A regional effort to support Indigenous-led conservation and economic development in Southeast Alaska says it’s closing in on an initial $20 million fundraising goal. 

Seacoast Trust, an initiative put together with $17 million seed money from Sealaska Corporation and The Nature Conservancy announced Monday it’s received an additional $2 million from two philanthropic organizations.

The million-dollar donations come from the Anchorage-based Rasmuson Foundation and Los Angeles-based Edgerton Foundation.

“We are thrilled to be part of such a well-crafted approach to stewardship and economic development in Southeast Alaska,” Rasmuson President and CEO Diane Kaplan said in a statement. “Strong, local leaders and broad support are key. We are especially delighted to have Edgerton Foundation as a ground-floor partner.”

The Southeast Sustainable Partnership, a decade-old effort that runs projects in towns and villages across Southeast Alaska, will coordinate the Seacoast Trust projects. 

Financial oversight of the Seacoast Trust comes from Spruce Root, a Juneau-based nonprofit with ties to Sealaska. 

Sealaska announced it’s earlier this year that it’s transitioning away from large-scale logging. The Seacoast Trust is one of the initiatives it says it hopes to expand economic opportunities in Southeast Alaska’s communities that had.

The trust has said in its statements that the long-term goal is to create a $100 million fund that could provide about $5 million annually for economic development in communities across Southeast Alaska.

Gil Truitt (left) cuts the ribbon on the newly renovated Sage Building, while Research Director Tori O’Connell applauds. (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz).

After a summer cocooned in scaffolding, the Sitka Sound Science Center shed its tarps this weekend (10-18-14) for an Alaska Day unveiling ceremony.

A crowd of about a hundred turned out to watch community member Gil Truitt cut the ribbon on the Center’s newly renovated Sage Building.

You can find a special feature exploring the history of the Sage Building here.

Sitka Sound Science Center boardmember Trish White speaks at the ceremony celebrating the newly renovated Sage Building on Saturday morning. (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz)

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The three-year, $1.4-million dollar effort overhauled the exterior of the 1930-era Sage Building, which once housed the science programs at Sheldon Jackson College. The Science Center bought it in 2010, and has added a range of research and education programs to the original aquarium and hatchery.

Science Center Executive Director Lisa Busch said most of the work was finished just in time for the unveiling.

“We just finished the roof yesterday,” she said, laughing. “The glass for the doors came in at midnight last night — they went in at 1 in the morning!”

Funding for the project came from the Murdock Trust, the Juneau hatchery Douglas Island Pink and Chum, the State of Alaska, the Macintosh Foundation and the family of Sheldon Jackson science professor Molly Ahlgren, for whom the aquarium is named.

But the single largest funder was the Rasmuson Foundation, which gave nearly $500,000.

Rasmuson President and CEO Diane Kaplan was on hand for the unveiling — and she had a reveal of her own: a surprise $10,000 grant.

“We wanted to just recognize the great work you’ve done, and make a small grant, a special grant today of $10,000 for artwork,” Kaplan told the crowd, to raucous applause.

Busch said the grant was a “complete surprise.” She said it will go toward something special: “The je ne sais quoi, the frosting on the cake.”

Kaplan suggested artwork made from marine debris.

But this is just the end of phase one for the Science Center, Busch said. Up next: renovating the interior and fixing up the Mill Building next door.

“We couldn’t really work on the inside until the outside was fixed, because we had a lot of rain coming in, a lot of moisture in this building,” Busch said. “The best part of this week, for me, is when we took the tarps down on the inside of the building, that had been holding the water from the leaks for many, many, many years. So that was a huge, huge occasion.”

But Busch said she’s not sure when the next phase of the renovation will begin.

“We need a breather,” she said.

The Sitka Sound Science Center celebrated the newly renovated Sage Building on Saturday morning. (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz)

Sitka’s Alaska Day celebrations got underway early Saturday morning (10-18-14) with a ribbon cutting at the Sitka Sound Science Center to celebrate the renovation of the center’s Sage Building.

The building has a new roof, new windows, and a newly repaired exterior — the glass for the front doors arrived late Friday night, just in time to open them to the public on Saturday morning. Above, Trish White, of the Science Center board, addresses about a hundred community members at the ribbon cutting.

Rasmuson Foundation President and CEO Diane Kaplan was also on hand. The Foundation played a major role in funding the renovation, and Kaplan announced a surprise $10,000 grant at the ceremony