Observations from Lower Susitna River Personal Use Dip Net Fishery

On Wednesday July 22, Gary Brell, Frede (my wife), Chuck Ashmun and I boated from Deshka Landing to the Lower Susitna River Personal Use Salmon FIshery. Our boat ride down the Susitna River went smoothly, however, I have boated this stretch of river several times and am familiar with it. Three comments I would make concerning the river:

One: Wear Your PFD

I wore a life vest the entire time — both while we were traveling and while we were fishing — I removed it only while filleting fish.   The lower Susitna River is a cold deceptively fast moving glacial river. If a person should fall in the river, wearing a Personal Floatation Device could easily save a life.

Two: Learn to Operate Your Boat Somewhere Else

With that thought in mind I would also say be sure you have all of your boating safety gear with you and know how to use it.  It is always better to bring more than enough fuel.  For my open guide boat with a 90 horse outboard jet I brought 27 gallons of fuel and had over 6 gallons in reserve after making the round trip and fishing from the boat for several hours.    For an experienced boater the route is not all that difficult, however, you should know what to do if at some point you loose power.   

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Trump Administration Facing Hurdles Opening Alaska and other Areas to Oil and Gas

The Proposed Pebble Mine project 
is one of the extraction industry 
efforts drawing the ire of outdoorsmen, 
conservationists, and the environmental 
community.

Trump and his myriad supporters in the extraction industries, including Oil and Gas, are facing a stiff headwind in the U.S. Courts, as this Washington Post article lays out.  As a former Alaskan who often felt the people from the Lower 48 interfered too much with Alaska environmental affairs, I get some of the frustration some Alaskans feel.

However, as we in the U.S. are prone to doing, we may have swung the pendulum way too far towards easing regulations and restrictions on these extraction industries.  If you enjoy the outdoors and want your kids to be able to enjoy what you get to experience, we may want to ease up a little...

A number of recent legal defeats and business decisions have stymied three multibillion-dollar pipeline projects around the country, setting back President Trump’s 3½-year effort to expand oil and gas development in the United States.

The reversals demonstrate both the enduring power of environmental laws that the Trump administration has been trying to weaken and the tenacity of environmental, tribal and community activists who have battled the projects on forested land and in federal courtrooms.

In a surprise decision Monday, a federal judge ruled that the Dakota Access pipeline — which Trump approved within a month of taking office — must be shut down by Aug. 5, saying federal officials failed to carry out a complete analysis of its environmental impacts. The day before, two energy companies behind the controversial, 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline abandoned their six-year bid to build it, saying the $8 billion project has become too expensive and faces an uncertain regulatory environment. And an April decision by a federal judge in Montana dealt a blow to the Keystone XL pipeline and raised questions about whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will have to conduct more extensive environmental reviews for other projects.

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Alaska Salmon Fishing - Slow

From ADN

Salmon harvests across Alaska are slow so far as the fisheries head toward their usual high points in July.

So far, fishermen have landed about 5.8 million salmon. That’s less than half of the 2018 numbers by the same date, when 14 million had been landed. Much of that is due to poor sockeye returns, particularly in the Copper River area, though everywhere is slower than previous years, including Bristol Bay.

The Copper River and Bering River districts continue their shutdown this week due to unexpectedly low sockeye returns. The return to the Copper River is not living up to the preseason forecast, with only 378,058 sockeye through the Miles Lake weir as of June 29, compared to more than 696,828 by the same date last year. The forecast called for 1.5 million sockeye to return to the Copper River this year.

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Alaska Hunting Regs Out

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has issued 20-21 Hunting regs.  The information can be accessed on the department website, but to download a copy of all regs click HERE.

The department cautions that regs are not quoted verbatim from state law, been in a more readable and concise format.  Also, hunters need to be aware that emergency orders supersede the info in these regs.

Happy Hunting!

