[A guest blog post written by Carson Chambers, Communications and Development Manager at Kachemak Heritage Land Trust]
This June, Kachemak Heritage Land Trust (KHLT) and Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (KBNERR) hosted a Fish Need Land Too field trip for the Salmon Sisters crew, friends, and family.
On a sunny and only slightly chilly Thursday morning, over two dozen participants gathered to learn and share about the intricate relationship between land and salmon habitats, emphasizing the importance of protecting land for healthy salmon populations.
About the Organizations
Kachemak Heritage Land Trust (KHLT): KHLT, aka “the Land Trust,” is a non-profit dedicated to preserving the natural heritage of the Kenai Peninsula for future generations. The Land Trust works with willing landowners to protect land with important conservation values, monitors and stewards land over time, and engages the community through educational programs. By protecting critical habitats, KHLT ensures the preservation of irreplaceable fish and wildlife habitats, as well as recreational lands, for the future. Since the Land Trust’s inception 35 years ago, nearly 4,000 acres have been protected on the Kenai Peninsula.
Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (KBNERR): KBNERR is part of the Alaska Center for Conservation Science at the University of Alaska Anchorage and is one of 30 National Estuarine Research Reserves across the country, with core programs supported through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). KBNERR does not own or manage any lands, yet the 372,000-acre boundary – the largest NERR in the System – overlaps with the Kachemak Bay State Park Critical Habitat Area and supports long-term monitoring, research, education and trainings related to the marine, nearshore, and watershed ecology of the bay. KBNERR’s mission is to enhance the understanding and appreciation of Alaska’s coastal ecosystems to ensure they remain healthy and productive. KBNERR engages with community volunteers to monitor for invasive European green crab and harmful algal blooms, offers weekly estuary walks in Beluga Slough, and engages in collaborative research efforts with the University of South Florida and Smithsonian Institution (like Fish Need Land Too!) to monitor and preserve the unique habitats in Kachemak Bay.
Salmon Sisters: Salmon Sisters is Homer-based company run by co-founders, fishermen, and sisters Emma and Claire, with support from their small team. Their family makes their livelihood harvesting wild fish from Alaskan waters and their company markets Alaska seafood in their local brick-and-mortar shops and their e-commerce site. By joining KHLT and KBNERR for the Fish Need Land Too event, the Salmon Sisters team explored the efforts these organizations undertake to protect future fishing grounds for generations to come and how their values align with and enhance these efforts. They were eager to learn how to engage with stewardship in their local watershed and to help educate visitors passing through their shops about the importance of healthy coastal ecosystems and how they relate to salmon, the namesake of their company.
About the Field Trip
Our field trip began at the Stariski Creek bridge along the Sterling Highway where we gathered to carpool to our first field site — an upstream channel of Stariski Creek, overlooking property owned by the Land Trust which we call “Stariski Meadows.”
Here, KBNERR scientists hopped in the small stream to corral baby fish using a large net called a stream seine, and then transferred them into photariums for easy viewing. We were able to see young Coho salmon, steelhead trout, and even a juvenile sculpin! By finding that baby salmon live here, it became immediately apparent that salmon require these small, inconspicuous, freshwater streams to start their lives.
KBNERR scientists taught us about how the plants, insects, minerals, and water temperature all play a role in supporting life for baby salmon and are all influenced by the surrounding land. Marie, KHLT’s Executive Director, told us about how the Land Trust came to own the property and how some parts of it were in pretty bad shape (lots of rubbish laying around) when we first took ownership.
After examining the juvenile salmon (and safely returning them to their stream), we proceeded up the road to the Stariski peatlands field site – another piece of the property owned and protected by the Land Trust.
We carefully marched into the wide open, spongey wetlands. We noticed the many tiny plants, like sundews and bog orchids, underfoot. A KBNERR technician then plunged a metal soil corer into the earth, pulling out a sample of peat. We got to touch the rich, cool, wet soil which provides a critical role in the salmon habitat. Twenty years of collaborative KBNERR watershed ecology research have revealed that nitrogen and carbon – the building blocks of nutrition for the fish we love – originate from alders and peatlands and then flow from the small headwater streams out to the estuaries and marine ecosystems.
That thick, cool earth rich in organic matter and carbon is called a peatland, which is a type of terrestrial wetland. Peatlands act like an insulating blanket – as water filters though, it collects important nutrients, and it keeps the groundwater that is entering streams cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Baby fish need this temperature-controlled water while they are growing up until they can brave the ocean.
It’s easy to think of protecting fish populations as a water-only issue, but by examining the activity in small streams miles from the ocean, we can see the importance of land to salmon. Can you imagine what it would do to our fish population if every area that housed streams and wetlands were paved, damaged, or buried under buildings? Without enough protected land, we would lose the space and the ecosystems where juvenile fish grow up safely, jeopardizing future fishing resources.
Anytime we get to see baby salmon, we consider it a good day. What was special about this event was the ability to gather some of the salmon’s biggest supporters to highlight how ecological research and protection of land can directly bolster and complement the work of our fishing community.
Fish Bring People Together
This Fish Need Land Too event was a wonderful way to unite our various organizations and share expertise and passion for salmon conservation. Fish Need Land too field trips allow participants to witness firsthand how land management practices directly influence salmon habitats. The collaboration between KHLT, KBNERR, and Salmon Sisters demonstrates the power of working together to protect and sustain our precious natural resources which are an essential part of our Alaskan way of life.
How Can You Help?
Events like Fish Need Land Too exemplify the importance of collaboration in conservation efforts. No single organization can do it alone and our actions are interconnected.
For example, KBNERR’s collaborative research has mapped groundwater and peatland locations, identifying critical headwater streams that inform KHLT where pieces of land important to salmon are located. KHLT can then make those areas priorities for conservation, like the Anchor River Salmon Conservation Area. KHLT can then see if there are any landowners in those areas who want to conserve their land through one of our conservation options. Companies like Salmon Sisters, who depend on healthy salmon populations for their livelihood, can act as ambassadors, helping spread the word about protecting peatlands and small streams for salmon – spreading the message that fish need land, too!
By combining expertise, resources, and passion, we can work together to ensure the health and longevity of salmon populations and the ecosystems they depend on for future generations.
Salmon Sisters gives a portion of their proceeds to support efforts to help protect wild salmon habitat in Alaska. This year, they will be donating to KHLT and their conservation efforts from their in-store proceeds on Alaska Wild Salmon Day (August 10th) and through sales of their Wild Salmon Forever Hoodie. Without salmon there is no Salmon Sisters! We strive to be stewards of the land that supports them, and supports us, in turn.
As a non-profit, KHLT relies on the help of our community. You can help protect important land for salmon by donating to KHLT today. Check out some of our current projects on our website.
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We respectfully acknowledge the land of the Dena’ina and Sugpiaq People, now the jurisdiction of the Ninilchik Village Tribe, on which we live and work in Homer, Alaska.