Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership

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Register for the 2022 Salmon Science & Conservation Symposium

Registration is open for the 15th Annual Mat-Su Salmon Science and Conservation Symposium.

The Symposium will be held on November 14 and 15 at the Palmer Depot, 610 S. Valley Way, Palmer, AK. Find Agenda here, and booklet with presentation abstracts here

The call for presentations at this year’s Symposium has closed. Thank you to everyone who is sharing their work!  Click here for Symposium Presenter Guidelines. Presenters, please be sure to register as an attendee on Eventbrite in addition to the “Presenter Abstract Submission” ticket.

The Mat-Su Salmon Science and Conservation Symposium is an annual forum to share information about salmon and their habitat in the Mat-Su Basin. Anyone interested in conservation of Mat-Su Salmon and their habitat is welcome!

Registration is $25 dollars per day and will include lunch. Students and elders may register for free. If admission fees are prohibitive, contact jessica.speed@tu.org to discuss scholarships or a fee waiver.

Register now on Eventbrite.

Keynote Speaker

Johnathan Moore headshot

Jonathan Moore is a Professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, and holds the Liber Ero Research Chair of Coastal Science and Management. He received his PhD from University of Washington and has researched salmon and their watersheds, from Alaska to California to British Columbia. He studies freshwater biodiversity, watersheds, and global change.

In watersheds of western North America migratory salmon support ecosystems, economies, and cultures. However, these fish and their fisheries are threatened by climate change and multiple stressors. How do we steward salmon systems in this era of rapid change?

Here, Moore will share some stories of science and its application for salmon stewardship and climate resilience. The symptoms of climate change and other human pressures are challenging the resilience of salmon systems, ranging from sea level rise to warming river temperatures to glacier retreat.

While these are grave challenges, there are opportunities for forward-looking and collaborative science to help guide proactive conservation and management. Such proactive options can include restoring connectivity, reducing local stressors, and conservation of future habitats for the increased resilience of salmon. There is a need and opportunity for the proactive stewardship of rapidly changing salmon systems to help them cope and adapt to climate change.

Thank you to our Symposium supporters: Mat-Su Borough, National Fish Habitat Partnership, City of Palmer, The Alaska Center, Trout Unlimited Alaska, Great Land Trust, Knik Tribal Council, Palmer Soil and Water Conservation District and Simon Fraser University.

Would you like to help sponsor this important community event? The planning committee is still seeking sponsors. Contact jessica.speed@tu.org.

2022 Symposium Flyer PNG

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Partnership Hosting Riparian Planting Day on June 4

The Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership is hosting a riparian planting day at Jay Nolfi Fish Creek Park in Big Lake on Saturday, June 4, 2022 from 10 a.m until 2 p.m.

This family friendly event will include planting trees, shrubs and flowers along the streambank of Fish Creek to improve both stream habitat and the public space. Food will be provided by Floater’s Pub and other activities will be both educational and entertaining. Please fill out this interest form to help ensure enough food is provided: https://forms.gle/3eRmYrZKCHHWqcKf6

Work or gardening gloves are recommended, as are boots or shoes that can get wet and dirty. Some tools will be provided, but you can also bring your own shovel, rake, or wheel barrow.

Fish Creek supports five Pacific salmon species and the section of the stream adjacent to the Park is an important sockeye salmon spawning area. Plants along waterways create riparian buffers that help prevent bank erosion and pollution from entering the water. Plants provide shade and food inputs to streams that are important for healthy fish populations. Additionally, plants create habitat birds and other wildlife and improves the aesthetic value of the park.

Special thanks  to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for the technical expertise and project coordination. Thank you to the Knik Tribal Conservation District for donating the plants, and Floater’s Pub for donating food for the event, with additional support from Big Lake Community Council, Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association, Trout Unlimited Southcentral Alaska Chapter, and Susitna River Coalition.

Want to learn more about why healthy riparian areas are important for fish? Check out this Riparian Area Science Summary!

Questions? Contact grant.robinson@tu.org or jessica.speed@tu.org for more information.

