Sustainable Southeast Partnership

Let’s connect, collaborate, and cultivate. The Sustainable Southeast Partnership (SSP) Monthly Hangout is a space to forge relationships, share resources, catalyze, and collaborate. ?? When? Fourth Tuesday of every month. March’s hangout is tomorrow. ? Time? 9-11 a.m. AKDT ?? Where? Remote – Join us on Zoom! ?? https://lnkd.in/dfyhjbiP Let’s strengthen our connections and shape our future together. ?#SustainableSoutheast #CommunityCollaboration #SSPHangout

“Sharing Knowledge is an Honor and Responsibility” Knowledge isn’t just passed down—it’s carried forward with purpose. Nestled in the Lynn Canal along the Chilkat River lies the ancestral village of Tlákw Aan (Klukwan), where Chilkat Valley Community Catalyst Katrina Hotch grew up. Hotch’s deep connection to her community shapes every action she makes. After years in áak’w Kwáan (Juneau), supporting language revitalization and traditional arts at Sealaska Heritage Institute, she returned in 2021, eventually serving as a Sustainable Southeast Partnership (SSP) Community Catalyst hosted with the Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center in 2023. Explore our monthly column Woven Peoples and Place with Katrina and reflect on the responsibility of learning and sharing. Available in the Juneau Empire and on our Website. https://lnkd.in/g4yfFk46 Photo by ?aa Yahaayí Shkalneegi Muriel Reid #Knowledgesharing #SustainableSoutheast #southeastalaska

Last chance! Registration for the 2025 SSP Spring Retreat closes TOMORROW, March 14—and we only have 30 spots left! Join us in person in Sitka from April 22-24 at Harrigan Centennial Hall for three days of deep connection, project acceleration, and community learning in Sheetk?a Kwaan. Don’t miss this opportunity to gather, grow, and navigate these times together. ?? April 22-24, 2025 ?? Sitka, AK ?? Register now: https://lnkd.in/gyQVBM6E #SSPSpringRetreat #CommunityConnections #Sitka #CollaborationInAction

Applications are due TOMORROW! Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/g4xFyZQv

Registration for the 2025 SSP Spring Retreat is live! Register by March 14 to secure your spot. Join us April 22-24, 2025, in Sitka, AK at Harrigan Centennial Hall for three days of connection, learning, and community. Attendance is free, with a suggested donation of $150 Don’t miss out—register now! https://lnkd.in/gyQVBM6E #SSPSpringRetreat #SitkaAK #Community https://lnkd.in/gt_D6zjs

Transforming Southeast Alaska— Together Across the region, our network is creating an innovative future. From mariculture to renewable energy, sustainable tourism to the arts, our communities are forging pathways where development is guided by collaboration, stewardship and respect for community and Indigenous values. The work of our Sustainable Southeast Partnership Rural Economic Development Catalyst Brooke Leslie of Shx?at ?wáan Wrangell and outgoing Mariculture Keolani Booth of Max?axaa?a Metlakatla, are at the heart of this movement—bridging industries, communities, and generations to drive holistic systems change. In the most recent Woven Peoples & Place column in the Juneau Empire, we share their perspectives and celebrate our catalysts and their leadership in their respective focus areas. By working together—Tribal and municipal governments, businesses, land managers, and educators—we’re ensuring that economic growth aligns with community needs, cultural values, and the well-being of our land and waters. Read the column in the Juneau Empire or on our website. https://lnkd.in/gge3MSj3 https://lnkd.in/gw6-6grb Photos by Bethany Goodrich, ?aa Yahaayí Shkalneegi Muriel Reid, and borrowed from Alaska Mariculture Research & Training center Interviews by 2024 SSP Storytelling and engagement interns Addy Mallott and Clara Mooney #SustainableSoutheast #IndigenousLeadership #SystemsChange #Mariculture #Stewardship #SoutheastAlaska #ThrivingCommunities #BlueEconomy

