Our Mission
The Northern Alaska Environmental Center promotes conservation of the environment and sustainable resource stewardship in Interior and Arctic Alaska through education and advocacy.
Our Vision
We envision a Northern Alaska far into the future that remains a land of superlatives—as inspiring, healthy and supremely beautiful as it is today. Our globally important wildlands will remain biologically diverse and productive, with abundant fish and wildlife that support vigorous subsistence traditions and an extraordinary, increasingly sustainable quality of life for Alaskans.
Alaskans will maintain these enviable qualities undiminished across generations by protecting our vast expanses of ecologically intact habitat, by shifting our economy toward sustainable use of renewable resources, and through careful stewardship of non-renewables. We thrive by respecting environmental carrying capacity, thereby safeguarding the rich natural environment that has supported Alaskans for over ten thousand years.
We envision a Northern Alaska Environmental Center that plays a leading role in achieving this promising future through strong grassroots organizing, defensive work, exploring solutions, and by building broad coalitions that translate Alaskans’ passion for our home into an environmentally and culturally sustainable future.
Krystal Lapp
President
Krystal Lapp was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and has called Alaska home for the past two decades. She is committed to a subsistence and sustainable way of life, and lives by her personal motto: to leave all things in better condition than she finds them.
Her professional background includes developing clean energy solutions for urban and rural communities, particularly for Tribes, as well as working in natural resource management where Traditional Knowledge informs stewardship, policy, and legislation. She is passionate about advocating for the protection and preservation of natural resources for future generations.
Outside of her work, Krystal enjoys spending time on the tundra, caring for rescue dogs, and being with her three adult children. She has been with her partner in life for over two decades, sharing in the journey of living sustainably, staying connected to the land, and embracing an off-grid lifestyle.
David Leslie
Secretary
David is Iñupiat Inuit, his mother is from Kikiktagruk (Kotzebue), and he was raised in Fairbanks. He studied Broadcast Journalism and Film Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he also was an adjunct professor of swing dance at the UAF Community and Technical College.
He has worked in film, theatre and event production, choreography, fire spinning, and has toured the state and villages as an actor. He has served on multiple non-profit boards over the last five years and has extensive experience in volunteering and activism.
Julia Hnilicka
Board Member
Julia Hnilicka is a lifelong Alaskan from Nenana with deep roots in rural Interior Alaska and along the Yukon River. With a background in rural development, economic policy, and community-based leadership, she previously served as Alaska State Director for USDA Rural Development, overseeing statewide programs supporting infrastructure, food security, water systems, and human development. Her work emphasized interagency collaboration, Tribal partnership, and trust-based relationship building across more than 80 Alaska communities. She brings extensive experience in governance, public service, coalition-building, and advocacy, and is committed to advancing indigenous leadership, rural resilience, and community-driven solutions for Alaska’s future.
Jeffery Groenke
Vice President
Jeffery Groenke is a longtime Alaska resident associated with Yukon River Camp, a seasonal service point on the Dalton Highway. He is actively engaged in state and federal fish, wildlife, and land management processes, including participation as a public member in the Central Yukon Resource Management Plan/EIS. Jeffery is involved in fisheries and wildlife policy forums, including the Alaska Board of Fisheries, Board of Game, and engagement with issues before the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. His work reflects a strong commitment to land stewardship, subsistence resources, and public participation in natural resource decision-making in Interior Alaska.
Emilia Hernandez
Treasurer
Emilia Sakai Hernandez feels most at home among the fluidity and complexity of living ecosystems. Emilia’s two lifelong dreams were to work in science and live in a cabin in the woods, and has been delighted to be able to do both in Fairbanks with her partner and shelter dog at her side. A third generation immigrant on both sides, Emilia has a deep passion for creating inclusive educational spaces where everyone can share their love of the natural world. Growing up in Connecticut, Emilia moved to California for school, earning a BS from Caltech in Geochemistry and Chemistry and a PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences from UC Davis. Emilia brings experience in grant writing and financial management from their professional work connecting researchers and communities to advance renewable energy technologies for Alaskans. In her spare time, Emilia enjoys playing video games, reading novels, and making wool garments.
Maya Hernandez
Board Member
Maya Hernandez is an environmental justice advocate earning her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where she is specializing in public interest environmental and Native Nations Law and policy. Her work is grounded in community-driven advocacy, supporting grassroots and coalition-based efforts to advance renewable energy, resist extractive projects, and protect community and environmental health. Maya has worked with organizations including Earthjustice, Communities for a Better Environment, and the Sierra Club, bringing experience in legal research and writing, policy advocacy, nonprofit governance, and community engagement. She is eager to begin her legal career in Alaska and is committed to using law and policy as tools to support frontline communities and advance equitable environmental protection. Maya finds joy in snowboarding, playing softball, and reading and writing poetry.
Our Staff
Aspen Frick
Communications & Digital Media Contractor
Aspen is from Fairbanks, Alaska, and holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Fort Lewis College, where her senior thesis focused on the passage of ANCSA. She also has certificates in Trauma-Informed Care and Social and Behavioral Research.
