Southcentral Alaska

The Adapt Alaska Coasts project consists of four regional workshops focused on community-led resilience solutions to climate change. The four regions represented by the workshop series were the Kodiak Island, Chugach Region, the Bristol Bay Region, Southeast Alaska, and the Aleutian and Pribilof Island Region. These workshops were hosted by Alaska Native Organizations and customized by place.

This project collaborated with three of the most highly dependent and diverse fishing communities in the region—Cordova, Kodiak, and Sitka—to develop fisheries adaptation plans. The work was led by community organizations: the Prince William Sound Science Center (Cordova), the Alaska Marine Conservation Council (Kodiak), and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (Sitka). These organizations partnered with communities in their regions to ensure planning efforts were inclusive of broader regional climate impacts and resilience needs, and to synergize existing community plans for hazard management, economic development, and climate resilience.

Provides managers with scientific information, tools, and techniques that managers and others interested in land, water, wildlife and cultural resources can use to anticipate, monitor and adapt to climate change. 

The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys helps build local capacity to monitor flooding and erosion in Alaska communities. This site has the most recent updates for monitoring activities in low bandwidth community-specific pages.

Maintains Alaska Native culture and curriculum in Anchorage.

Brings career guidance and opportunities for work experience to younger students.

Helps Alaskans with the practical use and conservation of the state’s marine and freshwater resources.

The Alaska Water Level Watch (AWLW) is a collaborative group working to improve the quality, coverage, and accessibility to water level observations in Alaska’s coastal zone. Water level data has many applications that contribute to safe navigation, storm modeling and mapping, tsunami warnings, watches, and advisories, incident response, search and rescue operations, tidal datums, sea-level trends, storm trends, and much more.

Brings together youth from across Alaska to serve as ambassadors for their communities and country in building awareness at home and abroad about life in the Arctic.

A co-creative community workshop on urban green spaces, focused on biocultural heritage and climate adaptation, was held in Anchorage, Alaska, on October 7–8, 2025, co-hosted by Olga Povoroznyuk and Peter Schweitzer of the University of Vienna, and Davin Holen, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The Chugach Regional Resources Commission presents a StoryMap encompassing the experience of seven generations in southcentral Alaska – the three that preceded us, our current generation, and the three that will follow. The StoryMap includes data on recent challenges and changes in the region, but also stories of adaptation and resilience among Chugach tribes.

Hosted by the Chugach Regional Resources Commission and Alaska Sea Grant, the workshop took place during the 23rd Annual Subsistence Memorial Gathering in Anchorage. Common themes from the conversations and story-sharing underscored the importance of starting with community priorities, incorporating local knowledge, communicating clearly, and building trust over time through youth engagement and consistent collaboration.

The attached report and accompanying StoryMap provide an overview of the current state of climate adaptation planning across Alaska.

Evaluates the effects of future climate change on a select set of ecological systems and ecosystem services in the Kenai Peninsula and Chugach National Forest.

Guide for designing and installing erosion monitoring systems, with tips for selecting monitoring sites, instructions for site installation and data collection, and lists of necessary materials.

The Copper River Native Association (CRNA), with support from various partners, created a climate change adaptation plan to address risks like flooding, permafrost thaw, and shifts in wildlife that threaten subsistence practices in the Copper River Valley.

Works with Tribal partners and communities to prevent the spread of disease and protect the health of Alaska Native people.

Hazard Mitigation Plans may be integrated into community or comprehensive plans. FEMA requires baseline data of normal conditions to which changes resulting from disaster or hazardous events can be compared.

The Gulf Research Program at the National Academies of Science organized a three-part workshop series to connect experts and exchange knowledge and insights from communities affected by the two biggest oil spills in U.S history. Workshops were held in Anchorage, AK; Thibadoux, LA; and Washington D.C. The topics discussed focused on socioeconomic impacts, community-centered response, transformative recovery, and proactive preparedness.

This handbook is intended to provide advice and guidance for the meaningful inclusion of youth within professional convenings, and specifically environmental conferences and forums.

The Kodiak Area Native Association, with funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Climate Resilience Program and Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, developed a comprehensive climate adaptation plan over the course of the two-year project.

Provides access to first-hand accounts of climate and environmental change, made by expert observers based on local and traditional knowledge in the area.

Held in Sitka, AK, in spring 2025, the Our Way of Life Workshop brought together commercial fishery organizations and Tribes from Cordova, Kodiak, and Sitka to identify shared needs and strengthen collaboration on climate adaptation and resilience in fishing communities.

This was the 5th regional workshop planned by a Sea Grant-led Research Coordination Network (RCN), PEople on the MOve in a Changing Climate (PEMOCC), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). PEMOCC fosters collaboration among diverse experts and stakeholders to address research needs related to climate-induced human mobility, its socioeconomic consequences, and its role in building resilience and adaptation to the impacts of climate change in US coastal and Great Lakes regions.

Offers guidelines and a checklist for personal emergency preparedness, including a set of guidelines specifically for Alaska Native communities.

Uses climate data to create and share ideas of what a future Northern climate could look like.

Database providing up-to-date information on grants, programs and plans, potential partners, publications, events, and more that may assist tribes in addressing climate change through a broad range of sectors.

This report authored by Alaska Sea Grant shines a light on the challenges remote communities face in taking advantage of resources for addressing environmental threats caused by a rapidly warming Arctic. It provides insight and details regarding climate adaptation planning across the state and recommendations for federal funding agencies, community planners, nonprofits, and others to help them get assistance to all communities in need.