WESTERN ALASKA PARTNERSHIP

Alaska Invasive Plant Identification and Record Input Smartphone App

8/2/2019

Concern about invasive species in Alaska is a growing concern, attracting attention from land managers, politicians and the public. Nearly half the new discoveries of invasive plants, animals, and insects in the state are reported by concerned individuals with a general interest in invasive species. The development of a mobile application for invasive plant identification and reporting will help enable the public to gather and share new invasive plant discoveries.

Project ID: WA2014_33

Lead Investigator: Gino Graziano, University of Alaska, Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service

Project Duration: 2014-2017

COLLABORATING PROJECT:

Project ID: WA2014_32

Lead Investigator: Chuck Bargeron, University of Georgia, Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health

Project Duration: 2014-2017

Invasive Plant Identification and Record Input Smartphone App for Western Alaska

8/2/2019

This project supports the technical development of a mobile application for identifying and reporting invasive plant species in Alaska. It will result in a portable, digital version of a field guide that can be easily updated and that supports integration of reports into the Alaska Exotic Plants Information Clearinghouse (AKEPIC). Under development for both Android and iOS operating systems, the app has the potential to increase the public’s knowledge of invasive plants, as well an improve opportunities for reporting new occurrences. See also project WA2014_33.

Project ID: WA2014_32

Lead Investigator: Chuck Bargeron, University of Georgia, Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health

Collaborators: Gino Graziano, University of Alaska, Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service

Project Duration: 2014 - 2015

Community Observation and Vulnerability Assessment

8/2/2019

No one has better knowledge, and opportunity to document, how coastal storms affect the coast than the people who live in coastal communities. By training the network of Local Environmental Observers (LEOs) to collect coastal storm data in Western Alaska, we improve local capacity to engage in coastal observations. Through this project, the LCC supported the development of the Climate Change & Health Impact Assessment report for the Bering Straits region. The report can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

Project ID: WA2012_23

Lead Investigator: Michael Brubaker, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Collaborators: James Berner, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium; Kevin Zweifel, Norton Sound Health Corporation; Anahma Shannon, Kawerak, Inc.; Paul Eaton, Maniilaq Association; John Chase, Northwest Arctic Borough

Project Duration: 2012 - 2014

Climate Change Health Assessments for Three Coastal, Riverine and Lake System Communities

8/1/2019

This project evaluates the connections between climate change impacts and health in Bristol Bay communities. Climate change impacts were assessed through the lens of public health, with an eye towards the potential effects on disease, injury, food and water security, and mental health. Three focal communities were included in this assessment: Nondalton, a lake community, Levelock, a river community, and Pilot Point, a coastal community. The resulting assessment reports will be used to assist focal communities, as well as neighboring communities, in addressing climate-change related issues.

Project ID: WA2011_12

Lead Investigator: Susan Flensburg, Bristol Bay Native Association; Michael Brubaker, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Collaborators: Jennifer Skarada, Bristol Bay Area Health Consortium, Michael Knapp, Blud Skies Solutions, LLC; Izetta Chambers, UAF Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program

Project Duration: 2011 - 2014

Assessing the Vulnerability of Western Alaska Ecosystems and Subsistence Resources to Non-Native Plant Invasion

8/1/2019

To assess the vulnerability of a region to invasive plants, documentation of the presence or absence of invasive plants is necessary. This project expands on work initiated by the EPA to identify invasive plants in rural communities in the Bristol Bay region. Eighteen additional Bristol Bay communities were inventoried for invasive plants in 2012-2014. This work provides a baseline for understanding the potential impact from these plants and the opportunity to treat the existing populations before they invade new areas.

