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New feature: The Alaska Beat – news and notes from the Last Frontier
Thanks to a dam removal project, the Eklutna River near Anchorage will be free-flowing again by this month, which is great news for migrating salmon and char that enter it from Cook
Inlet. (ALEX TROUTMAN/ BLACKFISH MEDIA)
ALASKA BEAT
NEW PATHS FOR SALMON
Good news for Alaska salmon over the past month, particularly word of the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to reinstate federal protections for Bristol Bay amid the Pebble Mine saga (see page 16). But two other projects will also be beneficial to the Last Frontier’s anadromous fish.
Trout Unlimited’s Alaska chapter announced that in late September the Anchorage area’s 11.8-mile Eklutna River was scheduled to have water flowing from its headwaters to its mouth on upper Cook Inlet’s Knik Arm after a successful dam removal project that was completed in 2018.
“We have waited a long time to see this day,” said Aaron Leggett, chief of the Native Village of Eklutna, which helped kickstart the project. “It’s finally happening, and it feels so good. We had gotten so used to just a trickle of mud running through our village that we forgot how beautiful the river is. Since the dam came down in 2018, the river has once again been running clear. We notice, the salmon notice, and the bears notice.”
Down in Southeast Alaska, Sitka’s Peterson Creek, home to coho and pinks, plus Dolly Varden, was the recipient of a new culvert, a passageway placed under a road or similar obstruction, providing the fish with improved access for their upstream journey to spawning grounds.
“If there’s one thing that Alaskans can rally around, it’s salmon,” said Andy Stevens, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fisheries biologist. “These projects are a win-win for both salmon and infrastructure stability in communities.”
The fish will certainly take these wins.
NOTABLE NUMBER 207 MILLION
The estimated number of salmon that will be harvested in Alaska in 2021, according to an Anchorage Daily News estimate by Forrest Bowers, Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s deputy director of its Commercial Fisheries Division
TWEET OF THE MONTH
“I AM SO HAPPY that EPA and Biden administration are restoring protections to Bristol Bay Alaska. Over ½ the world's salmon spawns there yearly and countless species of fish. Tons of animals and local natives live off the land. We can't eat gold.” #WeCantEatGold
-@MsGoddessMaria, Sept. 10
HUNTING DANGERS FROM HUMAN AND CREATURE ALIKE
Two recent incidents magnify how careful Alaska hunters must be, and the dangers can be human-related as well as from the natural environment. First, on Sept. 8, 39-year-old Eagle River resident Jason Long was hunting Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve when he was mauled by a bear.
“The hunter was alone when a sow with two cubs mauled him, causing lacerations and puncture wounds,” the National Park Service reported, adding that Long was recovering from his injuries.
More disturbing was the Sept. 11 fatal shooting of 74-year-old Michael Easley of Wasilla, who died during a moose hunt off the Taylor Highway near the community of Chicken. An Alaska State Troopers investigation was still ongoing.
Stay safe, sportsmen and -women.
Paul Atkins has experienced plenty of memorable bruin hunts over the years.
(PAUL D. ATKINS) November, 2018, an Arctic bear hunt.
Looking ahead I could see him – a big bear walking the edge of the bank looking for fish, stopping and posturing like he owned the place. No doubt he was big, but not as big as the one we had just left and the one I was still thinking about. Could it be that two bears were within a short distance of each other?
In Alaska you can shoot from a boat or raft, as long as the motor is off. Our motor was off with me scrambling to find a good rest for a shot. I finally achieved a decent rest on the back of the swivel seat and peered at him through the scope. I needed him to stop, and not only would he not stop but he began to run towards something to his left.
I raised my head to look and could instantly hear Lew say, “Sow with cubs.” Boars will eat small cubs, and these were small and so was the sow. The big male was trying to catch one of the cubs and the sow was attempting to warn him off in another direction. She did a good job as they played getaway in the willows. It was utter chaos! Bears were darting in and out of cover in every direction. I slipped the safety off the 7 Mag and waited for the big guy to stop, but he would not. It was then that Lew touched my shoulder and pointed downriver maybe 200 yards. Four more bears had made their way to the river – one on our left and three on the right. It was a “bears gone wild” episode and we sat there in awe of the show! For most this would be a sight to see, and believe me when I say it was. I didn’t know what to do, so I decided to just slip the safety back on and watch. -Paul D. Atkins
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