❮ Projects page Southeast Alaska Land Trust

Spatial Analysis Project:

Create a conservation priority analysis of public and private property (non-federal land) within the Ketchikan Alaska watershed (8-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) #19010102). The goal of this project is to identify private, native corporations/tribal, municipal, and state land on which the Southeast Alaska Land Trust (SEAL Trust) could potentially hold conservation easements, deed restrictions, or purchase as fee-simple conservation properties.

This conservation prioritization analysis will enable SEAL Trust to take a more strategic approach in exploring additional conservation opportunities within the Ketchikan watershed. In addition, SEAL Trust will be able to use this prioritization to quickly and objectively assess the conservation values of a potential project within Ketchikan, identify the most significant parcels for conservation, and present and defend property acquisitions to funders.

The project objectives include:

• Define resource values that contribute to SEAL Trust’s definition of ‘conservation value’
• Use resource values to rank the conservation value of non-federal lands

Data available:

SEAL Trust and the Southeast Alaska GIS Library have many available datasets that could be useful for this project:

• Land Ownership
• Protected Areas
• National Wetlands Inventory
• Hydrography Database
• Floodplains
• Streams (including Anadromous Streams)
• Karst data
• Presence of clear-cut or 2nd growth forest

Maps and Reports that will be created:

A final prioritization shapefile/geodatabase that can be used by SEAL Trust staff when assessing potential conservation projects within the Ketchikan watershed.

A final report that will include an overview of the project goals and objectives, methods used, results, discussion, and major conclusions. Report maps could include the following:

• Ketchikan HUC Context Map
• Ketchikan HUC Protected Area Map
• Ketchikan HUC Land Ownership Map
• Overview of Ketchikan HUC Prioritization
• Map(s) of Highest Priority Areas

How the maps and reports will be used:

The prioritization data, report, and maps will be used by SEAL Trust staff in order to take a more proactive and strategic approach in pursuing conservation opportunities within the Ketchikan watershed.

The prioritization data, report, and maps will be used to quickly and objectively assess the conservation values of a potential project within the Ketchikan watershed, identify the most significant parcels for conservation, and present and defend property acquisitions to funders.