Board
Willow King
President, Kasilof
Willow is a born and raised Alaskan, now raising her three young children with her husband in Kasilof. Willow grew up commercial fishing on the shores of Cook Inlet, and she’s also worked in the processing and sustainable seafood marketing sectors. She recently created a new eco-friendly abode made of recycled and reused materials, a personal contribution to protecting the watershed.
Mike O’Meara
Vice President, Homer
Mike is a long-time Kachemak Bay area resident and activist. Before moving here he was a public school teacher in Hollywood California and Anchorage Alaska. Mike worked with Homer’s Pratt Museum for 19 years developing and administering science/environmental education exhibits and programs. Probably best known were the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill exhibit Darkened Waters and the museum’s remotely operated video camera projects for observing wild seabirds and brown bears. Mike is a founding member of Cook Inletkeeper, the Sierra Club’s Alaska Chapter, Kachemak Bay Conservation Society, Alaska Marine Conservation Council and supporter of many other environmental organizations. After retiring from the Pratt in 2008 he helped launch and guide the Homer Electric Association Members Forum, a ratepayers group promoting transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy technology. He has been the editorial cartoonist for the Homer News since 1980.
Tania Spurkland
Secretary, Seldovia
Born in Cordova, AK and raised on a homestead in Homer, Tania is an avid science educator and outdoor enthusiast. She taught Biology for the Anchorage School District for three decades, and loved bringing her marine biology students to Kachemak Bay to explore the intertidal and to develop stewardship skills. Today she continues to instill “the sense of wonder” in three-year old kiddos to adults through hands-on outdoor science programs with the Seldovia Village Tribe and the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. Tania is on the Seldovia Arts Council Board and is active with Seldovia’s Climate Action Team. She hopes to put her passion for watershed education and her science expertise to work for Cook Inletkeeper. She holds a PhD in Marine Ecology from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
Mel Strydom
Treasurer, Homer
Mel was born in London, England and after 5 years in South Africa, his family moved to Los Angeles. He came up to Alaska in the mid 80’s and moved to Homer in 1995 where he started an accounting services business. He purchased The Grog Shop in 2005. Mel’s passion for taking care of and preserving wilderness areas was developed during his youth while exploring the great outdoors of California from Death Valley to the high country of the Sierras by skiing in the winter and backpacking in the summer and fall. Mel has a B.S. degree in finance from Cal State Northridge. In addition to joining the Inletkeeper Board, Mel currently serves on the KBBI Board and served previously on the Pratt Museum Board.
Nancy Martha Yeaton (she/her)
Nanwalek
Gwi, Liita, Ngaqngaq, Maqu, Yartuliq, Antastasia, Nancy Martha Yeaton was born in English Bay, Alaska; the oldest daughter of Peter James Moonin and Wilma Moore. Nancy left English Bay when she was eight years old, and returned at the age of twenty-one. She now lives in Nanwalek. Her passions are Sugpiaq culture and language. Although Nancy is not fluent in Sugt'stun (Sugpiaq language), she shares her knowledge and culture with youth in her community. “The youth are waiting for us to share what we know, and they have so much knowledge to share with us Elders.” Nancy stated. She believes in empowering communities to make decisions impacting their way of life. “Water is very important in our lives, it provides sustenance as we watch the slow changes coming our way. Let us learn to adapt to the changes coming our way,” Nancy shared. She has worked intimately with the Chugachmiut Heritage Preservation Program, creating curriculum based on culture and language of the Chugach Region, and she has grown to love this job, never realizing how one could love their job so much. Nancy is quite excited and nervous to sit on the board. With her excitement, she brings a depth of indigenous cultural knowledge, wisdom, and environmental consciousness to the Cook Inletkeeper Board.
Peter Mjos
Anchorage
Peter is a medical doctor with over 40 years providing medical care for Alaskans. Peter has an extensive history of involvement in community and civic affairs, including work with the Nature Conservancy, Alaska Center for the Environment, Anchorage Citizen’s Coalition, Sierra Club, Tongass Conservation Society, Anchorage Junior Nordic League, as well as being a former member of the Glen Alps City Council and Anchorage Community Council. Peter received a B.A. from St. Olaf College (Cum Laude, Chemistry 1968) and M.D. from the University of Minnesota (1972).
Eve Downing
Sterling
Eve is a resident of Sterling, AK and an incoming freshman at Northwestern University, where she plans to pursue a degree in Environmental Studies. Her passion for environmental advocacy began in high school through Alaska Youth for Environmental Action. In her role as a youth trainer, Eve helped organize several youth summits across the state to learn more about environmental advocacy. Additionally, she helped create youth-led statewide campaigns about salmon protection, carbon-emission reduction, and single-use plastic. Eve was a U.S. Senate Page and traveled to D.C. with the League of Conservation Voters to speak with representatives about the importance of investing in clean energy and the danger of the Pebble Mine. She is now an Arctic Youth Ambassador and is working with other youth to spread awareness and provide input on Arctic issues.
Steve McKeever (he/him)
Anchorage
Steve has lived in Anchorage for over 55 years, arriving as a 12-year-old on the longest day of the year in 1966. Prior to Alaska, he lived in various towns in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado; always at the edge of town, near wild country, where adventures with his parents and two older brothers instilled in him great respect, humility and admiration for the wilderness.
He graduated from West Anchorage High School, and has a degree in Anthropology from Dartmouth College and a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Alaska Anchorage.
He retired in 2021 after a 45+ year career in the oil and gas industry, including a dozen years working for drilling contractors as a roughneck, driller and toolpusher, a decade working for a manufacturer of blowout preventers and well control equipment, and twenty years working as a drilling engineer. His career has given him a broad understanding of the oil and gas industry and a very specific technical understanding of well design and drilling operations. Steve has remained a strong believer in the value of wilderness and the great need for society to substantially reduce energy use and to transition as quickly as possible to non-carbon-based energy systems.Being quite active in the great outdoors, he is an avid hiker, biker, mountain runner, orienteer, and cross country skier. If you can’t find him at home, he’s likely out on the trails or up in the Chugach somewhere!
