Alaska 2013: July 2013

Work lately has consisted of much more backpacking, camping, fish trapping and habitat surveys. Recently, most of the work I have been doing has been by way of boat and helicopters on Kupreanof Island here in southeast Alaska. Outside of work the recreational activities have been awesome. The salmon fishing is really starting to pick up as the sockeye are tailing out, the pink and chum salmon fishing is only getting better! On my last hitch in Kake, a small town on Kupreanof Island, I was able to witness a huge chum salmon run and many bears taking advantage of this feeding opportunity. On the ferry ride back from the to Petersburg I was witness to dozens of feeding and breaching humpback whales and orcas. Aside from mostly salmon fishing, I have been able to catch quite a few dungeness crab. With a diet of crab and salmon my food situation has greatly improved from the $90 a week living stipend I am on. When I am not working, as previously stated, a lot of my time is spent fishing with some of the other seasonal workers living here and working for the Forest Service, we also have done a lot of kayaking, and hiking. Next week, I will be off to Prince of Whales Island to sample some watersheds down in that region of the Tongass National Forest. As always, a few pictures from recently.

Pink Salmon

Sockeye Salmon

Chum salmon spawning

Black bear coming down to the river

Black bear chasing down chum salmon

Got one!

Chum salmon spawning

Sunset in Kake

Steelhead

Cutthroat

Coho salmon parr

Well, it's been a while since my last post and a lot of new friends have been made, and many new experiences have been had. I left Craig and came to Petersburg, Alaska a few weeks ago to start my new project for the rest of the summer. I'm working with a fisheries biologist on a project that monitors the management indicator species of fish within the different watersheds here in southeast Alaska. We go out to a many different streams and rivers all over the southeast on many of the different islands and place minnow traps for an hour and a half in a certain section of stream and do a total of 3 sets of the traps. Each time, the amount of fish we catch decreases and by using these numbers they can be plugged into an equation to accurately determine the amount of the different species within the river system. The idea behind all of this is to see the effects, if any, of the forest service's management practices in the forests surrounding the rivers. Forests and wood play a critical role in the health of the rivers and the aquatic life within them. Species that we trap include cutthroat trout, dolly varden char, slimy sculpin, coho salmon parr and steelhead. Along with the trapping we also conduct habitat surveys and measurements of the stream size, pool size, riffle size, gravel size, amount of woody debris present and a few other things. It is really amazing to be able to work out in the field with very knowledgeable individuals within my field of study. It is also a blessing to almost never have to work inside and be able to travel and camp all throughout the southeast Alaska region. Working alongside bears, wolves, deer, moose and the many other animals that I see (or see tracks of) on a daily basis is a pretty spectacular thing. Outside of work I have met many new friends and people that also live in the forest service housing who have many of the same interests as I. We all spend a lot of time fishing, hiking, kayaking and camping. Basically heaven. I've been out king salmon fishing to no avail but the sea-run dolly varden are massive. The pink and chum salmon runs are to being here in the next month and soon the rivers will all be choked with thousands of fish.