G N I K A E SP LMON OF SA
w m’s ne ellows u r o F T he on F s a Salm Alask encourage m a p ro g r d ue a n dialog ence rg c o nv e ga no n e Pa n a s o By R
Photo by Josh Corbett
The first cohort of Alaska Salmon Fellows assembled in May at a lodge converted from an old cannery adjacent to the Kenai River.
“The responsibility of tolerance lies with those who have the wider vision.”
— GEORGE ELIOT, 19TH CENTURY BRITISH AUTHOR
A
day when Kristine Norosz’s vision widened found her hiking through bear country in the Tongass National Forest, crossing moss-covered terrain along remote Anan Creek. Known for some of the largest runs of pink and chum salmon in Southeast Alaska, Anan Creek near Wrangell attracts visitors eager to see nature from Forest Service observation decks, photo blinds, and covered shelters. More than 200,000 spawning salmon are estimated to return annually to Anan Creek. Norosz was no tourist. A fish biologist who has crewed on commercial fishing boats, she was walking through the rainforest counting salmon for the state. Around her were black bears, brown bears, eagles, and seagulls. She saw tall trees—spruce, hemlock, cedar—and marveled at the re-
gion’s productive, untrammeled ecosystem. But it was the creek’s abundant salmon that impresses her to this day. “I get to the spawning channel, which is really long, and it’s filled with fish,” she recalled. “You could walk on the backs of the salmon. I’ll never forget it.” Norosz, now based in Petersburg, is among leaders from around the state taking part in the new Alaska Salmon Fellows program developed and led by the Alaska Humanities Forum. Just as her vision was enhanced at Anan Creek, the Salmon Fellows program seeks to broaden each participant’s appreciation for the role that salmon occupy in shaping the state’s economy, politics, social connections, and natural environment. In a way, the Fellows seek to build a healthy and diverse ecosystem of their own: an interdependent network of people committed
to sustaining Alaska wild salmon. Participants agree to spend eighteen months listening to, and learning from, each other— attending especially to flashpoints that have long divided Alaskans who care both about wild salmon and the people who depend on them. “We need to honor [salmon] through thoughtful actions, just as we need to treat each other,” Norosz said on being named a Salmon Fellow. “If salmon runs don’t stay healthy, ecosystems suffer. And we’re part of those systems.” Fellows gather at four six-day meetings, and form working groups dedicated to new, collective projects. They each receive a $10,000, no-strings-attached award. Sixteen Fellows were selected from 131 applicants. Their expertise includes guiding, teaching, lobbying, commercial fishing,
research, land management, sport fishing, the social sciences, and Alaska Native tribal advocacy. Diversity is the key to multiplying perspectives: Norosz, for example, directs government affairs for Icicle Seafoods, an international seafood company specializing in Alaska and Pacific Northwest fish. One fellow is a philosopher; another operates a water treatment plant. FROM CONFLICT TO CONNECTION
“Salmon are an Alaska icon, but they have a people problem,” said Kitty Farnham, Director of Leadership Programs at the Alaska Humanities Forum. “We can collect more data on salmon. But if people can’t listen to each other’s perspectives, then we’re missing opportunities to learn from each other and take action. We’re challenging the Fellows to look at conflict differently.” Guided by its mission to foster connections among Alaskans, the Forum reasoned that people could be part of a solution if Alaskans who knew a lot about salmon also knew each other’s stories, ideas, and experiences. This approach is a foundation throughout the Forum’s work, as it develops leaders, prepares youth and educators, and convenes partners for projects that strengthen communities across Alaska. “What’s unique here is that we’re building leadership capacity in the group as well as in individuals,” Farnham said. “The program is a pathway for people to get to know each other and to establish new networks. The whole premise is, we’re better together.” Fellowship program partners currently include First Alaskans Institute, Nautilus Impact Investing, The Salmon Project, and the University of Alaska Center for Salmon and Society. Fellowships are funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, a philanthropic organization with an interest in maintaining healthy wild salmon ecosystems. Salmon-rich waters were among the reasons why the Alaska territory was acquired from the Russians in 1867. Today salmon are targeted in coastal waters from Southeast Alaska to Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet; in Bristol Bay and the ArcticYukon-Kuskokwim region; and in Kodiak and all around the Alaska Peninsula. Salmon are taken by commercial fishing fleets, sport fishermen, and subsistence fishermen who harvest the fish for food as well as to uphold cultural heritage. Farmed salmon operations are banned. Most observers agree that Alaska salmon and the ecosystems they depend on are relatively healthy, especially if compared with regions like Washington, Oregon, and California, where wild salmon have either dwin-
dled or vanished. Numbers in Alaska vary widely by district, species, and year. In 2016, for instance, pink salmon returns in the Gulf of Alaska were so weak—potentially linked to warm water in the northeastern Pacific Ocean—that a federal disaster designation was approved. The forecast for 2017 is better, but returns of chinook salmon on the Kuskokwim River in western Alaska continue to be lower than average. Fellows are starting work at a time when several uncertainties face Alaskans who rely on salmon for food and income. Worldwide salmon farms, beginning operations only 40 years ago, now market millions of tons of fish annually. In 2016, University of Alaska experts concluded that long-term risks to Alaska salmon include climate change, urbanization, and human population growth. Another study found that over the past 30 years, major changes in both markets and oceans have led to reduced revenue in virtually every Alaska community that depends on fishing. Alaska courts regularly hear challenges to regulations restricting salmon harvests, including rules that specify where and when different sectors of users may take fish.
