This study documented and analyzed social networks of sharing and cooperation that are part of Alaska Native subsistence-cash economies, and explored the potential vulnerability and resilience of Alaska rural communities
to conditions of social and ecological change. The study was undertaken in response to the Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management (BOEM), formerly Mineral Management Services (MMS) Statement of Work
NSL-AK-05-04. Research activities were initiated in spring of 2008 with the survey instrument
administered from October 2010 to May 2011. The study engaged two North Slope Alaska coastal
communities, Kaktovik and Wainwright (Iñupiat), and one rural interior Alaska community, Venetie (Gwich’in), in partnerships to complete the research. Wainwright and Kaktovik were invited to participate because of BOEM’s mandate to study the potential impacts of offshore energy development. Venetie was included as a contrasting interior Alaska community that is not exposed to offshore development, and thus served as a “control.”
