March 19, 2024, by Lisa Teas Conaway

Climate change is shaping our futures in ways we can’t always anticipate. One effect that is being felt here in Southeast Alaska is the increase of landslides. With steep forested slopes that are nourished by regular rainfall we are deserving in our as a temperate rainforest. But when climate change brings more atmospheric river events resulting in heavy sustained rain for long periods of time landslides become a very real risk. This last year alone saw dozens of slides throughout the region some resulting in road blockages while others took lives and homes with them.

At the Sitka Sound Science Center, we have been working on our own landslide monitoring devises and have developed a Landslide Risk dashboard that can be accessed by anyone and records real time data Sitka Landslide Risk — Current and forecasted landslide risk for Sitka, Alaska.

In the beginning of March SSSC partnered with Central Council Tlingit and Haida to host the first ever meeting of Southeast Alaska Interagency Landslide Working Group (ILWG). We welcomed over 40 individuals and organizations to participate in an open conversation of how we can best come together to address the growing risk of landslides in our region. Discussions around infrastructure and intellectual assets guided the way towards plans for future partnerships.

Thank you to all who participated in the first ever meeting of Southeast Alaska Interagency Landslide Working Group hopefully the first of many to come.

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