About the Project

Recognizing the rapid change in Alaska's climate and real concerns around food insecurity for our state's underserved rural and urban communities, we are creating a partnership to connect Stickleback Farm, a new, cold-climate market gardening demonstration space in Anchorage, the 800-acre Kellogg Farm Campus operated by Alaska Pacific University (APU), and the Eklutna Tribal Conservation District facilities.​ We will host educational programming at these three farm sites, the Seeds of Change hydroponics facility, and Alaska Village Initiatives’ Rural Small Business Conference, all on the traditional homelands of the Eklutna People.

We facilitate knowledge exchange and shared learning that builds both urban and rural capacity for local, climate-smart food production and explores appropriate approaches for cultivation and stewardship of traditional foods of Alaska Native peoples. Through this work we will also build better connections and understanding between underserved urban and rural communities that both are struggling with common issues of food insecurity.

The Partnership

This endeavor builds upon a current partnership that Alaska Conservation Foundation has with a network of Tribal Conservation Districts focused on Indigenous-led stewardship of traditional foods. It further leverages local food production efforts by Alaska Seeds of Change for underserved urban farmers in Anchorage and the efforts of the Eklutna Tribal Conservation District to build capacities around the Anchorage bowl relative to local agricultural production. It also includes the online tools of Alaska Village Initiatives and their rural collaboration expertise. ​Alaska Conservation Foundation is grateful to have been funded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the NoVo Foundation for this project.