PWSRCAC--Chenega Bay

Other Member Entities

Alaska State Chamber of Commerce

Alaska Wilderness Recreation & Tourism Association (AWRTA)

Chugach Alaska Corp.

City of Cordova

City of Homer

City of Kodiak

City of Seldovia

City of Seward

City of Valdez

City of Whittier

Cordova District Fishermen United (CDFU)

Kenai Peninsula Borough

Kodiak Island Borough

Kodiak Village Mayors Association

Oil Spill Region Environmental Coalition (OSREC)

Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp. (PWSAC)

Tatitlek

Chenega Bay

Chenega Bay (meaning "under the mountain”) is a Native community practicing a subsistence lifestyle with commercial fishing and an oyster farming operation.

The original Chenega Village was the oldest continuously inhabited Village in Prince William Sound. The name of this Alutiiq village was first reported in the 1880 census. The original village site was on southern Chenega Island. On March 24, 1964, it was destroyed by a tsunami resulting from Alaska's 1964 earthquake. Approximately one-third (23) of the residents of Chenega Village perished in the tsunami; it constituted the earthquake's single largest death site. For 20 years, members of Chenega Village lived uprooted from their home until the new village of Chenega Bay was established on Evans Island in 1984.

Then, in 1989, the newly established village of Chenega Bay found oil covering its beaches. Chenega Corp. was the largest private landowner suffering damage from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Today, the community of Chenega Bay has approximately 80 residents who practice a traditional subsistence lifestyle. The community also has extensive infrastructure including an oil spill response/ferry dock, at which Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. uses to store oil spill response equipment and at which the State of Alaska Marine Highway system has a regularly-scheduled ferry whistle stop.

Chenega Corp. is an Alaska Native group incorporated in 1974 as a for-profit entity organized under Alaska Law and pursuant to the 1971 federal Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, commonly referred to as “ANCSA.”

Chenega Bay has no stores and all the shopping for food and clothing is done in Anchorage; items are flown back by air carriers or the mail plane.

Chenega Airport is 3,000 feet long and upgrades are planned. A new clinic is scheduled to be built in 2005, and the dock will see improvements with water and electricity on each slip. A repository will be located where the log cabin is and will house cultural items and historical artifacts.

Pete Kompkoff represents this member entity on the PWSRCAC Board of Directors.

For more information, please visit Chugach Alaska Corp.'s History of Chenega Bay page and Chenega Corp.
Phone: 907.277.5706
Fax: 907.277.5700