We’ll be exploring the islands, forests and waters of Sitka Sound and learning about the rich history of this amazing place: how it has shaped the lives of those who’ve called Sitka home, and how Sitka Sound has been shaped in turn.

Guest speakers from the Sitka Historical Society, the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society, as well as local Sitkans with a love of history and unique knowledge of this amazing place will help bring the days of Sitka’s yesteryear to life.

Boarding for the tour will begin at 5:15pm from Crescent Harbor Shelter, departing at 5:30pm, and returning home at 8pm.  Tickets can be purchased at Old Harbor Books for $35.

Any questions? Call 747-7509 or email erin@sitkawild.org.

See you on the boat!

Chris’s classroom is unique in that he uses the model of project based learning. This non traditional and adaptive teaching style gave me the freedom to let kids learn by building and being creative instead of talking at them. They learned how hydropower works by building their own water wheel. They compared this to oil rigs as they created their own ocean with layers of sugar and sand to represent oil and the ocean floor. They saw as they pulled the “oil” out of the water with a straw, the “ocean floor” was disturbed. Instead of me telling them, they got to create the simulation on their own. They could see how hydropower is a clean source of energy and understand how our Blue Lake Dam works.

We talked about the importance of protecting watersheds, which is a huge concept for third graders! Kids crumpled up paper to create miniature mountain peaks. I sprayed water on all of the peaks and they watched it trickle down to create this big watershed. We did the same thing with food dye and saw how far it could travel if you dump a pollutant at the top of a mountain. The kids watched it happen in front of their eyes instead of being told what might happen. After that, the kids asked f we could have a trash pick up day to remove all the garbage from Cutthroat Creek to stop it from spreading.

Sitka Conservation Society’s advocates for protecting the Tongass and promoting ecological resiliency. By teaching third graders why conservation matters, they will have a better understanding of why the Tongass is worth protecting. Through these projects and others that the kids created, we all learned how even though water is abundant here, it relates and impacts other things in the Tongass and should be monitored and protected.

After exploring these things, the kids got to break up into groups and focus on a final project they were most interested in. One group investigated the benefits and drawbacks of the Blue Lake Dam Expansion Project. They went on a tour of the facility, interviewed key people from the project, and talked to Sitkans about what they thought. Another group wanted to know how to proper filter water. They did a Skype interview with a woman who builds filters for families in Africa. The kids were creative, inquisitive, and had incredible results. Conservation in the Classroom was a terrific collaboration between SCS and Chris Bryner’s class. Students walked away with a better understanding of their landscape and how to protect it.

Below are the trips and dates with spots available for volunteers.  To volunteer, fill out the forms and safety information here, and email them to adam@sitkawild.org and bryan@sitkawild.org.

Slocum Arm- 6 days – July 8-July 14 – 2 volunteers

Volunteers will be travelling to Slocum Arm in West Chichagof Wilderness Area to help researchers monitor plots for the Yellow-Cedar study by Stanford University.  The crew will be transported by charter boat to Slocum Arm, then access field plot by kayak.

Slocum Arm – 5 days – July 14-July18 –  2 volunteers

Volunteers will be travelling to Slocum Arm in West Chichagof Wilderness Area to help researchers monitor plots for the Yellow-Cedar study by Stanford University.  The crew will be transported by charter boat to Slocum Arm, then access field plot by kayak.  This trip will trade-out with the previous trip on July 14th.

Port Banks/Whale Bay- 5 days – July12-July16 – 2 volunteers

After boating from Sitka to Whale Bay, the crew will off-load with gear and packrafts. After hiking to Plotnikof Lake, the crew will packraft to the end of the lake, portage to Davidoff Lake and paddle to the end of the lake, then reverse the trip back to salt water.  Volunteers will assist SCS staff and collect ecological and visitor use data. At the end of the trip, volunteers will fly back to Sitka by float plane.

Red Bluff Bay- 8 days – July 21-July 28 – 2 volunteers

Red Bluff Bay on the eastern side of South Baranof Wilderness Area is a spectacular destination. The SCS crew will spend 8 days camping in the bay and traveling by kayak and foot to monitor base-line ecological conditions and visitor use before flying back to Sitka by float plane.

