Bristol Bay Youth Join Healing Waters Veterans at Mission Lodge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2012

Contact:
Carmell Shade, Communications Specialist, Bristol Bay Native Corporation
cshade@bbnc.net or (907) 278-3602

Tim Bristol, Trout Unlimited, Alaska Program, Director
tbristol@tu.org or (907) 321-3291

BBNC partners with Bristol Bay River Academy, Trout Unlimited, PenAir and Project Healing Waters in Thanking Veterans for Service to Country

Alaska veterans and active duty soldiers are about to embark on a dream fishing trip – even by Alaskans’ standards.

Bristol Bay Native Corporation will host eight veterans and soldiers to go on a five-day, all-expenses-paid trip to its Mission Lodge, an upscale fishing lodge located in Aleknagik, near Dillingham, Alaska. BBNC also will award internships to top students of the Bristol Bay River Academy, which is operated by Trout Unlimited and provides sportfishing guide and conservation training to youths – mostly Alaska Natives – in the Bristol Bay region.

The Anchorage chapter of Project Healing Waters is coordinating with the disabled veterans, some of whom remain on active duty. PenAir is providing the veterans with air transportation out of Anchorage. The trip will take place June 18-22.

The veterans will stay at the Mission Lodge, and will travel by float plane to several world-class sportfishing areas in the Bristol Bay region. Graduates of the Bristol Bay River Academy will guide the veterans. King salmon are returning to the waters of Bristol Bay, and fishing should be excellent.

“The Mission Lodge and local Bristol Bay fishing opportunities offer the perfect environment to help military personnel take in the natural beauty of Alaska,” said Jason Metrokin, president and CEO of BBNC. “It is a place for reflection and peace, not to mention some of the best fishing in all of Alaska. We are proud to be able to support our veterans.”

“Trout Unlimited is pleased to help support this opportunity to show our appreciation to wounded warriors who have put their lives on the line for our country,” said Tim Bristol, director of Trout Unlimited, Alaska Program. “Bristol Bay offers spectacular sportfishing and we’re excited to have graduates of our Bristol Bay River Academy team up with these veterans to fly-fish together and offer instruction where needed. We’re very proud of both our graduates and our vets, and it’s a special thing to have them pair up, especially here, home to one of the great wild fisheries left on the planet.”

The veterans and soldiers who are participating are actively involved with Project Healing Waters. The program seeks to aid disabled active duty military personnel and veterans recover physically and emotionally through fishing opportunities and skills workshops focused on activities such as fly-tying and casting.

The veterans and soldiers were invited on the Bristol Bay trip as a way to thank them for their service, said Laura Orr, soldier and public relations manager with Project Healing Waters. “They are so excited right now.”

Orr said she has personally seen success stories thanks to the program. “I’ve seen people who were depressed, have just about given up,” she said. “Then they try this and they have that ‘Aha!’ moment. Now they are open and friendly. It really helps them relax and make good memories again. Seeing that moment is amazing.”

Mission Lodge is owned by Bristol Bay Native Corporation. This is the first season of the lodge’s operations under BBNC ownership. The lodge operated as a mission school for nearly half a century, and was converted into a first-class fishing lodge in 1984. Mission Lodge offers an exceptional experience with upscale comfort and fly-in access to some of the best wild salmon, rainbow trout and other native species in the world.

Bristol Bay Native Corporation is one of 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. The corporation has over 9,000 Eskimo, Aleut and Athabascan shareholders with ancestral ties to the Bristol Bay region. More information can be found at www.bbnc.net.

Trout Unlimited’s Alaska Program works to preserve, protect and restore wild salmon and trout populations throughout Alaska. Through sound scientific data, strong grassroots outreach and advocacy, and hands-on involvement in conservation projects we protect some of the most pristine and prized rivers on the planet, restore those that need some help, and engage the next generation of coldwater stewards in Alaska’s natural heritage.

The Bristol Bay River Academy (formerly the Bristol Bay Fly Fishing & Guide Academy) merges salmon and river education, with recreation and conservation principles to educate, engage and inspire Bristol Bay young adults to become local leaders in salmon stewardship and prepared for jobs based on healthy salmon in their home rivers. BBNC and Trout Unlimited, Alaska Program, are among the academy’s program sponsors.

Founded in 1955, PenAir offers passenger and cargo services to several rural Alaska communities, primarily between Anchorage and the Alaska Peninsula, and points in the Aleutian Islands.

Learn more about Project Healing Waters at www.projecthealingwaters.org and about the Bristol Bay River Academy.