Be transported through the living science of Southeast Alaska’s coastal rainforest with The SeaBank Chronicles. In 7-minute transmissions rich with immersive audio effects, you’ll groundtruth terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems guided by a trusted radio operator. Discover ancient forests, a wild and silvery nation of salmon, and the human communities finding home among them.
Learn more about the SeaBank Initiative.
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Sensors in your smart shirt indicate you're overheating. Follow the voice of your radio operator to the shelter of a forest canopy. This adventure in the cooling power of trees is sponsored by Earthjustice.
You’ve worked up a sweat groundtruthing the SeaBank ecosystem. Lucky for you, there’s a forest in your future—a place where temperatures dip to human-friendly levels beneath feathery western hemlocks and prickly Sitka spruce. But it’s not just shade that makes this old growth forest a cool place. Amid a soundtrack of rustling treetops, flowing water, and spellbinding musical interludes, you’ll learn three ways that forests help cool our planet, beyond the shade factor and the major benefit of climate sequestration. It’s all about those piney smells wafting around you, branches sighing overhead, and the voracious appetite of hydrogen bonds. Think forests are passive players in climate-proofing our world? Think again. More information about the connection between people and forests at www.earthjustice.org.
The SeaBank Chronicles is a natural sound theater transporting you through the living science of Southeast Alaska. Combining facts and mystery, each 7-minute episode delivers listeners to Alaska’s coastal rainforest to groundtruth terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Immerse yourself in rich audio effects woven with lush voice narration for an experience that is educational and spellbinding. A project of the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, The SeaBank Chronicles is written, hosted, and produced by Beth Short-Rhoads.
When in doubt, just keep listening.
Grab all the foul-weather gear you can find—in this transmission, you’ll trek across a tumultuous landscape in search of resilience strategies for wild Alaska salmon. Sponsored by Acme Smoked Fish.
Ice-age glaciers, volcanoes, tectonic motion, windstorms, and flooding are all part of the package when it comes to salmon’s biggest defense against climate change: genetic diversity. While Alaska is home to five species of Pacific salmon, its genetically-distinct stocks number in the hundreds of perhaps even thousands. With subtle differences in appearance and behavior, these robust populations embody what scientists call the “portfolio effect.” What does this mean and how can it help salmon remain climate resilient? Find out as you enjoy a soundtrack of immersive sounds and musical interludes that take you from the placid lakes of Alaska’s Bristol Bay region to the rushing rivers of Southeast. Then, read Sockeye 101 at www.acmesmokedfish.com
The SeaBank Chronicles is a natural sound theater transporting you through the living science of Southeast Alaska. Combining facts and mystery, each 7-minute episode delivers listeners to Alaska’s coastal rainforest to groundtruth terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Immerse yourself in rich audio effects woven with lush voice narration for an experience that is educational and spellbinding. A project of the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, The SeaBank Chronicles is written, hosted, and produced by Beth Short-Rhoads.
When in doubt, just keep listening.
Welcome to Season 2 of the SeaBank Chronicles!
Listen to Season One here.
Do you copy? Weather data shows it's a beautiful day in the SeaBank. Pull out your snorkel and prepare to dive in. Sponsored by Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.
In this transmission about Alaska's coastal rainforest ecosystem, you’ll combine a snorkeling excursion in SeaBank waters with an immersive economics lesson on negative externalities. While floating amid the sounds of seagulls and bell buoys, encounter phytoplankton and other inhabitants of the marine food web—along with the realities of aquatic pollution like PAHs, sulfates, nitrates, and heavy metals released by cruise ships that use open-loop scrubber technology. Luckily, your pack contains a dry towel plus a pollution solution with room for both the economic benefits of tourism and a healthy Southeast Alaska environment. It’s all about a switch from low-quality heavy fuel oil to cleaner-burning marine gas oil, which any vessel employing a marine scrubber can easily do 100% of the time.
For more information on the use of Heavy Fuel Oil and sustainable cruise tourism, visit Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.
That noise? It's your helicopter. Put on your headset and climb aboard! This trip to Canada's boreal forest is sponsored by Salmon Beyond Borders.
