This project was undertaken to develop and test a framework for monitoring social changes related and unrelated to offshore oil and gas development in this and other coastal regions of Alaska. A wide range of social indicators were examined as elements of the framework, including: local demographic conditions, patterns of land use, political control, social organization, economic growth and production, health and social welfare, and education. The resulting report provides a thorough assessment of social-institutional change in Nome for the period 1980 through 1986. The work led to an improved understanding of ongoing institutional changes in Alaska’s coastal communities and how these can be differentiated from potential and actual changes related to large-scale development on the OCS.