Alaskan landscapes, ecosystems, and habitats are unique

The federal Cooperative Agreement award, provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management under the Good Neighbor Authority (CFDA 15.015) program, will enable Alaska Village Initiatives (AVI) to establish a native plant nursery in Alaska. The $436,480 award, granted on September 10, 2024, will allow AVI to construct a greenhouse, manage the nursery to produce 200,000 native plants per year, restore 3 acres of fire-burned tribal land, and establish a community seed collection and storage center. This initiative directly supports the Bureau of Land Management's efforts in Alaska to engage in community assistance, forest management, rangeland plant restoration, improving watershed health, and connecting people to the land. The project aims to address the lack of market consistency and availability of native plant products in Alaska, which limits the success of restoration activities. AVI, a non-profit community development corporation, has a longstanding history of successful grant-funded projects and will partner with rural Alaska Native tribes to integrate the nursery's resources into their own aquatic and forest restoration efforts.

They justify specialized management and CO-stewardship to preserve the distinct biodiversity of our native fauna and flora. Threats to these lands, especially impacts on waterways that support aquatic resources and wildfires that spread throughout the state, create an opportunity for restoration efforts. The lack of market consistency and availability of native plant products limits the success and effectiveness of these activities. Alaska village initiatives (AVI) is requesting a total funding of S540,000 over three years to establish a native plant nursery to fill this need. A fully funded project will accomplish the following objectives (summarized): construct a greenhouse and manage a nursery to produce native plants for sale restore a section of fire-burned tribal land to support the growth of outdoor seedlings supply a community center for traditional seed collection and storagethe millers reach rehabilitation nursery project will supply public and private entities with a local source for alaska grown trees, shrubs, and herbaceous materials. This project directly supports the bureau of land managements endeavors in alaska to engage in community assistance, forest management, rangeland plant restoration, improving watershed health, and better connecting people to the land. The mission of AVI aligns with these goals and the understanding that preserving and expanding native plant communities is a necessity for ourbeautiful state. A broad array of goals, ranging from short to long-term, is addressed with this proposal, but an outcome-based evaluation will ensure the completion of these plans. The following outcomes are achieved throughout the lifespan of this grant and can be found in further detail in the full proposal: 200,000 plants per year grown to distribution maturity 3 acres of land cleared and in production 15 new species of priority seed collected and stored per year improvement of on-site soil health cumulative record keeping and sharing of informationthe annual activities of a nursery can be somewhat cyclical, but the three-year length of this project allows for the physical development of the nursery site in addition to research and planning that will support the creation of a publicly available seed bank and ensure the economic long-term sustainability of the nursery business plan.alaska village initiatives has a longstanding history of successful grant-funded projects, but we recognize that success is dependent on the formation of substantive relationships. Key partnerships with rural tribes (e.g. akiachak, mekoryuk, yakutat) that funnel plant resources from the nursery directly into corresponding projects for aquatic and forest restoration increase the impact of this proposals initiatives. The scientific perspective is often placed at odds with the traditional one. A fully funded proposal can open opportunities for native plant restoration work, but IT can also provide a space in which AVI can continue to bridge gaps and connect alaskans.