Collaborative forest, stream restorations benefit Alaskan communities

February 13, 2024

ALASKA – On the Tongass National Forest a major collaboration is underway to restore streams and forests, with cascading benefits to local communities. Ambitious stewardship efforts are already in full swing, thanks to partnerships between the USDA Forest Service, tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, federal and state management agencies, local contractors and environmental organizations.

Group of men out on the field — Forest Service's Eric Castro (second from left) is joined by Robert Hughes (far left) and Angelo Lerma (far right), from Ḵéex̱’ Ḵwáan Community Forest Partnership, and Kelsey Dean (second from right), from Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition, to assess the placement of a log into Shorty Creek on Kuiu Island. Adding wood to streams helps build salmon habitat and adds flood-resilient structure to the stream and banks. Photo courtesy of Lee House, Sitka Conservation Society.

“We’ve been working on restoration for a while now, but this is an exciting moment because it’s gaining attention for its impact beyond just restoring the landscape,” said Tongass Hydrologist and Watershed Program Manager Katherine Prussian. “Now we’re seeing how it is feeding the economy, creating jobs, increasing operators, increasing contractors and working with tribal organizations.”

Momentum from the last decade of this collaborative restoration work helped inspire the core of the USDA’s recent Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy. The strategy supports department staff and management efforts to collaborate with communities, tribes and local partnership networks to align with their values and priorities. It also empowers this work to center local and traditional knowledge to sustainably steward watersheds and forest habitats that are essential to the ways of life of the region. The work continues to

Woman wearing yellow hardhat out in the forest — Tongass Hydrologist and Watershed Program Manager Katherine Prussian out in the field. Photo courtesy of Lee House, Sitka Conservation Society.

revitalize deer, berry and salmon spawning habitat—supporting local food security, Indigenous food sovereignty and local livelihoods tied to food such as commercial fishing.

These stewardship efforts are rooted in community—listening to current stewardship priorities and working towards the benefit of future generations. The Tongass National Forest is honored to work with tribal partners across Southeast Alaska, from the northern reaches of the Tongass with the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe to the southern extent with the Ketchikan Indian Community, and in between with the Hoonah Native Forest Partnership, Ḵéex̱ ’Ḵwáan Community Forest Partnership, Klawock Indigenous Stewards Partnership, and Prince of Wales Tribal Conservation District. Working cooperatively is returning communities to how this region has been stewarded by the Lingít, Haida and Tsimshian for thousands of years: as whole, interconnected lands and waters.

“Having grown up in Southeast Alaska and worked here for the last thirty years, it’s been exciting for me,” said Prussian. “Not only to be working with communities, local crews and the people on the ground, but to know that because of the Strategy, it is cemented as something that we are supposed to be doing.” Prussian cites her work over the last eight years with the Hoonah Native Forest Partnership as one of the most rewarding opportunities of her career. “I'm not just working for the agency; I'm working for and with the people who depend on these resources.”

Dive deeper into restoration work and learn about community forest partnerships in this recent Juneau Empire column.

Group photo of seven men wearing hardhats and reflective vests out in the forest — The Ḵéex̱’ Ḵwáan Community Forest Partnership crew alongside the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition and the Petersburg Ranger District worked to add large wood structures into Shorty Creek on Kuiu Island to foster salmon spawning and rearing habitat. Beyond Kuiu Island having important salmon-bearing streams that provide fish for the residents of Kake, the area is also traditional Lingít homelands to many who live there. Photo courtesy of Lee House, Sitka Conservation Society.