TU-AK and partners worked last summer to restore a Southeast
Alaska watershed that was damaged by timber harvesting some four
decades ago. Starrigavan Valley, near the coastal town of Sitka,
suffered heavy ecological damage in the 1960s and 70s when
loggers extensively harvested the watershed's large old-growth
hemlock and spruce trees. Not realizing that large woody debris
provides essential spawning and rearing habitat for salmon,
Starrigavan Creek and some of its tributaries were cleared of
fallen trees and bulldozers were driven through the creek to
access timber stands. These activities proved disastrous for
salmon and steelhead populations in Starrigavan. As years passed
and the clear-cuts grew back, the watershed became thick with
dense stands of second-growth trees. These young trees and
shrubs blocked sunlight and prevented forage plants, an
important food source for wildlife, from sprouting. As a result,
Starrigavan desperately needed dense stands thinned to allow
sunlight to stimulate under-story p