Planning for a Thriving, Healthy
Chignik Regional Watershed!
THANK YOU for joining us at the 2025 Chignik Regional Resiliency Symposium!
Read on for details about the 2025 Symposium. Save the date for the 2026 Symposium, tentatively scheduled for after the ferry’s June 2026 arrival in Chignik Bay!
A Message to the World from Our Youth
During the summer of 2025, youth from Chignik Bay, Chignik Lagoon, and Chignik Lake came together for the first-ever Chignik Youth Culture Camps. Through photography, storytelling, drone building, and conversations with Elders, they reflected on what home means, the changes they see, and their hopes for the future. Presented during the 2025 Chignik Regional Resiliency Symposium, these “Message to the World” videos share their voices and visions for stronger, healthier communities.
Chignik Bay
Chignik Lagoon
Chignik Lake
2025 Chignik Symposium presentations and materials.
- Chignik Regional Resiliency Symposium, June 25-27th
Summary - Chignik Subregional Watershed Plan Implementation Strategies (Shelly Wade & Molly Mylius, Agnew::Beck Consulting)
Presentation Slides - Chignik Subregion Wetlands Inventory Map (Leilani Luhrs, Bristol Bay Native Corporation)
Presentation Slides - Update on Chignik Projects and Grant Applications (Isaac Pearson, Bristol Engineering)
Presentation Slides - UAF ACTION Updates: Science Cruise, Erosion Monitoring & Related Projects (Chris Maio and Matthew Balazs, University of Alaska Fairbanks)
Presentation Slides - Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) (Noah Tsigonis, Tundra Tough)
Presentation Slides - Dancing with Tatiana Degai
Presentation Slides - Visiting Chignik: Opportunities, Lessons Learned, Potential Impacts (Marty Anderies, Andrey Petrov, Victoria Sharakhmatova, Tobias Schwoerer, Tatiana Degai; hosted by Chignik Intertribal Coalition)
Presentation Slides - Chinook App demo (presented by Hannah-Marie Ladd and Chris Tran, Indigenous Sentinel Network, Aleut Community of St. Paul Island)
Presentation Slides - Update on Local Research Projects: Sockeye & Chinook Otolith Microchemistry (Jonny Singleton, University of Washington Fisheries Research Institute)
Presentation Slides - Chignik Sockeye Disaster Research. (Scott Chandler, Salmonid Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Lab, University of Alaska Fairbanks)
Presentation Slides - Understanding Fisheries Governance. Presented by Andrey Petrov, University of Northern Iowa
Presentation Slides - Chignik Bay Youth Day Camp
Presentation Slides - Chignik Intertribal Coalition: Socioeconomic Impacts of Fishery Disasters and Pathways to Resilience for Subsistence Users in the Chignik Region
Final Report, April 2025 - Chignik Bay Community Research Database, Updated October 2, 2025. Matrix PDF
Chignik Subregional Watershed Plan
What was the project purpose?
Through an Alaska Clean Water Action grant from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, the Chignik Bay Tribal Council prepared a subregional watershed plan for the Chignik subregion. The plan summarizes information about the watershed, identifies and prioritizes projects to support watershed health, and empowers local management in protecting and promoting water resources in the subregion.
What is a watershed?
A watershed is a land area that drains to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, estuary, wetland, or ultimately the ocean.
What is watershed plannning?
Watershed planning provides a framework for assessing and managing water quality within a watershed.
Adopted from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Handbook for Developing Watershed Plans.
What are the watershed boundaries?
What was the timeline?
June - Aug 2023
- Launch project
- Identify stakeholders
- Attend Chignik Climate Resiliency Symposium
Aug - Oct 2023
- Inventory information, including traditional ecological knowledge
- Identify sources of known, historical, and suspected water quality threats
Sept 2023 - June 2024
- Prepare watershed issues assessment with all findings to date
- Share and gather input at the 2024 Chignik Climate Resilience Symposium
July 2024 - Feb 2025
- Prepare draft and final plan
- Develop funding and implementation recommendations
- Present plan
Project documents.
