Category: Meetings

Join us and learn more about refuges and wildlife at our meetings held from 5-6 pm AKT, the 3rd Tuesday of the month.

Upcoming Schedule:

January 16: Winter recreation on the Kenai Refuge presented by the Gaia GIrls: Laura Pillifant and Mary King: live at the Kenai Refuge plus zoom

February 20: Archeology of the Aleutian Islands with archeologist and author Debra Corbett; live at the Alaska Maritime Refuge in Homer plus zoom

March 19: Gravel to Gravel Initiative: Saving Pacific Salmon from the river deltas of Norton Sound and the Bering Sea to the headwater streams in Canada with program director Boyd Blihovde; live at the Fish & Wildlife Regional office, Anchorage plus zoom

April 16: Researching the Porcupine caribou herd with Arctic Refuge biologist Willliam Leacock and USGS biologist Heather Johnson; live at the Morris Thompson Center in Fairbanks plus zoomNo matter where you are, you can join us via ZOOM, link will be on the website Meeting Page.

As we are able, we are holding in-person meetings safely along with livestreaming to all who choose to attend via the internet or call in to the teleconference number by phone.

The program and connection info will be available below no later than the morning of the meeting.  Can’t make the meeting time?  Our programs are recorded and posted with the meeting descriptions after the meeting.  You do not need to be a member. 

Every meeting will feature an engaging speaker from one of Alaska’s 16 Refuges or who is closely involved with our Refuges.

Open post

2018 March Membership Meeting

Please join us on Tuesday, March 20, for the Friends membership meeting.
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747# 

Special Guest: Kristine Sowl, Yukon Delta NWR
“The importance of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta to shorebirds and recent efforts to obtain population estimates”

Kristine will present on the population estimates derived from the 2015-16 PRISM surveys and discuss how these may change some of the continental population estimates for several shorebird species.

Kristine Sowl is a wildlife biologist who studies wildlife ecology in subarctic ecosystems. She currently is in charge of the non-game bird program (landbirds, shorebirds, raptors, and seabirds) at Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in western Alaska.  She has spent over 25 years working as a biologist on public lands in Alaska, including Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, and brief stints at the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge and Aniakchak National Monument.  She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in 1985 and completed a Master of Science in Wildlife Biology from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in 2003.  Currently, her work is focused on the breeding and migration ecology of Beringian shorebirds, including the bar-tailed godwit, black turnstone, bristle-thighed curlew, western sandpiper, and Pacific subspecies of dunlin.


Open post

2018 February Membership Meeting

Please join us on Tuesday, February 20, for the Friends membership meeting. 

In person: Homer (Alaska Maritime) or Soldotna (Kenai NWR)
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747# 

Special Guest: Patrick Walsh, Supervisory Biologist/Togiak NWR
Stories and Studies of Wolves at Togiak National Wildlife Refuge

We have formally studied wolves for the past 10 years at Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, focusing most effort on understanding the role wolves play in regulating moose and caribou populations. This presentation will provide the results of a completed study of wolf predation on a small caribou herd, and will provide preliminary results from an ongoing study of wolf predation on the refuge’s moose population. During the course of the formal studies, we have made a number of incidental observations on wolf life history and behavior that are worth telling. So, this talk will be a combination of studies and stories about the wolves of Togiak Refuge.

Download Powerpoint Presentation







Open post

Māhuahua pū Friends Workshop

Our Alaska Friends Board and the Hawaiian Islands Friends Boards have been invited to a workshop on Kauai in January 2018. This opportunity will be funded by grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Federation (NFWF). 

The main items on the agenda will be: Communications using social media, Member recruitment and engagement, Board development and retention. Five board members and our Coordinator will attend, joined by Steve Delehanty and Helen Strackeljahn of USFWS.

Friends expect to return to Alaska with fresh ideas and new tools to use for greater benefit to our Alaska Refuges. They hope that new or inactive members will be encouraged to take on leadership roles so they may also take advantage of ongoing training and educational opportunities both in and outside of Alaska.

BECOME A FRIEND – GET INVOLVED!


Open post

2017 November Membership Meeting

Please join us on Tuesday, November 28, for the Friends membership meeting.
(*Note: due to the Thanksgiving holiday, we’ve moved our meeting back one week)

In person: Homer (Alaska Maritime) or Soldotna (Kenai NWR)
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747# 

Special Guest: Nate Berg, Wildlife Biologist/Tetlin NWR
Northwest Boreal Lynx Project

Researchers in Interior Alaska at Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest, Tetlin NWR, Yukon Flats NWR, Kanuti NWR, Koyukuk/Nowitna/Innoko NWR, and Gates of the Arctic NPP as well as in Northwest Canada are working together to study the long distance movements of Canada lynx in relation to the 10-year cycle of their primary prey, the snowshoe hare. Lynx are being fitted with satellite GPS collars that allow us to track their movements. Collared lynx are showing us what habitats they prefer, where they choose to have their young, when and where they choose to disperse, which landscape features act as corridors and which might be barriers to their dispersal.  In addition to GPS data we are also collecting hair samples for genetic and isotope analysis. We are using this information to better understand relatedness and origin of lynx and to develop landscape connectivity models that allow us to identify the areas most important for lynx conservation at the local, regional, and continental scale. 



