Healthy fish and wildlife habitats translate into healthy human habitat, and they support a full range of ecosystem services, such as water filtration, flood mitigation, and food chain productivity, to name but a few. While these ecosystem services are priceless, natural resource economists have estimated their value at trillions of dollars worldwide. Cook Inletkeeper recognizes healthy habitat as a vital strand in the ecological fabric that supports our families, our communities and our economies.
Stream Temperature Monitoring Network
Fisheries scientists warn that high stream temperatures make fish increasingly vulnerable to pollution, predation and disease.
Stream Temperature Standards
Alaskans continue to feel the impacts of a changing climate and the need to understand how these changes alter aquatic systems and fisheries resources.
Cold Water Refugia
Areas within a stream which are persistently colder than adjacent areas are critical to the survival and persistence of salmonids and other fish species.
Real-time Temperature Sites
Alaskans know that stream temperature can alter fish movement and behavior and, more importantly, whether the “bite is on”. But access to real-time temperature data is very limited in Alaska, so Cook Inletkeeper has embarked on a new project to provide this type of information to Alaskans and fisheries managers.
We have collaborated with BeadedStream LLC in Anchorage to refine a prototype using paired air and water sensors with a real-time, online interface. The monitoring station is powered with battery and micro-solar recharging capabilities, using Iridium satellite technology!
This effort builds on previous Cook Inletkeeper work to understand water temperature patterns in non-glacial salmon streams. This is an important next step in technology, data accessibility and long-term planning needed to engage decision-makers and local Alaskans in the implication of climate change on our freshwater salmon habitat.
Current Real-time Sites:
