AFN sets Aug. 12 subsistence listening session in Dillingham

Subsistence harvesters around Dillingham will get four hours on Wednesday, Aug. 12, to tell the Alaska Federation of Natives what principles should guide future statewide subsistence management. The session runs from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Dillingham High School gymnasium.

AFN is inviting Tribal leaders, Elders, subsistence harvesters, youth, natural resource staff and other community members. The organization calls the series "Guided by Community Voices: Subsistence Listening Sessions."

"These sessions are an opportunity to share your experiences, discuss the challenges and priorities facing your community, and help identify the principles that should guide future conversations about subsistence management," AFN said in its announcement, distributed by Bristol Bay Native Association. Residents who cannot attend may file comments through an online form on the AFN website through Sept. 30.

The sessions come amid a long-running dispute over state and federal authority in subsistence management. Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act created a federal subsistence priority for rural residents during times of shortage. AFN's subsistence updates page says the Katie John cases extended that priority to fishing on rivers that run through or alongside federally owned land. A federal district court upheld the priority in March 2024. According to AFN's account, the State of Alaska appealed, and the Ninth Circuit rejected the appeal in August 2025. Alaska News previously covered Alaska Native leaders bringing a unified call for Tribal salmon co-management to the National Congress of American Indians Mid Year Convention in Memphis in June, where panelists said closures on the Arctic, Yukon and Kuskokwim systems have fallen hardest on subsistence users.

Subsistence users have raised concerns about harvest rules in the region. Wassilisa Bennis and other Bristol Bay subsistence users have told the Board of Fisheries that fixed subsistence fishing days are difficult when they conflict with work, weather or tides. They have asked managers for flexibility and equal access. Federal materials prepared for the Bristol Bay Subsistence Regional Advisory Council list escapement estimates, harvest monitoring and Traditional Ecological Knowledge among the region's priority information needs.

The announcement did not say when AFN will publish the principles the sessions produce.