2023 Southeast Alaska Watershed Workshop: Collaboration for the Future

This multi-part event will featured a series of 4 webinars, and culminated in a 3-day
workshop in Juneau, Alaska.

Webinar recordings are available at the bottom of this page! 

Check out our Agenda below. Visit our Google Drive folder to review presentations.

Lightning Rounds

Check out this video Heath Whitacre, U.S. Forest Service, shared during his lighting round presentation on East Ohmer Creek Restoration.

Poster Session posters below – high resolution versions coming soon!

Download (PDF, 10.27MB)

Webinar #1: Future Climate in Southeast Alaska

This webinar aired on February 15th, 2023 via zoom.
Topics included: Downscaling Climate Data with Rick Lader, UAF: The climate of Southeast Alaska is getting warmer and wetter and regional models project these trends will continue. While these models help to understand large-scale change, higher-resolution “downscaled” models are often necessary for localized management-level decision making. In Southeast Alaska, precipitation type, intensity, and seasonality are all important features that can be better resolved by downscaled climate models. This presentation will explore available downscaled datasets for Southeast Alaska – their strengths and weaknesses, how to access them, and it will provide results that are relevant to water resources in the region.
Links to climate change data:
Streamflow Processes and resiliency with Janet Curran, Hydrologist, USGS Climate Science Center: Streamflow in Alaska responds to a diverse mix of seasonal drivers – including rainfall, spring snowmelt, glacier and high-elevation snowpack contributions to melt, and glacier lake outburst floods – distributed unevenly across geographically complex areas. Understanding the relative influence of streamflow drivers on seasonal flows and floods in a range of flow regimes can inform projections of streamflow sensitivity to the changes in temperature and precipitation anticipated with climate change. Exploration of change occurring at gaged streams and the role of elevation and temperature in recent floods demonstrates factors contributing to or attenuating streamflow.

Helpful resources: USGS Streamflow Data

Streamflow Plots 

Reports and Journal Articles 

Website 

Webinar #2: Visualizing Costs by Opportunity

 

This webinar aired on February 16th, 2023. Ian Johnson, Hoonah Indian Association Environmental Coordinator, Sustainable Southeast Partnership Community Catalyst

Sometimes, figuring out how much things cost and the money needed to address concerns across the landscape can be daunting! Learn about a few tricks in GIS using attribute rules and AGOL mapping to visualize costs by opportunity to assist in landscape planning.

Download an example spreadsheet and geodatabase here

Powerpoint here:

Download (PPTX, 14.28MB)

Webinar #3: Restoring Ecological Function at Stream Crossings

This webinar aired on February 23, 2023. Presented by Heather Hanson, USFWS Fish Passage Engineer.

Streams are a vital part of ecosystem health and functioning habitat for a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial species. Roads that cross streams, floodplains and riparian areas disrupt ecosystem functions and exacerbate the impacts of climate change.  In the past, engineers often focused on creating hydraulic conditions at road stream crossings that would pass a target species of fish at target flows.  Heather will briefly discuss how this approach falls short when considering the other ecosystem functions provided by streams, floodplains, and riparian areas.  She will then dive into some examples of how a geomorphic based stream simulation approach can be used to improve multiple ecological functions at road-stream crossings and help to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Powerpoint here:

Download (PDF, 14.95MB)

Other Resources:

USFWS Culvert Design Guidelines for Ecological Function
ADF&G Stream Bank Revegetation and Protection Manual 
Stream Simulation: An Ecological Approach to Providing Passage for Aquatic Organisms at Road-Stream Crossings
Construction Videos:
Brush Layers Installation

 

Webinar #4: Looking at Logging’s Legacy

This webinar aired live on February 23rd, 2023 as the third webinar in a 4 part webinar series of the 2023 Southeast Alaska Watershed Workshop. Information presented by Heather Hanson, USFWS Fish Passage Engineer. Streams are a vital part of ecosystem health and functioning habitat for a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial species. Roads that cross streams, floodplains and riparian areas disrupt ecosystem functions and exacerbate the impacts of climate change. In the past, engineers often focused on creating hydraulic conditions at road stream crossings that would pass a target species of fish at target flows. Heather will briefly discuss how this approach falls short when considering the other ecosystem functions provided by streams, floodplains, and riparian areas. She will then dive into some examples of how a geomorphic based stream simulation approach can be used to improve multiple ecological functions at road-stream crossings and help to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Resources:

Todd Brinkman, A Deer Story (shortened version of Todd’s webinar presentation)

Bernard Romey and Douglas Martin’s Presentation slides below

Download (PDF, 4.3MB)