacific University President’s Association, the national convention of American Indian Students in Science and Engineering, White House Conference on the Oceans, and the World Congress of Ethnobiology. He also has lectured on traditional ways of knowing and Indigenous Elder wisdom at such places as Columbia University where he is currently a visiting scholar, University of Montana-Missoula, University of Colorado-Boulder, Seattle University, University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Portland State University, and Oregon State University. Merculieff conducted interviews and talks in such media as Al Jezzera, BBC, Native America Call-In, and National Public Radio.

Merculieff was featured in National Wildlifean “American Hero”, having called national and international attention to major adverse changes in the Bering Sea ecosystem, resulting in closure of a major bottom fishery trawl zone in the Bering Sea. The closure remains today.

Merculieff’s life and teachings are featured in a chapter of a book titled: Native Men of Couragepublished by Second Story Press. He co-authored a book about traditional worldviews and cosmology entitled “Aleut Wisdom:  Stories of an Aleut Messenger” that was released October 18, 2009, by French publisher Les Intouchables. His lifelong efforts on behalf of his people and the environment have been honoured with the Buffet Finalist Award for Indigenous Leadership (2007); the Alaska Forum on the Environment Environmental Excellence Award for lifetime achievement (2007); the Rasmuson Foundation Award for Creative Nonfiction, 2006); the Alaska Native Writers on the Environment Award from the Alaska Conservation Foundation (2004) and the Wisdom Fellowship Award given by The Sacred Fire Foundation (2017). 

Merculieff published a book about wisdom he has learned locally, nationally, and internationally from Indigenous Elders and others from different cultures through the lens of his life experiences, titled Wisdomkeeper: One Man’sJourneytoHonortheUntoldHistoryoftheUnanganPeople, North Atlantic Books (available on Amazon). He co-authored a book titled: IndigenousWaysofTeachingandLearningandDifficultDialogues, University of Alaska Anchorage. His current book is called:  Perspectives on Indigenous Issues: Essays on Science, Spirituality, Partnerships, and the Power of Words, also available on Amazon.

You can also read more on grill.org or on wisdomweavers.world.