Brent Vickers is the lead for the Anthropology Division at the Office of Subsistence Management (OSM) with the Department of Interior’s Office of Secretary (DOI/OS). Brent also hates acronyms and having to say the words “office” and “agency” in the same sentence. But these are just a few of the contradictions he faces as a cultural anthropologist for the federal government. His work focuses on helping rural Alaskans to continue their subsistence ways of lives through hunting and fishing regulations on Federal public lands (such as National Parks and Preserves, US National Wildlife Refuges, and US National Forests). It sounds like he gets to spend much of this time in the field, but it’s mostly in an office in mid-town Anchorage. Primarily, he helps to analyze proposals to change hunting and fishing regulations on Federal lands that will provide rural Alaskans with subsistence priorities over other uses, such as sport hunting and fishing. This also involves negotiating with competing user groups, such as Tribes and other Native Organizations, conservation groups, Federal agencies, commercial interest groups, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Some topics are controversial, and meetings can be intense. Meanwhile, as a federal employee, he also tries help rural Alaskans navigate the bureaucracy of regulations, which are difficult, cumbersome, and rarely provide rural Alaskans with the answers they want. In many ways, it’s a thankless job. But he is nonetheless passionate about his work.