Follow the PowerPoint presentation here (or download a copy):
Loader Loading...
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download [3.88 MB]


Photos/videos used in the presentation:

1. https://www.instagram.com/p/_aGWKLkMqE/?taken-by=thelynxproject
2. https://www.instagram.com/p/_ehitzEMgG/?taken-by=thelynxproject
3. https://www.instagram.com/p/BQqfPNbjVkP/?taken-by=thelynxproject
4. https://www.instagram.com/p/BNfS2PIDRyZ/?taken-by=thelynxproject
5. https://www.instagram.com/p/BSVEUrujkGM/?taken-by=thelynxproject
6. https://www.instagram.com/p/BSPEIG8jDM5/?taken-by=thelynxproject
7. https://www.instagram.com/p/BTKr5ePjZar/?taken-by=thelynxproject
8. https://www.instagram.com/p/BShAfHiDyGu/?taken-by=thelynxproject
9. https://www.instagram.com/p/BPdQxqOD0Wn/?taken-by=thelynxproject
10. https://www.instagram.com/p/BPX7NspjzYk/?taken-by=thelynxproject
11. https://www.instagram.com/p/BPMVRjEDAT1/?taken-by=thelynxproject
12. https://www.instagram.com/p/BPadJzsDmlC/?taken-by=thelynxproject
13. https://www.instagram.com/p/BL92rtmDhgf/?taken-by=thelynxproject
14. https://www.instagram.com/p/BMPR_6MDTbD/?taken-by=thelynxproject
15. https://www.instagram.com/p/BRulmhqDq7q/?taken-by=thelynxproject
16. https://www.instagram.com/p/BN48OBVj3J3/?taken-by=thelynxproject
17. https://www.instagram.com/p/BUIbPGfFAQQ/?taken-by=thelynxproject
18. https://www.instagram.com/p/BVnM31uD7mX/?taken-by=thelynxproject


Open post

2017 October Membership Meeting

Please join us on Tuesday, October 17, for the Friends membership meeting.
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747# 

Special Guest: Mandy Bernard
The Kenai Mountains to Sea Partnership: A Local Effort to Address Climate Change at a Landscape Scale

Kenai Mountains to Sea partners envision a landscape of connected private and public lands. They are working with willing landowners, agencies and tribal entities, and strengthening longstanding and effective private-public partnerships dedicated to voluntarily conserving and enhancing fish and wildlife habitats for the continuing economic, recreational and cultural benefits to residents and visitors of the Kenai.

Loader Loading...
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download Friends_M2S_Presentation


Open post

2017 September Membership Meeting

Please join us on Tuesday, September 19, for the Friends membership meeting.
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747#

Outreach Update:

Special Presenter: Kendra Bush-St. Louis, environmental educator with the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge:

Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge is a vast refuge teaming with wildlife. It encompasses almost 3.5 million acres with over 6,000 miles of coastlines on almost 2,500 islands and headlands. Each year, staff members, volunteers, youth hires, and community partners come together to accomplish great things in the name of wild places and marine life. Join Refuge Environmental Education Specialist, Kendra Bush-St. Louis, as she shares accomplishments from this summer’s youth engagement, including a one of a kind YCC program, three science and culture camps, and the use of the coolest education platform ever, the R/V Tiglax.




Open post

2017 April Membership Meeting

Please join us on Tuesday, April 18,  for the Friends membership meeting.
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747#

Our presenters will be
  • Tina Moran: BLM Central Yukon Resource Management Plan
  • Greg Risdahl: Izembek Road Issue

No automatic alt text available. 
Loader Loading...
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download [19.16 MB]



*Members are invited to call in or attend in person at Alaska Maritime. Many refuges are offering the opportunity to attend via teleconferencing, including Anchorage and Yukon Flats- check with the Refuge near you.


Open post

2017 March Membership Meeting

Please join us on Tuesday, March 21,  for the Friends membership meeting.
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747#

*Members are invited to call in or attend in person at Alaska Maritime. Many refuges are offering the opportunity to attend via teleconferencing, including Anchorage and Yukon Flats- check with the Refuge near you.

Our presenters will be Mitch Ellis (above), Chief of Refuges, Alaska USFWS and Jacqueline Keating, Sociology Master’s Student/ Kodiak Bear-Human Interaction.

Jacqueline Keating: Bear Viewing Management from Kodiak to Kaktovik 

The Friends  partnered with Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to support a volunteer position in Kaktovik at the height of the polar bear viewing season. Last fall, we supported volunteer Jacqueline Keating, who spent three weeks in Kaktovik working with the polar bear conservation project. Jacqueline recently completed her Master’s degree in Sociology at Utah State University, and has spent the last three years conducting social science research on the brown bear viewing program at the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. Join us to hear about her experiences in Kaktovik, and the challenges and success of bear viewing on national wildlife refuges across the state. 

View or download Jacqueline’s presentation here:

Download [7.49 MB]



Open post

2017 February Membership Meeting

Please join us on Tuesday, February 21,  for the Friends membership meeting.
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747#


Our presenter will be Greg Siekaniec, FWS Alaska Regional Director, who will provide us with a Regional Update, followed by a Q&A session.


*Members are invited to call in or attend in person at Alaska Maritime. Many refuges are offering the opportunity to attend via teleconferencing, including Anchorage and Yukon Flats- check with the Refuge near you.


Open post

2016 November Membership Meeting

Please join us on Tuesday, November 15th,  for the Friends membership meeting.
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747#
Our presenter will be Katrina Liebich (Mueller), FWS Alaska Fisheries Outreach Coordinator,
presenting: “Fish of Alaska’s Refuges” which will showcase the amazing fish found in Alaska’s Refuges, introduce several FWS Programs working to conserve Alaska’s fish and their habitats (including on and adjacent to Refuge lands), and initiate a conversation about potential opportunities to work together! Several other FWS Fisheries and Habitat staff will be present to meet the group and help answer questions. 


Download presentation videos:

fish passage fail.wmv
fish passage restoration.wmv
Funny River Weir.wmv
streambank Chena.wmv
underwater weir footage.wmv


Shawn Bayless, manager of the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, will also join us to discuss items about Tetlin and to give an update on their lynx research. 


Posts navigation

1 2 3 4 5 6