Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership
www.seakfhp.org
National Fish Habitat Board Meeting – March 10, 2014
Introductions
Neil Stichert – USFWS Juneau Field Office, SEAKFHP Committee Co-Chair
Deborah Hart – SEAKFHP Coordinator
Roger Harding – Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G),
ADF&G Liaison to all Alaska FHPs
David Wigglesworth – USFWS – Region 7, Regional Coordinator
Presentation Objectives
• Provide overview of the Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership
• Demonstrate how the SEAKFHP has risen to become a robust
partnership
• Expand our dialogue with the NFHP Board
Developmental Milestones
2010 – Working Group Forms
– Hosted formal session at AFS Alaska
Chapter meeting
2011 – Candidate FHP Status Granted
– Initial coordination funding secured
2013 – SEAKFHP Matures as Fully
Functioning FHP
–
–
–
–
Formalized Science and Data Comm.
Provided briefing to NFHP Board
Developed draft strategic plan
Co-hosted Southeast Alaska
Watershed Symposium
2012 – SEAKFHP Formalizes
– Coordinator hired
– Governance and partner affirmations
established
2014 – Applies for NFHP Board
Recognition
– Incorporated regional review into
draft strategic action plan
– Completed NFHP recognition
application
– Presented to NFHP Board at March
meeting
Who We Are As a
Partnership…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
NOAA
U.S. Forest Service
Alaska Department of Fish
and Game
Alaska Department of
Environmental Conservation
Central Council Tlingit Haida
Indian Tribes of Alaska
City and Borough of Yakutat
Southeast Alaska Watershed
Coalition
Trout Unlimited
The Nature Conservancy
Sitka Conservation Society
University of Alaska
Southeast
5
…And as part of the people and
economy of Southeast Alaska
• 33 communities- Only three connected to
mainland road system
• Multi-cultural- Tlingit, Haida, Tshimshian
-organized as tribes and
corporations
• 1,500,000 visitors each year
Economy:
• Fishing
• Tourism
• Government
• Mining
• Timber Harvest
A Region With Strong
Connections to Fish
• 96% of Alaskans surveyed say salmon are
essential to the Alaskan way of life.
• Human Use of Salmon
– Nearly 90% of rural households in Southeast
Alaska use salmon.
– On average, rural residents use 75 pounds of
pink, chum, coho, Chinook, and sockeye salmon
annually
• Robust subsistence, sport, and commercial
fisheries support this economy with salmon use
values exceeding $466,000,000 annually in
Southeast*
*Economic Contributions and Impacts of Salmonid Resources in Southeast Alaska,
2010. TCW Economics for Trout Unlimited, Alaska.
Southeast Alaska
A complex landscape and biogeography
Largest contiguous coastal temperate
rainforest in the nation, home to the
Tongass National Forest
Covers nearly 45,000 mi2, with shoreline
length > 16,000 miles
Tides range -4 to +21 feet
> 1,000 named islands
> 5,000 mapped anadromous fish streams
> 20,000 lakes and ponds
8
The Tongass National Forest is globally recognized as
important habitat for wild Pacific salmon
Aquatic Habitat
Stressors in Southeast Alaska
• Development encroachment on
riparian corridors and streams
• Fish passage culvert barriers (1,200+)
state, federal and private
• Existing and expanded mining activities
and exploration
• Hydropower potential
• Climate change
• Post-industrial logging landscape400,000 acres – state, federal, and
private ownerships
Stressors – Direct Effects
Gravel Removal – Twelvemile Creek,
Prince of Wales Island
Logging in the 1950s to early 1980s
Streamside Harvest & Wood Removal –
Iris Creek, Kruzof Island
Large wood removal –
Saginaw Creek, Kuiu Island
11
Stressors – Indirect Effects
Resultant watershed condition declines due to:
• stream erosion and widening, decreased pool
depth, loss of floodplain connections
• backlog of road maintenance
• restricted access to fish habitat upstream of
culverts
Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership
Conservation Priorities:
Protect fish habitat in freshwater, estuaries and near-shore areas
Maintain and restore water quality and quantity in the region
Restore fragmented and degraded fish habitats in impacted areas
– Support region-wide restoration prioritization and planning
– Align organizational approaches to fish passage at road/stream
crossings
– Facilitate regional adoption of best management practices for
restoration and monitoring
Tongass NF
Priority Watersheds
2014
Identify Priority
Watersheds for
Restoration
• Local values - engage
stakeholders for feedback and
support
• Acting now will prevent
continued decline of
watershed condition
• Compared to lower 48, small
investments have large
impacts – our salmon can
immediately use restored
habitats.
Partner Services
Foster interagency & regional communication
Facilitate regional funding opportunities
Support regional assessment sharing
Provide - project technical review and
endorsement
- annual symposium and event
facilitation
Elevate regionally shared conservation priorities
16
Accomplishments
Organizational Development
•
•
•
•
Broad and diverse partner support
Formal governance structure
Interim operational funding support
Strong NFHP relationships
Partner Services
•
•
•
•
Promoting communication and cooperation
Robust website and archive
Public events
Project endorsements
Strategic Action Plan
•
•
Promoting regional conservation priorities
Highlights a region with strong capacity for scientific assessment
Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership
Next Steps
Implement Direct Actions from Strategic Plan
– Outreach to new partners (native corporations, industry, municipalities,
marine stakeholders)
– Maintain focus on partnership services - New Communications Committee
– Align 2015 USFS Watershed Condition Framework and the National Fish
Habitat Assessment activities in Southeast Alaska
Establish 2014 Coordinator and Committee Work plans
– Support 2014 AFS/AWRA Conference
– Support Coastal FHP presence at RAE/Ocean Society Conference
Develop Strategy for Long-term Operational Support
– Current funding secured through October 2014
– Exploring 3-yr operational funding options
Thank you and we welcome your questions
19