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Utilizing BLM’s Aquatic Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring Framework to Understand the Condition and Trend of Aquatic Resources

Understanding the condition and trend of aquatic resources is key component of the Bureau of Land Management’s Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) program.  Matt Varner delivered this presentation on the Bureau’s aquatic resource focused AIM framework and how its being implemented across areas of Alaska to the Partnership’s Science & Data Committee on April 28, 2022. In it he provides examples of how the data are being used to assess impacts from land use, evaluate the effectiveness of restoration, and track how habitats are changing over time. While the AIM program is specific to the Bureau of Land Management the study design and methods are compatible with efforts being used by the Alaska DEC and have been adopted by several units of the National Park Service in Alaska.

Matt Varner is the Aquatic Resources Program Leader and a Fisheries Biologist with the Bureau of Land Management in Alaska. Over the last 20 years, Matt has worked on a variety of fish habitat conservation issues with much of the last 14 years in Alaska being focused on regional stream habitat assessments and the development of innovative approaches for improving stream reclamation. Matt earned a BS is Fisheries and Wildlife Management from West Virginia University. He joined the Mat-Su Salmon Partnership Steering Committee in March of 2022 and lives in Wasilla with his wife, Danielle, and kids, Morgan, Mason, and Maverick.

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ADF&G Hosting Streambank Rehabilitation Workshop May 10-11, 20

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish is offering a Streambank Rehabilitation Workshop in the Big Lake area. This workshop will be held over three days: two half-days in a virtual classroom setting and one full day outside in a hands-on setting.

The virtual classroom days will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 10-11, 2022, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The classroom will cover techniques for rehabilitation and restoring riparian habitat including bioengineering construction and plant materials, riparian and salmon habitat needs, bioengineering techniques, and case studies throughout Alaska. As the classroom will be held virtually there is no limit to the number of participants who can attend the classroom portion.

The hands-on day will take place in Big Lake on Friday, May 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Participants will get their hands dirty, and boots muddy while installing a portion of a streambank rehabilitation project using techniques and materials that they learned about in the classroom portion. Due to COVID-19, only 20 people will be allowed to participate in the hands-on portion. Sign up for this portion of the workshop will be on a first-come, first-serve basis (with a waitlist). It is required that participants attend both classroom days in order to participate in the hands-on day.

This workshop is free and open to the public but advance registration is required for the course. Registration for this workshop is open now and will close at 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 4. To sign up for the 2022 Mat-Su Valley Streambank Rehabilitation Workshop or for additional information, please contact the program’s Habitat Biologist Jess Johnson at (907) 267-2403 or by email.

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Western Native Trout Initiative Small Grants Program RFP

The Western Native Trout Initiative (WNTI) and partners are proud to announce the 2022 Small Grants Program Request for Proposals. WNTI is an initiative of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and a recognized National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) that seeks to cooperatively restore and recover 21 western native trout and char species and sub-species across their historic range by funding efforts that raise awareness for the importance of native trout and focus limited financial and human resources toward the highest-impact, locally-led, on-the-ground projects. The WNTI overlaps with the area served by the MatSu Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership, WNTI’s focus is on trout and char species.

The focus of WNTI’s Small Grants Program is on projects with a strong element or primary focus on community outreach, education and/or volunteer engagement; or design/planning/monitoring work. Outreach is our top priority for this program and outreach projects will be ranked the highest, all other things being equal. WNTI’s Small Grants program funding is not intended to pay for a small portion of a large habitat restoration or construction project. Habitat restoration-related activities that are requesting support should primarily involve outreach, education, or volunteer engagement, a community outreach event or work day, or project design/planning/monitoring tasks.

Thank you to RepYourWater, Upslope Brewing Co., Basin+Bend, Wilderness Lite Float Tubes, Western Native Trout Challenge anglers’ registrations and donations, and individual donors for contributing funds in support of the Small Grants Program this year. Approximately $25,000 in funding is available for projects in the 12 western states that are WNTI’s focus.

Individual projects can be funded at a maximum of $5,000.

Applications are due by 5 pm Mountain time on May 27, 2022.  Project funds are awarded on a reimbursable basis and must be expended by December 30, 2023. 

READ THE FULL RFP

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