Prince of Wales Landscape Restoration Partnership work

A public/private forestry project in Southeast Alaska was recently selected to receive nearly $660,000 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership.
The Alaska project, called the Prince of Wales Landscape Restoration Partnership, was one of eight new Joint Chiefs’ projects funded this year by USDA. The project will restore habitat for wildlife and fisheries, stimulate the local economy, and maintain or enhance traditional use opportunities. The project spans jurisdictional boundaries across public and private lands to conserve species and improve aquatic and wildlife habitat on a landscape level.
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will invest $422,028 in technical and financial assistance to perform conservation treatments on private lands, and the Tongass National Forest will invest $237,632 for restoration activities on adjacent federally managed lands. All project activities will be located on Prince of Wales Island.
“This collaborative effort among local communities, state and federal agencies, native tribes and private organizations, collectively expands our capacity and scale to accomplish common goals at a landscape level that otherwise would not be possible,” said Alan McBee, NRCS Alaska State Conservationist. “These investments not only provide economic stimulus to remote communities, but will yield years of benefit in the form of clean water, healthy forests, and abundant fish and wildlife populations that are critical to the well-being of the people as well as the local economy of Prince of Wales Island.”
“Managing public lands efficiently for resource conservation, as well as access for local stakeholders and the nearly one million visitors we get each year, means we must work collaboratively with partners at every level,” said M. Earl Stewart, Tongass National Forest Supervisor. “This Joint Chiefs’ funding through the USDA and continued partnership with NRCS will help us to meet our goals for ecosystem management on Prince of Wales Island.”
This funding capitalizes on previous work that has been completed on Prince of Wales Island through Joint Chiefs’ funding from 2017 to 2019. The first round of Joint Chiefs’ funding allowed project partners to collect extensive aerial LiDAR data for all of Prince of Wales Island; perform vegetation and stream surveys; collect deer DNA samples; complete forest stand improvement; improve stream road crossings for salmon; and more.
This new round of Joint Chiefs’ funding will expand on existing efforts to include over 2,200 acres of forest and wildlife habitat improvement treatments on non-industrial private lands, state lands, and Forest Service managed lands, in multiple project areas across Prince of Wales Island and associated outer islands.

The Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership enables NRCS and the Forest Service to collaborate with forest landowners to invest in conservation and restoration at a big enough scale to make a difference. Working in partnership, and at this scale, helps reduce wildfire threats, protect water quality and supply, and improve wildlife habitat for at-risk species.