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Partners
Planning Partners
The Nushagak-Mulchatna Traditional Use Area Conservation Plan was prepared through a partnership of many organizations, including:
The implementation of this plan will depend upon a similar and continuing partnership among these same organizations and others who have a vested interest in the environmental health of the Nushagak watershed. Although the Nushagak watershed remains intact as a viable ecosystem, the ownership and management of the land, water and other resources within its boundaries is partitioned among a variety of private owners and government agencies. This fragmentation of ownership and responsibility could become the most serious obstacle to the future health of that ecosystem.
Landowners & Managers
 Alaska Native corporations are the primary private landowners in the traditional use area owning approximately 750,000 acres distributed among the village corporations for Aleknagik, Clark's Point, Manokotak, Dillingham, Ekwok, New Stuyahok and Koliganek and the regional corporation Bristol Bay Native Corporation. Most of this acreage is further split between each village corporation and Bristol Bay Native Corporation into surface and subsurface estates. The State of Alaska owns approximately 5.7 million acres, not including Wood-Tikchik State Park. Most of the state acreage is managed by the Department of Natural Resources for general public use. The Federal Government through the Bureau of Land Management retains ownership of approximately 250,000 acres. There are also hundreds of privately owned Native allotment parcels ranging from 30 acres to 160 acres scattered throughout the plan area.
It is the intent of the Watershed Council to include all of these owners and managers in the discussion of watershed health and the implementation of this plan. If our watershed is to continue to provide for the traditional uses of watershed residents then all land owners and managers must share a vision for the watershed that recognizes traditional use as a value worth protecting.
Plan Implementation
 Within the Nushagak River Watershed there is no single entity that can implement all of the strategic actions necessary for our conservation action plan because land ownership and regulatory authority within our traditional use area is shared among many different private and public organizations. Further, these organizations, many of whom are partners in this traditional use area conservation planning effort, have different policy imperatives that will drive their priorities. So, the first challenge to implementing the strategic actions identified in this plan is to determine who among the many potential stakeholders and partners should undertake which tasks.
Not every strategic action falls within the mission of each potential partner, nor does every potential partner have the financial, administrative, technical, or legal capacity to manage a particular task. The strategic actions proposed in this plan can only move forward in an environment where partners take on the tasks most appropriate to their respective organizations. In this section of the plan, we suggest the organizations we believe are the most appropriate for carrying out a particular task. (Appendix D outlines which entity might undertake which task and a timeline for these actions to take place.) The second and perhaps greater challenge is to create a forum in which all of the potential stakeholders and partners can develop a shared vision for the watershed that balances development in the region with the absolute necessity to protect habitat important for the animals and plants that sustain human subsistence.
Acknowledgements
 This project would not have been possible without the generous financial and technical support provided by the Bristol Bay Native Association, the Curyung Tribal Council, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bristol Bay Native Corporation and The Nature Conservancy. I would also like to thank the members of the Watershed Council for endorsing the project and the members of the Steering Committee appointed by the Council to direct the project. The members of the Steering Committee were Tim Wonhola, Sr., Phillip Akelkok, Sr., Daniel Chythlook, and Billy Maines. I would also like to thank anthropologist Ann Fienup-Riordan for her guidance and insightful suggestions for conducting interviews, and to Francisca Yanez, Molly Chythlook, Gust Tungiung Jr., and Daniel Chythlook who provided critical translation and interpretation services to the project.
Special thanks to Sue Flensburg at BBNA who can justly take credit for initiating this project, guiding the Watershed Council through the process, and keeping us on task. Sue also provided the oversight critical for managing the grant funds supporting the project. Simply put, without Sue there would be no plan. Also deserving recognition is the staff at The Nature Conservancy, in particular Randy Hagenstein, Corrine Smith, K Kosky, Frank Rue, and Tim Troll who headed the project team and designed and wrote most of the plan.
Document library
Implementation table (Appendix D)- download PDF
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