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Joe Leavitt

Joe Mello Leavitt was born in 1959 in Barrow, Alaska to Cora and Luther Leavitt, Sr. Joe is a whaling captain and subsistence hunter who grew up hunting and camping with his family in all seasons, and learned much of his knowledge of whaling and hunting from his father, a respected whaling captain. Joe is a well-respected expert on sea ice and frequent collaborator with researchers on sea ice projects. He provides ice observation data to Dr. Hajo Eicken of the Sea Ice Group at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks. From 2006-2010, he participated in the National Science Foundation funded Siku-Inuit-Hila Project, which brought together Inuit from Barrow, Kangiqtugaapik (Clyde River), Nunavut, Canada, and Qaanaaq, Greenland with scientists to exchange knowledge, experiences and skills related to sea ice. Joe is one of the editors of their publication: The Meaning of Ice: People and Sea Ice in Three Arctic Communities (edited by Shari Fox Gearheard, Lene Kielsen Holm, Henry P. Huntington, Joe Mello Leavitt, Andrew R. Mahoney, Margaret Opie, Toku Oshima, and Joelie Sanguya, International Polar Institute Press, Hanover, New Hampshire, 2013).

Date of Birth:

Feb 26, 1959

Joe Leavitt appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Sea Ice in Northern Alaska

Interview Title	Abstract	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Date of Interview
Joe Leavitt, Interview 1	Joe Leavitt was interviewed on June 25, 2009 by Matthew Druckenmiller in Barrow, Alaska. This interview was part of Matthew's research for a Ph.D. in Snow, Ice and Permafrost Geophysics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. For his project, he mapped the trails built by whalers to their camps at the edge of the sea ice and talked with local residents about ice conditions, whale camps, and trail building. Results of his research can be found in his dissertation Alaska Shorefast Ice: Interfacing Geophysics With Local Sea Ice Knowledge and Use (2011). In this interview, Joe talks about the ice conditions, trails, camp locations and whaling in Barrow during the 2009 spring season.	2013-25-15	Sea Ice in Northern Alaska	Jun 25, 2009
Joe Leavitt, Interview 2, Part 1	Joe Leavitt was interviewed on November 13, 2013 by Karen Brewster and Dyre "Oliver" Dammann in the classroom of the Tuzzy Consortium Library in Barrow, Alaska. In this first part of a two part interview, Joe talks about the unusual ice and whaling conditions of Spring 2013, in particular the thin ice and his crew having to change locations. He also talks about understanding the ice and how to be safe on it, and how the wind, weather and ice is changing in Barrow and effecting their whaling.	2013-25-04_PT.1	Sea Ice in Northern Alaska	Nov 13, 2013
Joe Leavitt, Interview 2, Part 2	This is the continuation of an interview with Joe Leavitt on November 13, 2013 by Karen Brewster and Dyre "Oliver" Dammann at the Tuzzy Consortium Library in Barrow, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Joe talks about using common sense to stay safe when out on the sea ice, choosing whale camp and whale butchering locations, teaching the young generations, and the use of satellite imagery and technology. He also talks about the unusual late harvest of a whale in June 2013.	2013-25-04_PT.2	Sea Ice in Northern Alaska	Nov 13, 2013