The autumnal equinox has just passed and the days are getting shorter. Flocks of summer birds are moving south now with their young ones. Skye Posey saw merlins near the Lutak tank farm. These small falcons prey on migrating songbirds. Most of the rufous hummingbirds left a month ago, but there are some stragglers, and occasionally an Anna’s […]
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Wild Things
The fish are running, the birds are singing, and it isn’t raining. Between April and June of this year we have only had 3 inches of rainfall. Last year during that time, we had 21 inches. Birds move large distances to find suitable habitat, and thus are sensitive indicators of habitat and climate change. Audubon […]
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Toad nursery in way of improvements at airport
Biologist Tim Shields recently let the Haines Borough Planning Commission in on a little secret – there’s a pond at the airport teeming with toads. One sunny day two weeks ago, Shields pulled back some brush at the pond to expose a pile of baby toads – as many as 500 heaped up in a softball-sized mound […]
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Low sockeye escapement leads to Chilkoot River closure
State sportfish biologists closed Chilkoot River to retention of sockeye salmon this week, in the wake of low escapement of mature fish into Chilkoot Lake. Through July 15, 4,355 sockeye had passed Chilkoot weir, compared to a 10-year average of 12,962 in escapement by the same week. “The probability of making minimum escapement (of 38,000) is […]
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Gillnetters expecting leaner season
Haines commercial fishermen say they’re expecting a dip in chum salmon prices this year and also say they’ll be watching for interception of Haines-bound sockeye by seine fishermen in northern Southeast, as biologists are forecasting a strong return of pink salmon. The Lynn Canal drift gillnet season starts Sunday with a two-day opening in districts south of […]
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Low-impact option favored at Chilkoot
Haines residents apparently have come to a general consensus about what they would like new bear-viewing infrastructure in the Chilkoot River corridor to look like. Lucille Baranko, a landscape specialist for the state Department of Natural Resources who is managing the project, said most residents seem to prefer Alternative “D,” which creates three small viewing […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
LCC right to recruit for board elections
Dave Werner’s letter correctly identified many issues that Lynn Canal Conservation (LCC) considers threatening to our fish, wildlife, and waters, including highways (road to Juneau), industrial-scale corporate logging, high-sulfide mineral deposits adjacent to anadramous waters (Windy Craggy, Constantine Mines), and hydro development at Chilkoot Lake. He could have included spraying herbicides along the Chilkat River, or damage to spawning […]
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Canal salmon value exceeds $15 million: Hatchery chum harvest soars
A hatchery chum harvest nearly 50 percent larger than last year’s record combined with the largest sockeye catch in 20 years propelled the value of the Lynn Canal drift gillnet fishery to $15.4 million in 2012. That made the local commercial fishing season among the most lucrative in the past 30 years. “It was a big year […]
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Scout officials, youths dedicate camp upgrade
Resident Norm Smith recalled a Boy Scout campout in the early 1960s, when a Scout leader took him and others out to Chilkoot Lake in an old school bus. “We tried setting up tents. It was raining so hard and it was so cold, we climbed in our sleeping bags and got back in the bus. A couple of […]
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Collars turn up new information about bears
Recent information from a study of two collared, female bears on the Chilkoot River suggests the animals can outgrow behaviors like stealing fish from anglers. Data also indicate that the Ferebee Valley may be an important mating area for brown bears. The information is the latest from a state Department of Fish and Game study […]