Project ID: WA2011_11

Lead Investigator: Brian Maupin, Alaska Association of Conservation Districts

Collaborators: Jennifer Robinette, Ekuk Tribal Council; Katie Spellman, Christa Mulder & Nicole Swensen, University of Alaska Fairbanks (IAB); Sue Flensburg & Mariano Peters, Bristol Bay Native Association; Stella Mark, Twin Hills Village Council; Della Takak, Chignik Lake IGAP; Louise Tallekpalek, Levelock IGAP; Tina Tinkler, Aleknagik Tradional Council; Tara Balluta, Nondalton Village Council

Project Duration: 2011 - 2014

Integrated Ecosystem Model (IEM)

8/1/2019

This multi-year effort is integrating existing models of vegetation, disturbance, and permafrost into one complete ecosystem model for the state of Alaska. The project is supported by the Arctic LCC, the Northwest Boreal LCC and the Western AK LCC, as well as the Alaska Climate Science Center. The model will integrate existing climate, vegetation, disturbance, hydrology, and permafrost models aimed at improving understanding of potential landscape, habitat and ecosystem change. ojections to land managers and other groups.

Project ID: WA2011_09

Lead Investigator: Dave McGuire & Scott Rupp, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Collaborators: Greg Balogh, Arctic LCC; John DeLapp, Northwest Boreal LCC; Steve Gray, DOI Alaska Climate Science Center

Project Duration: 2011 - 2016

Develop an "Existing Vegetation" Map for the Western Alaska LCC Region

8/1/2019

This project produced an existing vegetation type map at 30m resolution for the northern half of the Western Alaska LCC region, and Kodiak Archipelago. The lack of a consistently mapped vegetation data layer for Alaska has been identified as a primary road block for many conservation and management entities across the state. This project addresses a number of the LCC conservation goals by addressing a baseline science and provides a foundation for current and future projects within the region.

Project ID: WA2011_08

Lead Investigator: Michael Fleming, Images Unlimited

Collaborators: Steve Patterson, USFS

Project Duration: 2011-2015 - Completed

Direct Snow Condition Monitoring at Key Ecological Sites in Remote Western Alaska

7/31/2019

Climate change is likely to alter snow patterns and characteristics, impacting vegetation, hydrology, permafrost condition, wildlife, and the Alaskans who depend on these resources. Currently, many areas of western Alaska are lacking important data related to snowpack and snow conditions, including the prime winter range for the Western Arctic Caribou Herd (WACH). This project will help monitor snow conditions, which are vital to understanding and predicting landscape level impacts of climate change in western Alaska.

Project ID: WA2011_07

Lead Investigator: Anne Orlando, USFWS

Collaborators: Rick McClure, NRCS; Tim Hammond & John Erlich, BLM; Roy Ashenfelter, Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group; Jim Dau, ADF&G; Don Thurman, Northwest Arctic Borough School District; Jim Lawler, NPS; Archana Bali, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Project Duration: 2011 - 2013

Timing and Extent of Winter Snow Thaw/Refreeze events in Alaska 2011-2008

7/31/2019

Mid-winter icing events have the potential to lead to population declines of grazing caribou and to some species of small mammals due to reduced survival and reproduction associated with restricted access or lack of forage. Population-level effects of icing events remain unclear partly due to limited information on icing events in Alaska. The assessment results provide a baseline data set and remote sensing method, both of which have broad applicability, allowing the community of users to better understand the recent past, better link changes in ecological drivers and responses of wildlife populations, and aid in planning for the future.

Project ID: WA2011_06

Lead Investigator: Ryan Wilson, The Wilderness Society

Collaborators: Annett Bartsch, Vienna University of Technology; Kyle Joly, NPS; Wendy Loya, The Wilderness Society

Project Duration: 2011 - 2012

Broad-scale Lake and Permafrost Dynamics in the Western Alaska LCC Region

7/31/2019

This project focuses on permafrost change and its effect on lake habitat change in major lake districts of the Western Alaska LCC. Land, resource, and wildlife managers, as well as local communities in Western Alaska, need spatially explicit information to determine past lake habitat changes, identify spatial patterns that could be correlated to climate, and project future habitat changes. Forecasting future changes will assist with developing habitat conservation plans and assessing the stability of freshwater resources for communities.

Project ID: WA2011_02

Lead Investigator: Guido Grosse, Alfred Wegener Institute Centre for Polar and Marine Research; Vladimir Romanovsky, University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute

Collaborators: Tom Dolittle, USFWS; Ben Jones, USGS; Michael Brubaker, ANTHC; David Swanson, NPS

Project Duration: 2011 - 2014

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