Supporting Protection of Indigenous Rights Inheritance and Trust (SPIRIT) was founded in 2025 to advocate for Indigenous communities and to promote environmental sustainability and accountability in Tetlin, a Native tribal village southeast of Fairbanks in Interior Alaska. Tribal member Kevin Gunter started SPIRIT to expose local corruption and to fight illegal mining and environmental degradation on Tetlin’s tribal lands. Through public awareness campaigns and legal action, SPIRIT is working to halt mineral exploration and excavation at the Manh Choh (“big lake”) open-pit gold mine in Southeast Alaska and to restore tribal control of the area. Beyond these immediate goals, SPIRIT plans to provide education and legal support to other remote communities. “Generational abuse is all around us; it’s a shame we don’t know how to express,” Gunter said. SPIRIT aims to lift this culture of silence, helping Indigenous people across the state protect both culture and ecosystem.
SPIRIT CEO Kevin Gunter as a young graduate with his grandfather, both members of the Tetlin community. Photo: Kevin Gunter.
SPIRIT is a small organization with three tribal member volunteers, two of whom live in Tetlin (home to about 100 residents and 385 tribal members). CEO Kevin Gunter says Tetlin’s low education and high poverty rates have exposed the community to exploitation by corporate mining firms and its own tribal council, which leased much of the Tetlin Native Corporation’s original 743,147 acres to a joint mining venture in 2008. Kinross Alaska began excavating the Manh Choh site in 2024, bringing deforestation, habitat destruction, and pollution to the region while providing residents little in return. With the help of local community members, SPIRIT is gathering evidence and preparing legal action to halt this destruction. In 2025, SPIRIT secured nonprofit status to enable its participation in federal programs and grants and to attract partners in its legal fight and public awareness campaigns. It plans to expand this advocacy work to other rural communities throughout Alaska.
A sweeping view of Mount Denali. Photo: Kevin Gunter.