Alaska

Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association
Improving Image Quality and Cost Effectiveness in Alaska’s Fixed Gear Electronic Monitoring Program
Develop lower cost electronic monitoring hardware, test automated real-time feedback to vessels on image quality and support stakeholder engagement in fisheries management forums relevant to electronic monitoring in the Alaska fixed gear fishery. Project will explore methods to improve image quality and cost effectiveness of electronic monitoring through the development of new electronic monitoring systems and deployment methods.
$185,104

Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
Building Capacity and Conducting Coastal Risk Assessments in Remote Alaska Native Communities
Provide adaptation planning and development of hazard mitigation and restoration solution support for 44 Alaskan Resilience Hub communities with capacity building on coastal flooding and erosion for the development of informed mitigation solutions and future design of restoration. Project will take an innovative, comprehensive, efficient, culturally sensitive and forward-looking approach to building capacity and conducting urgently needed coastal risk assessments in remote Alaska Native communities.
$1,360,801

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Assessing and Developing Monitoring Tools for Lemmings on the North Slope (AK)
Develop a novel remote monitoring tool for lemmings, an important species in arctic food webs. Project will create an improved monitoring method for small mammals by increasing the spatial and temporal coverage of small mammal monitoring, as well as gather lemming abundance data to help inform future management decisions.
$39,341

Chugach Regional Resources Commission
Developing a Strategic Sockeye Salmon Plan for the English Bay Lakes on the Kenai Peninsula (AK)
Develop a strategic sockeye salmon monitoring plan to prioritize and conduct Indigenous-led research initiatives for the English Bay Lakes on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Project will create a 5-year fisheries strategic plan and operate a community-based weir monitoring program that will enhance long-term viability of escapement models and data collection and incorporate Nanwalek community knowledge and engagement in fisheries management.
$86,384

Manomet
Assessing Shorebirds in Teshekpuk Lake Special Area of the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska 
Conduct shorebird surveys in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) following the protocols developed by the Program for Regional and International Shorebird Monitoring. Project will provide a comparison of changes in shorebird populations and provide critical information on the distribution of shorebirds breeding in the NPRA.
$95,765

Municipality of Anchorage
Campbell Creek Streambank and Wildlife Habitat Restoration Project (AK)
Rehabilitate streambank habitat along Campbell Creek in Anchorage, Alaska to benefit salmon habitat, migratory birds and other wildlife. Project will install 150 linear feet of root wads, revegetate 2.5 acres of streambank at three sites and plant over 550 native trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants to replace trees lost along the creek corridor to spruce beetle infestation.
$49,979

Northern Research Technical Assistance Center
Assessment of Seabird Gillnet Bycatch (AK)
Synthesize and analyze data on incidental take of seabirds in Alaska gillnet fisheries. Project will provide baseline data on seabird gillnet bycatch in Alaska, identify high risk locations and seabird species at risk and characterize environmental and biological factors that will assist in development of seabird bycatch reduction methods important for future conservation measures.
$70,000

Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition
Engaging Tribal and Community Partners to Restore Salmon Habitat in Margaret Creek Watershed (AK)
Restore habitat for four Pacific salmon species, trout and char in Margaret Creek, Tongass National Forest, Alaska. Project will construct log jams in stream channels and thin floodplain forest to accelerate recovery of old-growth conditions, as well as build tribal and community capacity to foster watershed stewardship.
$74,793

Takshanuk Watershed Council
Assessing and Monitoring Water Quality in the Chilkat and Chilkoot River Watersheds (AK)
Continue to collect hydrologic and benthic macroinvertebrate baseline data at 16 study sites in the Chilkat and Chilkoot River Watersheds, Alaska to improve understanding of climate change impacts on local aquatic habitats essential to wild Pacific salmon populations. Project will map the thermal landscape and identify areas of thermal refugia important for Pacific salmon conservation to inform future management and development decisions.
$49,055

The Conservation Fund
Protecting Migratory Bird Habitat on the Kasilof River Through a Conservation Project (AK)
Protect a property along the Kasilof River on the western Kenai Peninsula in Alaska through a conservation project to secure migratory, breeding and overwintering habitat for more than 160 bird species. Project will secure 309 acres of migratory bird habitat.
$100,000

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Division of Migratory Birds
Surveying Aleutian Tern Populations in Alaska 
Develop a survey framework to assess Aleutian tern colonies in Alaska. Project will create a tern colony survey framework and refine regionally tiered colony monitoring methods to determine abundance and population trends, which will fill information gaps on tern distribution and provide baseline population estimates for long-term monitoring in Alaska.
$100,000

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fairbanks Conservation Office
Monitoring and Assessing Steller’s and Spectacled Eider to Support Conservation and Recovery (AK)
Continue Steller’s and spectacled eider conservation through research, monitoring and management at Utqiagvik on the North Slope, Alaska. Project will provide community outreach and education, collect demographic data of nesting populations and fill key information gaps for Steller’s and spectacled eiders that will inform recovery efforts.
$86,600

University of Alaska Anchorage
Supporting Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program Students in Advancing Conservation 
Support the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program to advance conservation efforts on the Chugach National Forest, Yukon River Delta and North Slope of Alaska. Project will provide hands-on experiences for five students as they work alongside conservation professionals on projects that support data collection, habitat restoration and community outreach efforts for the benefit of Pacific salmon, polar bears and migratory birds.
$65,488

University of California - Santa Cruz
Improving a Meta-Population Viability Analysis Tool for Threatened and Endangered Seabirds (multiple states)
Improve a meta-population viability analysis tool to help prevent seabird extinctions. Project will incorporate sea-level rise and financial return on investment data to enhance the existing seabird conservation planning and decision support tool.
$125,000

Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association
Assessing Juvenile Chinook Salmon Outmigration on the Yukon River Delta – II (AK)
Assess out-migrating juvenile Chinook salmon conditions on the Yukon River Delta in Alaska. Project will gather data on juvenile Chinook salmon size, diet and energetic condition to fill information gaps on growth, outmigration timing and health.
$91,119