The 12th Annual Mat-Su Salmon Science and Conservation Symposium was November 13-14 in Palmer, AK!
Chin’an/Tsin’aen (Thank you) to the many who funded, planned, volunteered, presented and participated in any way. This annual Symposium is a forum for sharing information, lessons learned, celebrating successes, and planning for a future with thriving habitat, salmon and people in the Mat-Su basin.
This year’s Symposium was dedicated to the First Peoples of the Mat-Su – the Dena’ina and the Ahtna, including the federally recognized tribes of Knik Tribal Council, Chickaloon Native Village, Native Village of Eklutna, and Native Village of Tyonek – who have been successfully stewarding their salmon resources for thousands of years. Over 120 participants representing private, non-profit, tribal entities, agencies, researchers, and private citizens gathered to learn, share and explore how we can work together to ensure thriving salmon and healthy communities in the Mat-Su for years to come. Over 25 oral presentations covered a range of topics including a special session focused on the impacts of stream temperature on salmon – of particular relevance following a very hot and dry summer, as well as Eklutna River dam removal, working in Partnership, salmon and traditional lands, tribal salmon conservation efforts, economics of sport fishing, salmon habitat science, river restoration, Cook Inlet science, juvenile salmon distribution, invasive species such as pike and elodea, and ensuring adequate stream flow for salmon.
Quick Links: Agenda, Presenter Guidelines, Symposium Flyer, Symposium Flyer (for print), Evening Event Flyer, Symposium Booklet. Copies of presentation slides are available below.
Thank you to Keynote Speakers Professor Courtney Carothers and Jonathan Samuelson
Courtney Carothers is a Professor of Fisheries in the college of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at UAF. Her research explores how fishery systems are being remade by enclosure and privatization processes. She also partners with Indigenous communities to understand social and cultural dimensions of knowledge systems, climate change, subsistence livelihoods, and decolonizing research. Jonathan Samuelson is Yup’ik and Athabascan from the Kuskokwim River communities of Bethel, Georgetown, and McGrath. He currently works for Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission 
and has been appointed by his tribal council to represent them on the Commission since its formation.
Courtney and Jonathan co-presented on their project Indigenizing Salmon Science and Management, which aims at better understanding the ways in which Alaska Native people steward salmon, the values connected to salmon stewardship, and ideas for improving current management practices and systems. They also facilitated an open dialogue taking a deeper and more personal dive into this topic. Keynote presentation slides available here.
Listen to an audio recording of the Keynote here:
The Wild, Local & Traditional Foods Dinner was an evening of celebrating wild, local and traditional foods of the Mat-Su as well as acknowledging the First Peoples and first salmon stewards of this land. Chin’an/Tsin’aen (Thank you) to Turkey Red for hosting, and Angie Wade of Chickaloon Native Village who shared her history with attendees and led us in a short salmon skin craft. Check out the Dinner Menu.
Symposium Presentations Nov 13 & 14 (click on talk titles to access presentation slides)
Stewardship and Monitoring for Healthy Salmon Systems
- Peterson, Ryan; Meiklejohn, Brad; Booton, Eric and Lamoreaux, Marc: Restoring the Eklutna River – A Short Film
- Brophil, Carrie: Eklutna River Salmon Habitat Assessment
- Hixon, Jerrid and Winnestaffer, Jessica: Moose Creek Juvenile Salmon Distribution and Outmigration Timing Project
- Wright, Bruce: Vulnerability Assessment: Prevalence of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins in the Marine Food Webs of Lower Cook Inlet and the South Alaska Peninsula, Alaska
Partnerships – Working Together, Achieving Greater Impacts
- Speed, Jessica: Updates from the Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership
- Geist, Marcus: Salmon Habitat Project Mapper: A Tool for Measuring Progress Toward Partnership Goals
- Hackenmueller, Paul: The Sustainable Southeast Partnership
First People, First Stewards
- Coleman, Maria: Idlughet Qayeht’ana (Eklutna Village Dena’ina) Overview and History of The People, The Salmon, and Traditional Lands, Yesterday and Today
- Winnestaffer, Jessica: Chickaloon Village Traditional Council Salmon Conservation Efforts in the Twenty-First Century
Scale & Scope of Valuing Salmon
- Couch, Andy: Economics of Sport and Commercial Fishing in the Mat-Su
- Delo, Howard: Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission: An Update
- Easley-Appleyard, Bonnie: Endangered Cook Inlet Beluga Whales and the Threats to Their Recovery
- Ellis, Leah and Keith, Kevin: Protecting Fish and Wildlife Habitat in the Mat-Su Basin
- Inman, Sarah: How Data is (or is not) Tractable to Management: A Case Study in the Kuskokwim
Addressing Invasive Species in the Mat-Su Basin
- Swenson, Nicole: Invasive Species in the Tyonek Tribal Conservation District: Updates on our Terrestrial Plant, Northern Pike, and Elodea projects
- Bradley, Parker: What’s Happening with Pike in the Valley?
- Coleman, Dan: Mat-Su Elodea Update
Changes in Freshwater Keep Salmon on the Run: Understanding the Interaction Between Stream Fishes and Water Temperature Processes
- Gerken, Jon and Swenarton, Mary Kate: Interactions Between Stream Fishes and Water Temperature Processes
- Mauger, Sue: Wild Salmon in a Warming World
- Von Biela, Vanessa: Examining Heat Stress in Migrating Adult Pacific Salmon
- Jones, Leslie: Freshwater Drivers Influence Chinook Salmon Productivity in Southcentral Alaska
- Meyer, Benjamin: Landscape Setting Modulates Projected Climate Change Impacts to Growth Rates of Stream-Resident Juvenile Salmon in the Kenai River Watershed
- Dekker, Franklin: Interpreting Stream Discharge Variation in the Deshka River Watershed
- Rich, Benjamin: 2019 Distribution of Juvenile Chinook and Coho Salmon in the Deshka River Watershed
- Rinella, Daniel: The Influence of Stream Temperature on the Relative Abundance of Juvenile Salmon in the Deshka River
- DeCovich, Nicholas: Susitna River Chinook Salmon Stock-Recruit Analysis
Closing Remarks
- LaCroix, Matthew: Pursuing Connection and Sustainability in the Mat-Su Basin
A huge Thank You to the many who funded, planned, volunteered and participated in any way to make the 12th annual symposium a success. We hope to see you next year!
Thank you to our 2019 Symposium Supporters!
