09Apr 2020 by Angie Eldred
Restoring Fish Habitat on a Tributary of Pat’s Creek

Restoring Fish Habitat on a Tributary of Pat’s Creek

Community Watershed Stewardship, Healthy Watersheds, Restoration & Mitigation
Before: Introducing the project At the end of March, SAWC completed on the ground restoration work on a small tributary that feeds into the Pat’s Creek watershed near Wrangell, AK. This tributary had been damaged and blocked off in areas as a result of previous logging operations at the site. The goal of this project is to return the stream to its natural condition prior to logging, allowing for fish passage and sustaining habitat for fish species. Here's an overview of the project site before restoration took place (photograph taken from the Zimovia Hwy bridge): The blue line shows roughly where the stream channel lies beneath piles of slash, sod, and a discarded puncheon trail. This stream crosses under a log stringer bridge from an old road (the black line),…
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30Apr 2018 by Angie Eldred
SAWC Initiates Projects to Manage High Priority Invasive Plants

SAWC Initiates Projects to Manage High Priority Invasive Plants

Community Watershed Stewardship, Restoration & Mitigation
SAWC received two grants this winter that will support efforts to manage high priority invasive plants that threaten watershed health in our region. The Copper River Watershed Project awarded SAWC an invasive plant mini-grant to control invasive knotweed in Juneau and Petersburg starting in 2018. SAWC restoration biologist John Hudson spent the fall of 2017 outreaching to numerous Juneau landowners, including those waging unsuccessful battles to eradicate the aggressive quick-spreading plant and other who were oblivious to the knotweed growing on their properties. In all, ten private landowners in Juneau committed cash to support herbicide control of 2.3 acres of knotweed. In addition to providing critical non-federal cash match for the grant, these private funds will support control efforts for two years after the grant period ends in December 2018…
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19Oct 2017 by Angie Eldred
The Southeast Alaska Mitigation Fund is Approved! 

The Southeast Alaska Mitigation Fund is Approved! 

Restoration & Mitigation
Our wetlands and waterways provide unparalleled services to humans and the environment.  Well known for harboring amazing biodiversity, wetlands play a critical role in the water cycle by naturally filtering and regulating the flow of water, helping clean water, controlling flooding, and preventing drought in dryer climates.  In much of the world, these “ecosystem services” have been undervalued.   It is estimated that since 1900 approximately 64-71% of the world’s wetlands have been lost (Davidson, 2014), with the drivers of this decline coming from intensive agricultural production, urbanization, irrigation, pollution, etc. (TEEB, 2013).  The loss has real consequence, not only for fish and wildlife but for the livelihoods and probability of businesses that can be affected by flooding, drought, and poor water quality. Here in Southeast Alaska, we are lucky to…
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06Oct 2017 by Angie Eldred
Water Quality Monitoring Tracks Effectiveness of Restoration on Juneau’s Duck Creek

Water Quality Monitoring Tracks Effectiveness of Restoration on Juneau’s Duck Creek

Community Watershed Stewardship
The Juneau Watershed Partnership (JWP) as part of the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition (SAWC) was awarded a two-year grant through the Alaska Clean Waters Actions (ACWA) Grant Program administered through the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to monitor the Nancy Street wetland on Duck Creek in Juneau. The purpose of the monitoring is to collect water quality data to evaluate the effectiveness of the wetland in improving water quality conditions on Duck Creek. The project began July 1, 2016 with the JWP working with the DEC to develop a monitoring plan and quality assurance project plan, which ensures the integrity of our monitoring methodology and data. Water quality monitoring began Friday, April 17th and will wrap up in October 2017. A report on the results of the monitoring will be…
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03Oct 2017 by Angie Eldred
Skagway Students Learn Salmon Life Cycle Hands-On Through Salmon In The Classroom

Skagway Students Learn Salmon Life Cycle Hands-On Through Salmon In The Classroom

