To our Sitka community:
Here within the Tongass National Forest, our relationships run deep – to these land and waters, to our cultures and ways of life, and to our communities. At the Sitka Conservation Society, we continue to build and strengthen these connections through our partnerships and programs. Thanks to our partners and members, over the last year we have worked on collaborative projects building towards a sustainable future for Southeast Alaska and the Tongass National Forest.
On Thursday, February 9th, SCS is holding our annual meeting at the downstairs Mean Queen at 6pm. SCS staff and board members will be there to share reflections and updates on projects in 2022 and preview some of our upcoming plans for 2023.
We also want to take this moment to thank the community for their support of what we do. Our work can take different forms, from advocating for the protection of the Tongass and healthy salmon habitat across the state, to partnering with Tribes, community-based organizations, Alaska Native corporations, and local partners across Southeast Alaska with like-minded goals for a more socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable region. We worked with all of you to get the Roadless Rule back in place and to stop Pebble Mine, and we are celebrating recent policy announcements on these issues. We are supporting the Department of Agriculture’s Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy, which shifts USDA management priorities towards more sustainable resource management and meaningful regional collaboration, so that it may become a lasting approach. We continued to work with Sitka organizations and groups to improve the health of our community, from programs addressing food insecurity to local climate advocacy and investing in our renewable energy capacity. We do this work all while thinking ahead with Alaska’s future in mind, as we foster leadership and civic engagement in the emerging generations, from our 4-H Alaska Way of Life program, to our career-pathway internships, to our dual enrollment class with the Forest Service and UAS that helps young leaders get involved in managing the subsistence resources that we all depend upon.
As we adopt new strategies and approaches, we continue to honor the legacy of our organization's founders. We partner with the US Forest Service to assist them to do Wilderness Ranger work in the West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness Area that our founders helped establish. Thanks to our supporters, this past year we continued to host artists, writers, and advocates from diverse backgrounds and mediums at our remote property adjacent to the West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness. Much like we did in the 1970s, today we are connecting people to the Tongass with the goal of creating meaningful work and relationships that benefit these places and our communities.
SCS continues to grow and build our capacity and effectiveness in protecting the Tongass, while leaning into the global challenge of how we develop sustainable systems for our shared future. We are able to accomplish this thanks to our members and partners. If you are interested in supporting our work, you can become a member at www.sitkawild.org/donate.
All are welcome to attend our annual meeting this Thursday. This will be our first in-person annual meeting since 2020, so we hope to see you there!
Thank you, gunalchéesh, Sitka.
Sitka Conservation Society