“If people can’t listen to each other’s perspectives,
then we’re missing opportunities to learn
from each other and
take action.”
BUILDING TRUST, PLANNING PROJECTS
Ben Mohr, a Salmon Fellow and land manager for Cook Inlet Region, Inc., an Alaska Native corporation, recalls growing up in Northern California where chinook were a wintertime staple. “Fish were never really my thing,” he says. That changed when he came to Alaska for college, earned a degree in outdoor studies, and tagged along when friends went fishing on the Russian River, about 110 miles south of Anchorage. “I hooked into my first red [salmon] there and pulled it in and haven’t stopped fishing since,” Mohr explains. “That place, where I caught my first fish, is where people have been coming for 5,000 years, 10,000 years— that exact same spot, to do the exact same thing that I did. Shared experiences and values create relationships. It’s part of the reason why I wanted to be part of Salmon Fellows.” After being named in April, the Fellows gathered in person in May at a lodge con-
Early Spring By Anjuli Grantham (from “2017 Seasonal Poetry Series”) Make an elixir of shoots, pollen, unthawed earth and drink it, quick. It will purge the lingering plaque and hasten transitional anxiety and make us reckon with that orb that is now as relentless as its sister-moon. Take it. Because now is brief and what’s coming is much longer. ABOVE: Alaska
Salmon Fellows contribute to a collective vision of the salmon network. BELOW: Salmon Fellows Mary Sattler Peltola and Ben Stevens explore the role of salmon in the Kenai community.
Anjuli Grantham is a historian, writer, curator, and legislative aide based in Juneau and Kodiak. She is among the 2017-2018 cohort of Alaska Salmon Fellows. Her writing appears monthly in Pacific Fishing magazine and in maritime-related museum exhibits throughout the Gulf of Alaska. More at anjuligrantham.com. FORUM MAGAZINE: “Early Spring” reminds readers
that springtime is a season of anticipation. Now that the Salmon Fellows have met face-to-face for the first time, what connections do you see between your poem and the fellowship? ANJULI GRANTHAM: We met in early spring—an
anxious season. It’s a time of anticipation. That’s not dissimilar to becoming an Alaska Salmon Fellow. I carried tentative hopes but ample uncertainty about our upcoming journey. FORUM: And then there was the shortness of your
time together. Alaska springtime can feel pretty brief, too. AG: We had just a short window of time to transition.
In five days we went from battle-hardened fish soldiers, wearing the different crests of our affiliations, to friends dedicated to open and difficult conversations. FORUM: The Fellowship is aimed at letting people
learn from each other, to see where their shared interests align. It’s a really diverse group—there’s a philosopher, a lobbyist, a land manager, fishermen, scientists, educators. How does poetry fit in? stripped-down articulation of essence. The Alaska Salmon Fellows program is about essence, too. Even though we’re a very different group of folks, we’re finding the strains that inhabit our hearts and spirits. Poetry can galvanize a moment or a mood or it can startle us into new understandings. It can share and help to shape our experiences. Spring and our gathering in Soldotna pass in a moment. Our work to transform our salmon systems will last. ■
Photos by Josh Corbett
AG: Poetry is essential—not like a necessity, but a
verted from an old cannery adjacent to the Kenai River, among the most heavily fished sites in Alaska. “Some people knew each other, but no one knew everyone,” recalls Farnham. Alaska Native people and others with ties to Alaska Native interests make up about half of the first cohort. Building trust was a top priority at that first meeting. “When I’m discussing chinook salmon, it’s a full-body experience,” explains Mary Sattler Peltola, a Fellow from Bethel in western Alaska. “It’s as though I’m thinking and talking about an immediate family member’s welfare.” In Kenai, she found herself among Fellows from sectors that compete with one another for salmon, as well as with Alaska Native people. “This program was awakening for me,” said Peltola, a lobbyist and former state representative. “My perception of sport fishermen—that they were all very wealthy people, fishing mainly as a hobby—was not very accurate.” Growing up Yup’ik, she believed that the saying
Meet the Alaska Salmon Fellows JESSICA BLACK
WARREN JONES
KRIS NOROSZ
ELSA SEBASTIAN
Fort Yukon / Fairbanks Assistant Professor, UAF Jessica Black came of age in a large family at her maternal shitsii’s (grandpa’s) fish camp on the banks of the Yukon River. That’s where, she recalls, her family “learned our culture, our stories, our traditional values, our language; how to become Gwich’in people.” Salmon are integral to her Gwich’in culture.