Hatchery Kings, Orphaned Bears and the Necessity of Synergy in Conservation

By Wilson Puryear

Anglers line the banks at Ship Creek in downtown Anchorage. Photo by ADF&G staff.

It is late June in Alaska’s largest city. Summer solstice, the longest day of the year; the date upon which the Northland’s moniker “land of the midnight sun” is most readily apparent. The inevitable and imperceptibly slow slide back towards the darkness of subarctic winter is far from the minds of Anchorage residents today. They, like Alaskans throughout the state, are celebrating the season. Celebrating by hiking and bicycling, camping and boating, picnicking and simply soaking up the sun. And, of course, by fishing.

Ship Creek, weaving its way past the warehouses and railyards of Anchorage’s industrial district, is a hive of activity. Anglers young, old, and from all walks of life gather on the banks and wet their line in hopes of a rendezvous with river royalty. Chinook salmon - “kings” in Alaskan parlance - ply these waters, surging in with the high tides as they begin the transition from the salty sea back to the freshwater of their conception. The whirring of dozens of spinning reels being cast fills the air, punctuated occasionally with cries of “fish on!” as those counted among the lucky begin the process of landing their catch.

Further upstream, keen-eyed observers may spot those salmon that have successfully run the gauntlet and escaped the human predation of the creek’s lower stretches. Here, shaded by the leaves and limbs of cottonwood trees, the fish hold in the deeper pools and eddies, biding their time until the eggs and testes inside their bodies fully develop and their coloration changes from the chrome camouflage of the ocean to the dull brick-red of a sexually mature king salmon.

That any of this is possible is due to the hard work of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), Division of Sport Fish staff at the William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery. Nestled along the north bank of Ship Creek just downstream from the old Elmendorf Power Plant dam, it is at this hatchery that these salmon began their lives. Part of a long-established, region-wide program designed to preserve and enhance angling opportunity through the establishment of reliable and accessible fisheries (thus alleviating pressures placed on wild stocks), these fish were raised under human care until their size and age dictated a readiness to make their own way in the world. Eager for the taste of saltwater, they were released into Ship Creek, drifting with the current to its mouth and the briny vastness beyond. Now, they have returned after spending one to six years at sea, evading commercial gillnets, anglers’ hooks, and a thousand manifestations of toothed death. The impetus for their return is a calling as old as the species itself: they have come home to begin the next generation.

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The 10 Most Stunning Hikes In Alaska

As a fourth-generation Alaskan, I often hear how spoiled I am to have grown up in the wild beauty of the 49th state. Spoiled, perhaps, but not rotten. I'm ever-captivated by the secrets she reveals, even over paths I’ve walked a thousand times before. Alaska is truly The Last Frontier, the ultimate bucket-list adventure of a lifetime. In the largest state in the nation, plan to go big before you go home.

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Mysterious Brown Bear Appearance and Southeast Bear Research

By Riley Woodford

When a brown bear appeared on Douglas Island in the spring of 2017, bear biologist Anthony Crupi was well prepared to investigate its origin. Douglas is home to black bears, but brown bears are almost unheard of. In 1974 a hunter took a brown bear on Fish Creek, the only other documentation of a brown bear on the island.

Douglas Island is adjacent to mainland Juneau in northern Southeast Alaska, barely separated at the narrowest region by a tidal wetland. Crupi lives on the island and works there in the town of Douglas at the Southeast regional office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The 2017 bear was shot in the early morning hours by a concerned homeowner in a defense of life and property (DLP) incident in the spring. Fish and Game biologists noted on the scene that the bear’s hide was particularly dark. By law, the skull and hide were turned in to Fish and Game. Tom Schumacher and Paul Converse and conducted the sealing. The skull was large, measuring 25 ¼ inches, and the bear weighed about 700 pounds.

