FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 30, 2025
MORE INFORMATION:
Kaitlin Vadla, Inletkeeper Regional Director (907) 252-6525
David Knight, Community Engagement Coordinator (907) 252-3480
Inletkeeper Kicks off New Solution Focused on Salmon Habitat
Soldotna, AK – After five years of implementing local solutions, Cook Inletkeeper’s newest community-led project will focus on improving salmon habitat on the Central Peninsula. Inletkeeper is inviting the public to come together on February 10th with local experts to brainstorm salmon habitat solutions and then choose the best one for volunteers to implement alongside Inletkeeper in the Central Peninsula.
Cook Inletkeeper, a 30 year old community-based organization with offices in Soldotna and Homer, has implemented local solutions ranging from peatland preservation to non-motorized transportation. Now, Inletkeeper is focusing on its roots: clean water and healthy salmon, and inviting the community to help choose the most relevant and impactful project to bring about with volunteers over the next two years.
The solution process will kick off on Monday, February 10th at Inletkeeper’s Community Action Studio in Soldotna, immediately following the Kenai Peninsula Fish Habitat Partnership’s Annual Meeting (10am-4pm at Cook Inlet Aquaculture on K-Beach Road). Inletkeeper’s event will commence with a Community Happy hour, followed by an expert panel discussion of the most pressing issues facing salmon habitat, with a Q&A and small group brainstorms of solutions, culminating in a vote to identify the top solutions. Subsequent meetings will involve researching these solutions, voting on the one to focus on first, and then working together with decision-makers and citizens to implement the solution within the next two years.
Local Solutions Background: Inletkeeper began its “Local Solution” programming in 2019 as a way to meaningfully address the impacts of pollution and warming temperatures in the Cook Inlet watershed. Initially a partnership between Inletkeeper’s Community Action Studio and the Soldotna Public Library, the “Drawdown Book to Climate Action Series” was a series of public meetings on developing local solutions in different sectors ranging from energy, transportation, infrastructure, food, and land use. Based on the overwhelming positive public response, Inletkeeper’s Central Peninsula staff developed a process for other communities to follow in an illustrated guide called the “Community ActionKit,” which has been used by communities and youth from Fairbanks to Sitka.
Describing her theory of change behind the Local Solution Process, Regional Director Kaitlin Vadla says, “Though changing air temperatures are being driven by global forces, local actions have a measurable impact on reducing polluting emissions, and community-level solutions have the biggest bang for the proverbial buck when it comes to taking action.” She says that solutions from the “middle out” – the community level – have a larger impact than individual actions and are more achievable in the short term than state or federal policy change. Ben Boettger, Inletkeeper’s Energy Analyst who entered the organization as a volunteer leader on the Solarize the Kenai solution, adds “these projects only happen with leadership from many committed volunteers.
Inletkeeper has implemented six locally chosen solutions in the Central and Southern peninsula, including:
● Community Compost which diverted over 60,000lbs of food waste from the landfill to local livestock and earned a $128,000 USDA grant to extend the pilot effort;
● Solarize the Kenai which allowed neighbors to use their collective buying power to save on their electrical bills and added over 845 kW of new solar capacity to 142 households and businesses, and;
● Project ReTree which planted over 3,000 trees in the wake of the spruce beetle outbreak to restore and enhance tree cover in neighborhoods and public spaces.
Warming Salmon Streams at the Heart of the Issue: Over the past 25 years, under the leadership of Science Director Sue Mauger, Inletkeeper’s stream temperature monitoring network has shown that salmon stream temperatures in the Cook Inlet watershed often reach temperatures that can negatively stress salmon at all life stages, including egg incubation, fry development, and adult migration. Rising air temperatures due to climate change are a significant factor contributing to higher salmon stream temperatures. According to Mauger, “Heat-trapping emissions are resulting in warmer salmon habitats and contributing to the decline in salmon populations, which are vital to the health of our Kenai Peninsula coastal communities.” Inletkeeper focuses on science, advocacy, and public outreach and believes that implementing solutions locally is one of the most direct ways to effectively address climate change. Says Vadla, “It’s where we have the greatest influence and impact; local successes ripple out, creating bigger change.”
Event Details:
What: Salmon Habitat Solution Kickoff
When: Monday, February 10th
4:30pm Community Happy Hour (Salmon chowder, salad, bread, and beverages provided.)
5:30pm Expert Panel & Community Brainstorm
Where: Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio, 35911 Kenai Spur Hwy, Unit 13, Soldotna
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Established in 1995, Cook Inletkeeper is a community-based organization dedicated to protecting the Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains