In Alaska, your voice has the power to shape how fish and wildlife are managed. Through public processes like the Federal Subsistence Board and the State of Alaska’s Board of Fish and Board of Game, as well as regional councils and community-based advisory committees, anyone can weigh in on how their resources are managed.
Connecting Alaskan youth to management processes is vital to ensuring that the next generation of leaders and decision makers are learning to shape their voices to regulations that affect their home communities. Sitka Conservation Society partners with the University of Alaska Southeast, the US Forest Service, and other partners across the region to teach students about the procedures of regulatory processes to bring their voices and perspectives to the meeting tables in-person.
SCS supported the expansion of the UAS Policy and Procedures class to Hoonah, Wrangell, and Petersburg, with the goal of expanding the educational curriculum to more communities in the future. One Hoonah student who participated remotely shared, “I was born and raised in Hoonah, I have hunted, fished and foraged my whole life with my aunties, uncles, and parents. Taking this class opened my eyes to what is happening at these meetings, and how I'm able to be involved as a subsistence user.” Through expanding the reach of these classes, we are ensuring that the voices heard in these processes include the ones who know this place best.
This program has become so successful that we have expanded it to include students from other Southeast Alaska communities, and delivered more than a dozen community workshops across the region to connect more Alaskans to these processes. Per the recommendation of the Southeast Alaska Regional Advisory Committee, the USDA Forest Service has partnered with us to develop community workshops that we are taking all across Southeast Alaska, which has already included community workshops in Sitka, Craig, Petersburg, Pelican, Hydaburg, Saxman, Yakutat, Hoonah, Angoon, Metlakatla, Kake, Tenakee Springs, and Wrangell. Through these strong partnerships, we are providing more Alaskans opportunities to understand the process and learn the skills to navigate these management and regulatory systems.