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King Makers: Eklutna corporation conserves land, cultural traditions

Originally published in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman on May 16, 2015

curtisEKLUTNA — Eklutna Inc. makes conserving salmon habitat a priority.

In 2011, Eklutna asked Great Land Trust to assess and prioritize all of their land holdings for conservation value.

At the heart of Great Land Trust’s mission is the identification of lands that are the most important for maintaining our fish and wildlife populations. We use geographic information system (GIS) mapping tools to identify and prioritize land parcels that have significant ecological and other value to the community.

These land parcels could include wetlands important for drinking water, stream corridors essential for salmon spawning and rearing, important moose or wildlife habitat, or they might simply be adjacent to or within protected areas and enhance public access to those areas.

Using tools like GIS ensures that the trust is working strategically to conserve the lands that contain the most critical habitats for fish and wildlife and are most valued by the community.

“For shareholders, caring for their land is a cultural value, and as a village corporation, we have a responsibility to develop some of our lands to create economic opportunities that benefit those shareholders,” said Eklutna CEO Curtis McQueen.

Eklutna Inc. is the Alaska Native Corporation for Eklutna Native Village. Its lands total more than 150,000 acres spread throughout Anchorage, Eagle River, Birchwood, Chugiak, Eklutna and Peters Creek, as well as the Mat-Su Borough. Much of the land provides a home to all five species of salmon, moose, migratory birds and many other plants and animals.

eklutna 2Great Land Trust focused its assessment of Eklutna lands on identifying all the parcels that contain wetlands, high-quality habitat important for salmon, and lands that support subsistence resource harvesting. Once the GIS prioritization was complete, the Trust and Eklutna Inc. decided to partner on a number of conservation projects.

In 2010, Eklutna and Great Land Trust portioned 4,800 acres of land at the confluence of the Knik and Matanuska Rivers for protection by a conservation easement, thereby disallowing future development and subdivision. The easement specified that the land would remain open for cultural and traditional uses by shareholders.

In 2012, Eklutna Inc. completed two more conservation easements with GLT, including 832 acres and nearly eight miles of coastline at the mouth of the Eklutna River, and 532 acres at the mouth of Fire Creek. Both easements contain significant estuarine and wetland habitat that provide transition zones important for young salmon migrating to the ocean, as well as riparian habitat important for spawning salmon.

In 2014, Eklutna completed three more conservation easements with GLT.  The largest of the three is located east of Palmer, and covers nearly 800 acres of land in the Jim, Mud and Swan Lakes area, one of the richest wildlife areas in the region.

eklutna 1The area is known for its extensive wetlands complex, where in late summer and early fall, spawning coho and sockeye salmon crowd the shorelines, attracting hundreds of bald eagles and other migratory birds. For this reason, Audubon Alaska has identified the complex as an Important Bird Area.

As with all of the conservation easements on EklutNa Inc. lands, they are still owned by the corporation, and shareholders are allowed access to the conservation lands for traditional, cultural and subsistence use. For community members who are not tribal members of Eklutna Inc., access is allowed, but by permit only.

Permit applications can be found online here:

“We need to balance growth and development in the Valley with land conservation and cultural values,” McQueen said. “It has been an honor to work with Great Land Trust to protect 8,000 of our acres for fish and wildlife, our current shareholders, future generations and the community.”

Both GLT and Eklutna Inc. anticipate more conservation projects in the future.

We all have the ability to help protect Alaska’s wild salmon runs. We want to celebrate landowners like Eklutna Inc. for their efforts to conserve land and make sure salmon keep coming back and making more fish for our future.

This is why we have named the people of Eklutna Inc. King Makers.