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
Board 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.
Jeffery Groenke
Board Member
E. Barrett Ristroph
Board Member
E. Barrett Ristroph, Ph.D., J.D., is a lawyer, planner, mediator, evaluator, and researcher. She is the owner of Ristroph Law, Planning, and Research, which provides services at a reasonable cost to Tribes, academic entities, and non-profits related to environmental justice, governance, human rights, and climate change adaptation and relocation. She volunteers her time with non-profits working for climate adaptation and environmental justice.
Our Staff
Elisabeth Balster Dabney
Executive Director
Elisabeth is a life-long Alaskan, a settler on the traditional lands of the Lower Tanana Dené Peoples. An historian by training and literary agent and editor, Elisabeth is seeking better ways to do conservation education and advocacy that respects the traditional lifeways of Alaska’s Indigenous Peoples and keeps Alaska’s vibrant and thriving ecosystems intact for future generations. Elisabeth lives in west Trothheet (Fairbanks, AK) with her partner and two elementary-aged children. Elisabeth enjoys re-discovering the outdoor world through the experiences of her young children, knitting, sewing, and reading.
Sarah Frampton
Chief Financial Officer
Sarah is originally from Utah where she loved the snow, sun, and outdoors. She moved to Fairbanks about 10 years ago and worked in public accounting for a few years before leaving to start a family. Her three elementary-aged kids keep her on her toes.
During her time home with family, Sarah served on non-profit boards for Team Alaska Arctic Winter Games and the Fairbanks Community Band. She loves being involved and volunteering in the Fairbanks community, including helping at her kids’ school. Sarah believes that all boats rise with the tide and tries to lift others where she can.
Sarah studied accounting and economics at Westminster College in Salt Lake City Utah, where she earned a bachelors in accounting, then continued on to earn a Masters of Business Administration with an emphasis in international business and marketing. She is also a licensed CPA in the State of Alaska.
When she’s not working, Sarah enjoys spending time outdoors during all seasons. She loves skiing, snowboarding, hiking, camping and exploring Alaska with her family.
Emily Hikes
Mining Impacts Response Coordinator
Emily grew up and lived throughout the eastern United States while following a successful career in archival project management. She moved to Alaska in 2019 and spent a few years sampling the seasonal opportunities across the state. She first lived on the banks of the Yukon River, serving locals and international visitors alike—the connections she made there ultimately led her to make a home in Fairbanks. Continuing as a guide, a field worker, and support at a local ski hill, she became familiar with varying Alaskan landscapes, cultures, and causes, while soaking up the flora, fauna, and the year-round drama of the skies. Having grown a strong connection to the natural world and her community, Emily is excited to advocate for sustainable interactions with the world that support the well-being of all. She spends her free time recreating outside, picking berries, gardening, reading, and creating.
Sean McDermott
Arctic Program Coordinator
Growing up in Minnesota, Sean has been rooted in the North his whole life. He moved to Alaska in 2019, after working for years as a freelance photographer and writer on projects centered on environmental health and justice. From covering controversial plans for hydropower in Europe to to longstanding environmental contamination issues here at home, he’s interested in exploring conversations around our rapidly changing world.
Sean has also spent years working in organic agriculture, and enjoys the seasonal joys of gardening. In his free time, Sean loves being outside hiking, cycling, cross-country skiing, and trying to identify birds. He’s thrilled to be working with the Northern Center to help preserve Alaska’s Arctic ecosystems.
Lois Barger
Deputy Director
Lois moved to Alaska from Wisconsin in 2011 when she came for a three month organizing job and fell in love with Fairbanks. At that time, she was briefly a staff member with the Northern Center fighting investment in the Healy 2 Coal Plant and working on railbelt utility issues.
She was a board member from 2015-2021 including a stint as board president. During this time on the board she was a stay-at-home-mom who loved bringing her babies to board meetings and events. It was important to remain engaged in this work even during this introverted chapter of life.
Lois worked in legislative and electoral politics as well as various types of community outreach and office administration including in local food and health care access.
In her free time, she enjoys fiber arts like spinning, hunting and fishing with her family and spending time outside.
Katie McClellan
Mining Impacts & Energy Program Manager
Katie grew up playing in the woods of Pennsylvania and first came to Alaska to work in Denali National Park and Preserve in 2014. After five seasons working as a guide and educator, she found a permanent home in Fairbanks. Since then, Katie has applied her enthusiasm and experience to environmental advocacy, youth and community education, and habitat restoration across Interior Alaska. She is honored to work alongside leaders and community members throughout the state to advance the health and protection of the waters, lands, and communities of Interior and Northern Alaska. Outside of the office, you’ll find Katie sharing trail-side snacks with her dogs and friends.
Emily Mesner
Communications Coordinator
Born and raised in Michigan, Emily jumped at the opportunity to work in Alaska after graduating from Central Michigan University in 2016 with a degree in photojournalism and a certificate in cultural competency. What was originally supposed to be one seasonal internship quickly turned into a life rooted in Alaska. She spent four seasons working in media with the National Park Service and five years as a photojournalist at newspapers in the state.
She is drawn to the blues of the Arctic light and Alaska’s wildlife and culture. She is beyond grateful for the experiences that made it possible for her to live in a variety of communities including Cordova, Anchorage, Denali, and Kotzebue. Emily’s work focuses on environmental portraiture, science communication and wildlife photography. In her free time, you’ll most likely find Emily at the pottery studio, out skiing, or learning a new craft.
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.
OUR 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.
