Community Engagement in a Stream-network Assessment of Salmon Thermal-habitat in the Situk River Watershed of Yakutat, Alaska

The Situk River is among the most productive resource in Alaska, with nine native fish species and 10 times the density of juvenile coho salmon than any other Southeast Alaskan watershed. The associated fisheries in the Situk River and its adjoining estuary drive a $2 million economy for the community of Yakutat (population 600), with 89 percent of the households harvesting salmon for subsistence purposes. The Yakutat foreland area that encompasses the Situk River watershed is a vast landscape of low gradient drainages with forested mosaics of side channels and pools that are responsible for up to 80 percent of coho salmon production. These highly productive aquatic habitats are sensitive to even small shifts in temperature and are therefore highly vulnerable to future changes in climate. Water temperature, which is tied to air temperature, is a particularly important component of stream ecosystems, and changes in water temperature affect the availability of habitat for cold-water fish species such as salmon.  

The goals of this project are to develop a community-based partnership with tribal, non-government and state and federal agencies to collect and share stream temperature data, conduct technical training, and co-mentor local high school students transitioning to higher education. Through this collaborative effort, researchers aim to:  

 1) increase understanding of stream temperature variability across the Situk River and its tributaries 

2) derive temperature-driven models to estimate salmon habitat quality across the diverse aquatic habitats of the Situk River watershed; and  

3) use drone imagery to understand how adjoining landscape characteristics affect thermal habitat for salmon.  

Community interns will play an important role in this project, assisting with sensor and drone-based data collection, GPS data collection, and temperature validation using spot measurements. This collaborative effort will allow identification of thermally vulnerable aquatic habitat under future climate-change scenarios, which will in turn be used to build community- and professional awareness about local climate vulnerabilities and build capacity for climate mitigation in the management of a culturally and socioeconomically critical resource.