Vulnerability of Alaska Native tribes in the Chugach Region to selected climate and nonclimate stressors

Vulnerability Assessment for the Chugach National Forest and the Kenai Peninsula that was published in 2017.Over the next 50 years, all communities are generally expected to experience higher temperatures, with decreasing snowpack along the coast where these villages are located.However, at a finer scale, neither climate change nor natural resource distribution are uniform among communities.Tribal community members remain dependent on wild resources, harvesting 97 kg per person annually for subsistence purposes.This harvest is composed of 42 percent salmon, 26 percent nonsalmon fish, 10 percent marine mammals, 12 percent land mammals, 5 percent marine invertebrates, 4 percent vegetation, and 1 percent birds and eggs, and represents more than 140 species.In addition to contributing to food security, wild resources provide economic opportunities in communities, where they are often limited through commercial hunting and fishing operations, the generation of tourism, and the sale of arts and crafts.Wild resources are also an important cultural and spiritual component of Alaska Native communities, with access to these foods contributing to physical and mental well-being.We selected pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus), harbor (common) seal (Phoca vitulina), Sitka black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis), Pacific razor clam (Siliqua patula), blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), and black oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani) for assessment to represent each of the seven resource categories of subsistence harvest, respectively.Although only harbor seal and Pacific razor clam populations are decreasing currently in the assessment area, all but Sitka black-tailed deer will likely decrease in the foreseeable future.Rather than trying to directly address vulnerabilities, many of which are either unmanageable (e.g., ocean currents) or unpredictable (e.g., oil spills), we suggest the importance of focusing on resilience in traditional resources by developing both community-grown foods through agriculture, agroforestry, mariculture, or kelp farming, as well as enhancing local natural resources through habitat management and monitoring.We identify several considerations for building resilience through more collaborative resource management, building on the skills and knowledge of Alaska Native hunters who have studied, observed, and stewarded these lands and waters since time immemorial.