The deadline to comment on the draft assessment for the Tongass Forest Plan revision is this Monday! Comment here: https://p2a.co/rldaiwg Living on the Tongass is more than just living in a place, it’s a way of life that connects us with place. A message from the Sustainable Southeast Partnership Director, Marina Anderson: My connection to the Tongass is deeply rooted in my lineage and upbringing. As a girl who was raised by my Tlingit and Haida homelands in southern Southeast Alaska, I grew up with the environment as my classroom. To this day I still dedicate my time to harvesting foods and medicines from the forest and ocean. The old float house that I grew up in on a beach on the west side of Prince of Wales Island was perfectly positioned to venture out from with my family consistently to fish for different types of salmon, hunt seal, sea otter & deer, pick juicy berries and salty seaweed among other things.? Fueled by dryfish and my family and ancestors’ way of life, I was fortunate to mimic their techniques while internalizing their values and learn how to continue harvesting from the land while also giving back. For some people, harvesting and hiking through the forest are hobbies. For me, it is an undeniable way of life that sustains myself and my people physically and spiritually and it is the responsibility that my generation is currently carrying to pass down the inherited knowledge to the next generations and ensure that our landscape will be healthy enough for them to pass it down to the generations after them. The US Forest Service is currently seeking public comment on the Draft Assessment of the Tongass Forest Plan, the management plan that informs how the agency works and makes decisions on the Tongass. Comment now and encourage the Forest Service to listen to community priorities for the Tongass like harvesting, healthy ecosystems, regenerative workforce opportunities, and supporting Southeast Alaskans’ diverse ways of life: https://p2a.co/rldaiwg

There are a few days left to make your voice heard and comment on the Tongass Forest Plan Revision draft assessments. From subsistence habitat to community priorities to recreation to timber resources, these assessments describe the various conditions, trends, and uses woven together in the largest temperate rainforest in the world. This is your chance to create a clearer view of existing ecological, economic and social conditions. Together, we can guide the Forest Service in developing a Plan that balances ecological health and community prosperity. Please submit your comments to the Tongass Plan Revision Comment Site or through our partner’s Sitka Conservation Society‘s comment tool by 11:59 pm (Alaska Standard Time) on Monday, February 24, 2025. Read 'Voices of Our Future' https://lnkd.in/gg3V-5Su Sitka Conservation Society‘s comment tool: https://lnkd.in/gZsGxHcZ Read the story https://lnkd.in/gVSPYg5J Photos and story by Lee House #TongassNationalForest #CommunityEngagement #communitydevelopment #localpriorities #sustainablesoutheast

We're hiring for a Sustainable Southeast Partnership Regional Mariculture Catalyst! Apply: https://lnkd.in/gyZv_cbi Job Summary: The Sustainable Southeast Partnership Regional Mariculture Catalyst will provide technical and social support necessary for residents of Southeast Alaska to benefit from the development of the mariculture industry. The primary focus of the catalyst will be to 1) advocate for Mariculture industry development that prioritizes Alaska Native and rural community voices and upholds tribal sovereignty, 2) enable access to mariculture resources and technical assistance for Alaska Native and rural Alaska community residents, 3) collaborate with community and regional partners of the SSP to advance project initiatives in SSP communities across the region that harness the power of traditional knowledge and values, customary and subsistence lifeways, regenerative economics, and local food movements. Starting Salary: $70,000 - $78,500 Application Deadline: March 11, 2025 Anticipated Start Date: April 29, 2025 Full job description: https://lnkd.in/gyZv_cbi About Sustainable Southeast Partnership: Ecotrust is a member of the Sustainable Southeast Partnership (SSP), which is a collective impact network focused on sharing capacity in Southeast Alaska communities by creating projects that model triple-bottom-line approaches to sustainable development. SSP uses a two-tiered structure, working through Community Catalysts hosted by community-level entities (e.g., tribal government, city/borough, village corporations) and Regional Catalysts hosted at organizations with a regional footprint that bring capacity in one or more of SSP’s core strategies. #nonprofitjobs #mariculture #southeastalaska

Kelp farmers in remote Southeast Alaska face a number of difficulties in getting their kelp to market in an affordable manner. Barnacle Foods' latest report, "Cost-Effective Kelp Drying Methods for Remote Alaskan Communities," breaks down the best drying and stabilization methods for rural farmers. This is the second in a series of reports designed to help strengthen Alaska’s growing mariculture industry. Read it now on our website https://lnkd.in/ggWi36Qz #AlaskaKelp #SeaweedFarming #SustainableFood #BarnacleFoods #sustainablesoutheast