The Sake of the Fish

My first week here 8 people from the University of Alaska (Juneau) stayed with me in the bunkhouse. They were working in Yakutat High School for a few days doing some survival and outdoor skills with the kids, and during every other waking hour they were out fishing. 6 are male students, 1 is a man who is a professor at the school, and there was 1 girl about my age who toughed out a week with the boys! She knows her stuff about fly fishing- learned from a young age with her brother and father, currently works at a fly shop in Juneau, and holds a great respect for the fish- much like our family was taught to do. She doesn't worry about the number of fish you catch, or taking them home, or holding them up as a display of dominance. We discussed how fishing shouldn't be about competing with other people and trying to prove yourself to others (as many of the boys in her group do). There are true ethics behind fishing that I guess not everyone was taught or cares enough about. Having an understanding of the fish- whether it's scientific or almost a spiritual connection- is what makes fishing so satisfying (although on occasion a good dinner also makes it quite worth it! But not with steelhead, as it is an entirely catch and release fishery).

I think I am understanding more and more why Grandpa fished, and how to him, fishing was so much more than just fishing. It certainly is for me. Just being in the presence of these strong, vibrant, beautiful fish is humbling- contemplating their precarious, long journeys between river and sea, up waterfalls, dodging around fishermen's hooks and bear claws and simply even trying to gain a sense of the lives of these amazing creatures; -if only we could hear their stories!  It is not so much about the waiting versus the catching but about the patience, respect, and knowledge that is gained in the process of fishing and through learning how to fish.

Relearning how to cast a fly rod- been a while!

I get worried that everything that Grandpa knew about fishing- and the fish- will be lost with him. I know we have his fish journals, and I know we have his stories, and I know the importance of what our family has learned and what we have documented, as in my cousin Anna's manuscript.  But how I wish I had been old enough, mature enough, and interested enough to truly learn what I could have from him.  However, in a way, I do feel like this is what he would've wanted- my own quest to take on and learn myself, having the rivers as well as his teachings to guide me. I think that, after all, is probably the best way to learn.  A foundation of love of the fish is what he left for me, for us; and it is up to each of us to decide whether and how we will use it, what we will learn from it, and where it will take us.

To be able to catch wild steelhead- when populations everywhere else are plummeting, or even just see pods and pods of them stagnant or darting beneath the surface, is something few are fortunate enough to experience, and I cherish every moment of it.

In my new waders!

One thing I do know is that Grandpa would be proud that his granddaughter finally wears waders! Thank you, USFS! Plenty of work I do this summer will require them, and I've already used them a number of times.

With my black rockfish

My first time fishing out here (which was also my first time ocean fishing!), Nate brought me out on his skiff and we trolled two poles. I reeled in a black rockfish, and later that evening he caught a decent sized King Salmon.  What a magnificent fish; I can't help but think that phrase every time I see any fish here, and I find myself saying it often! I still have so many mixed feelings regarding catching these glorious, huge creatures, even if we are eating them and they do not go to waste, but my dissonance there is too complex for me to even sort out enough to write about.

Nate with a King Salmon

Nate also took me out on the Situk to do some fly fishing (we hiked a ways in from the road in our waders, which got warm!) and try to get some underwater photos of spawning steelhead for some "Don't Tread on Redd" conservation posters with his sweeeeet heavy underwater camera.  Yakutat, as I'm sure is true of coastal Alaska in general, provides one with much to learn about fisheries management that doesn't involve school; I am reluctant to think heading back in to the classroom for graduate school is where I will learn the most!

I am doing my best to take in as much as I can about the management and conservation of these fisheries while I am here, gaining knowledge from sources and people who have been studying and working towards conserving these fish for years.  It's weird how we develop certain interests and passions that energize us for some reason, while other people are driven by entirely different desires.  I'm not really sure that I can say I am drawn to this work because of Grandpa and my family's fishing history, because I feel I was too young to understand much of it or be influenced this greatly by it. But it must come from somewhere! For whatever reason that I do it, I do it in Grandpa's words: For the Sake of the Fish.

Disenchantment Bay

Last Thursday my supervisors, our boat captain Glen (a commercial fishermen who also works for the USFS) and I went on a journey to see Haenke or Egg Island in Disenchantment Bay. I bet there's a funny story behind the name “Disenchantment Bay”, like the early explorers traveled way up it in search of a passage and all they found was ice, haha! Disenchantment Bay is where the famous Hubbard Glacier is.

 

crazy looking cave in the rock

The reason for our trip in Glen’s skiff was that local Tlinget elders had been requesting the USFS survey Egg Island concerning the potential to burn some vegetation to free up the gull nesting habitat.  A Tlinget tradition involves going to Haenke Island to collect gull eggs for harvest, and apparently generations ago less vegetation was crowding the island and many more gulls nested there. Although this subsistence harvesting isn’t necessary for survival anymore, it is still an important part of Tlinget culture and tradition.  Susan concluded that we will have to speak with the elders more about their observations and what they know from years past, but now the Forest Service has a better idea of what the habitat on Haenke Island looks like.

Why hello there, ice berg!

The view that morning down at the dock in Yakutat was only the beginning of views unlike any I had ever seen. My camera couldn’t begin to capture the view of fishing boats tied at the dock with evergreen islands in the background and deep blue water, bordered by white-capped mountains in the distance.

This trip up to Haenke Island and the glaciers, while maneuvering our way in between ice bergs and surrounded by snow-covered mountains was by far the coolest thing I’ve done in Alaska (no pun intended)! People here keep telling me how lucky I am to have had the chance to go up there- especially within my first week here! Most volunteers never have the opportunity, even though Disenchantment Bay is a hotspot for the cruise ships that come through Yakutat. I really can’t describe the trip up there, and the pictures hardly do it justice.  We had a gorgeous day for the trip, which was good because it was cold for me even in the sun and had it been colder and rainy (as is typical in SE Alaska, but sure hasn’t been so far for me) I would have been really freezing.  We motored our way through the islands in Yakutat Bay and between Knight Island and shore.  The view of the mountain range and Mt. St. Elias was breathtaking.  We passed point Latouche and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees as we rounded the corner in the skiff to Disenchantment Bay. Numerous porpoises glided out of the sparkling glacier-blue water (which is very similar to Caribbean blue water, but quite a bit colder!)  High on a mountain peak we could see bear tracks in the snow, heading right over the top of the mountain down to the other side. 

 

Haenke (Egg) Island

On the island we saw many glaucous gulls, kittiwakes, and a few oystercatchers either resting on the cliffs, searching for food, or a few even nesting on shore. We also saw a peregrine falcon and got a good look at him through the binocs. We could only walk a small part of the island because the beach was blocked on either side by rocky cliffs or bolders. On the way back in the boat we did a little bit of trolling but didn’t have any luck, though we ran into several other groups of fishermen who said they had caught lots. We did however, see many eagles and a few brightly colored seastars as we trolled along slowly near the shore.

 

This trip was surely jaw dropping. There isn’t much more to describe that pictures won’t do a better job of illustrating.

View of Hubbard Glacier and Egg Island from a distance

Hubbard Glacier

Glen's boat from the shore of Haenke Island

What's it like to fly with eagles?

Flying over a glacier on my way from Anchorage to Cordova to Yakutat

Bear track on the beach

So my first hike in Alaska was on a trail that hasn’t been completed yet but is in a gorgeous location. I went with my supervisor Susan and her boyfriend and their sweet dog, Lexie. The trail follows the beach with a breathtaking view of Mt. Saint Elias and many other snow-capped peaks and a view of Yakutat Bay.  We hiked past a tree almost chewed entirely through by a beavers, watched numerous bald eagles fly overhead, and enjoyed the rare 100% sunshine.  Part of the trail loops down onto the beach where I saw my first bear tracks….. and they.were. HUGE.  They were large not only just for my standards (my standards being ANY bear is a big bear), but for the others whom actually have bear experience.  We hiked out to the Ankau bridge and then looped back on the road- about a 3 hour hike altogether, but no elevation changes here- too flat!

That night a group of coworkers and friends and many dogs had a barbeque at one of the campsites on Cannon Beach overlooking the vast Gulf of Alaska. I tried some wonderful cooked salmon and even some moose! We eventually moved down to the beach and built a fire and cooked some smores while watching the sunset. The dogs started going crazy and everyone reassured eachother that the dogs always do that, but sure enough they started to run up to the trees and there was a bear poking its head out of the woods! A big one! Brown bear, which I learned is the same as a grizzly, only bigger because of its rich diet of fish from living on the coast. So while browns are not quite as big as Kodiak bears (which are also another type of grizzly), they are big enough.  People started packing up all the food to get ready to leave, and the bear circled back and took another run at the campsite, so we got out pretty quickly.

Sunset on Cannon Beach

On the short drive home from the beach we caught a glimpse of the Northern Lights, though they were faint.  During all of these moments I couldn’t help but think how wild and amazing this country is- this whole world is! Even more than the sense of awe and wonder about nature that I get while canoeing the Westbranch of the Penobscot I get here. In my journal from that night I wrote, “I now get what Grandpa lived for, and now I know more than ever that it’s in my blood”. Maybe that's cheesey, but it was how I was feeling at the time.

The day after I went on another 3 hour hike with another coworker (Teresa) and her husband, Brad, and two dogs.  We hiked along Tawak Creek and once again saw too many eagles to count, a sea lion out off the beach, some tracks from bear and moose, and the remains of ancient Tlinget villages.  I believe Teresa said it was the oldest known village in the SE Alaska region.  So humbling to think about the lives of people before and their history, and consider what the landscape looked like when they lived. Cool to be walking the same land that they once did so long ago!

I learned about Devil’sClub- a terrible annoying plant that has thorns that stick into your skin and give you little painful red bumps for a while- as well as Skunk Cabbage, a pretty yellow flower.

On Wednesday I went out with Nate (my other supervisor) and a man from Alaska Fish & Game to do an aerial survey of hooligan (smelt) and stellar sea lions. That meant we went up in this little 5 person float plane and gained a spectacular view of the glaciers, mountains, rivers & estuaries, and ocean. We saw lots of sea lions but apparently there are usually even more than that in certain spots. 

Our float plane

The guys spotted a bear which just looked like a little black dot but they told me it was definitely a big one.  I told them that I’m noticing a pattern here… it seems that every time we see bear tracks or a bear… someone claims that it’s a big bear. Didn’t see any hooligan, (except for the ones in the plane! Haha).  One of the best parts of that excursion was watching the eagles soaring below and right next to our plane.  We were flying WITH the eagles! So majestic. I keep telling people here that I know I make a big deal of seeing the eagles and they aren't a big deal here, but I certainly won't be getting sick of seeing them any time soon.

 

One view of the mountains from the float plane

Later that night a girl I met who is an Americorps volunteer working in the school and I helped a fish and game biologist who flew in to do some bat monitoring. We counted 255 bats flying out of this abandoned building in town between 930-11pm! Very cool device called an Arabat that detects them, but once they started coming out we just counted/estimated the best we could.

Thursday was one of the most jaw-dropping days EVERRRR and that will be next to write about!

Sea lions from plane

North to the Future: The Last Frontier

Aerial view of Yakutat

Yakutat, Alaska!!!!
Now, I'm thinking (and secretly kind of hoping) this blog won't be as thorough as my last one, considering all of the things that I plan to be spending my time doing that don't involve sitting in front of a computer. But ultimately a blog is quicker than sending lots of individual emails out.  It also is a quick way for me to post journal entries (even though there is something wonderful about writing in an actual journal, and I will still continue to do that) and include some pictures!

As most of you know, I took a position with the SCA (Student Conservation Association) to be a Fish & Wildlife intern with the US Forest Service (USFS) in the Yakutat Ranger District of the Tongass National Forest.  The Yakutat Ranger district (District 10) is the most remote district. My funding comes through the USFS and I am also affiliated with Americorps as I plan to receive an Americorps Education Award at the end of my service, as long as I complete all the hours.

Yakutat is in Southeast AK, between Anchorage and Sitka/Juneau, and has a population of about 600 people. It is heaven for fishermen and apparently a big surfing destination too.  I am working mainly with one fisheries biologist and one wildlife biologist but will be working alongside many other people in the USFS in Yakutat.  The Tongass National Forest is the nation's largest National Forest, covering 500 square miles. The area I am living in is incredibly flat but surrounded by massive mountains which are probably about 10-20 miles away (as the crow flies, but I don't think they are possible to get to without a plane, helicopter, or boat (or a very strong pair of legs and lots of bear spray). Mt. Saint Elias (one of the largest mountains in North America) and Mt. Fairweather are both visible depending on the visibility and where you are in Yakutat.  The Tongass National Forest, a temperate rainforest, is bordered by Glacier Bay National Park to the south, the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the Southwest, and a Canadian National Park to the east. It encompasses mountains, islands, fjords, and glaciers.  Yakutat is home to the Tlingit (Kling-it) people, an Alaska Native people, who named it the "place where the canoes rest".

Tlingit art

The main purpose of this summer was to work with the River Ranger and educate people about ethical fishing practices and bear safety, and answer any questions that fishermen or anyone else have out on the Situk River, but as of yet no River Ranger has been hired (my bosses are having lots of problems with the hiring process and government red tape).  So we shall see. There will be plenty for me to do but it may not go as planned (I'm learning already how similar Samoa and Yakutat are, despite how distant they are from one another!) Things move slow here, a lot of what does get done is done by just a few people, and in some respects there is a divide between the locals and government employees or volunteer teachers from elsewhere (Americorps).  I'm already learning SO much about where our tax money goes- the good and the bad.

Thus far I've done a fair amount of just shadowing my superiors on trail surverys or wildlife surveys. But everyday is a new adventure.  I don't feel super useful yet, just getting my bearings and doing a lot of training- bear safety, defensive driving, cpr & first aid, more to come.  The first few days here were BEAUTIFUL, sunny, and warm, but since that ended it's been fairly cloudy and very cold (fore me)!  But we desperately need rain; the rivers are incredibly low.  The Cleavers know what it's like to have angry fishermen around so we can't have that!

My next few posts will cover the adventures I've gone on so far and all the wildlife I've been fortunate enough to see (and keep my distance from) :), just wanted to get this up and running!

If anyone needs my address up here my mail gets sent to the USFS office:
Sara Cleaver
C/O Yakutat Ranger District
PO Box 327
712 Cape Ocean Road
Yakutat, AK 99689