Subsistence in Alaska

Alaska is gigantic -- its area is one fifth the size of the entire Lower 48. Within its boundaries are multitudes of living natural resources whose habitat requirements encompass thousands of square miles. Alaska is also home to a half dozen distinct groups of indigenous people and 226 federally recognized tribes.

Alaska's first tribal people have occupied Alaska for up to 30,000 years. Since before written history, they have been hunters, fishers and gatherers. Alaska Native cultural traditions, mores and laws reflect the tribes' historic reliance upon community, respect for the environment and its natural resources.

RurAL CAP's Environmental Program provides information to the public about the vital importance of subsistence hunting, fishing and gathering to the nutritional, economic, spiritual and cultural lives of Alaska's indigenous peoples.

Alaska Native Subsistence Halibut Working Group (ANSHWG)

RurAL CAP supports the important work of the Alaska Native Subsistence Halibut Working Group (ANHSWG) as it follows and guides the development of subsistence halibut policies for Alaska. Members of the ANHSWG are Matt Kookesh - Chair, Pat Norman, Austin Ahmasuk, David Bill, Patty Brown-Schwalenberg, Ralph Andersen, Jennifer Hooper, Karen Pletnikoff, Harold Martin, David O. David, Iver Malutin, Mike Miller, Robin Samuelson, Eric Olson, Larson King, Teddy Kugtsun, Mac Demment, John Littlefield, Travis Vlasoff, Kevin Kristovich, and Harvey Kitka and Sky Starkey (legal counsel).

RurAL CAP continues to provide administrative support for the Working Group, including meeting space, facilitating communication among members, arranging for teleconferences, administering funding provided through National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), arranging travel and per diem, and facilitating continuing legal counsel for the Working Group.

For more information contact:

  phone: 907-865-7358