This paper compares two case studies in Alaska, one on commercial fishers of the Bering Sea and Aleutian
Islands region and the other on moose hunters of Interior Alaska, to identify how governance arrangements and management
strategies enhance or limit people’s ability to respond effectively to changing climatic and environmental conditions. The two
groups face similar challenges regarding the impacts of a changing climate on wild fish and game, but they tell very different
stories regarding how and under what conditions these impacts challenge their harvest activities. In both regions, people
describe dramatic changes in weather, land, and seascape conditions, and distributions of fish and game. A key finding is that
the “command-and-control” model of governance in the Alaska Interior, as implemented through state and federal management
tools such as registration hunts and short open seasons, limits effective local responses to environmental conditions, while the
more decentralized model of governance created by the Limited Access Privilege systems of the Bering Sea allows fishers
great flexibility to respond. We discuss ways to implement aspects of a decentralized decision-making model in the Interior
that would benefit hunters by increasing their adaptability and success, while also improving conservation outcomes. Our
findings also demonstrate the usefulness of the diagnostic framework employed here for facilitating comparative crossregional analyses of natural resource use and management.
