GSS Alaska 2026 Part 3: Connecting Staff, Communities and Mapping Landscapes -Port Alsworth & Aniak

Collaboration across distant field bases is standard operating procedure for GSS during the summer field season. From July 25–30, GSS Team Members Kevin Stark and Kathy Allen from our main office in Winona linked up with Anchorage-based staff members Sander Johnson and Larissa Kramer for a multi-faceted wetland verification field trip through southwest Alaska.

Larissa and Sander are Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) Shareholders who joined our team through GSS’s ongoing work with BBNC. We were excited to have our Anchorage-based team working side-by-side with Winona Staff.  This allowed GSS to share our field techniques and skills with the Alaska staff, as well as the Alaska-based folks to share their regional knowledge, thereby enhancing our work across our southern Alaska mapping efforts. Following the joint operations at the Port Alsworth base, Kevin and Kathy continued on to conduct targeted fieldwork out of Aniak.

Highlights of the trip included grizzly bear sightings, finding ripe bog blueberries, spotting salmon in rivers from the air, and discovering a wide variety of wetland types across the project area.