Step aboard the Coho Cruiser helicopter for a flyover of the Taku River watershed, a 4.5-million-acre transboundary salmon stronghold that connects the SeaBank and boreal forests of northern British Columbia. Learn why this ecosystem is a global hotspot for salmon production (hint: it’s wild as all get-out) and how it’s expected to change the face of salmon resilience in western North America. Witness the ill effects of transboundary mining and the positive side to climate change—emerging glacial streams that will likely expand prime salmon habitat on the West Coast. Who is watching over these lands and waters? Tribal entities on both sides of the political border. Join them by listening to this episode of the SeaBank Chronicles, then learn what you can do to protect the Taku as an official salmon stronghold at https://salmonbeyondborders.org/take-action.
The SeaBank Chronicles is a natural sound theater transporting you through the living science of Southeast Alaska. Combining facts and mystery, each 7-minute episode delivers listeners to Alaska’s coastal rainforest to groundtruth terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Immerse yourself in rich audio effects woven with lush voice narration for an experience that is educational and spellbinding. A project of the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, The SeaBank Chronicles is written, hosted, and produced by Beth Short-Rhoads.
When in doubt, just keep listening.
Sources and credits
What's your boot size? There's a pair waiting in your Stikine River jet boat. This birding adventure is sponsored by Audubon Alaska.
Step into another universe during the Stikine River Shorebird Festival, which takes place near the SeaBank outpost of Wrangell each year in late April. You’ll travel a 27,000-acre intertidal delta to reach an otherworldly expanse of silvery mudflats where shorebirds—including enchanting murmurations of western sandpipers—gather for a nutrient-dense feast during their migratory journey to northern breeding grounds. But it’s not crustaceans or worms those sandpipers are pecking at in the mud. What is this mysterious substance? Find out as you immerse yourself in the sounds of flocking birds, flowing water, and a musical symphony that invites your ears to take flight. Don’t forget your Xtratufs!
The SeaBank Chronicles is a natural sound theater transporting you through the living science of Southeast Alaska. Combining facts and mystery, each 7-minute episode delivers listeners to Alaska’s coastal rainforest to groundtruth terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Immerse yourself in rich audio effects woven with lush voice narration for an experience that is educational and spellbinding. A project of the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, The SeaBank Chronicles is written, hosted, and produced by Beth Short-Rhoads.
When in doubt, just keep listening.
You're cold. You're wet. You're hungry. Come in out of the rain for a classic SeaBank dinner. This culinary adventure is sponsored by Sitka Seafood Market.
After groundtruthing the SeaBank ecosystem, it's time to gather around a crackling fire in a cozy SeaBank outpost to explore a delicious recipe—miso and soy-glazed sablefish. Amid a collage of lively cooking sounds and musical soundtrack that features the traditional Japanese folk song “Sakura,” you’ll break the black cod code to answer the question: why is this species so abundant in healthy, marine-derived lipids like omega-3 oils DHA and EPA? It’s all about microscopic marine plants called diatoms that spin sunlight into sugar at the base of the marine food web. When fellow SeaBank groundtruthers show up in search of a hot meal, you’ll welcome them with the unrivaled taste sensation that is black cod—and the mystery of deliciousness locked inside the black cod code. To find the recipe featured in this transmission, visit www.sitkaseafoodmarket.com
The SeaBank Chronicles is a natural sound theater transporting you through the living science of Southeast Alaska. Combining facts and mystery, each 7-minute episode delivers listeners to Alaska’s coastal rainforest to groundtruth terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Immerse yourself in rich audio effects woven with lush voice narration for an experience that is educational and spellbinding. A project of the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, The SeaBank Chronicles is written, hosted, and produced by Beth Short-Rhoads.
When in doubt, just keep listening.
Sources and credits
Gunalchéesh, háw'aa, and nt'oyaxsn to the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people for stewarding the lands and waters of Southeast Alaska since a time beyond human memory.
The SeaBank Chronicles is produced by
the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust and is
written, hosted, and produced by Beth Short-Rhoads.
Thank you to our funders: The Walton Family Foundation, The Edgerton Foundation,
and Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.