Red Bluff Bay- 7 days – July 28-August 3 – 2 volunteers

Red Bluff Bay on the eastern side of South Baranof Wilderness Area is a spectacular destination. The SCS crew will spend 8 days camping in the bay and traveling by kayak and foot to monitor base-line ecological conditions and visitor use before flying back to Sitka by float plane.  This trip will trade-out with the previous trip on August 3.

Taigud Islands – 7 days – August 11-August 17 – 3 volunteers

Volunteers will paddle from Sitka to the Taiguds and surrounding islands to assist SCS Wilderness staff monitor recreational sites and collect beach debris for future pick-up. The crew will then paddle back to Sitka.  *Note: These dates are not yet firm and may be subject to change.

Wood drying at a local kiln

Through the current grant, SCS will continue to promote regional young growth markets, incentivize forest restoration and further the Transition Framework by creating an educational opportunity for local youth that focuses on young growth timber for structural and building applications. Currently, SCS will work with a local miller to process local red alder. Red alder has been historically considered a ‘weed species’, however due to its abundance it is quickly becoming valued for use in specialty wood products, cabinetry, furniture and architectural millwork such as wainscoting or molding. SCS is encouraging regional industry integration by building relationships between producers and users. The red alder will become part of the Allen Auditorium renovation project on the Sheldon Jackson campus.  This partnership will also allow for SCS to sponsor several local high school students to work under the supervision of local builder Pete Weiland on the renovation project this summer. Students will be given the opportunity to spend approximately one month working on the Auditorium renovation project and will be partnered with a college mentor. The wood will be provided to the renovation project to produce an installation and demonstration project that highlights red alder as a viable material.  SCS is now accepting applications from local high school students who are interested in participating in this project. Applications are due by July 1 and can be emailed to info@sitkawild.org .

Join the Alaska Way-of-Life club for fun summer activities.The clubs will begin on June 10th and run through July 21st. To register, contact Courtney at 747.7509 or courtney@sitkawild.org.

Alaska way-of-life Hiking Club . Every Wednesday from 2:30 to 4:00 pm Every week, this club will explore a different trail in Sitka and learn new skills like wild edible identification and harvesting, tracking, and GPS/ map work. Open to all ages.

Gardening Club  Every Monday from 2:30-4:00 at St. Peters Fellowship Farm and Thursdays (community outteach/filed trips), Kids will be able to get their hands dirty every week at St. Peters Fellowship Farm while learning gardening techniques and skills. Open to all ages.

Water/Kayaking Club  Tuesdays 2:30-3:30 pm:
This club will incorporate classes in tides, tying knots, intertidal life, creating survival kits, and kayaking. Ages 8 and older

Registration Forms:
http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publications-db/catalog/akh/AKH-00007.pdf
http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/4h/forms/4H-Emergency-Medical-Health.pdf
http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/4h/forms/4H-code-of-conduct.pdf

This was SAFV’s fifth year participating in the Girls on the Run program and the Sitka Conservation Society’s first. Our mission at SCS ties us to protecting the beautiful Tongass National Forest that surrounds us and also connects us to the development of sustainable communities. We also use the triple bottom line as one of our guiding principles, meaning that healthy communities, protection of the natural environment, and economic vitality have to be balanced for a sustainable earth.

Twice a week throughout this past fall and spring, I would join other volunteer coaches at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School to learn with young women about topics like peer pressure, bullying, and self-reflection. Activities would range from circling up and collectively trying to keep a beach ball up in the air to running laps forwards and backwards in pairs to even making dream catchers for patients at the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC)’s hospital. We asked each other questions, smiled and laughed while going over the days lessons, and simply had fun.

Programs like Girls on the Run help us create space for young women to come together as a team, work through topics that discuss the meaning of community and positive thinking, all the while creating relationships to support one another. These are seeds that overtime will bloom into the sustainable community we work hard to have. Community is not a dream although it is quite often idealized—a community is people and the relationships that hold them together. Having programs like Girls on the Run are preventative measures for our young women here in Sitka. The Sitka Conservation Society would like to thank SAFV for their commitment to community empowerment and prevention. Preventative work makes it so that we are not treating hardships or mistakes after they have already happened but instead working to avoid them all together through education, mentorship, and teamwork.

“Girls on the Run is so much FUN!” A team-building exercise, we all circled up and tried to keep this beach ball in the air as long as possible.

“1, 2, 3-GO!” Closing this year’s Girls on the Run program was our 5K run, where members of the community joined our girls for their big day!

