Buzzy Peltola

Eugene R. "Buzzy" Peltola Jr. (February 7, 1966 – September 12, 2023) was an American public servant and naturalist who served as Alaska director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and manager of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. He was the husband of Congresswoman Mary Peltola. Peltola died as the result of a plane crash in September 2023.

Biography
Peltola was born and raised in Bethel, Alaska. He was Yup'ik and Tlingit. From an early age, he was an accomplished outdoorsman and hunter. He was a 1984 graduate of Bethel Regional High School, and later graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a degree in wildlife management.

He was a tribal member of the Orutsararmiut Native Council. Peltola's father, Gene Peltola Sr., was a prominent tribal leader.

Career
In the 1980s, Peltola began working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and led subsistence management programs on all federal lands in Alaska. He also served as the lead staffperson for the U.S. Federal Subsistence Board. In 2004, he earned his commercial pilots license. He also worked for several years as a zone supervisor for Refuge Law Enforcement and later as the manager of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, assuming the role in 2008. In 2009, Peltola was a delegate to the federal Whitefish Strategic Planning Group.

Elected in October 2011 with 63% of the vote, Peltola served a term as a council member for the City of Bethel, and was unanimously elected by his council peers as vice-mayor of the city in 2012. In addition to his public service, Peltola served on the corporate boards of the Bethel Native Corporation (a tribal-owned business) and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Bethel Solutions LLC and Bethel Services, Inc.

In 2013, Peltola testified to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in a hearing regarding the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

Peltola worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service until 2018, when he was appointed by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke as the new Regional Director for Alaska in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, overseeing services provided to 227 Alaska Native tribes. In 2019, he was appointed to the Department of the Interior Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board by Secretary Ryan Zinke.

Peltola retired from government service in the summer of 2022, as his wife Mary was running for the U.S. House of Representatives. In the same year, he became the co-founder and CEO of a new company called Alaska Carbon Solutions.

Death
Buzzy Peltola died in a plane crash on September 12, 2023. He was 57.

Various organizations and officials paid tribute after Peltola's death, including the Alaska Democratic Party, Alaska Federation of Natives, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senator Dan Sullivan, Governor Mike Dunleavy, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and various other members of the House of Representatives.

In a statement released on Whitehouse.gov, President Joe Biden wrote, "Buzzy was a devoted public servant and in the tributes coming from all over the state today, he is being remembered as a friend to all."

Peltola's memorial service was held at Bethel Regional High School on September 16 and attended by over 500 people. Peltola was buried at Bethel Memorial Cemetery with Alaska bush aircraft conducting a ceremonial flyover.

Electoral history
Note: The 2011 election was to fill four seats with 2-year terms and two seats with 1-year terms. Candidates were given the choice of which to fill on the basis of their vote-count, with the highest vote-getters being given first-preference to decide which length of a term they wanted to fill. Mary Sattler (Mary Peltola), Richard D. Robb, Gene Peltola Jr., and Mark Springer filled two-year terms while Joseph A. Klejka and Kent Harding filled one-year terms.

Works

 * McCaffery, B. J., and G. Peltola. 1986. "The status of the bristle-thighed curlew on the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska." Wader Study Group Bulletin 47:22–25.