The 2016 Southeast Alaska Stream and Watershed Restoration Workshop brought together 21 Natural Resource Management Practitioners from across the region and 6 experienced Instructors from the Pacific Northwest for five days of intensive watershed restoration study, discussion, and field visits on Prince of Wales Island this May.

Led by a cadre of Restoration Practitioners from The US Forest Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service based in Oregon, the workshop brought new perspectives on watershed restoration goals and objectives, design, implementation, and monitoring. Instructors shared their expertise and experience working on watershed restoration efforts throughout the Pacific Northwest, and facilitated lively discussion around the opportunities, needs, challenges, and successes of restoration in Southeast Alaska.

Participants spent a day in the field on POW at a reach of Staney Creek reviewing previously collected cross section data and examining current hydrologic processes and habitat conditions on the reach before returning to the classroom to design a potential restoration project for the site.

USFS Hydrologist KK Prussian talks through a cross section with a group of participants on Staney Creek

Workshop participants walk a reach of Staney Creek that has been impacted by historical harvest

Workshop participants present their restoration designs for an impacted reach of Staney Creek

Participants visited completed stream restoration projects on Gandlaay Haanaa, Harris River and Twelvemile Creek to discuss lessons learned and project successes and challenges.

USFS Fish Biologist Sheila Jacobson and Hydrologist KK Prussian discuss restoration efforts completed on Gandlaay Haanaa and Harris River

Takshanuk Watershed Council Director, Meredith Pochardt checks out a log jam structure on a completed stream restoration project

Participants gather on the bank of Twelvemile Creek to discuss the successes, challenges, and lessons learned through the restoration of habitat on this stream.

SAWC Mitigation Coordinator Jess Kayser Forster leads a session on Aquatic Resource Mitigation in Alaska, and opportunities to carry out restoration through the proposed Southeast Alaska Mitigation Fund

SAWC would like to thank the National Forest Foundation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service Juneau Field Office for the funding support to make this training possible. We would also like to thank our partners at the US Forest Service for all of their work and support to make this such a successful workshop and robust learning experience.