Anchorage / Hooper Bay Philosopher and writer Warren Jones grew up gillnetting off the coast of Nome before moving to Palmer in sixth grade. He is working on a project to restore the men’s house as an institution in Yup’ik communities. A men’s house was a central social, political, spiritual, and economic institution that, he says, could be considered the defining aspect of Yup’ik community.
Petersburg Director of Gov’t. Affairs, Icicle Seafoods, Inc. Kris Norosz works on public policy issues (habitat, by-catch, allocation, etc.); conducts field research; and is a multi-use harvester. “I am in awe of salmon,” she says. Norosz believes in the value of travel: She makes it a goal to explore a new part of Alaska each year.
Sitka Commercial fisherman Sebastian grew up in a remote village on Prince of Wales Island. She writes: “I often fish alone with the radio as my only company. As I look out at the alive and vibrant coastline, the radio provides moments of dissonance through news stories about ocean acidification, warming stream temperatures, and the dangers posed to salmon by mine development. At these times, I think about what we have to lose.”
RICKY GEASE
Kenai Executive Director, Kenai River Sportfishing Association Since coming to Alaska in 1992, Ricky Gease has “led a salmon infused lifestyle.” He is deeply engaged in the Kenai area community, serving on commissions and boards dealing with resource management and fisheries regulation. His goal: “The complex web of commercial, sport, personal use, and subsistence fisheries can coexist in a healthy, sustainable manner.”
MARY SATTLER PELTOLA MEAGAN KRUPA
Eagle River Research professional, UAA Meagan Krupa envisions the transformations that could occur in the knowledge of salmon/human relations from the implementation of powerful research tools and methods from the social sciences. “While scientific methods have value,” Krupa explains, “the salmon reminds me to take a more creative approach in my research and pay attention to the greater system.”
ANJULI GRANTHAM
Juneau / Kodiak Historian, writer, curator, legislative aide Anjuli Grantham, originally from Kodiak, is a writer, historian, and producer who specializes in the history of Alaska’s seafood industry. Grantham believes that history and culture should be considered “a legitimate part of fisheries management.” As she once wrote, “biology and economy dominate policy decisions.” Adding the human sciences provides a necessary corrective: contextualization. HAYLEY HOOVER
Cordova Commercial fisherman Hayley Hoover comes from a commercial fishing family. As as Alaska Native woman, she would like to see more women joining the commercial fleet. She envisions a curriculum for girls founded upon salmon-based science, and featuring training in boat safety, net mending and hanging techniques, business strategies, and basic electrical and mechanical skills.
KEVIN MAIER
Juneau Professor, UAS; fly-fishing instructor/guide According to Kevin Maier, “salmon are central to my identity.” For nearly two decades he has been analyzing the cultural impact of sport fishing and hunting. Maier has long been fascinated by various commercial fisheries; he considers himself a student of the industry. Maier is interested in learning more about indigenous technologies and the social systems that enabled generations of healthy human-salmon interactions. BEN MOHR
Anchorage Land Manager, Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) Ben Mohr—one-time Senior Policy Advisor to Governor Parnell on fish, game, and public access issues—is now a sport and personal use fisherman. He works the Kenai Peninsula and portions of Upper Cook Inlet. Mohr “would like to increase the wonder and respect for what a uniting element Alaska’s fish resources are.”
