07Oct 2013 by Angie Eldred
Community Snapshot: Sitka

Community Snapshot: Sitka

Community Watershed Stewardship
[caption id="attachment_1439" align="alignleft" width="711"] Sitka, Alaska. Image from City & Borough of Sitka website[/caption]   Last month, the Coalition teamed up with Bob Christensen, coordinator for the People Place Program and Mike Skinner, a sustainable economic development specialist from Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Seattle to spend a week in Sitka checking out the happenings at Southeast Conference's Annual Meeting and meeting with members of the community working firsthand on informed resource management and sustainable development issues.   We first met with Lisa Sadleir-Hart, Board President of the Sitka Local Foods Network. She gave us a brief history of the organization, born of a community need for access to more nutritious, locally produced foods. Sitka Local Foods Network promotes and encourages the use of locally grown, harvested, and produced foods in Sitka…
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04Oct 2013 by Angie Eldred
Food Security in Sitka: The Sitka Local Foods Network

Food Security in Sitka: The Sitka Local Foods Network

Community Watershed Stewardship
  Food Security in Sitka: The Sitka Local Foods Network   Born of a need and desire voiced by the Sitka community to have more access to healthy, locally produced foods, The Sitka Local Foods Network is a non-profit organization working to support a thriving local food system in their community.   During the 2008 Annual Sitka Health Summit, community members identified a need for better access to healthy, locally produced food as a community health priority. The Sitka Local Foods Network was created to support the development of a community market, community greenhouse, and community garden program to promote a local food system.   The Local Foods Network currently focuses on the following five priorities: 1. Creating and operating the Sitka Farmers Market 2. Expanding local community and family…
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19Jul 2013 by Angie Eldred
Sitka Conservation Society: Second Growth Structures in the Tongass NF

Sitka Conservation Society: Second Growth Structures in the Tongass NF

Community Watershed Stewardship
  Video and narrative courtesy of Sitka Conservation Society  Second Growth Structures in the Tongass National Forest from Sitka Conservation Society on Vimeo.   On July 3rd, 2013, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced a commitment to conserving the remaining old growth temperate rainforests on the Tongass National Forest. He stated that this will be accomplished by transitioning timber harvest out of old growth harvest towards using 2nd growth forest resources. This announcement comes on the heels of announcements by President Obama regarding the need to take action on climate change and to conserve, restore, and protect forest resources as a carbon bank to mitigate climate change. The Sitka Conservation Society applauds this announcement and feels that the time is past due for conserving what remains of our globally rare temperate rainforest old…
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22Feb 2013 by Angie Eldred
Beyond Monitoring: Adaptive Management Practitioner’s Workshop

Beyond Monitoring: Adaptive Management Practitioner’s Workshop

Events, Trainings & Opportunities, Resources
Your participation in the following workshop will help communities, natural resource management agencies, and partners further our mutual priorities of adaptive management and ecological monitoring:   Beyond Monitoring: Adaptive Management Practitioner’s Workshop Sitka, AK April 28-30, 2013     Background The Sitka Conservation Society and more recently the Sitka Sound Science Center have been working with the USFS Sitka Ranger District on augmenting monitoring needs by conducting ecological monitoring projects. The goal of these efforts is to contribute to the science and techniques of watershed restoration and ecosystem (terrestrial, freshwater, and marine) management by incorporating multi-party monitoring information and community volunteers in a meaningful way. This workshop will help guide these efforts to maximize their pertinence and contribution to existing resource management needs, and serve as a case study for…
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22Feb 2013 by Angie Eldred
Local Wood, Local Building: Bike Shelter Coming to Sitka Sound Science Center

Local Wood, Local Building: Bike Shelter Coming to Sitka Sound Science Center

Community Watershed Stewardship
(post written by Ray Friedlander, shared from Sitka Conservation Society)    Notorious for having bikes chained along its railway, the Sitka Sound Science center is upgrading its parking for those traveling on wheels. The Construction Tech class at Sitka High, under the instruction of Randy Hughey, is building a bike shelter for the Science center made of young growth Sitka spruce and old growth red cedar from Prince of Wales Island. The 6,000 board feet of this Alaskan wood was milled by Mel Cooke of Last Chance Enterprises out of Thorne Bay. From Cooke’s perspective, the logs are very easy to work with – very symmetrical, very little taper, and mostly comes out straight. “I enjoy cutting it, it cuts real easy, and the wood looks really good– beautiful boards” says…
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