ARCTIC RED RIVER - Frederick Blake Jr is 29, but holds a resume which would fit someone twice his age.

For starters, this is his second year as vice-president of Tsiigehtchic's Gwich'ya Gwich'in Renewable Resource Council (GGRRC).

Frederick Blake Jr participates in a meeting of the NWT Barren-Ground Caribou Summit in Inuvik on Jan. 24. He serves on several local environmental boards and is vice-president of the Tsiigehtchic Gwich'ya Gwich'in Renewable Resource Council. - Philippe Morin/NNSL photo

He is also a Gwich'in representative on the Porcupine Caribou management board, and sits on the board of executives of the Gwich'in Development Corporation.

In addition, he is a member of Tsiigehtchic's Charter Community Council, and is a beginner-level Renewable Resource Officer.

Not bad for someone under 30.

"It sounds like a full-time job, but it all fits together," Blake said with a laugh.

The middle child in a family of six children, Blake's father is from Fort McPherson and his mother is from Tsiigehtchic.

He has lived in the hamlet of about 150 most of his life, and said he likes the fact that traditional knowledge plays a big part in GGRRC decisions, as well as those of other Tsiigehtchic boards.

It is for this reason he jokingly calls himself a "traditional biologist."

"You see, biologists don't know everything," he said with a laugh.

"There are people who have spent their lives around these animals, and they get to know them very well."

On Jan. 24, as he participated in Inuvik's Barren-Ground Caribou Summit, Blake wore a headband made of beads and decorated with caribou and his own name, along with a traditional beaded belt and construction boots.

"I shouldn't be smiling," he said, when asked to pose for a picture outside the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex in Inuvik. "This is a very serious matter."

But when asked why he still lives in and serves the community of Tsiigehtchic, instead of moving away, he said he enjoyed the simplicity of it all.

"It's peaceful," he said. "You can really live off the land."