Join us for a Film Festival at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center!
(50 Main Street – Ketchikan, Alaska)
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
5–7 PM
Sharing what we are learning through the use of film continues to be an exceptional way to communicate advances in science and fisheries management, showcase ways communities are engaging in local fisheries and stewardship efforts, and capture the beauty and diversity of fish across Alaska.
Films Include:
Rewilding Cube Cove (7:26 length)
The Cube Cove Restoration project is led by the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition, Kootznoowoo, Inc., and the USDA Forest Service – Tongass National Forest. The work is taking place on Admiralty Island to restore fish habitat in watersheds that have been degraded due to historic logging practices. The Kootznoowoo Stewardship Crew is a local employment opportunity for Angoon community members to rehabilitate their traditional homelands. Over the next few years, the ‘Kootz Crew’ will remove 80 legacy culverts and 3 bridges, breach logging roads at 87 sites, restore fish habitat in 11 streams, and enhance 950 acres of riparian forest.
Film by Lee House. This video was made possible by the USDA Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy, Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition, Sitka Conservation Society, and The Sustainable Southeast Partnership. Project funders: USFWS Alaska Fisheries and Habitat, U.S. Forest Service – Tongass National Forest, SEAK Fish Habitat Partnership, National Forest Foundation, and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
The Story of a Slough (13:33 length)
When the Tanana River Crossing was installed in Salcha, Alaska, the community worried about the levee’s effects on fish wildlife. Salcha Elementary School, along with the help of Tanana Valley Watershed Association and GLOBE Alaska, conducted a ten-year scientific study with students to study the effects the levee had on Piledriver Slough. Tori Brannan – the filmmaker’s mother – then a teacher and principal at Salcha Elementary, was a centerpiece in the project. She shares her experiences with the project, the community, and how her daughter’s involvement strengthened their relationship.
Restoring Healthy Streams and Forests in Hoonah, Alaska (6:55 length)
In the remote village of Hoonah, located near the capital of Juneau in Southeast Alaska, the Huna Tlingit people and local residents have cultural roots that are deeply entwined in the land and waters surrounding their community. Recognizing the importance of protecting, conserving and maintaining the stream and forest habitats that are so integral to the Hoonah way of life, the Hoonah Native Forest Partnership (HNFP) was formed in 2015. This partnership has accomplished critical habitat restoration to improve salmon habitat and forest health, while also supporting economic development in the community. Video produced by AK Nomad Cinematics. Footage contributed by Ian Johnson, Hoonah Indian Association Environmental Director, Sustainable Southeast Partnership Community Catalyst.
Providing Passage – How to Build an AOP Stream Simulator Culvert (17:46 length)
The Tongass National Forest is packed with salmon-producing streams and rivers that connect the ocean to critical freshwater habitat. On the Tongass, hundreds of identified sites of culverts and bridges from past logging roads that may be blocking hundreds of miles of salmon spawning streams. When this road infrastructure deteriorates, fish traveling upstream can be blocked from reaching their habitat, nutrient and sediment cycles of the stream are cut off, and the road can become damaged by erosive waters. To solve this, one pulls out the culvert or preserves the road access by inserting an aquatic organism passage culvert. Video by Pioneer Studios commissioned in partnership between the Sitka Conservation Society and National Forest Foundation.
Into the Outdoors, 2023 Classroom Videos: Decoding the Tongass National Forest Food Web (5:30 length)
In this Into the Outdoors episode, discover the food web of the Tongass National Forest.
The Salmon Forest | Tongass National Forest – Alaska Nature Documentary, 2020 (30:21)
The Salmon Forest is a 30-minute documentary film that explores the connection between wild salmon and life in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in the United States. The film follows Alaskan salmon on their epic migration from the streams of the forest to the ocean and back, revealing the various lives they impact along the way. Filmed in stunning high definition, The Salmon Forest highlights one of the last healthy homes for salmon on Earth, and provokes a deeper understanding of this complex and beautiful ecosystem. Ultimately, this film celebrates the unique role public lands play in salmon production and reminds us that proper management is vital to sustain the future of commercial fisheries, subsistence, recreation, and our forests.
Protect the Unuk it’s OUR River (19:37 length)
Ketchikan Indian Community produced this film to capture the importance of the Unuk River, 2025.
