SEAKFHP is updating Its Strategic Action Plan

To kick off 2022, the Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership will begin to review and update it’s strategic action plan. Updates on the revision process will be shared on this page. You can find our current action plan here: SEAKFHP Strategic Action Plan | Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership.

If you would like to be a part of the planning effort reach out to our coordinator at: coordinator@sealaskafishhabitat.org.

One part of our review process will be to explore other aquatic conservation planning efforts and include relevant information in our updated plan. Here is a running list of plans we will be reviewing (this list will be continually updated over the review period):

America’s Conservation Enhancement Act – signed into law in October of 2020, this Act codifies the National Fish Habitat Action Plan and lays out expectations for Fish Habitat Partnerships (which SEAKFHP is one of 20 currently recognized by the NFHP Board). Learn more here:

Conservationists Praise Congress for Passing the America’s Conservation Enhancement Act (S.3051) | National Fish Habitat Partnership

S.3051 – 116th Congress (2019-2020): America’s Conservation Enhancement Act | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

State of Alaska wildlife action plans and other stock status or conservation plans:

2015 Alaska Wildlife Action Plan

Special Publication No RC6 Special report to the Alaska Board of Fisheries Dec 2021 DRAFT–Northern Southeast Alaska King Salmon
Stock Status and Action Plan, 2021 (alaska.gov)

USDA Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy:

USDA Announces Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy, Initiates Action to Work with Tribes, Partners and Communities | USDA

Tongass National Forest Conservation Plans:

Tongass National Forest – Land & Resources Management Plan (usda.gov)

The Coastal Forests and Mountains
Ecoregion of Southeastern Alaska
and the Tongass National Forest
A CONSERVATION ASSESSMENT AND RESOURCE SYNTHESIS
MARCH 2007

Tongass-77-a-closer-look-2_3_15.pdf (americansalmonforest.org)

Community Watershed Action Plans:

HNFP Publishes Public Watershed Management Plan! – HIA Environmental (hia-env.org)

Water Quality Assessments:

ADEC DRAFT 2022 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report (Integrated Report)

Habitat Project Inventory for Haines, Alaska

Takshanuk Watershed Council (TWC) recently published a report on historic aquatic habitat projects in the Haines area.  You can find the report here: Haines Habitat Project Inventory

The goal of this project is to:
1. Develop a habitat improvement project inventory
2. Evaluate a subset of the projects to inform future habitat improvement practices
3. Identify projects that require additional habitat improvement actions 

This report is intended to be a “living” document. Over time, existing projects will be re-evaluated, and new projects will be assessed and added to the inventory.

This project originated as an inquiry from members of the Upper Lynn Canal Fish and Game Advisory Committee, who were looking for a resource to inform their assessments of the ongoing Haines Highway reconstruction and the associated habitat mitigation projects.  Funding was provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  Special thanks to Neil Stichert, now with the US Forest Service, for helping to get things off the ground; and also to Jenn Hamblen, who now works for USGS, for doing the initial “field work” gathering together hundreds of old fish habitat permits from the ADF&G Habitat Section offices in Juneau.
Any comments on this report, or suggestions for future efforts, are always welcome. 

Contact for more details:
Derek Poinsette, Executive Director Takshanuk Watershed Council 907-766-3542 derek@takshanuk.org

AVAILABLE: Data Sources for Southeast Alaska

The Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership (SEAKFHP, www.seakfhp.org) brings together partner groups from across the region to collaboratively protect and restore fish habitat in freshwater and coastal ecosystems across the southern panhandle of Alaska. Critical to their success is connecting key partners, sharing information, and leveraging resources needed to address conservation of the region’s aquatic habitats. They are one of twenty partnerships recognized under the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHAP; www.fishhabitat.org) and, with the passage of the America’s Conservation and Enhancement Act in the fall of 2020, are helping bring new habitat conservation funding to the region.

