This was the first year of a multiyear study to evaluate thermal habitat volume and sustained yield for lake trout Salvelinus namaycush in 14 lakes in Southwest Alaska (Brooks, Naknek, Lower Ugashik, Tikchik, Kontrashibuna, Lower Twin, Upper Twin, Turquoise, Telaquana, Goodnews, Heart, Kagati, and Kanuktik lakes, and Lake Clark). During 1994 bathymetric profiles were taken at study lakes where no bathymetric maps existed. Temperature profiles were also collected from all 14 study lakes. The thermal habitat volume (THV) for lake trout is the volume of water found between 12C and 8C. In previous studies a strong relationship has been found between the July THV and the sustained yield of lake trout. THVs resulted in estimates of sustained yield of lake trout ranging from 1.1 kg/ha/yr in Naknek Lake and Tikchik Lake to 4.8 kg/ha/yr in Kanuktik Lake. On average, the THVs from Southwest Alaska lakes are higher than the THVs found for similar sized lakes in Ontario, Canada, and Southcentral Alaska. The Southwest Alaska lakes currently receive little or no fishing pressure, so the accuracy of the sustained yield estimates could not be substantiated through historic harvest records. Recommendations were made to reduce the study to only those lakes with reliable harvest information based on the Statewide Harvest Surveys.