- Chignik Subregional Watershed Plan, Final, March 2025
- NSF ACTION Retreat Presentation: Creating Shared Resiliency through the Chignik Subregional Watershed, February 2025
- Chignik Subregion Watershed Plan: At-A-Glance Project Summary, Spring 2024
- Bristol Bay Leadership Forum: Project Presentation, December 7, 2023
- Chignik Subregional Watershed Plan Watershed Characterization Summary, November 2023
- Potential Water Quality Threats and Pollution Sources in the Chignik Watershed, September 2023
- Chignik Subregional Watershed Plan Flyer, September 2023
View the short film “Chignik Forever”
This film highlights these challenges and the communities’ resolve to carry on in the face of a changing environment and socio-economic factors. The concept for the film was formed through conversations during the 2023 Chignik Regional Resiliency Symposium and previewed for discussion and feedback at the 2024 Symposium. The film is part of a project funded by the Paul G. Allen Foundation which involves a partnership between the Chignik Inter-tribal Coalition, Chignik Bay Tribal Council, University of Washington’s Fisheries Research Institute and the Alaska Coastal Cooperative, housed within the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
2024 Chignik Symposium presentations and materials.
- Chignik Regional Resiliency Symposium, June 6-8, 2024
Symposium Summary - UAF’s Alaska Coastal Cooperative: Introductory Presentation at the 3rd Chignik Regional Climate Resiliency Symposium (Chris Maio, George Anderson, Matthew Balazs, Mike Willis)
Presentation Slides - Chignik Forever Video (Alaska Coastal Cooperative, Final Version, Posted July 9th, 2024)
View embedded video above - UW Salmon Program: Juvenile Sockeye Competition Within Chignik Lake (Cirque Gammelin)
Presentation Slides - UW Salmon Program: Using Otoliths to Determine Where Juvenile Sockeye Rear in the Chignik Watershed (Jonathon Singleton)
Presentation Slides - UAF Department of Fisheries and Ocean Science: Update on 2018 Disaster Research (Peter Westley, Scott Chandler)
Presentation Slides - Center for Creative Land Recycling: Reclaiming the Past, Building the Future: Brownfield Basics (Joy Britt)
Presentation Slides - GreenStar Community Assessments – Chignik Lake, Chignik Lagoon, and Chignik (Tanner Johnson)
Presentation Slides - Lake and Peninsula Borough: Capitol Projects Update (Jordan Keeler)
Presentation Slides - Northern Economics, Inc: Socioeconomic Impacts of Fishery Disasters on Chignik Region Subsistence Users & Pathways to Resilience (Melissa Errand, Tom Sandborn)
Presentation Slides - Chignik Subregion Watershed Plan Update: (Shelly Wade, Holly Smith)
Project Poster - Chignik Bay Tribe and City of Chignik: Overview of Projects (Dannica Anderson, Jeanette Carlson, Isaac Pearson)
Presentation Slides - National Science Foundation: Ac3tion Project – Alaska Coastal Cooperative (Chris Maio, George Anderson, Matthew Balazs, Mike Willis, Casey Ferguson)
Presentation Slides - Chignik Community Research Database List prepared by Chignik Bay Tribe as part of the National Science Foundation ACTION Project
Research Database List
2023 Chignik Symposium presentations and materials.
- Chignik Regional Climate Resiliency Symposium, June 4-5, 2023
Download the Symposium Summary - UAF’s Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab and the Alaska Coastal Cooperative: Introductory Presentation at the 2nd Chignik Regional Climate Resiliency Symposium (Chris Maio)
Download the Presentation Slides - UAF’s Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab and the Alaska Coastal Cooperative: Ongoing and Future Work (Matthew Balazs)
Download the Presentation Slides - UAF’s Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab and the Alaska Coastal Cooperative: Very High-Resolution Mapping of Anadromous Streams and Salmon Habitat in the Chignik Watershed (Mike Willis, Matthew Balazs, Chris Maio)
Download the Presentation Slides - UAF’s Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab and the Alaska Coastal Cooperative: Chignik Bay Coastal Hazard Assessment (Jessica Christian, Reyce Bogardus, Harper Baldwin, Richard Buzard, Roberta Glenn, Ed Krauss, Jeanette Carlson, Deb Carlson, Chris Maio)
Download the Report - Chignik Intertribal Coalition (George Anderson/CIC President
Download the Preliminary Climate Risk Assessment Summary - Chignik Subregion Map Project (Marcus Geist/Artesian Knowledge LCC)
Download the Presentation Slides - Green Star Program Assessment of Chignik Bay (Joy Britt/Alaska Forum on Environment, Environmental Programs Director)
Download the Presentation Slides - Native Village of Chignik Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP)
Download the Chignik Solid and Hazardous Waste and Marine Debris Collection Work Plan - Chignik Bay Climate Resiliency Action Plan Final Draft (Isaac Pearson/Bristol Engineering Services Corporation, LLC Senior Civil Engineer)
Download the Presentation Slides
Downlaod the Action Plan - Community-Based Monitoring: Shoreline Change in Southwest Alaska (Jessie Ellen Christian)
Download the UAF Master Thesis