NRCS Alaska News

July 13, 2007

In This Issue

Alaska Receives CCPI Funds

Alaska NRCS has received $50,120 for a Rapid Watershed Assessment (RWA) of the Chuitt River Watershed located north of Tyonek on the west side of Cook Inlet. The funds were made available through an internal, competitive $2 million set-aside in the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI), a component of the Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) program.

The Chuitt River is the main source of subsistence fish for the people of Tyonek and is considered by some to be one of south-central Alaska’s top 20 King salmon fisheries. The RWA came about because the Tyonek Tribal Conservation District was concerned by a permit process underway for a coal mine development at the headwaters of the river. The mine has been cause for concern in the village since it is uncertain how it will affect their subsistence way of life. One of the visions of the Tyonek Tribal Conservation District (TTCD) is to protect their subsistence resources for the next seven generations, so the mine and future developments along the river are of great importance.

The Rapid Watershed Assessment will allow the TTCD to gather as much baseline data about the watershed as possible. Part of the RWA will be a series of public meetings in Tyonek to identify the concerns of the people and to create and prioritize solutions, both agency-approved best management practices as well as traditional Dena’ina conservation methods, when possible. The goal is to have the project finished and have all data collected into a report by April of 2009.

Photo: Image of the Chuitt River Watershed.

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Forests Again Under Attack

Interior NRCS field offices have often felt slighted by being by-passed by South-Central Field offices when it came to forest insect pest. Not any more!  Currently three forest insect pests are becoming a concern to landowners and managers in the interior.  The first is the Eastern Spruce Budworm, one of the most destructive insect pests of white spruce in North America.  I grew up watching DC-3’s fly budworm missions in Northern Maine in the 70’s, and as a young forester I did budworm surveys in New Brunswick.  Unlike the spruce bark beetle, the budworm eats the new lush needles of spruce trees.  It is easily identified as a small green worm that lives in the foliage of spruce trees. Its only eats the new growth but after a few years of defoliation the spruce looses all its foliage and dies. 

The other insects are the Aspen and Birch Leaf Miners. The Birch Leaf Miner is the most important exotic insect to ever reach Alaska.  They are found as far south as the Kenai Peninsula and as far north as the North Star Borough and are on road to a birch forest near you.  Parasitic wasps (another exotic) have been introduced to control the Birch Leaf Miner.  Causing a mostly aesthetic concern, many home owners resort to pesticide applications to control them. Eventually successive years of attack will result in the death of the birch tree. 

The second leaf miner is a native and affects Aspen. Damaged Aspen are easily seen on the road between Fairbanks and Delta – they have a silvery look on the foliage due to the small worms having eaten all the “green” out of the leaves. First identified as a potential threat five years ago, today we are seeing the effects of large infestations.  The Aspen Leaf Miner does have some native control but warm winters and summer have given the Aspen Leaf Miner an upper hand.  The insect will eventually cause the aspen to have branch die back but they are better adapted to these attacks and often will be able to weather out successive attacks provided other threats such as drought don’t exasperate the condition.

All this information and more can be found in the Forest Health Conditions in Alaska - 2006. This publication should have been mailed to each office. If not, it is listed as a web based technical reference in the EFOTG.  As an incentive for checking this resource out, I have an Alaska Forestry Resource Management clipboard for the first two employees who can correctly identify the NRCS employee that is pictured in the report. (This employee is not eligible and besides they already have a clip-board)  First two e-mails to reach me wins!  

Photo: Aspen Leaf Miner. Photo by Meg Mueller.

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Partners Gather to Tally Progress on Chester Creek

The tally counters clicked into the thousands as members of the Youth Employment Program helped NRCS count the number of willows along the banks of Chester Creek. Luckily for the counters, they didn’t have to count the whole creek, just a ¼ mile section between Muldoon road and the new Nick Begich Middle School on Debarr.

Looking at it now you would never believe that this area was once a trailer court. Alaska Village was developed on the site in the 1960s and at its peak was home to more than 500 trailers. During the trailer park’s development, the section of Chester Creek that ran through the property was degraded into a ditch and had no resting places for fish and little habitat diversity.  Over the years Alaska Village became less and less useful to the community and in 2001 the trailers were removed and the site was cleaned up.

