Alaskan communities are disproportionately affected by extreme weather and coastal related hazards and often lack the resources to effectively address these threats.
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Group photo from the Sitka Workshop
This project focused on a series of four coastal resilience workshops hosted by Alaska Native Regional Organizations and customized to best serve the needs of each region by a project team from Alaska Conservation Foundation & Northern Latitudes Partnerships; Spruce Root, and the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government. This effort builds upon the results from past coastal resilience workshops across these regions in 2016-2018 that resulted in many new collaborations and the Adapt Alaska website and toolkit.
These workshops aim to identify coastal resilience projects proposed by communities that ideally could incorporate nature-based solutions and/or support future nature-based approaches. Projects to date include: 
  • Photo monitoring to document erosion in Akhiok and Karluk (Kodiak Island)
  • Clam garden designs and mariculture planning in 6 communities in Kodiak Archipelago
  • Breakwater design at Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute in Seward
  • Solid waste and backhaul collaborations between Adak and Atka
  • Atka dock expansion assessment
  • Kasaan harbor breakwater design 
  • Seafood community service center planning in Dillingham
  • Dogfish Bay Road fisheries habitat protection near Port Graham
A snapshot by the numbers:
  • 4 workshops
  • 241 workshop attendees engaged from 120+ different Tribes, organizations, agencies, etc.
  • 3 media stories about the effort like this one from KMXT in Kodiak
  • $3.1M in new project proposals submitted so far!
This broader project continues to:
  • Bring together Tribal representatives and leaders across each region to share programs and projects that are strengthening coastal resilience.
  • Connect Tribal program/project leaders and other technical professionals for further connection, collaboration, and capacity.
  • Support the implementation and continuation of programs and projects through funding, technical, and engineering support.
  • Follow up collaboration with communities to help them pursue next steps on resilience solutions planning to include seeking funding and/or technical expertise.
  • Improved trust and connectivity between Alaska Native Tribes and Indigenous organizations with other entities striving to support them; improved connectivity and trust between regions of the state.
  • Regionally generate a common understanding of what nature based solutions means across Alaska, improving the chances that Alaskan communities will benefit from funding for these types of resilience approaches in the future.
Meet the partner organizations:
The Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government is a governmental venue through which the Unangan of St. Paul Island can fulfill their intrinsic rights and responsibilities, and support, recollect, practice, and pass on their culture. ACSPI promotes, maintains, and protects cultural practices, awareness, preservation, self-governance, and self-determination for the community.
The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Inc. is the federally recognized tribal organization of the Aleut people in Alaska. APIA serves thirteen Tribes across the Aleutian/Pribilof region. APIA provides a broad spectrum of services throughout the region including health, education, social, psychological, employment and vocational training, and public safety services. ​
Bristol Bay Native Association aims to maintain and promote a strong regional organization supported by the Tribes of Bristol Bay to serve as a unified voice to provide social, economic, cultural, educational opportunities and initiatives to benefit the Tribes and the Native people of Bristol Bay. BBNA is a Tribal Consortium made up of 31 Tribes and provides a variety of educational, social, economic, and related services across the region.
Chugach Regional Resources Commission promotes Tribal sovereignty and the protection of subsistence lifestyle through the development and implementation of Tribal natural resource management programs in the Chugach region. CRRC serves seven Tribes across Lower Cook Inlet through Prince William Sound and east to the Lower Copper River. CRRC provides positive impacts, sustainable use of resources, and community resilience.
The Kodiak Area Native Association serves the Alaska Native people of the Koniag Region across seven communities. KANA offers healthcare and social services within the region, including a wide range of wellness and community services. KANA is dedicated to elevating the quality of life to support healthy individuals in healthy communities.
The Northern Latitudes Partnerships include three regional partnerships in Alaska and western Canada. They work to help communities be culturally, environmentally, and economically secure in a rapidly changing North and envision a future where northern lands, waters, and ways of life are sustained for generations.
Spruce Root supports both new and existing businesses in Southeast Alaska and empowers business owners through increased self-sufficiency. Spruce Root is a driver of a regenerative economy across 23 communities throughout Southeast Alaska from Yakutat to Hydaburg, forging futures grounded in a uniquely Indigenous place.
The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is a tribal government representing over 37,000 Tlingit and Haida Indians worldwide. Tlingit & Haida offers a variety of family-centered services through programs designed to address immediate and long term needs associated with family well-being and financial self-sufficiency.
Additional resources: ​

​Want to get in touch? Reach out to [email protected]
​This project is made possible through a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
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