Initiatives
Discover initiatives from around the world that are addressing changing glacial landscapes and supporting resilient glacier futures.
1 / Taku Salmon Resiliency Initiative
This initiative, led by the TRTFN in partnership with various academic and other institutions, is working to understand climate change in their watershed. This work supports proactive stewardship of the lands and waters of the Taku for long-term resilience, for salmon and people.
"Reconnection Vision is a youth-led movement to revive our sacred connections with ourselves, each other, and the land to heal our systems and communities in ceremony so the children of tomorrow can be whole people." Click the link to learn more.
Environmental change in the Kluane region is affecting how Lhù’ààn Mân Ku Dań (Kluane Lake People) live, travel, and sustain their relationships with the land. Click the link to access more information from their community brochure.
The Héen/Tū Strategy and Action Plan is Carcross/Tagish First Nation’s strategy for protecting and appreciating water. Shaped by the Water Committee, with Elders and youth from all clans and moieties, it is grounded in the Tagish and Tlingit teaching that water is a living relative, not something to be owned. Click the link to read more.
Working to better understand climate impacts on glaciers in the Chilkat River Watershed and other watersheds in the Jilkaat Kwaan Territory. Click the link to read the Resilience Plan for Tlákw Aan (Klukwan).
Contact: Jess Kayser Forster- jkforster@civ-nsn.gov
A story of healing between the National Park Service (NPS) and the Hoonah Indian Association (HIA). As seen at the Glacier Futures Public Event on May 19th, 2026
Community-centered approaches to hazards in proglacial watersheds are developing community monitoring and risk management approaches. Currently focused on the Lillooet watershed in partnership with Líl̓wat Nation and St’at’imc Land Guardians and the village of Pemberton, looking to learn from other communities around PWW dealing with the management of landslides and floods
Contact: koppes@geog.ubc.ca
A Yukon and BC First Nations and Alaska Tribal environmental initiative. Since 2006, the network has collected water quality and permafrost data to derive a deeper understanding of water quality, hydrology, and landscape changes' impacts on their water resources.
Additional Links:
yukon.fieldscope.org
9 / Juneau Ice Field
Creating opportunities for Indigenous youth and elders from the Taku River Tlingit First Nation and the Douglas Indian Association to connect with their territories, using the infrastructure and access of JIRP (Juneau Icefield Research Program).
Contact: Michele Koppes- koppes@geog.ubc.ca
Getting Champagne & Aishihik First Nations citizens reconnected to glaciers in their First Nations’ traditional territory.
Decentering the ice – capturing local and regional perspectives on glaciers and glacial retreat from scientists, harvesters, and knowledge keepers. They are interviewing and weaving local and lived experiences of the impacts of glacier retreat to guide scientific research agendas and funding.
A statewide collaborative effort to create the policy, technical, regulatory, and community-based frameworks to make Alaska Carbon net-negative by 2050. This includes working to support experimental approaches to glacier protection – Tribal laws, Glacier “blankets” e.g., Yakutat, and international cooperatives. Based on “the importance of Alaska for Climate stabilization, Resilience and biodiversity conservation” – in Frontiers in Forest and Global Change 22 Aug 2021. Click the link to read.
Contact: Alaska Venture Fund
Funding cross-collaborative initiatives to address climate change through supporting Indigenous-led and community-based science and policy projects (transboundary rivers, multiple governmental approaches, co-stewardship, co-management, arts, culture, and storytelling, land guardian programs)
Contact: Alaska Venture Fund
A project blending science and art to capture sounds of glaciers melting and runoff from the mountains to the sea, using recordings above and in the ice and the rivers. These recordings are turned into soundscape compositions to share the gift of stories from the land. If anyone is interested in sharing recordings or would like to participate in listening sessions to the rivers, please reach out!
Girls on Ice AK program, part of Inspiring Girls Expeditions AK – a free science, art, and outdoor learning experience for the -18 yr old youth. Students spend 12 days with a team of professional scientists, artists, and outdoor guides to explore, live on, learn about, and learn from an awe-inspiring glacier landscape. The program aspires to empower youth participants to lead and succeed while building curiosity, creativity, and confidence in order to bolster the next generation of environmental ambassadors.
Additional Links:
16 / Yukon Headwaters Research Program
Learn more about how researchers and local partners are working together to support the stewardship of the Yukon Headwaters. One initiative within this program is to understand how glacier loss is impacting downstream rivers and lakes and their aquatic ecosystems.
Contacts:
Ashley Dubnick- adubnick@yukonu.ca
Kyra St. Pierre- kstpier4@uottawa.ca
Click the link to explore the collection of one-page summaries of research conducted by Simon Fraser University's Glaciology Group in the Kluane region.
This report assesses whether the areas identified by AME as protected meet Canadian and international criteria for Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs), using independent spatial analysis of mining tenures, permits, and development projects.
Explore Ice&Life, an innovative project at the intersection of science and nature conservation, dedicated to studying the rapidly emerging ecosystems revealed by glacier retreat in the Alps, caused by climate change.