Takshanuk Watershed Council is Hiring!
TWC is looking to hire a new Director: [gview file="http://alaskawatershedcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/TWC_Director_Job_Description_16Oct2013.pdf"]
Hoonah Indian Assocation Addresses Community Energy, Natural Resource Management, & Workforce Development
Like many communities in rural Southeast Alaska, Hoonah is working to address issues with high cost energy, sustainable economic development, and informed resource management. John Hillman, Director of Natural Resources for the Hoonah Indian Association, has developed a multi-faceted project that addresses multiple community needs while building a workforce with the skills necessary to adapt to the changing economic climate in rural Southeast Alaska. The primary goal of this project is to use ecological forest restoration as an avenue for local workforce capacity development in an effort to improve both forest and community resilience. In a collaborative effort between the US Forest Service, Hoonah Indian Assocation, City of Hoonah, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC), and Southeast Alaska Wilderness Exploration, Analysis, and Discovery (SEAWEAD), John has assembled…
Community Snapshot: Sitka
[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…
Food Security in Sitka: The Sitka Local Foods Network
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…
ACRC Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series
Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center hosts a brown bag lunch lecture series on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month at the UAS Auke Bay campus in Juneau. See their lecture schedule below: [gview file="http://www.uas.alaska.edu/acrc/acrc_education_outreach/ACRC_BB_lecture_flyer.pdf"]
Funding Opportunity: Environmental Solutions For Communities Grant Program
Funding Opportunity: Environmental Solutions For Communities Grant Program Deadline to submit proposals: December 16, 2013 Wells Fargo and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation seek to promote sustainable communities through Environmental Solutions for Communities by supporting highly-visible projects that link economic development and community well-being to the stewardship and health of the environment. Collectively, investments under this initiative will promote a sustainable future for communities by: Supporting sustainable agricultural practices and private lands stewardship; Conserving critical land and water resources and improving local water quality; Restoring and managing natural habitat, species and ecosystems that are important to community livelihoods; Facilitating investments in green infrastructure, renewable energy and energy efficiency; and Encouraging broad-based citizen and targeted youth participation in project implementation. Grant awards will typically range…
Funding Opportunity: NOAA Community-Based Marine Debris Prevention & Removal Grant Program
Deadline: November 1, 2013 This funding supports locally driven, community-based marine debris prevention and removal projects that benefit coastal habitat, waterways, and wildlife including migratory fish. Projects awarded through this grant competition have strong on-the-ground habitat restoration components involving the removal of marine debris, including derelict fishing gear. Projects also provide benefits to coastal communities, and create long-term ecological habitat improvements for NOAA trust resources. Through this solicitation NOAA identifies marine debris removal projects, strengthens the development and implementation of habitat restoration through community-based marine debris removal, and fosters awareness of the effects of marine debris to further the conservation of living marine resource habitats, as well as contribute to the understanding of debris types and impacts. Successful proposals through this solicitation will be funded through…
Pullen Creek Riparian Project
This year the Taiya Inlet Watershed Council in Skagway undertook a project to protect critical salmon spawning habitat in Pullen Creek, a popular attraction for visitors. [caption id="attachment_1355" align="aligncenter" width="507"] Pullen Creek and proposed project site[/caption] Located near Skagway's cruise ship docks and featuring dazzling annual runs of king, pink, and coho salmon, Pullen Creek is an easily accessible natural attraction for the many visitors traveling to Skagway each summer. Unfortunately, lacking a formal trail system or viewing area, the creek's riparian area has become degraded by visitors walking along the creek's edges to experience the salmon up close; causing streambank erosion, and trampled riparian vegetation that impact habitat crucial to salmon reproduction in the creek. Road near the creek and riparian area before fence…
GROW STRONG: Takshanuk Watershed Council Growing a Healthy Community
Food security and self-reliance are critical components to building sustainable communities in Southeast Alaska. Southeast communities’ characteristic remoteness and isolation make transport and delivery of important resources such as food or fuel more difficult. Recognizing the importance of working toward community self-reliance and increasing community food security, the residents of Haines voiced a desire for access to more locally produced foods. The Takshanuk Watershed Council listened to this request and responded with the development of their Grow Strong food security program. The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”. Food prices in Southeast communities carry a shipping cost that can be seen in the higher price…
Funding Opportunity: Northern Boundary and Transboundary Rivers Restoration & Enhancement Fund
Northern Boundary and Transboundary Rivers Restoration & Enhancement Fund Call for Proposals for the 2014 Project Year Proposals are due August 25, 2013 The Northern Fund Committee operates within the mandate established for it in the 1999 Agreement between Canada and the United States under the Pacific Salmon Treaty (PST). The mandate states that the Northern Fund shall be employed as a long-term and stable monetary base that supports projects that assist stocks and fisheries covered under the Pacific Salmon Treaty. It specifies that the proceeds from the Northern Fund shall be used to support the following types of activities: Development of improved information for resource management, including better stock assessment, data acquisition and improved scientific understanding of limiting factors affecting salmon production in the freshwater and…