Pam became involved with the Musk Ox Project in 1979 when she moved to Unalakleet to manage the Musk Ox Farm there.  After four years on the farm learning about musk oxen and how to raise them in captivity, she took a break from musk oxen to live and work in China for a spell.

Pam returned to the Musk Ox Project in 1986 to help establish the Farm at its current location in Palmer. It was a busy time setting up the facilities and working to keep the animals healthy and happy. She left Palmer in 1987 to attend graduate school in Fairbanks where she studied the ecology and genetics of musk oxen and their closest relative, the takin, which lives in China.  While in school Pam wrote a book, Muskox Husbandry, the definitive guide on techniques for raising musk oxen in captivity.

In 1987 Pam joined MODC's board of directors and has remained active on the board since then, overseeing animal husbandry operations at the Farm and providing guidance for farm managers and herders.  She is currently a research scientist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she studies muskox and takin ecology and evolution in addition to arctic ungulate evolution and population dynamics as revealed through ancient DNA and microsatellite DNA analysis.

This summer she is working on the north slope collecting musk ox fossils to be used for conducting DNA studies.

  Bart Watson  Vice President

Bio coming soon

 

  Quill Teal-Sullivan  Treasurer

Quill, granddaughter of project founder John J. Teal Jr., joined the MODC Board last fall.  As a child she spent several summers on the Palmer Musk Ox Farm helping her uncle, Lans Teal (former director), with the herd. Now as a board member, she is working to expand the MODC support network, promote the MODC mission, and bring new energy and involvement to the farm. 

Quill has a BS in Biology focused in Plant Sciences from the Colorado College. A woman of many talents and interests, she most recently helmed the bakery at Oddfellows restaurant, and was declared Seattle’s “Best Young Baker on the Rise” by the Seattle Weekly.

This summer Quill can be found leading a variety of projects, and educating visitors,  on-site at the Musk Ox Farm.

Paul Wilkinson’s first contact with the Musk Ox Project occurred when John J. Teal Jr gave a lecture about it at Cambridge University.  Paul was on the point of completing a Bachelor’s degree in Archaeology and Anthropology.  He was looking for a research topic for his doctorate in a field relating to the prehistoric origins of animal domestication.

Paul asked John if he could join the Musk Ox Project for one year to start to evaluate the lessons that it might hold for deepening understanding of how prehistoric man might have gone about domesticating animals and the changes that domestication might have wrought on the animals.

Paul joined the Project in the Fall of 1968, spending several months at the Musk Ox Farm at Old Fort Chimo in Northern Quebec.  The farm in Fairbanks was his base of operations for the next four years, although he made regular visits to Old Fort Chimo and one visit to the Project’s Norwegian farm at Bardufoss.

Paul completed his doctorate in 1972.  After studying wild musk oxen in the Canadian Northwest Territories and the domestication of Red deer in New Zealand, he settled in Quebec, where he worked with Native groups and in the field of environmental impact assessment.

Paul’s involvement in the Project resumed shortly before John Teal’s death.  With several Teal Family members and former herders,  as well as Sigrun Robertson, who had become involved in the Project when Paul was still living in Fairbanks, Paul became involved in creating the Musk Ox Development Corporation and moving the herd back from Unalakleet to the Palmer Musk Ox Farm.

Paul has been a Director of MODC since its creation, and he has for several years been its President. Formerly the “wild young man” of the Project, Paul is now among its Elder statesmen.

One of the newest board members, Connie brings extensive hands-on experience with both musk ox farming and sustainable energy to the Board of Directors.  She is committed to helping the organization manifest itself as a model of sustainability in ways that will allow the agricultural aspect of the Musk Ox Project to survive. Her immediate goals include installing a renewable energy source (wind/solar) for the farm house, and replacing the existing trailer with a new high-efficiency house.


A professional consultant for small rural electric utilities, Connie advises her clients on management, operations and maintenance, energy efficiency measures, and - if they have a good local resource-  helps them figure out how to integrate wind turbines into their diesel grid.


Originally from Ohio, Connie moved to Barrow back in 1978 for a summer job and could not bring herself to leave Alaska.  Sixteen years later she moved to Palmer -  to become the Farm Manager at the Musk Ox Farm.  A friend she had worked with as an animal caretaker at the Naval Arctic Research Lab in Barrow saw the ad for the Farm Manager in the paper, and  thought it would be a perfect set up for Connie. Indeed it was.

Connie's family now lives on land adjacent to the farm in a house they built themselves.  Her youngest son is one of the farm's most committed volunteers, assisting the herders on a regular basis.