By Robert Sattler, Senior Archaeologist / Environmental Quality Analyst
Several federal land and resource managing agencies are planning a Sentinel Landscape initiative that covers the central and eastern areas of the TCC region. The program would be funded through a collaboration between the Department of Defense, Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, and Federal Emergency Management Agency. The initiative seeks to integrate management of military lands and surrounding public and private lands to accomplish larger landscape level conservation goals; such as wildfire management, invasive species control, and improving stream health for salmon. The broad land area includes ancestral lands in the Upper Tanana, Yukon Flats and Yukon-Tanana subregions (see figure). Led by the ecological services branch US Fish and Wildlife service (based in Fairbanks) the initiative will strive to develop a coalition of state, federal and tribal entities to work collaboratively on natural resources management. In a big picture, the coalition would monitor the health of the boreal forest of the Interior and its land and water resources. Plans are in the early stages and the organizers are seeking Tribal engagement beyond TCC resources staff. For further information, contact Matt Sprau, Conservation Planning Assistance, US Fish and Wildlife Service at 907-750-6772 or at matthew_sprau@fws.gov. You can also visit https://sentinellandscapes.org/ to learn more.