To assist in this work, SEAKFHP has created a data repository for our partners. Aquatic information and associated landscape data sources have been collected from a variety of partners and are available in our SEAKFHP ArcGIS online account. In addition, for the more casual data user, SEAKFHP has also created a data hub to showcase data sources that can inform habitat restoration activities for the region. The hub site can be found at the Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Data Portal. You can also explore the SEAKFHP resources tab on our website for help in navigating to these resources and for other relevant data archives.

Also, check out our SE AK Coastal Data Mapper – this interactive data application can be used with the WESPAK-SE rapid wetlands assessment tool and help navigate to data resources important for decisions on coastal areas of Southeast Alaska.

If you would like to join our user group in ArcGIS online, contact our project associate Khrystl Brouillette at khrystl@sawcak.org for more information. If you would like to learn more about the partnership reach out to the SEAKFHP Coordinator, Deborah Hart at coordinator@sealaskafishhabitat.org

NFHP FY22 FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: SEAKFHP Invites SE Alaska Aquatic Habitat Conservation Project Concept Proposals

SEAKFHP’s FY22 Request for Project Proposal Concepts is Open!   Deadline Extended to Apply is 5pm ADT Monday, May 3rd, 2021

Funding for habitat projects through the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) Board is expected to be announced Fall 2021. Successful applicants will be notified after funding is allocated. Funding expected to be made available early 2022.  

The Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership (SEAKFHP, www.seakfhp.org) is soliciting project concept proposals for FY22 NFHP project funding. SEAKFHP works to foster cooperative fish habitat conservation in freshwater and coastal ecosystems across the southern panhandle of Alaska and is a fully recognized coastal partnership under the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP, www.fishhabitat.org).

Critical to our success is connecting key partners and providing information needed to make sound decisions about management and conservation of our region’s aquatic resources and habitats. Additionally, our partnership works to address threats impacting fish and their habitats and has a strong interest in building resiliency across the region to support overall productivity and health of fish in this unique part of Alaska.  

As one of 20 federally recognized National Fish Habitat Partnerships, SEAKFHP is eligible to solicit projects for potential project funding made available to grantees annually through oversite and direction of the NFHP Board.  

Eligible Projects: Projects considered for funding address science-based habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement activities that benefit freshwater and coastal aquatic habitats in Southeast Alaska and are addressed under SEAKFHP’s Strategic Action Plan. NFHP funds must be used for on-the-ground habitat projects and related project design and monitoring activities. Eligible projects may include riparian or instream habitat protection, enhancement, and restoration; barrier removal or construction; range-wide population or watershed habitat assessments to prioritize and plan habitat conservation; and habitat-related community outreach and education actions.   

We look forward to receiving project proposals to further protect, restore, and enhance our productive freshwater and coastal fish habitats! For any questions, please contact Deborah Hart, SEAKFHP Coordinator, at coordinator@sealaskafishhabitat.org.    For the complete funding announcement and all relevant documentation, just click HERE !

Quantifying the Monetary Value of Alaska National Forests to Commercial Pacific Salmon Fisheries

Check out the new report on the value of Alaska’s “forest fish”: Johnson et al 2019: https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/journals/pnw_2019_johnson002.pdf

Abstract
Forested landscapes support a diversity of ecological processes and organisms having direct value to society. Assessments placing monetary value on forest processes and organisms can help inform management actions affecting these ecosystem services. The temperate rain forest ecoregion along the west coast of North America is home to five
species of Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. that support subsistence, personal-use, sport, and commercial fisheries. This study aimed to quantify the number and monetary value of commercially caught Pacific salmon originating from Alaska’s Tongass and Chugach national forests, two adjacent national forests containing some of the world’s largest
remaining tracts of intact temperate rain forest. The proportion of commercially harvested wild Pacific salmon originating from streams and lakes within national forest boundaries was estimated by subtracting hatchery salmon and salmon originating outside national forest areas from the total commercial catch. The Tongass and Chugach national forests were major contributors to the overall number and value of commercially caught Pacific salmon in southeastern and southcentral Alaska. From 2007 to 2016 these national forests contributed an average of 48 million Pacific salmon annually to commercial fisheries, with a dockside value averaging US$88 million (inflation adjusted to the base year 2017). These “forest fish” represented 25% of Alaska’s commercial Pacific salmon catch for this time period and 16% of the total commercial value. These findings emphasize the importance of Alaska’s forest rivers and lakes for sustaining Pacific salmon and can contribute to discussions about alternative land management strategies that might impact Pacific salmon populations and associated commercial salmon fisheries.

