Alaska's November proclamations bundle care, heritage and food security
Governor Mike Dunleavy proclaimed November 2026 as Alaska Native Heritage Month, Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month, Family Caregivers Month, and Wild Game Meat Donation Month.
- Governor Mike Dunleavy proclaimed November 2026 as Alaska Native Heritage Month, recognizing the Inupiaq, Athabascan, Yup'ik, Cup'ik, Unangax, Alutiiq, Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples as the People of Alaska. m:…0074
- The Alzheimer's proclamation states that an estimated 10,410 Alaskans ages 65 and older were living with Alzheimer's disease in 2025, that Alaska has the fifth-highest Alzheimer's disease death rate in the nation, and that 134 deaths were attributed to Alzheimer's in Alaska in 2024. m:…9974
- The Family Caregivers Month proclamation states that an estimated 125,000 adults serve as family caregivers in Alaska. m:…1213
- The Wild Game Meat Donation Month proclamation notes that American hunters share 119 million pounds of harvested game meat annually and that many meat processors are not receiving enough donated game meat to fulfill their Hunters for the Hungry missions. m:…5295
Heritage first: the peoples of Alaska
Governor Mike Dunleavy issued a proclamation designating November 2026 as Alaska Native Heritage Month. The proclamation recognizes the Inupiaq, Athabascan, Yup'ik, Cup'ik, Unangax, Alutiiq, Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples as the People of Alaska, naming the distinct peoples whose history, languages, and traditions the month is meant to honor. m:…0074
Naming nine distinct peoples in a single proclamation underscores the breadth of that recognition: Inupiaq, Athabascan, Yup'ik, Cup'ik, Unangax, Alutiiq, Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian are each named, rather than grouped under a single label. m:…0074
That framing matters because November carries three other proclamations that are also, in different ways, about who cares for whom in Alaska. Heritage opens the bundle; the remaining proclamations turn to illness, unpaid care, and food, and together they read as a statement of what the state is asking residents to notice this month. m:…0074 m:…9974 m:…1213 m:…5295
Alzheimer's: numbers behind the awareness month
Governor Dunleavy proclaimed November 2026 as Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month in Alaska. The proclamation puts the disease's effect on the state's aging population on the month's agenda, backed by the figures it cites. m:…9974
In 2025, an estimated 10,410 Alaskans ages 65 and older were living with Alzheimer's disease, according to the proclamation. Alaska has the fifth-highest Alzheimer's disease death rate in the nation, and there were 134 deaths attributed to Alzheimer's disease in Alaska in 2024. Those three figures together describe prevalence, national ranking, and recent mortality in a single short span. m:…9974
The proclamation also looks ahead: by 2050, the population of Alaskans ages 85 and older is projected to exceed 29,000 individuals. That projection gives the awareness month a forward-looking dimension, as the population in the oldest age bracket is expected to grow. m:…9974
Caregivers, counted and valued
Governor Dunleavy proclaimed November 2026 as Family Caregivers Month in Alaska, recognizing Alaskans who provide unpaid care. An estimated 125,000 adults serve as family caregivers in the state, a figure that makes the month less abstract: caregiving in Alaska is not a marginal activity but a widespread one, touching a large share of households. m:…1213
The proclamation also cites the scale of that unpaid work. Family caregivers in Alaska provide approximately 49.5 billion hours of uncompensated care annually, according to the proclamation, with an estimated economic value of $1.01 trillion for that care. Both figures are reported here as cited in the proclamation itself, and they are the proclamation's own way of making unpaid labor visible in economic terms. m:…1213
Read alongside the Alzheimer's proclamation, the caregivers proclamation names the other side of the same household picture: people living with Alzheimer's disease, and the family members providing their unpaid care. m:…1213 m:…9974
Food security from the field
Governor Dunleavy proclaimed November 2026 as Wild Game Meat Donation Month. As its name states, the month concerns donation of wild game meat, and the figures the proclamation cites show both the scale of sharing and a gap in reaching processors. m:…5295
The national context cited in the proclamation is large: American hunters share 119 million pounds of harvested game meat annually. Yet the same proclamation notes a gap, citing research from the NRA Hunters' Leadership Forum indicating that many meat processors are not receiving enough donated game meat to fulfill their Hunters for the Hungry missions. Supply exists, but it does not always reach the processors who would distribute it. m:…5295
The proclamation also cites the conservation funding behind hunting: the Alaska Department of Fish and Game received $37,029,739 in Pittman-Robertson funding in 2025. That figure ties the donation month to the funding model that supports wildlife conservation, closing the bundle with a reminder that the same activity provides food, funds conservation, and, when donations fall short at processors, leaves a gap the month is meant to help close. m:…5295
What is still unresolved
- The specific events and programs planned in Alaska for each of the four November observances, beyond the proclamations themselves.
- Whether donated game meat volumes through Hunters for the Hungry rise during November 2026.
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