Community Watershed Stewardship
Skagway's Taiya Inlet Watershed Council wrapped up another great year of Salmon in the Classroom in April and is just starting up another year of the project. In January of 2017 TIWC received over 200 eyed coho salmon eggs from DIPAC Hatchery in Juneau, AK for the Salmon in the Classroom project. They were raised in a tank in the Skagway School hallway for the students to observe as they evolved from tiny red eggs to swimming fry. TIWC Program Coordinator, Nicole Kovacs, taught Kindergarten through 5th grade students in the Skagway school about salmon and their environment. Students learned about the life cycle of a salmon, habitat, benefits to the environment, and what we can do to help salmon. They also talked about the internal and external anatomy of our…
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02Aug 2017 by Angie Eldred
Juneau Native Plant Nursery Supports Local Restoration Projects

Juneau Native Plant Nursery Supports Local Restoration Projects

Restoration & Mitigation
  Willow and cottonwood trees at SAWC's native plant nursery in Juneau are thriving this summer thanks to an abundance of rain, and occasional sunshine, in Juneau. The nursery hosts more than 300 trees, each one started from a portion of a branch "borrowed" from wild trees in early spring. These sticks, called dormant cuttings, are placed upright in soil-filled pots. The moist soil stimulates the bark to quickly produce roots, known as adventitious roots, and a few weeks later numerous new branches sprout from the cutting above the soil surface. By summer's end the cuttings have transformed into bushy little trees. SAWC and its partners plant these trees at restoration sites around Juneau where they stabilize soil, shade streams, and provide food and habitat for countless creatures, large and small.…
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12Jul 2017 by Angie Eldred
Petersburg Beach Program Completes Second Year of Recreational Beach Monitoring

Petersburg Beach Program Completes Second Year of Recreational Beach Monitoring

Community Watershed Stewardship, Watershed Science
SAWC and our partners at the Petersburg Indian Association have completed the second and final year of recreational beach monitoring at Sandy Beach Park in Petersburg. Funded by the State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Clean Water Actions Grant, the 2-year program collected weekly water samples during the high-use spring and summer seasons to be tested for the presence of harmful bacteria. In the event of a bacterial presence above EPA water quality standards, the community could be notified of public health risks and informed once the water was again safe to recreate. A final report outlining year two of the Petersburg Beach Program is available for viewing and download below: [gview file="https://www.alaskawatershedcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/17-B01_Final_Report_PSG_Beach.pdf"]   This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States EPA under…
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31May 2017 by Angie Eldred
Hooligan Study Aims to Understand Population Trends & Climate Adaptation

Hooligan Study Aims to Understand Population Trends & Climate Adaptation

Watershed Science
Takshanuk Watershed Council is into their seventh year monitoring hooligan (Eulachon, or Saak) populations in Northern Lynn Canal, in partnership with the Chilkoot Indian Association and Oregon State University. This year continues a mark-recapture study on the Chilkoot River, and expands environmental DNA (eDNA) population studies to the Chilkat, Ferebee, Taiya, Katzehin, Lace, Antler, and Berners Rivers. Takshanuk and project partners hope to gain a better understanding of the species’ population trends and adaptations to climate change by examining the population at a larger regional scale. A relatively new technique, eDNA allows researchers to sample water for minute traces of a species’ DNA, from shed skin, scales, fecal matter, or reproductive material. Testing these samples using methods similar to those used in the fields of forensics and medicine, researchers can…
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26May 2017 by Angie Eldred
Climate Adaptation Workshop Brings Together Tribes & Communities to Monitor Changes in Fish Habitat

Climate Adaptation Workshop Brings Together Tribes & Communities to Monitor Changes in Fish Habitat

Watershed Science
Southeast Alaska's streams and rivers are important breeding and rearing grounds for salmon harvested by subsistence, sport, and commercial fishermen. Recent closures of major rivers and streams to fishing due to reduced salmon populations have fisheries managers and users alike looking for ways to monitor and understand environmental factors that could be contributing to declining salmon runs in Southeast.  In an effort to better understand and respond to the effects of climate change on stream and river systems, some Southeast Alaska communities and management agencies have begun monitoring temperatures of their local aquatic systems. Water temperature is one of the most significant factors in the health of stream ecosystems, where it affects the growth and survival of algae, aquatic plants, invertebrates, and fish. Salmon have evolved in natural river and stream systems, where water temperatures…
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