Grants totaling $12.4 million for Southeast Alaska projects ranging from a greenhouse in Yakutat to workforce development in forestry-related fields in Hydaburg were announced Sept. 6 by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the final portion of $25 million in Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy Investment Projects announced this year.
Vilsack, in an online news conference with Alaska Native and other regional leaders, said the awards are intended to maximize the area’s sustainability and self-reliance through its natural resources, working more directly with the local entities implementing the programs.
The strategy is being undertaken by two agencies of the Department of Agriculture: The U.S. Forest Service Rural Development Division, and Natural Resources Conservation Services. It is intended to help Southeast transition from past reliance on large-scale timber harvests in the 16.7 million-acre Tongass National Forest.
More than 270 projects totaling about $275 million were considered during the process, according to department officials. Vilsack emphasized that while the $25 million covers only a small portion of those, it’s the onset of a new approach now being tried in a few other states with the intent of expanding both the amounts and regions covered over time.
“These projects and investments, I think, reflect our common commitment to acknowledging, respecting and honoring Indigenous ownership and stewardship, the knowledge, the values, the priorities,” Vilsack said. “I think it also reflects our commitment to a community-driven investment strategy that reflects the input from local folks.”
Of the $25 million in project funding, about half will be managed by tribal and Indigenous organizations, for purposes that include arts and cultural support, enhancement of food security and support for cultural use of forest products.
Several earlier grants went to Wrangell projects, including $100,000 for the borough to work with the Forest Service on management for improved blueberry harvests, and $100,000 toward improvements at the Mt. Dewey trail.
The Wrangell Cooperative Association was included in funding to the Tlingit and Haida Central Council for improvements at the Chief Shakes Tribal House, and for building traditional smokehouses for tribal members.
The most recent grants include:
$6.4 million to Juneau-based Spruce Root, a regional nonprofit, for forestry-related projects including restoring watersheds and habitats, youth training in industry professions and research such as fisheries science, infrastructure work ranging from renewable energy to trails, and other endeavors.
$3.16 million for Southeast Conference, for economic diversification programs developed in collaboration with Spruce Root and Tlingit and Haida. Among the community specific projects are a Craig High School biomass project, removal of accumulated solid waste in Tenakee Springs, a pier and floating dock for vessels in Little Naukati Bay, and a regional ecosystem assessment related to the region’s salmon stocks.
A lengthy list of smaller awards for projects such as $225,000 to the Sitka Tribe of Alaska for forestry monitoring, $440,000 to Sealaska Heritage and Trail Mix for Indigenous heritage name and interpretive signs along trails in Juneau, and $375,000 to the Hoonah Indian Association for snowpack monitoring and deer strategy.
“This is the first time in my 27 years as an elected person that I’ve actually seen this level of local decision making,” Tlingit and Haida President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson said in thanking Vilsack during the news conference. “So often we see decisions made at a national level that really don’t fit. We’ve really got to shoehorn them in.”
Related to the funding effort is the Forest Service’s decision, announced last year, to restore federal protections to the Tongass under what is known as the roadless rule. The 2001 rule largely bans timber harvesting in areas without roads, thus preserving old-growth stands. Under the Trump administration, Alaska was exempted from the rule.
The decision to reinstate the protections in Alaska has attracted more than 110,000 public comments, which must be fully reviewed before the Biden administration completes its final rulemaking, Vilsack said. The final rule is expected by the end of the year.
“I recognize that this may not have happened as quickly as some would like. … I hope folks understand that we do have to follow through the process. We have to be respectful of the people who took time and energy to provide comments so that the record is as complete and as strong as it possibly could be in order to defend the decision that we’ve made to restore the protections of the 2001 roadless rule.”
The Alaska Beacon and Wrangell Sentinel contributed to this report.
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