Wilderness
SCS was born out of the desire to protect parts of the Tongass forever as designated Wilderness Areas. Since then, we continue to be stewards of our Wilderness and advocate for more Wilderness protection. Our Wilderness crew spends countless hours bushwhacking, paddling, hiking, and climbing to chart on-the-ground conditions. We also seek to connect Sitkans and Tongass residents with their wild places by incorporating volunteers on research trips, educating the public of Wilderness values, and sharing the pristine beauty of Wildernesses locally and nationally. Learn more about Wilderness designation and the history of Wilderness on Wilderness.net.
Community Wilderness Stewardship Project
The CWSP is an effort to get Sitkans out into our Wilderness Areas to help SCS conduct research and monitoring expeditions. Find out how you can help by volunteering on a research expedition or by collecting data on your next hunting, hiking, kayaking, or fishing trip.
Wild Places
Check out the Wild places in the Tongass with SCS’s wilderness crew. Here you can see our interactive map, track the Wilderness Crew in real-time via GPS, see video dispatches from the field, scroll through photos, read our reports.
Advocacy
Wilderness designation has protected some of the most unique and beautiful places in the Tongass, but there are still threats like climate change, mismanagement, and over-use. SCS constantly works to protect our Wilderness areas from threats and actively advocate for more Wilderness designation of important ecosystems.
Climate Change in the Tongass
SCS is keeping a close watch on how climate change affects the Tongass through annual summer field work. This research, which supplements that being done by the Forest Service and other agencies, includes monitoring changes in ice packs, glaciers, and plant and animal population. While we hate to see the Tongass negatively impacted by global warming, having good data on these changes is crucial for climate change advocacy work that could ultimately prevent future harm.
Related Posts:
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“Calvin” Cave
CALVIN CAVE is named for Jack Calvin one of the original founders of the Sitka Conservation Society who helped to protect West Chichagof as a Wilderness area. The following report and map were produced by Kevin Allred with the Tongass Cave Project. Kevin joined the SCS Wilderness crew on a trip to West Chichagof in [...]
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Kayak Skills/Rescue & Wilderness Monitoring Training
Saturday, June 9 and Sunday, June 10, 2012, 10am-5pm ACA instructors Adam Andis and Darrin Kelly will teach all of the skills you need to be a safe and confident paddler, so that you can get out and enjoy our coastal wilderness areas and volunteer with the Sitka Community Wilderness Stewardship Project to collect needed [...]
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Volunteer with the Wilderness Project
Interested in volunteering with the Community Wilderness Stewardship Project? Here are a couple of ways to get your hands dirty protecting you local Wilderness Areas: Heading out into the Wilds on your own? If you are planning to get out hunting, hiking, fishing, paddling, etc. in a designated Tongass Wilderness Area (like West Chichagof-Yakobi or [...]
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Wilderness Project 2011 Final Report
The Sitka Community Wilderness Stewardship Project seeks to connect communities with their local Wilderness areas by facilitating volunteer stewardship and monitoring. Over the past three years, the project has been an overwhelming success and will be continuing in to 2012 and 2013. This is the Final Report for the 2011 Community Wilderness Stewardship Project. Components [...]
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Seeking Summer Wilderness Intern
The Sitka Conservation Society and Sitka District of the US Forest Service are seeking an applicant to support the Sitka Community Wilderness Stewardship Project. The Wilderness Intern will assist SCS and USFS coordinate and lead monitoring expeditions during the 2012 summer field season. If interested, please review the position description below and submit a resume [...]
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Wilderness Expedition Grant 2012
Sitka Community Wilderness Stewardship Project Expedition Grant Program Description: The Community Wilderness Stewardship Project monitors the two Wilderness areas that the Sitka Conservation Society helped to create, the West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness and the South Baranof Wilderness. We conduct research expeditions to collect data ranging from botanical surveys to small mammal genetic mapping to glacial change [...]
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Seeking Summer Botany Intern
We are seeking an applicant who is comfortable identifying Pacific Northwest flora, documenting and cataloging herbarium quality samples as part of the Sitka Community Wilderness Stewardship Project. The Botany Intern will accompany the SCS Wilderness field crew on expeditions to identify, record, and collect plant specimens. If interested, please submit a resume and cover letter [...]
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Expedition: Russell Fjord
In the summer of 2011, the SCS Wilderness crew traveled north to Russell Fjord Wilderness to assist the Yakutat ranger district in Wilderness monitoring. Check out the video, report, and photos to learn more about the project and this uniquely rugged Wilderness. From Disenchantment Bay, at the upper end of Yakutat Bay, heavily glaciated Russell [...]
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Wilderness Expedition: Cross Baranof
Updated: 1/16/2010 The land enclosed in the borders of South Baranof Wilderness Area is steep, remote, and difficult to travel. Other than the intrepid mountain goat hunters, this area of the Wilderness receives almost no foot traffic. In August of 2011, as part of the Sitka Community Wilderness Stewardship Project, as expedition was organized to [...]
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Backwoods Lecture: The Other Route Across the Island
January 15th 5:00pm (note time change) Kettleson Memorial Library, Sitka Adam Andis from the Sitka Conservation Society leads the Sitka Community Wilderness Stewardship Project. The project seeks to involve the community to monitor on-the-ground conditions in local Wilderness Areas. In the summer of 2011, the SCS Wilderness Crew spent countless hours bushwhacking in the field, [...]
