Four Alaska Native groups call for national tribal unity on salmon

Four Alaska Native organizations brought the state's salmon crisis to a national audience at the National Congress of American Indians Mid-Year Convention in Memphis, presenting a unified call for action.

Representatives from Tanana Chiefs Conference, the Association of Village Council Presidents, the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, and the Alaska Federation of Natives told tribal nations across the country that declining salmon populations are threatening food security, cultural traditions, and Indigenous ways of life across Alaska.

"When one tribe's way of life is threatened, it is a concern for all Indigenous peoples, and protecting salmon will require a collective voice and collective action," Bev Krupa, Community Health Aide Program Administrator at the CHAP Training Center, said in a TCC Weekly broadcast.

The four organizations asked tribal nations to advocate for meaningful tribal participation in fisheries management, protection of subsistence rights, and stronger co-management of salmon runs. Interior villages along the Yukon and its tributaries have faced repeated subsistence closures. Communities on the lower Yukon and Kuskokwim have seen freezer stores and winter food security erode through years of low returns and regulatory limits.

NCАI's 2026 Executive Council Winter Session, held in March, adopted a resolution underscoring the importance of protecting rural Alaskan and Alaska Native subsistence ways of life, signaling national tribal support before the Memphis convention.