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

2012 – SEAKFHP Formalizes– Coordinator hired – Governance and partner affirmations

established

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

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

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• 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

Who We Are As a Partnership…

…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 AlaskaA 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

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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 landscape- 400,000 acres – state, federal, and private ownerships

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Large wood removal – Saginaw Creek, Kuiu Island

Gravel Removal – Twelvemile Creek, Prince of Wales IslandStressors – Direct Effects

Logging in the 1950s to early 1980s

Streamside Harvest & Wood Removal – Iris Creek, Kruzof Island

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

Stressors – Indirect Effects

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

Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat Partnership

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.

Tongass NFPriority Watersheds

2014

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

Partner Services

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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

Accomplishments

Southeast Alaska Fish Habitat PartnershipNext 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

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Thank you and we welcome your questions