Now Available: Klawock Lake Sockeye Salmon Action Plan Prince of Wales Island, Alaska

An action plan for stewarding sockeye salmon in Klawock Lake is now available: Klawock Lake Sockeye Salmon Action Plan (Needham et al. 2020).

The Prince of Wales communities of Klawock and Craig both share salmon resources from the Klawock Lake Watershed, and have continued to express a concern for the sockeye salmon populations in recent years. In 2016, Woll and Prussian (2016) finalized the Klawock Lake Sockeye Salmon Retrospective Analysis, which was the basis for forming a stakeholder group (including the community of Klawock) to identify the next best steps. A stakeholder meeting was held in November of 2017, with a recommendation for stakeholders to stay engaged (you can find details on this meeting here). This lead to the development of a Klawock Lake Sockeye Salmon Action Plan which includes developing a comprehensive project list, and prioritizing projects that can move forward in the near future with the following vision: “To promote healthy and sustainable sockeye salmon populations in Klawock Lake for local communities.”

2019 AFS/TWS Film Festival Archive is Available

RENO-VATING Habitat for Fish and Wildlife: A Film Festival Highlighting Collaborative Habitat Conservation and Its Benefits

At the 2019 joint AFS/TWS conference in Reno the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) and AFS’s Fish Habitat Section teamed up to host a film festival to capture collaborative habitat conservation projects that support fish and wildlife.  Films highlighted how improving habitat brings other benefits like improved water quality and socio-economic returns to people and communities. This festival took place throughout the week and included over 80 films broken out over 14 showing sessions. Nearly 500 conference participants were counted in attendance.

This festival offered a unique opportunity for meeting attendees to collaborate and learn about successful habitat conservation stories from across the country. Each showing session included time for available filmmakers and colleagues to share information about their film; as well as time at the end of the session, to engage in question and answer dialogue. Additionally, partners representing NFHP welcomed attendees and shared background on the NFHP Program. We even showed a film about us – you can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K0Og_21pko

In addition festival organizers have created a digital archive for the festival, including weblinks so you can continue to enjoy these great stories. You can find it here:

Alaska Chapter AWRA Meeting Resources Now Available

The Alaska Section of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) held the 2019 meeting in Juneau September 17-19, 2019 with support from the Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership.  This year, sessions focused on weather and water extremes (including drought), water rights and reservations, fish habitat, hazards including glacier dammed lake floods and avalanches, permafrost hydrology, and water quality.

Check here for links to AWRA resources and 2019 meeting materials, including the meeting agenda, presentation abstracts and direct links to pdf copies of presentation materials, resources shared for rapid talk sections of the meeting, and links to posters shared during the poster session.

If you would like to be added to the AWRA mailing list or otherwise get involved, please contact awra.alaska@gmail.com

Salmon on The Tongass! Nov. 7th 6:30pm Hanger Ballroom, Juneau

Please join us this Thursday, November 7th for an evening of information sharing and celebrating the return of salmon to Southeast Alaska and the Tongass National Forest. Doors open at 6:30pm and the event kicks off at 7pm.

There will be a few short presentations from local agencies and then short films capturing the habitats of Southeast Alaska and the Tongass National Forest, home to all five species of Pacific salmon (including the 30-min documentary Salmon Forest).

This is a great time to chat with local organizations and community members about what is going on with Salmon in the Tongass.

No-host bar provided.