Brooke Woods develops strategies for engaging policymakers and stakeholders with Woodwell’s work on Arctic permafrost. She works closely with science staff, communications experts, project partners, Indigenous community members, and policy makers to facilitate the development of just, science-backed, Arctic policy.
Woods is completing a Bachelor of Arts in Tribal Governance of Fisheries at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). She received a Tribal Governance Associate of Applied Science degree Spring of 2017.
Woods previously worked at the Tanana Chiefs Conference as the Fisheries Policy Analyst and Outreach Coordinator. As a member of the TCC’s Hunting, Fishing, Gathering Task Force, she participated in advocacy efforts to protect Alaska Native Hunting and Fishing rights. She is currently Executive Chair for the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and works with tribes along the Yukon River to promote conservation and restoration of the river’s fisheries in a way that protects traditional ways of life and well-being. She also supports the University of Alaska Fairbanks, in their Indigenizing Salmon Management project, which aims to use the wisdom of Indigenous knowledge to improve existing salmon systems.
Woods has participated in a variety of community and scientific projects working to improve the well-being of Indigenous Alaskan communities as well as the health of natural ecosystems. Over the course of her life and career, she has seen Arctic communities experience rapid and unpredictable changes to traditional territories, water, animals, and fish as a result of climate change. She hopes that by contributing her skills to Woodwell’s Permafrost Pathways project, she will help connect people and science to place and ultimately affect change through research, policy, and advocacy.
