SALMON HABITAT IN ALASKA A brief discussion of importance of Citizen Science

Good foundations If you want to have a serious discussion of protecting salmon habitat in Alaska, you need to start with David Montgomery’s “King of Fish” and Jim Lichatowich’s ‘Salmon People and Place.” These books are not about Alaska but they are precautionary tales for where we do not want to be.

LONG GONE: Cutting up king strips on the Yukon River 1977 Photo by Gale Vick

Who will save the fish? Chinook in trouble Last viable Chinook wild stocks in the world in Alaska Many stakeholders We are all participants and responsible

The reality is very complex: There are a lot of players and many overlays

Our lack of knowledge and data There are a lot of great scientists conducting lots of studies on habitat issues all over Alaska, but we have vast watersheds with complicated hydrology and unknown factors related to spawning habitat There is simply not enough time and money to adequately cover the issue in the face of accelerating climate changes

Paying Attention “A fisheries professor once told me that only a salmon really knows what constitutes salmon habitat... An important part of the Native Americans and Euro-Americans and the reason why the Indians were able to co-evolve a sustainable relationship with the salmon was this; they paid attention. They paid attention to the details of the world they lived in.” (J. Lichatowich, “Salmon, People and Place” p. 73)

Importance of Canada: Salmon know no borders

YUKON RIVER MAP

Two primary ways to protect salmon habitat Apply maximum protective measures Increase our knowledge

How CBM can affect greater understanding CBM – Community Based Monitoring: how ordinary citizens can participate in creating baseline data and understanding climate changes over time

Ecosystems needs In northwest America, salmon are a keystone species, having a great inter-independent impact on the vast ecosystems they inhabit. Decaying salmon carcasses, rich in nitrogen, sulfur, carbon and phosphorus, are transferred from the ocean to terrestrial wildlife such as bears and birds of prey, and to the riparian woodlands adjacent to rivers. This has impacts for the next generation of salmon as well. Nutrients from decaying salmon can be washed downstream to estuaries where they accumulate and provide further support for estuarine breeding birds. In rivers where this cycle is disrupted by dams or other obstructions, there is an extreme loss of recycled nutrients

The importance of stakeholder knowledge Stakeholders share local knowledge and recent harvest information from their local communities with Alaskan and Canadian agency biologists in a variety of ways Committees of stakeholders representing the Alaska fisheries typically meet during the late fall, winter, and spring months to discuss with state and federal managers the past season, and to plan for the coming season. Local and traditional knowledge (LTK) is incorporated in many research projects and in-season and post-season interviews

LTK – Local and Traditional Knowledge Traditional knowledge (TK) refers to the cumulative and transmitted knowledge, experience, and wisdom of human communities with a long-term attachment to place. Some researchers and Indigenous practitioners prefer the term ‘Indigenous science’ because it emphasizes the dynamic nature of these knowledge systems, the systematic nature of observations they generate, and the fact that science is not a uniquely Western paradigm. In contrast, local knowledge (LK) refers to the knowledge of the local residents of a community, often the users of local resources, primarily involves knowledge of local species and dynamics, and is not necessarily embedded within an explicit belief system. Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council

Fish wheels on the Upper Yukon River 2007 Photo by Gale Vick