Local Foods
Alaska imports more than 95% of its food and the average grocery store only has enough food for three days. At the Sitka Conservation Society we are working towards creating a more resilient food system by supporting local efforts to protect the habitat of wild foods, support traditional harvest/subsistence lifestyles, increase local food production, create access to wild seafood, reform the school lunch program to include local foods, and increase awareness of local fishing culture.
Click on the programs and activities below to learn more:
Fish to Schools
As the ninth largest seafood port in the country, Sitka is swimming with fish. Students should have access to this nutritious, local food that drives our economy and represents the interconnectedness of our community. Local fish lunches are served twice a month at local schools. The lunch program is served with a “Stream to Plate” curriculum, taking students through the cycle in which fish mature in our waterways, are harvested by local fishermen, undergo processing by our town’s thriving seafood processors, and finally grace our dinner table.
Salmon Tours
Wild Alaskan salmon are the lifeblood of Sitka’s culture and the backbone of its economy. A summer program of the Sitka Conservation SocietySitka Salmon Tours are daily tours that provide an in-depth look on the path salmon take from the stream to the plate.
Wildfoods Potluck
The annual Sitka Conservation Society wild foods potluck celebrates the abundance of wild local foods in the Sitka area, and gives the community a chance to share and sample an incredible variety dishes. Not only is the food always great but a lot of it comes with great stories as well, stories of hunting trips and secret hard-to-reach blueberry patches.
Related Posts:
-
4H Cloverbuds — Pies and Illumination
The Tongass provides an abundance of wild salmon berries, blueberries, and huckleberries—what better way to enjoy their wild summer flavors than in a pie shared with friends and family? The Cloverbuds 4H Club learned how to bake pies this week, mastering a home-baked good that many shy away from. Each Cloverbud went home with a [...]
-
We Love our Fishermen!
Check out this incredible video created by our good friend and local filmmaker, Hannah Guggenheim, documenting the “We Love our Fishermen Lunch” on 2/8/2012. WE LOVE OUR FISHERMEN! The Fish to Schools Program began as a vision at the 2010 Sitka Health Summit and with community support and leadership from the Sitka Conservation Society, we [...]
-
The Tongass is America’s Salmon Forest
The Tongass produces more salmon than all other National Forests combined. These salmon are a keystone species in the temperate rainforest ecosystems and hundreds of species depend on them– including humans. Salmon have been a food source in Southeast Alaska for thousands of years and continue to be the backbone of the economy. The salmon [...]
-
Fish to Schools live on KCAW with three Sitka students!
Listen to a live radio broadcast of the Sitka Conservation Society’s Fish to Schools Program. This program exemplifies our commitment to community sustainability by connecting students to local, healthy, and affordable seafood. Twice a month students are served local fish for lunch at Keet Gooshi Heen, Blatchley Middle School, and now Pacific High. To supplement [...]
-
Thank you Fish to Schools, Sincerely Pacific High
Dear Sitka Conservation Society, Thank you for bringing fish into our school, Pacific High School. You are not only forging a new path in the National School Lunch Program, you are changing the system. Each fish you provide to the schools in the district enriches our student’s nutrient profile as well as connecting them to [...]
