State to survey Craig households on subsistence harvests for the first time since 1998

State subsistence researchers plan to survey 128 randomly chosen Craig households in February about the fish, game and other wild foods they harvest, a researcher told the Craig City Council on Thursday. It will be the first comprehensive harvest survey in the Prince of Wales Island town since the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's last one, in 1998.

Emily Doll, lead researcher for Southeast projects in the department's Division of Subsistence, described the multi-year project, which also covers Klawock and Thorne Bay.

"The subsistence data has not been collected in Craig for nearly 30 years, and there has been some recurring resident sentiment about not getting deer that people need," Doll said. She said the recent Ketchikan rural determination also makes this an important time to collect updated data. The project overview cites Ketchikan's recent transition to a federally recognized rural community as one reason for the study.

The household surveys will record everything residents harvested in 2026 and ask where they harvested, so researchers can map the areas the community uses. Researchers will also interview longtime residents about how harvests have changed. Crews plan to spend about two weeks in Craig and will hire local residents as research assistants.

For the next two years, researchers will return for follow-up surveys on large land mammals: deer, black bear, moose, mountain goats and wolves, according to the project overview. It plans a final report on the household surveys in December 2028 and one on large land mammals in December 2030. The federal Office of Subsistence Management and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant are paying for the work.

Participation is voluntary and the data are anonymous, Doll said. Maps are published only at the community level and only for resources more than three households use, and the community will get to review the results at a public meeting before they are published.

"If we knock on your door, we're nice, we're interested in subsistence, we're not trying to sell you anything, and we're not enforcement," Doll said.