SASAP: Kenai Lowlands Salmon Research Synthesis and Design of Tools for Integrated Watershed Management

The Kenai Lowlands watersheds of south-central Alaska support abundant salmon that underpin robust commercial and sport salmon fisheries (valued at over $80 million per year on the Kenai Peninsula; ADFG 2014, Carson et al. 2009). In addition to the dependence on salmon as an economic mainstay, coastal communities on the Kenai Lowlands rely on salmon as an important local food source and cultural touchstone. While the majority of Alaskans value and feel strongly about salmon (e.g., Earth Economics 2013, Schwörer 2013, The Salmon Project 2014), these feelings do not necessarily translate into salmon-friendly land-use strategies in landscapes consisting of a complex web of public and private land ownership. A complicating factor in any management strategy is that streams that provide salmon-habitats most often pass through parcels with multiple stakeholders. Thus maintaining the ‘natural capital’ of salmon-rich ecosystems will require synthesis of scientific research and science-informed land-use decisions made by all stakeholders. The purpose of this project is to develop a place-based investment model for natural capital thatcreates a bridge between interdisciplinary scientific research and multi-stakeholder decision-making for watershed management to assure the persistence of salmon-bearing streams. Our team of collaborators will engage multiple stakeholders in the Kenai Lowlands, with a goal of identifying how natural salmon capital is valued, and to what degree people are willing to make trade-offs in development activities to benefit salmon resources. Understanding specific trade-offs different stakeholders consider informs not only how best to support decision-making, but also creates a climate of cooperation among multiple stakeholders which facilitates stewardship of critical habitats. We will present scientific information that establishes the relationships between watershed condition and salmon abundance at multiple scales ranging from landscape level to characteristics of individual streams that relate to salmon species composition and abundance. Landscape elements that support salmon at all relevant spatial scales (i.e, individual properties to watersheds) will be classified, incorporating the potential for cumulative impacts of development activities. Products will include: 1) a synthesis identifying key landscape support elements, potential development activities that could adversely affect salmon-bearing streams, and key data gaps; 2) a GIS project derived from the synthesis, classifying key ecosystem support services for salmon-bearing streams at scales from individual stream segments to watersheds of the Kenai Lowlands; 3) a land-use decision and planning tool/guide that integrates stakeholder perspectives for local investment in watershed management in support of sustainable salmon populations; and 4) published document on the holistic approach for integrating multi-disciplinary place-based research and stakeholder perspectives for salmon watershed management.