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Bears, Birds, Walrus and More Alaska Outdoors – What You Can Do in 2020

Alaska’s wildlife viewing and outdoor opportunities are open this summer, with modifications to accommodate for Covid-19 concerns. Some opportunities are close to urban areas, easily accessible and popular with Alaskans. Others are more remote and offer opportunities to watch wild animals such as bears and walrus, without fences or crowds. Alaskans appreciate these areas, but they are often destinations for visitors seeking a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game manages (and cooperatively manages) areas highlighted here; The National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service and other public land managers are resources for information on the lands they manage.

Joe Meehan oversees the McNeil River bear viewing area and Round Island, where walrus gather, and he said both areas will be open for visitors this summer.

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Best Way to Save Young Wildlife: Leave Them Alone

A newborn moose calf found alone in the woods - or even in your backyard - can appear helpless and abandoned. But don't be fooled. Destitute as those big-eyed calves may seem, a protective mother is almost always nearby.

Newborn moose calves, deer fawns, and tiny bear cubs are already being seen in Alaska, the first of many calves, cubs, kits, and chicks Alaskans can expect to appear between mid-May and the end of June. Biologists are warning Alaskans who may encounter newborn wildlife to resist the urge to approach or "rescue" them.

Cow moose can be particularly dangerous during calving season, warns Anchorage Area Wildlife Biologist Dave Battle. Attacks on people and pets by cows aggressively defending calves are reported each spring.

"You'll want to give moose calves plenty of space," said Battle.

If a moose calf or bear cub is encountered without its mother immediately in view, be alert in case you've walked between them. The best course of action is usually to back away and leave from the direction you came. Also, do not assume young animals found alone are orphaned. Mother moose and bears frequently walk out of sight, cache their young, or become separated from them by fences or roads. Sow bears often send cubs up trees to wait before leaving to find food. In nearly all cases, the mothers return to their young.

Battle also advises Alaskans to take steps to avoid potentially dangerous encounters with wildlife mothers. "Try to avoid single tracks and narrow, brushy trails where limited visibility might lead to a run-in with a cow moose and calf."

Bicyclists and runners should be especially alert as they can swiftly top hills or round corners and run into moose, bears and other wildlife. Making noise to alert wildlife to your presence is always a good precaution but may not be enough when speeding down a trail to avoid clashes with moose cows with calves.

"Newborn moose calves aren't able to run from predators - or from pets or people on bicycles," Battle said. "Mothers are likely to stand their ground, even when they hear you coming."

Moose calves are not the only animal receiving unwanted attention. Paul Converse in Douglas said the Southeast office receives calls about birds, young porcupines, and especially black-tailed deer fawns.

"There have been instances where people have picked up and tried to care for a deer fawn," he said. "A few years ago we learned a woman was taking care of an otter."

He appreciates that people are well-intentioned but wishes they would not put themselves in these roles. "Please leave them alone and contact Fish and Game if you are concerned."

Sitka Area Biologist Stephen Bethune said black-tailed deer mothers stay away from their newborn fawns to avoid drawing predators.

"Does will cache them for several hours while they go off and feed," he said. "It's a strategy. It's safer for the fawn to not be with the doe while she's feeding. It's not orphaned, and people are actually kidnapping it."

Tony Hollis in Fairbanks said the office there gets a few calls about moose calves each year, "but a majority of the issues are with the public bringing in young birds, hares, squirrels, and fox pups in a box and asking us what to do with them."

"They might be abandoned, but probably not and they have a better chance out there," he said.

Even when young animals truly are orphaned it's best to leave them alone. Don't attempt to feed or pick them up; this type of contact with animals is illegal and could result in a citation and fine. Lingering near or approaching a young animal for a photo may discourage the mother from returning.

If you observe a young animal that appears to have been left alone for more than 48 hours, contact the nearest Alaska Department of Fish and Game office during regular business hours, or use the department's smartphone-friendly link to file a report online by visiting www.adfg.alaska.gov and clicking the "Report a Wildlife Encounter" button. If a situation involves an immediate public safety concern, call 9-1-1.

For more information, visit www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=distressedwildlife.mammals.