In 2004 Venture Development Group (VDG) began implementing their plans to turn the site into the new Muldoon Town Center featuring a natural and healthy Chester Creek as its focal point. VDG has been working with NRCS on a conservation plan as a part of the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has also been helping with the project because of the potential for an increased fish habitat.

During the past three years the creek has been gradually restored by adding bends and changes in the creek bed and creating more natural banks to replace what was previously a five-foot vertical bank. Fish habitat has been created by adding resting places and shaded areas to keep the water cool enough for fish. Native plants and grasses were started in the riparian area and young willow and birch trees were added in the floodplain. The most recent bit of work done in the area was carried out by members of the Youth Employment Program.

YEP is a new program sponsored by Alaska Youth for Environmental Action and Anchorage Parks and Recreation. This program is a way for Anchorage teens to help clean up local parks and gain job experience. On June 26, YEP workers had the chance to help NRCS, USFWS and VDG plant approximately 625 willows. These willows are just a fraction of what has already been planted near the creek. YEP and NRCS tried to count all the willows that were planted both this year and last year, but the task proved a little more difficult than expected. The willows were hard to find because they were often hidden by the taller plants and grasses around them. The YEP team also helped clean up all the garbage in the area and pull out some of the worst weeds.

At the end of the day after the planting and weeding it’s a little hard to tell that you’re standing at intersection of Muldoon and Debarr, the creek cancels out some of the noise from traffic and it definitely doesn’t look like it could be in the middle of Anchorage. What was once a ditch filled with water is now becoming a little more like the creek it should be. So do NRCS, USFWS, VDG and 20 or so Anchorage teens make a good team? I’d have to say, “YEP.”

Photo: Jessica Adams and YEP volunteers work to count willows and clear brush at Chester Creek.

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Kodiak Farmer Wins Innovation Grant to Conserve Remote Island Grasslands

Alaska farmer Nathan Mudd will receive a $190,960 Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) to implement a management solution to overgrazing on remote islands in Alaska. Mudd’s was the only Alaska application selected for funding in the $20 million competitive national grant program.

“Conservation Innovation Grants provide farmers and ranchers with seed money to test new ideas and technologies to protect the natural resources that they – and all of us – depend on,” said Jones. “Nathan’s project will provide benefits both to the maritime ecosystems that are currently stressed from overgrazing, and to Alaska’s agricultural community in need of information and infrastructure to support sustainable grazing use of remote locations.”

Cattle ranching in Kodiak and surrounding Aleutian islands began in the late 18^th century when Russian explorers established herds to feed their new colonies and provide a source of food for their maritime explorers. Over the past two centuries, privately-owned herds of cattle, bison and reindeer have multiplied and overgrazed environmentally sensitive island ecosystems. Maintaining herd sizes appropriate for each island’s available resources is necessary to protect water quality, wildlife habitat and bird nesting areas.

Mudd’s approach will be to help producers develop a calculated prescription for annual harvest of livestock for attaining proper management and conservation of island natural resources. A portable processing facility will provide ranchers with an economically viable method to harvest livestock on-site rather than attempting to move animals to market on the hoof.

Mudd’s project will monitor rangeland health for results, create technical information useful for resources conservation, assist in creating eligibility for cost share programs for producers, and encourage early adoption of sustainable grazing practices.

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New Range Management Publication Available

The Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), the outreach arm of USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, has announced the release of "Rangeland Management Strategies."

"Rangeland Management Strategies," a free 16-page bulletin that features innovative SARE-funded research on creating and sustaining a healthy range. Throughout, researchers and ranchers share goals and successes in winter and multi-species grazing, managing forage and other vegetation and protecting riparian areas.

"Rangeland Management Strategies" is the latest of a series of publications that feature the most creative research funded by SARE. Preview or download the entire publication at http://www.sare.org/publications/rangeland.htm. To order print copies, visit www.sare.org/Webstore, call 301/504-5411 or email san_assoc@sare.org. Agricultural educators may place orders for print copies in quantity at no cost.

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