Assessing Food Security in Kake

Assessing Food Security in Kake

Community Watershed Stewardship
  Post written by Lia Heifetz   [caption id="attachment_4233" align="aligncenter" width="611"] Kake youth learn fish processing techniques at this summer’s Culture Camp[/caption] This fall, residents of Kake participated in a focus group to understand where opportunities exist to improve local wild food gathering and harvesting. The goal of this focus group was to determine which future cooperative efforts and direct investments in resources may improve the ease and efficiency of local gathering and harvesting. Constructive and instructive feedback was heard from seven Kake residents who participated in gathering wild foods. The dominant topic of discussion was the subsistence harvest of sockeye salmon. Due to high prices of fuel, the cost of harvesting sockeye salmon under current procedures may not make sense financially and environmentally. Changes to make the process more…
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Kake Oyster Farm Apprenticeship Program

Kake Oyster Farm Apprenticeship Program

Community Watershed Stewardship
Kake Oyster Farm Apprenticeship Program   Shellfish farming has proven to be a viable, sustainable business opportunity for many communities in Southeast Alaska. Rodger Painter, President of the Alaska Shellfish Growers Association, has been in the regional shellfish farming industry for years and has teamed up with the Organized Village of Kake to bring an oyster farm management apprenticeship program to the community of Kake.   [caption id="attachment_1279" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Rocky Pass Oysters. Photo from Pearl of Alaska[/caption]   The program, funded through a grant with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, creates business opportunities for local entrepreneurs looking to go into the shellfish farming industry.   Over the course of the three year program (which follows the three year cycle to produce mature oysters), a group of four…
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Oyster Farming, Alternative Energy, & Cultural Heritage: The TBL Team Visits Kake

Oyster Farming, Alternative Energy, & Cultural Heritage: The TBL Team Visits Kake

Uncategorized
  Earlier this June the TBL team (Bob Christensen, Mike Skinner, and I) spent a few days visiting the community of Kake and speaking with many of the warm, friendly people that call that beautiful place home. Written by: Angie Eldred, SAWC Communications Coordinator [caption id="attachment_1336" align="aligncenter" width="491"] Tidal flats in Kake[/caption] We embarked on this trip with the purpose of getting to know the community a bit better; striving to get a snapshot Kake’s capacity for sustainable development through residents’ perceptions of the community’s opportunities, challenges, needs, and available resources.   Our stay in this small coastal community was filled with warm sunshine and warm people, always willing to graciously spend a few minutes with us and share their story. We met with Gary Williams, Executive Director of the…
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Renewable Energy in Kake

Renewable Energy in Kake

Community Watershed Stewardship
    The high cost of energy in rural Southeast communities can prove to be a large limiting factor to economic and community development. The community of Kake has begun to confront this problem by exploring opportunities for implementing the use of renewable energy in their community energy supply.   In a partnership with Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC), the community of Kake is exploring wind and solar energy options. An anemometer, or wind meter, has been installed above town to track available wind power. A set of solar panels have been installed in town that generate power to help operate the offices for the Organized Village of Kake.     The community is also looking toward biomass as a heat source to supplement the energy supply and reduce costs.…
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Kake Community Forest Project

Kake Community Forest Project

Community Watershed Stewardship
The Kake Community Forest project supports the engagement and empowerment, capacity development, and sustainable economic development within the community of Kake. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="199"] Kake mill owner Kevin Merry inspects a likely cull Yellow-cedar on a resource inventory field trip.[/caption] In 2011 a collaboration between SEACC, SEAWEAD, and the Organized Village of Kake produced the Kake Community Forest project report. This report included a summary of community and ecological values for the community of Kake as well as descriptions for opportunities to develop a sustainable forest stewardship economy that reflects customary and traditional practices of the local people.   Ongoing work stemming from the information included in this report is currently focused on developing capacity for stewardship contracting, development of a small timber and biomass business model and feasibility…
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Kake Renewable Energy Planning

Kake Renewable Energy Planning

Community Watershed Stewardship
The Kake Renewable Energy Planning project coordinates with community partners and stakeholders in an effort to reduce high energy costs and increase community capacity in Kake. [caption id="attachment_1014" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Angel and Todd of SEACC work with Loyd, Bob and Nick of OVK on installing a solar panel array pole mount.[/caption]   The Tongass People and Place Program has partnered with Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Organized Village of Kake, the City of Kake, Kake Tribal Corportaion, the National Renewable Energy Lab, and a number of regional organizations and private energy consultant in project and planning efforts aimed at reducing high energy costs and increasing community capacity in Kake.   The goal of this project is to increase community engagement and empowerment, capacity development, innovative projects, sustainable economic development, and…
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