On May 25, 2013, tens of thousands of people from around the world will gather in more than 300 cities in protest of the agrochemical giant, Monsanto.

Sitka’s March Against Monsanto will be held on Castle Hill, the location where Russia sold the vast territory of Alaska—land it did not own—to the U.S.A.

March organizer, Brett Wilcox, chose Castle Hill for Sitka’s March Against Monsanto for its symbolic significance. “There are many similarities between the original ‘Land Grab’ that took place with the first European expansion and Monsanto’s current global ‘Seed Grab,’ Wilcox states. “Both involve the privatization of Nature, a concept that was largely foreign to Native Americans and Alaska Natives. And both have resulted in loss of freedom and loss of life. The difference is that Monsanto’s seed grab not only further disenfranchises Native Americans; it disenfranchises all nations and all people. The citizens of the world are, as it were, sitting in our canoes in Sitka Sound, watching powerful people and corporations claim and repackage life as their own, thereby stealing our seed sovereignty and seed freedom.”

Chuck Miller, a Tlingit “Elder in Training”, will preside at the event. “My grandmother used to teach my family that we need to treat our food with respect or it will not provide for us,” Miller states. “My ancestors’ teachings are still a very big part of my life and I want to be able to pass that on to my children, grandchildren and those yet to come.  GMOs are not the way to treat Mother Earth and the generations yet to come.  I urge all the Native people of Alaska and our non-Native brothers and sisters to come and support this cause.”

“Sitka’s March Against Monsanto will not be a traditional march,” says Wilcox. “Sitka’s event will be a ceremony to honor nature as well as the indigenous people of Alaska and the Americas. We will stand on Castle Hill united with the people of the world in defense and protection of life and nature.”

Sitka’s March Against Monsanto will take place at 2:00 pm on Castle Hill in Sitka, Alaska.

Chuck Miller, 907-752-9955, cohomojo25@yahoo.com

Brett Wilcox, 907-747-7437, brett@runningthecountry.com

http://www.runningthecountry.com

Facebook: “March Against Monsanto Sitka”

The Sitka Conservation Society’s community organizer Ray Friedlander participated in the event and chose to discuss and recreate the ecological relationships commonly found throughout the Tongass National Forest from the perspective of Coho salmon.

For the activity, girls ranging from ages 5 to 10 embodied a particular role in the web. Roles included fishermen, aquatic insects, old growth forest, eagles, bears, ocean, and rivers, which were represented by photographs that the girls wore around their necks. The most popular role however was the Coho salmon, which was represented by a stuffed animal toted around by one of the girls as she made her way from Girl Scout to Girl Scout with a red ribbon. As the salmon “swam” its way to each critter or habitat in the web, questions were posed to the group about the significance of that relationship.

“What relationship do you think this salmon has to the old growth forest?” Friedlander asked the group.

“The shade from the trees helps keep the salmon from getting too hot,” said one Girl Scout. “The roots stop the soil from going into the river and making it dirty,” said another.

Each Girl Scout was then asked to loosely hold on to the ribbon, and help answer the questions posed to the other roles of the ecological web. After every role of the web was discussed, the Girl Scouts looked around to see that in fact they were all connected by a ribbon that represented the relationships formed through their species and habitat interactions with the salmon.

Embodying the ecological relationships that exist between different species and habitats of the Tongass allowed Sitka Girl Scouts to see how important it is to view these relationships as interconnected rather than separate. For the Sitka Consevation Society and Girl Scouts of Alaska, inspiring our youth to become stewards of the environment promotes the leadership skills and knowledge needed to ensure a healthy, protected Tongass and sustainable community.

The Sitka Conservation Society created an opportunity for community members to deepen their relationship to the land through a “spring edibles plant series.” This class explored edible plants in three different habitats: the forest, estuary, and coastline. Students learned how to identify plants, where they are commonly found, harvesting techniques, and preparation methods. And now, we hope, they have a deeper appreciation and connection to the Tongass National Forest.

This course was a partnership with the Kayaani Commission, which was established in 1998 to “preserve and protect the historical and traditional knowledge of the way plants are used.” Kayaani Commissioners shared a customary wisdom, complementing instructor Scott Brylinsky’s extensive knowledge of edibles and plants.

Click here for an online field guide to the wild edibles in the Tongass. Enjoy the tastes of the Tongass!