Fieldnotes Blog

19Jun 2018 by Rebecca Bellmore
Killing Canarygrass

Killing Canarygrass

Uncategorized
With springtime in full swing in Southeast Alaska, our meadows and forest shrub-layers are greening up as new leaves sprout from twigs and blades of grass poke up from the ground. However, in certain places around Juneau, curious-looking patches of yellow stand out starkly within a sea of fresh green growth. These bright spots are infestations of reed canarygrass, an extremely aggressive invasive plant that is found throughout Juneau and elsewhere in the region. In late summer and early fall, canarygrass transfers energy from above-ground foliage to below-ground rhizomes. Come spring, this stored energy fuels the production of new stems and leaves which rise up through a dense mat of yellow thatch left behind the previous year. By early May, fresh green growth nearly obscures last year's thatch. Reed canarygrass…
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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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15Mar 2018 by Rebecca Bellmore
Restoration community comes together at workshop

Restoration community comes together at workshop

Events, Trainings & Opportunities, Watershed Science
SAWC hosted a regional watershed restoration workshop in Juneau March 5-7 to tackle issues around collaboration, technical capacity, funding, and coping with climate change. Individuals from over 30 organizations and agencies participated, sharing stories of success and lessons learned, and contributing to great discussions about how to move forward to make restoration efforts more successful in the region. A big thanks to the National Forest Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and the Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership for supporting the workshop. Presentations will soon be archived and available on SEAKFHP's website.
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26Jan 2018 by Rebecca Bellmore
Assessing the resilience of Southeast Alaska salmon to a shifting freshwater environment

Assessing the resilience of Southeast Alaska salmon to a shifting freshwater environment

Watershed Science
SAWC is part of a newly-funded Sea Grant project that will assess the resilience of Southeast Alaska salmon to a shifting freshwater environment. Along with researchers from the University of Alaska and the Forest Service, we will work with communities in Southeast Alaska to collect water temperature and flow data in streams that are important for traditional and subsistence use. We will develop a new model that integrates the effects of water temperatures and flows on salmon across their freshwater life stages to help us to better understand how salmon might respond to future changes. To learn more about the project, or if you are interested in participating, contact SAWC Science Director, Rebecca Bellmore rebecca@sawcak.org, or visit the SeaGrant webpage.
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20Nov 2017 by Rob Cadmus
WANTED: Bohemian knotweed (Dead)

WANTED: Bohemian knotweed (Dead)

Community Watershed Stewardship, Resources, Restoration & Mitigation, Uncategorized
Most  people don’t worry much about invasive plants during the winter months. After doing battle with them all summer or watching them take over our yards and open spaces during the growing season, we relax as the last of them die back in the fall. As cold winter weather grips the landscape, we take comfort knowing these aggressive species are tucked away in frozen soil for several months. As someone who’s attention is drawn to every infestation they see while out and about during the summer, I’m certainly enjoying this invasive plant-free time of year. While invasive plants may be out of our sight right now, they definitely should not be out of our mind. Now is the time to make plans for defeating these unwanted invaders. In 2018 SAWC…
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25Oct 2017 by Rebecca Bellmore
Save the Date! Watershed Restoration Workshop

Save the Date! Watershed Restoration Workshop

Events, Trainings & Opportunities, Watershed Science
Stepping up to the plate for collaborative restoration March 5-7, Juneau AK Workshop Goals: The 2018 Southeast Alaska Watershed Restoration Workshop will build capacity to develop collaborative solutions for the restoration and informed management of SEAK’s watersheds. The event will bring together community leaders, NGOs and resource managers from across SEAK 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…
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