All posts by Debbie

2018 Southeast Alaska Watershed Restoration Workshop – March 5-7, 2018

Please mark your calendars – the The 2018 Southeast Alaska Watershed Restoration Workshop will take place March 5-7 in Juneau.

Symposium goals are to build capacity to develop collaborative solutions for the restoration and informed management of Southeast Alaska watersheds. The event will bring together community leaders, NGOs and resource managers from across Southeast Alaska to share stories of restoration efforts – successes, techniques, and lessons learned, to network and develop partnerships for collaborative projects, and to provide tools and resources to build the capacity or our region’s land managers to carry out watershed restoration across the Tongass National Forest and its neighboring lands.

Session topics will include collaborative approaches, capacity gaps and how to bridge them, funding opportunities and strategies, and successful restoration in a changing region. If you are interested in sharing your success stories, lessons learned, and ideas for improving restoration in the region, please contact us!
Contact: Rebecca Bellmore at rebecca@sawcak.org

The Tongass Top 5!

Many culverts cause big problems for fish. Migratory fish—like salmon and steelhead—need room to move and are particularly hard hit by barriers where roads cross streams.

Designing fish-friendly crossings where roads intersect streams helps ensure a seamless transition for fish passing underneath. Across the nation, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and many partners have come together to improve fish passage under roads: in 2016, the U.S. Forest Service celebrated over 1000 fish passage projects completed nationally.

This effort has been deeply embraced in Alaska across the Tongass
National Forest. Between 1998 and 2015, over 500 crossings not
previously meeting fish passage standards were improved. In spite of this good work, it is estimated that a third of remaining assessed road-stream crossings in the Tongass do not currently meet fish passage standards. To address this need, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, and Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership have teamed up to develop the TONGASS TOP 5. The goal: design fish passage sites to a ‘shovel ready’ state and ultimately develop a plan to restore these remaining high priority sites for improved fish passage.

Your help can make a difference for fish in the Tongass! Make a direct tax-deductible donation for this effort here.

Klawock Lake Sockeye Salmon Stakeholder Meeting — November 14-15, 2017

Save the Date

Klawock Lake Sockeye Salmon Stakeholder Meeting

Klawock Votec Center, Klawock Alaska

NOVEMBER 14-15, 2017
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM DAILY
EVENING EVENT PLANNED Tuesday, November 14th ANB Hall Doors open at 5:40pm (join us for a community dinner, Heinyaa Kwaan Dancers, and Klawock City School Band)

Please continue to check this site for updates and meeting resources.

If you are interested in being on the meeting mailing list please send an email to coordinator@sealaskafishhabitat.org

Want more information regarding sockeye salmon and the Klawock Lake watershed please see the recently published retrospective analysis and other meeting resources located here.

Joining us from afar, you can find a list of accommodations in Klawock here.

TNC’s Klawock Lake Sockeye Retrospective Analysis Is Available

The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Klawock Lake Sockeye Retrospective Analysis has been finalized and is available on their website.

TNC’s work in the Klawock Lake watershed is not done.  They will be organizing both a public meeting and a stakeholder meeting over the next year (2017) to build common understanding of the history and current status of sockeye salmon and their habitats, and identify opportunities for stakeholders to partner on activities aimed to improve the condition of this resource.  Please look for communication about these meetings in the near future.

You can find the report here and a quick glance at the Executive Summary is included below:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Sockeye salmon from Klawock Lake have been important to people on Prince of Wales Island for thousands of years.   Although the abundance of Klawock sockeye salmon has not been consistently monitored over this time period, it is evident that abundance over the last two decades is significantly less than historical values, and this has been a concern of local residents for some time.  Because of these declines, there have been many previous efforts to address declines through research and management.  This retrospective analysis serves as a single source of information regarding the many research, management, assessment, and watershed restoration projects that concern Klawock Lake sockeye salmon, presenting many of the relevant data and conclusions about Klawock Lake sockeye and the factors that may influence their productivity.  Review of this previous research reveals that multiple factors likely conspire to influence the sockeye decline, and that while various research efforts have been completed over the years, significant data gaps still exist.  Because climatic influences on sockeye salmon productivity are complex and ecosystem dynamics may be highly variable between individual systems, it is likely that some of the decline in sockeye productivity can be explained by natural causes.  Long-term datasets on harvest and escapement, as well as lake and ocean conditions are not currently available, but would provide better insight into the relative importance of these factors.  It is also likely that historic timber harvest practices have negatively impacted sockeye salmon spawning potential.  Although a large amount of restoration in the watershed has likely been positive for fish habitat, a targeted systematic analysis of restoration most likely to benefit the most important sockeye spawning areas would be beneficial.  The extent and effect of predation of juvenile sockeye, both by hatchery produced coho salmon and other predators, is also largely unknown and should be assessed.  If predation is determined to be an important factor, then attempting to adjust temporal or spatial overlap between predators and juvenile sockeye could be effective.  Improvements to harvest management could be considered, including validation of harvest and escapement estimates, estimation of the contribution of the commercial fishery to total harvest, and a management regime to encourage a locally-driven conservation-based approach to harvest, especially in years with poor sockeye returns.  To be effective, research and management activities will require a collaborative approach between multiple stakeholders to ensure lasting results.

