Traditional Uses & Places

The Nushagak River Watershed Traditional Use Area Conservation Plan is a document prepared under the direction of the Nushagak-Mulchatna Watershed Council to guide conservation related activities within the watershed. The plan proposes four basic strategies to address the foreseeable threats to the important areas within the Nushagak-Mulchatna watershed over the next half-century.

Our first task was to determine the places important to the area residents and users of the watershed and the location of habitat critical to the survival of the natural resources upon which residents and users depend. The Nushagak-Mulchatna Watershed Council identified key plant and animal resources of traditional importance to the people of the region. These resources included the five species of Pacific salmon that return to the watershed, whitefish, other freshwater fish, moose, caribou, waterfowl and areas important for the harvest of berries and medicinal plants. Over a two-year period, Tim Troll of The Nature Conservancy in Alaska, with translation and interpretative help provided by Molly Chythlook, Daniel Chythlook, Gust Tungiung Jr., and Francisca Yanez, conducted interviews with elders, residents and visitors to the region to determine the places that needed to be preserved in order to protect these resources. This traditional ecological information was mapped and when combined with resource data obtained from federal and state agencies an overall picture of the natural resources within the watershed was developed.

Staff and scientists from The Nature Conservancy along with a steering committee selected by the Nushagak-Mulchatna Watershed Council identified the probable threats to the watershed in the next 50 years. The principal threats identified include:

• recreational subdivisions
• recreational activities
• commercial development
• community development
• mining
• roads
• global climate change