Interactive website supports resilience in rural Alaska

The broad range of environmental impacts affecting rural Alaska have prompted greater investment in resilience planning. While agencies and researchers are collecting environmental data around Alaska to assist resilience planning efforts, the information often is not shared effectively with rural communities, tribes and others. In response, Alaska Sea Grant’s Sean Kelly created the ArcGIS StoryMap website Data for resilience planners in rural Alaska. 

Funded by the Alaska Ocean Observing System, the online tool is designed to help regional and community planners tackle environmental challenges more effectively. “While there are funding opportunities available to regional- and community-level planners for resilience efforts, some rural planners don’t have the capacity or training to access and use available data in their proposals and projects,” explained Kelly. The StoryMap seeks to bridge that gap and foster conversations about scientific questions important to Alaska. As part of the project, Kelly conducted interviews with regional and community planners in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, identifying barriers to data accessibility and usability.

“This project is about more than just providing data,” Kelly explained. “It’s about creating a dialogue and building the capacity of rural communities to use existing data effectively, and figuring out what new information is needed.”

The StoryMap features clear text, engaging graphics, and links to ocean, coastal, and environmental data. Topics covered include how data is used in Alaska, how diverse sources can support community planning, the principles of resilience planning, and the importance of data sovereignty. The tool also provides access to comprehensive data catalogs and step-by-step guidance for using them.

The StoryMap and its resources are part of a broader effort to enhance collaboration and meet the unique needs of Alaska’s rural communities. Alaska Sea Grant and Alaska Ocean Observing System will continue to refine the tool based on user feedback, and explore new ways to improve data availability for resilience planning. This project adds to Alaska Sea Grant’s work to coordinate statewide resilience planning and focus on making data useful to communities.

Despite environmental threats to remote communities in Alaska, there is a robust statewide network of research providing data critical to adaptation efforts. Kelly’s StoryMap will serve to connect resilience and adaptation planners to the information needed for successful planning. 

For more information, contact Sean Kelly.