 

Coastal Cutthroat Trout Assessment Workshops planned for Southeast Alaska

Southeast Alaska Coastal Cutthroat Trout Assessment Workshops – April 24-28, 2017 planned for Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka

The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) and the Coastal Cutthroat Trout Interagency Committee (http://www.coastalcutthroattrout.org/) are conducting an assessment of Coastal Cutthroat Trout (CCT) throughout the subspecies’ geographic range. The assessment includes workshops with knowledgeable local biologists from multiple agencies where we capture data using a GIS-based protocol.

We are conducting workshops focusing on different geographic areas within the state of Alaska. We will be holding three one-day workshops in SE AK the week of April 24-28. Locations and dates are Juneau, April 24; Ketchikan, April 26, and Sitka, April 28th.

The assessment focuses on gathering existing data from agency partners into a single GIS framework. We focus on distribution, habitat quality, population health indicators, and limiting factors.  We have developed a protocol that includes professional judgement because CCT are often monitored incidentally. Because of this, we have found that holding workshops with 15-20 experts is a good way to gather an immense amount of information in a short time frame.

Previously, we partnered with ADFG and USFWS to gather data as a foundation for this effort. Data from six state and and four federal sources that were included in that effort are available to view in the final report http://www.westernnativetrout.org/media/2011-funded-projects/final-report—wnti_alaska-cct_2013.pdf.

Please contact assessment coordinator Kitty Griswold for more information about the data already collected or view the interactive map here which displays the data that were geo-referenced: Coastal Cutthroat Trout WebApp

At the workshops we: 1) review and update CCT distribution that we have already collected Coastal Cutthroat Trout WebApp; 2) identify localized threats and conservation opportunities; and 3) conduct a qualitative assessment of habitat condition and CCT population health.  Your efforts will help build a range-wide CCT conservation framework that will: 1) identify information needs, 2) develop criteria for identifying conservation units, and 3) identify priority conservation units for enhanced monitoring or rehabilitation.

If you are interested in this effort we are asking you take this 5-minute survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5VGZPNN

This project fills a major gap for an important native fish. Thanks in advance, and call me at 413 230 0405 or email if you have questions.

Sincerely,
Kitty Griswold, griskitt@isu.edu

Updated climate information for Southeast Alaska

Are you wondering what the temperature, precipitation and snow pack projections are for Southeast Alaska?

You can find practical notes HERE for using climate projections and an update to climate resources shared in a presentation held March 30, 2017 from Jeremy Littell, USGS/Alaska Climate Science Center.

Thanks Jeremy!

Check out other important presentations shared during the 2016 Southeast Alaska Climate Workshop archived here.

Economic Impact Analysis Released for Southeast Alaska Transboundary Watersheds

SalmonState contracted with McDowell Group, an Alaska-based research and consulting firm, to measure the economic impacts in Southeast Alaska of three transboundary watersheds: Taku, Stikine, and Unuk Rivers. The analysis also briefly considers economic contributions to Southeast Alaska from the Nass and Skeena Rivers, two river systems that also have cross-border economic impacts.

You can download the report on the McDowell Group’s website here.

SEAKFHP is kicking off its strategic plan review!

The Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership is beginning an effort to revise its  2014-2016 strategic action plan. This was the initial plan that guided the development and focus for the partnership over the past few years. Focus for revising this plan will take into account the expanded growth of the partnership, including additional perspectives and strategic priorities from new SEAKFHP partners, as well as develop regionally shared nearshore and estuarine conservation strategies.

If you are interested in getting involved please contact our coordinator at coordinator@sealaskafishhabitat.org.

Documents for this effort can be located here.

Alaska Fish Habitat Partnerships Story Map

All-Alaska Fish Habitat Partnerships ESRI Story Map     

Five national Fish Habitat Partnerships working in Alaska, Southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat Partnership, Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership, Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership, Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership and the Western Native Trout Initiative, with assistance from our partners from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and a very talented Directorate Fellow, recently produced a beautiful story map highlighting our work in Alaska.

Check it out here!

The full website dedicated to the Alaska based fish habitat partnerships can be viewed here.

From Salmon to Seabirds: A New Ecological Atlas of Southeast Alaska

From Salmon to Seabirds: A New Ecological Atlas of Southeast Alaska is now available.

Check out Audubon Alaska’s newest publication, the Ecological Atlas of Southeast Alaska, through maps and written descriptions this publication shares researched data and compiled information from researchers and agencies to create a thorough look at the landscape of Southeast, from human uses such as airports and ferry routes to wildlife uses such as bird and salmon habitat.

A high-resolution electronic version of the atlas can be found here (resolution is 144dpi, 100MB file).