The Nature Conservancy in Alaska

Traditional Knowledge

Native people from Nushagak River villages help shape a conservation plan in Bristol Bay.

Salmon Country

Watch a showcase of videos featuring Conservancy work from Alaska to California to revive threatened salmon.
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Salmon for Families

Like many Native families in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska, Mae Syvrud and her family harvest salmon each year.

In His Own Words

tnc

Bobby Andrew of the Nushagak-Mulchatna Watershed Council talks salmon and conservation in Bristol Bay. "Most everyone, " he says, "relies on the salmon resources for subsistence purposes.

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Learn where The Nature Conservancy is restoring habitat.

Learn how the Conservancy is helping to protect habitat in Bristol Bay.

In Alaska, wild salmon is more than a precious natural resource – it’s the foundation for a traditional way of life. In Native communities across the state, the summer return of the salmon marks a turning point every year:

As migrating salmon return to spawn in their natal waters, Native communities bustle in a familiar rhythm: harvesting wild salmon from free-flowing rivers, cutting fish, tending the smokehouse until the year’s catch is preserved for a family’s pantry.

In Bristol Bay, the Matanuska-Susitna Basin and in Alaska’s Tongass, the Conservancy works with Native communities to help preserve the habitat essential for healthy salmon – and the subsistence tradition that depends on it.

Living Tradition in Bristol Bay

The Conservancy, Curyung Tribe of Dillingham, Bristol Bay Native Association, and Nushagak-Mulchatna Watershed Council helped the Conservancy create a conservation plan that learns from the millennia-old subsistence tradition in Bristol Bay. “The Nushagak River Watershed Traditional Use Area Conservation Plan” shows how traditional ecological knowledge helps to establish conservation priorities. “The information contained in Yup’ik place names can tell us a lot about its habitat value. These place names, when combined with the traditional ecological knowledge of Native people who live subsistence lifestyles, help to direct the efforts of conservation science,” says Tim Troll, who directs the Conservancy’s program in Southwest Alaska.

Restoring Habitat for Salmon Renews Tradition

A partnership with the Chickaloon Native Traditional Council has helped restore Moose Creek – allowing chinook and other salmon access to dozens of miles of once lost spawning and rearing habitat.

“People have always awaited the return of the spawning salmon. It’s a yearly miracle that everyone witnesses. It’s the talk of the neighborhood. But now, it’s different. The thing that’s changed is that now, we get reports of salmon in new upstream habitat. That’s good news for us to hear. If you build habitat, the fish will find it,” says Angie Wade, who directs the environmental program for her tribe, the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council.

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Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Ami Vitale/TNC (mother and child); Photo © Clark James Mishler (sockeye); Photo © Clark James Mishler (Elia Ishnook); Photo © Clark James Mishler (Mae Syvrud); Photo © Clark James Mishler (Bobby Andrew);