Bethel / Anchorage State lobbyist Mary Sattler Peltola, a State Representative from Bethel from 1999-2009, is now a subsistence salmon fisherman. Peltola urges a cautious approach to fisheries management, and prefers to blend traditional knowledge with science. For her, “salmon is a cornerstone species,” on whose vitality depends “the health of our economy, our identity and our relationships with one another.” JULIE RAYMOND-YAKOUBIAN
Girdwood Social scientist, Kawerak, Inc. Julie Raymond-Yakoubian wants to level the playing field for indigenous people in the administration of fisheries management. She has facilitated the participation of Bering Strait indigenous residents in fishery meetings. RaymondYakoubian advocates for tribal representation on fishery management bodies, which includes holding fisheriesrelated meetings closer to the most affected salmon stakeholders. CHRISTINA SALMON
Igiugig Iliaska Env.; Lake & Pen. Borough Assembly member, Village Council member Christina Salmon lives on the Kvichak River next to the world’s largest run of sockeye salmon. “With my grandmother, I have been splitting, hanging, smoking, and consuming salmon from as early as I can remember,” she recalls. “Ensuring the pristine ecosystem in which we live is maintained in perpetuity is my greatest passion.”
BEN STEVENS
Stevens Village / Fairbanks Tribal Advocate, Tanana Chiefs Conference Ben Stevens grew up spending summers at his family’s fish camp on the Upper Yukon. He helped with the entire operation, from setting nets to hauling smoked and dried bales of salmon to the boat. Stevens writes that “the last wild salmon runs on earth are in peril... I’m fighting to ensure salmon return year after year.” VERNER WILSON III
Dillingham Director of Natural Resources, Bristol Bay Native Association Born and raised in Dillingham, Wilson has been involved in commercial, sport, and subsistence salmon fishing from early childhood. As a member of the Curyung Tribe, Wilson was taught the values of protecting resources for future generations: “I have tried to live up to that my entire life.” CHARLIE WRIGHT, SR.
Tanana / Rampart Water Plant Operator; Board Member Yukon River Fisheries Drainage Association Charlie Wright, lifelong subsistence and commercial fisherman, was raised on the Yukon River around Rampart. Wright believes in the art of storytelling as a way to bring people together, and has been committed to representing his people and culture in conversations about the vital role of salmon for all communities along Alaska’s rivers.
Fellow Christina Salmon shares her idea for a small-scale project. Photo by Josh Corbett
“don’t play with your food” could apply to anglers who catch and release salmon for sport. Peltola works alongside her family each summer at their Kuskokwim River fish camp, drying and smoking fish for wintertime. “In our view, the fish gives itself to you in particular because the salmon feels that you’re worthy, that you live by the rules. To us, there’s no such thing as catching for catching’s sake.” Peltola and another Fellow lunched with a couple of longtime guides whose sport fishing clients fish the Kenai River. Some studies show that sport fishing in Alaska rivals commercial fishing when it comes to contributing to the state’s economy. Issues that involve rod-and-reel anglers may be interesting, Peltola says, but they were never among her priorities: “I just didn’t think anything in their world had anything to do with the subsistence [fishing] world.” But as the Fellowship progresses, Peltola says she’s gained a different understanding. For instance, both sport and subsistence fishermen have questioned state forecasts projecting returns of spawning chinook salmon. Forecasts that are too high lead to increased harvest limits that Peltola and others say risk a continued decline in the number of spawning salmon entering the Kuskokwim. “We’re more aligned on this issue than I might have guessed,” she said. “It’s
“It’s been really nice
to take off that body armor and
just have a nice talk
about salmon.”
been really nice to take off that body armor and just have a nice talk about salmon.” Fellows in May envisioned Alaska salmon as depending upon a system of connected elements; Fellows are now considering how those elements are linked and how they could be strengthened. Participants discussed their strategic plans, which include small-scale projects they will soon undertake. At their October meeting, the second of four face-to-face gatherings, Fellows will report their plans and progress. “We want to know if this model works,” notes Farnham, leadership programs director at the Forum. If fostering relationships succeeds—and people really do gain tolerance by widening their vision of what’s possible—then the Humanities Forum may explore other fellowships, such as convening people who are committed to resolving Alaska’s $3 billion budget gap but who differ on ways to do that. For the first cohort of Salmon Fellows, next steps include presenting their ideas for grant-funded projects at a public meeting in February 2018. The number of projects depends on how Fellows organize, but there could be as many as eight proposals from the first cohort, whose Fellowships end October 2018. Norosz, the Salmon Fellow from Petersburg, has already adopted a wider view. “I believe the health of the salmon resource is inextricably linked to the well-being of our state,” she says. “I am in awe of salmon.” ■ Anchorage-based writer Rosanne Pagano teaches at Alaska Pacific University.