We foster partnerships and inspire Southeast Alaskans to steward watersheds and support communities .
Give the gift of salmon habitat and community sustainability
Our salmon won't keep returning without healthy watersheds. With your support, we will continue to help communities restore and steward Southeast watersheds.
SAWC enlists university students to help monitor the health of Jordan Creek, an urban salmon stream in Juneau.
Watershed Monitoring
Water is our most precious natural resource, and its only as healthy as the land it flows through (i.e. the watershed). We monitor temperature, aquatic insects, sediment, and pollutants to understand how resource extraction, climate change, and urbanization impact the health of our watersheds.
Reed canary grass takes over a patch of fireweed in Brotherhood Meadow, a globally rare uplift meadow and one of the most photographed places in Juneau.
Invasive Plant Management
Invasive plants outcompete and displace native plants that provide natural beauty, food, and habitat. We work with businesses, individuals, and government to find and eradicate the most invasive species.
Pat Creek on Wrangell Island before and after trees were placed in the stream to create habitat for fish.
Fish Habitat Restoration
Trees that fall into streams provide critical habitat for fish. Past logging practices once harvested trees right up to the stream bank, eliminating a source of trees for hundreds of years. We partnered with the Alaska Division of Forestry to get trees back in Pats Creek for coho and sockeye salmon, cutthroat trout, and Dolly Varden char.
A new footbridge over a salmon stream prevents damage to stream banks and helps nearby residents reach a public trail system in Juneau.
Building Bridges to Stewardship
SAWC is building bridges among stakeholders to steward salmon streams. Poorly constructed social trails that cross streams damage fish habitat and attract litter. In 2019, SAWC and our partners built five footbridges over Juneau salmon streams and repaired and revegetated damaged stream banks. We worked with community volunteers and neighborhood residents to pick up trash in green spaces near Switzer and Jordan Creeks in Juneau.
Supporting Local Foods
SAWC's Salt and Soil Marketplace is a weekly online farmers market that connects local entrepreneurs to customers in Juneau, Haines, and Sitka. Our Moby the Mobile Greenhouse program brings garden education to rural Southeast Alaskan communities and schools. The Southeast Alaska Farmers Summit provides training and networking opportunities for over 250 participants over the past four years. The Healthy Foods = Healthy Families initiative assists families who can't afford to buy local produce in Juneau. With generous support from over 20 marketplace customers, six families received a basket of local food each week for three months.