Her work brings together organizing, storytelling, and community care, with a constant emphasis on justice. She has worked in digital marketing and grassroots organizing for causes like the fight against the proposed industrial Ambler Road, supported multiple nonprofits through administrative work, organized the music festival Angry, Young, & Poor, and spent time working with incarcerated youth in Minnesota.
Throughout her professional and educational work, Aspen has remained committed to advocating for tribal sovereignty, land and water protection, and building a better future for all. When Aspen isn’t working, she is studying for her GIS certificate, spending time outdoors, and enjoying time with loved ones.
Nichlas Emmons
Advancement, Grants & Fundraising Contractor
Nichlas is a Certified Fund Raising Executive and brings over 13 years of experience working directly with Native-led organizations, Tribal Nations, and Indigenous communities across the United States and internationally. He has also designed and facilitated national training programs on tribal land issues, supporting Tribal leaders and staff in advancing sovereignty, community development, and land acquisition, management, and planning priorities. Based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, he enjoys long runs, strange hikes, and time with his family.
Christin Swearingen
Donor Engagement & Administrative Support Contractor
Christin is the Development Director at partner organization Trustees for Alaska since May 2025. As the Donor Engagement Contractor for Northern Center, she hopes to keep up good relationships with donors who care deeply about land, water, wildlife, and the people in Alaska. She can offer institutional knowledge from her four years as a past employee of the Northern Center. In her free time, Christin is a mycologist, co-founded the Fairbanks Fungi Festival, and is a mushroom identification consultant for the public.
Our History
Since 1971 the Northern Alaska Environmental Center (Northern Center) has employed grassroots activism, legislative advocacy, legal intervention, and public education to protect the ecological integrity of public lands in Northern Alaska. The Northern Center advocates for a more responsible and sustainable approach to resource development on subarctic and arctic wildlands and the surrounding seas, and addresses environmental issues that impact Alaskans’ quality of life.
Alaska’s Interior and Arctic encompass an immense area from Canada to the Bering Strait; from the Alaska Range to the Beaufort Sea. Here lie storied landscapes of unspoiled grandeur, vast boreal forests, remote mountain ranges, intricate coastline, and countless lakes and free-flowing rivers. Abundant fish and wildlife grace this land in complete, natural communities, the likes of which have all but vanished elsewhere in our nation. Precious in their own right, these wildlands and wildlife also support many Alaska communities where contemporary and traditional subsistence pursuits are a way of life.
This severe, fragile and unique state comprises the largest and most intact ecosystems remaining in the United States. But it is also vulnerable—poised on the brink of rapid anthropogenic change. Today, a warming climate and a growing global appetite for natural resources threatens these northern ecosystems and human communities. New fossil fuel exploitation, industrialization, mining, and related infrastructure such as roads and pipelines, as well as a growing human population will further compound these effects inside Alaska, whereas the ultimate consequences of exporting the huge stores of coal, oil, and gas beneath Alaska soils will continue to have harmful climatic effects on a global scale. Slowing the rate of change and protecting intact ecosystems and habitat are essential to preserve the timeless value of our Nation’s largest remaining wildlands, to mitigate the impact of climate change, and to allow natural and human communities to adapt to the changing environment.
The Northern Center has worked for over forty years to defend and sustain northern Alaska’s priceless natural heritage and to redirect our state’s course toward a more sustainable future. We continue to protect the public’s natural treasures, focusing on Arctic and sub-Arctic wilderness and the surrounding seas. Resource-management patterns across the north are sufficiently complex that addressing only federal land or any other single approach is inadequate. Millions of acres, inside and outside of federally or state-designated protected units, pose unique opportunities to leave a natural heritage of significant scope to future generations. The Northern Center will emphasize the nature and scope of this opportunity by closely integrating our present program approaches (Arctic, clean water, mining) and by emphasizing coordination with related efforts around the state.
Guiding Principles
The Northern Alaska Environmental Center:
- Believes that a healthy environment is a prerequisite for a sustainable economy.
- Bases conservation decisions on sound science and ethics.
- Uses our stakeholders’ energy, expertise and enthusiasm to strengthen the organization.
- Seeks opportunities to collaborate with federal, state and local government agencies, and with other organizations to enhance our effectiveness.
- Supports the establishment, protection and appropriate stewardship of designated Wilderness areas, as well other less-restrictive management that protects sustainable uses of non-Wilderness wild lands.
- Values healthy and intact ecosystems where habitat fragmentation is minimized and wildlands are respected.
- Favors stewardship over intensive management of natural resources, in order to meet the needs of the present generation without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
- Encourages the implementation of clean energy technologies and management practices that minimize air, water and noise pollution and impacts on habitat.
- Supports public processes—including use of legal, legislative, and administrative systems—in natural resource use decisions.
- Expects to comment on issues in our areas of expertise and interest.
- Puts our greatest effort into issues whose results are irreversible or long lasting.
- Employs clear, honest communication and constructive dialogue.