Interdisciplinary Ecological Baseline Assessment Contributing to the Understanding of the Health and Value of Watersheds Protected by the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies

Abstract

Not only do watersheds act as critical habitat for various species of flora and fauna, they provide numerous important ecosystem services to humans. These services include water and air filtration, carbon storage, flood protection, and nutrient cycling. Monitoring and managing watersheds appropriately is important in order to maintain healthy and intact ecosystems that may continue to provide for plants, animals, and humans. However, watersheds around the world are threatened by climate change impacts and increasinging development. Due to this, the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies (CACS) in Homer, Alaska recruited our Masters Project team to aid in conducting an interdisciplinary analysis of watershed properties that their organization stewards. This involved creating protocols that were subsequently used to conduct ecological baseline data collection on CACS’ Wynn Nature Center (140 acres), Inspiration Ridge Preserve (693 acres), and Peterson Bay Field Station properties. Ecological data collection involved fish trapping, macroinvertebrate sampling, breeding bird surveying, peat depth probing, and vegetation assessments. Through our ecological sampling we observed a diversity of flora and fauna present on CACS properties, habitat diversity and connectivity, and pristine headwater stream ecosystems. These data can function as part of a baseline that CACS can compare to future sampling so they may continue to monitor how these ecosystems respond to anthropogenic threats. Further, information and results shared in this report may be used to aid in land management decision making, and to inform the public and policymakers regarding the importance of conserving and protecting these watershed ecosystems.