Alaska Wilderness League’s board of directors presents the Voice of the Wild Award to individuals whose actions, commitment and contributions have led to greater awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving Alaska’s wilderness. This year’s recipient is Rosemary Ahtuangaruak.

Rosemary Ahtuangaruak is Inupiaq from Nuiqsut, Alaska, a tiny village on the Colville River near the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean. As a community health practitioner in Nuiqsut, Rosemary has seen firsthand the impacts of industrial pollution on children and elders in her community. The Alpine Oil Field, a satellite field of Prudhoe Bay, within the boundary of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), stands four short miles from Nuiqsut. The flickers of gas flares from the oil field are a common feature on the horizon.

Rosemary has fought tirelessly for the health and protection of her people and of the Arctic’s unparalleled wilderness that has sustained her culture for thousands of years. She is well-known to supporters of Alaska Wilderness League thanks to these efforts and her many trips over the years to Washington, D.C., to lobby for Arctic protections during our biannual Alaska Wilderness Weeks.

The former mayor of Nuiqsut, Rosemary currently serves on the board of the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, the regional tribal government for the North Slope, and is an executive council member of the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council. She also serves on the League’s Environmental Justice Program Advisory Council. Rosemary is a graduate of the University of Washington Medex Northwest Physician Assistant Program.