The Sitka Conservation Society partners with Sitka High School to create the vocational education program. This program utilizes place-based curriculum to provide students opportunities to build valuable technical skill sets while exploring potential pathways to success in the regional economy. SCS supports the program by sourcing and providing funding, supplies, local wood, and sale support. Locally milled second-growth lumber is utilized, which strengthens connections to the land and across the community, while supporting small-scale, local harvesting. From 2015-2021, SCS supported the first advanced construction class at SHS in ten years, where students built a tiny home using local second growth timber. Other projects include garden sheds, which are sold locally with profits reinvested back into the program.
Learn more about the Tongass Tiny Home, a project of this woodshop class.
Policy and Procedures in the Federal Subsistence Board Process
The Sitka Conservation Society hosts the dual enrollment course “Policy and Procedures in the Federal Subsistence Board Process” in partnership with the University of Alaska Southeast and the United States Forest Service. High school students in this course are introduced to the history of land management in Alaska and are given an opportunity to participate in Alaska’s unique subsistence resource regulatory processes by attending the meetings of the Southeast Regional Advisory Council on Subsistence Management. Participating in the process of creating and amending subsistence regulations is an invaluable experience for students to be inspired by the theory of change and know the power of their voice. Introducing individuals to this process early on sets them up for navigating bureaucracy and advocating for their communities.