The influence of many environmental variables on stream metabolism and benthos is not well understood, particularly in subarctic ecosystems. Environmental variables influence the carbon dynamics in streams and hence the productivity of food webs. The existence of trophic relationships between primary producers, secondary producers, and upper level organisms such as fish suggests that changes in these environmental variables could influence stream organisms at multiple trophic levels. The objective of this study was to investigate how selected environmental variables – stream flow, light intensity, and nutrient concentrations – relate to whole stream metabolism and benthic macroinvertebrates in the Chena River of interior Alaska. We measured whole stream metabolism (gross primary production and ecosystem respiration); benthic macroinvertebrate abundance, size, and community composition; and environmental variation in two study reaches during the summer of 2008 and plan to do the same during 2009. Preliminary results suggest production:respiration ratios were positively related to light and that benthic macroinvertebrate abundance was negatively related to stream flow. These findings contribute to a more complete understanding of juvenile Chinook salmon ecology and population dynamics by providing insight into how basal food resources relate to environmental variation, ultimately affecting salmon and potentially other upper level consumers.