The Togiak Refuge is a land of rivers, mountains, and ocean. Most of the public use and subsistence use is centered on three major river drainages: the Kanektok, the Goodnews, and the Togiak. These rivers provide some of the best salmon and trout fishing in Alaska. In addition, Cape Peirce has been designated a wildlife-viewing area. Much of the refuge is designated as the Togiak Wilderness Area, a part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Comprehensive Conservation Plan
The current revision of the Comprehensive Conservation Plan builds on a series of past plans. The Bristol Bay Regional Management Plan, the original Togiak Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan, and the 1991 Togiak Refuge Public Use Management Plan and the revision of the Public Use Management Plan were all cooperative plans that included strong participation from representatives of the State of Alaska. The revision of the Public Use Management Plan was begun as a stand-alone document, but was rolled into the current revision of the Comprehensive Conservation Plan to simplify public involvement and staff work. The revision document will include an updated comprehensive plan, a revised public-use management plan, and a plan for management of State of Alaska lands in the area.

In developing this revision, we wanted to involve all of the primary land management organizations in the high-use areas of the Refuge. We designed a core planning team (pdf) that includes representatives from five local communities and two representatives from the State of Alaska.

Issues
The first thing we do in developing a plan is to identify issues. Issues are those problems or concerns that the plan will attempt to resolve. Issues are identified by asking the public and agency staff what they are concerned about. That is called “scoping.” We analyze the issues to determine what would be appropriate to deal with in the plan.

These issue are described in the December 1999 Planning News, the Spring 2001 Planning Update (pdf), and the Significant Planning Issues (pdf) Most of the issues we are working with in this plan are related to public use.

Alternatives
Alternatives are different ways in which issues may be solved. The core team has developed and refined a set of alternatives for the plan; they may be found in the Fall 2001 Planning Update (pdf 7.3MB) Once alternatives are defined, we analyze them to determine potential impacts of implementing each one. That information will be presented in the draft Plan revision.

Public Involvement
We welcome your comments at any time. You may e-mail us at . fw7_Togiak_planning@fws.gov. We especially encourage public comment on the draft plan, which we anticipate distributing in summer 2004. Your comments will help us produce the best plan and make the best decisions. When the plan is available, you will be able to access it from this site.

Land Conservation Plan
When the Togiak NWR land-conservation plan was developed, the document was called a "land-protection plan." To download the a small part of this plan click here (pdf).

Visitor Services Plan
In 1991, the refuge completed a public-use management plan for Togiak National Wildlife Refuge. This is a step-down plan to the comprehensive conservation plan and provided direction on implementing the conservation plan. The plan focuses on guided and nonguided recreational fishing use occurring along the Kanektok, Togiak, and Goodnews Rivers and on public use of the Cape Peirce/Cape Newenham area. The public-use management plan will be amended by the revised comprehensive conservation plan currently being developed.