Yakutat Salmon Paleontology Project

Yakutat Salmon Paleontology Project

Community Watershed Stewardship
    The City and Borough of Yakutat is working on a paleontology project to get a glimpse at historic salmon runs of the past on the Situk River.   In partnership with the University of Idaho, University of Alaska, and the Army Corps of Engineers, the project will combine paleontology and genetics work to gain a better understanding of what sockeye runs on the Situk River looked like years ago.   The Nunatak and Hubbard glaciers are part of one of the largest ice fields on earth and are melting rapidly, which is causing the glaciers to surge.  Flooding of the Situk River occurred in the nineteenth century and it is likely that a flooding event will occur again, which may severely impact many of the species on which…
Read More
Yakutat Students Learn About Wetlands Science

Yakutat Students Learn About Wetlands Science

Community Watershed Stewardship
  Yakutat's 6th grade students joined with the US Forest Service and the City and Borough of Yakutat to promote conservation of wetlands and gain experience in wetlands science and research occurring within their community. Yakutat Wetlands from Sarah Spencer on Vimeo.   The students put together this video showcasing their wetlands studies as an entry for both a national video contest and a local Alaska contest, the Chugach Children's Forest Wetlands Youth Media Contest. The contests are for schools and youth organizations participating in wetland and watershed stewardship, and winners receive $1,000 to support their wetlands stewardship projects.   The contest is offered through WetlandsLIVE, a distance learning program that provides a year-long emphasis on wetlands through a series of live webcasts. These webcasts feature wetlands around the world,…
Read More
Yakutat Coastal Learning Center

Yakutat Coastal Learning Center

Community Watershed Stewardship
The City and Borough of Yakutat Office of Planning and Natural Resources has partnered with Yakutat Public Schools, the US Forest Service, and Americorps to develop the Yakutat Coastal Learning Center. The goal of this project is to establish the office of Planning and Natural Resources as the center of education, research and public outreach in the Yakutat community. The project, staffed by Bill Lucey and Sarah Liben of the Planning and Natural Resources office, and Americorps member Phillip Carson, will accomplish this goal through an array of different objectives and projects including: -the development and integration of a place-based environmental curriculum focusing on themes related to fisheries and wildlife for grades K-12 -the development of a science center for use by researchers, community members, students -the involvement of students…
Read More
Biomass Experiment and Beluga Whale Research in Yakutat

Biomass Experiment and Beluga Whale Research in Yakutat

Community Watershed Stewardship
How the Yakutat Salmon Board is working to promote their watersheds,salmon habitat,and local economy Biomass Experimental Plantation: In collaboration with Yakutat Power and the Yak-Tat Kwaan native Corporation, Yakutat Salmon Board (YSB) crews cleared two acres of poorly regenerating second growth spruce and planted six tree species to determine species compositions best suited to Yakutat's climate.  If successful the trial will be expanded to 2400 acres of energy crops as an alternative fuel source to diesel for the community. Anadromous Waters Cataloguing: In partnership with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) , Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) and the United States Forest Service (USFS), YSB coordinated a landscape level inventory of unmapped salmon streams in the Eastern Forelands.  The project gained support of a USFS funded…
Read More