Spring Jottings

From a book in Progress, Select pieces:

May 19. A furtive movement in the brush. A shadow of gray and tan flowing toward and into a dense tangle of branches at the base of a blowdown. After its passage, a ripple of fur flutters on a twig. Through binoculars the yellow eyes burn through the shadows, through the slight opening in the jumble. The warning implicit, direct. The feral response of a protective mother. I have no intention of going closer but content myself with the sounds of mewling kittens. (Notes: the first lynx den I have ever found.)

May 16. Gone now the days of darkness and cold, a time of fear and testing for the earth people. Now the time of perpetual light, a time when we stride confidently across the earth, but the wise ever mindful of the great bears and mosquitoes. We call the earth people, the ancient ones, primitive and uncivilized, but how many modern people could live on the land, as they did, and last more than a day or two.

May 5. Under the earth, great beasts are stirring. They shrug and stretch and ease the cramp in gut and limbs. The biggest, the strongest, claw at the loosened soil, up through the damp, cold earth and lever themselves out through the receding spring snow cover and into the nascent spring. The grizzlies blink in the bright light and take their first steps into the day, into their world, into our world.

May 3. The passions aroused by wolves can not be dispelled by "science" or reason. Human response is more visceral, emotional, stemming from bygone epics when dirty, hairy, fur-clad people hunkered in dark caves around pitiful fires, clinging with sweaty palms to their cudgels and spears while listening to terrifying night sounds, the footfalls of dire wolves, cave bears, and sabre-toothed cats.

February 24, 2009

Winter Photography

Late January 2009. It is -36° here on the ridge this morning with area lows forecast to minus 50°f. Denali Park's official temperature, taken at a higher elevation, only got down to -31°f. Down by the local airstrip it was -43°f. A neighbor a half mile from there recorded -49°f at his cabin. The average temperature for the first week of the month was -29°f, the third coldest start to a year ever. In the first half of the month we enjoyed 14 days where the average daily temperature did not get above -20°F. This was the coldest stretch of consecutive days below -20°f in 10 years. On January 16, Fairbanks recorded a high temperature of 44 ABOVE zero. It went from 44 BELOW to 44 ABOVE in three days, an 88° change. An amazing Chinook. Nenana on this same date was +54, an unofficial 104° temperature change in four days. Here we had cold and calm, then suddenly a wind and warming in two and a half days. The Fairbanks record was set in 1917, with 31 consecutive days of 20 below or colder!

The days are growing longer but only a month beyond winter solstice, daylight is still minimal. Today sunlight hit my cabin at 12:30 and the sun set at 2:45. On December 30, on a mild day with a high of 10f°, we held the annual Christmas Bird Count. In all a total of 400 birds of just 13 species were seen. Over half were redpolls with a record number of 79 pine grosbeaks. In addition, counters saw 1 dipper, 29 boreal chickadees, 9 black-capped chickadees, 8 ravens, 31 black-billed magpies, 10 gray jays, 1 three-toed woodpecker, 4 great horned owls, 1 northern goshawk, 6 willow ptarmigan, and 4 spruce grouse.

Sometimes people ask about winter photography. Given the cold, darkness, and scarcity of birds, conditions are not prime. Moose sometimes cooperate and caribou are numerous but in the timber. Snowshoe hares are at the tail end of their high and I have gotten a few good pictures in golden dawn light. The technical secret to winter photography is battery power! Two nights ago I shot the northern lights, at a balmy 30 below, and had batteries in two pockets to switch back and forth. I got less than 20 minutes use from each. In the cold, long exposures are draining. Extra batteries a necessity.

December 4, 2008

Photographing Denali Park From Bus

Photographing wildlife at Denali is difficult at best because almost all access is via bus which allows minimal time at wildlife stops and limits proper positioning. Some drivers even make up their own rules which further inhibit photography. Recently a driver at one wildlife stop claimed that it was illegal to stick a long lens out the bus window and when the photographer continued to photograph, drove away from the wildlife stop, eliciting howls of disapproval at her from all the passengers. This European photographers lens had only been protruding less than two inches from the window. However, there is no rule that prohibits lenses being aimed out the window at a wildlife stop. Here is part of the applicable contract rules for drivers:

A) Requirements Common to Tours and the Visitor Transportation System (c) Drivers must introduce the following rules and practices for safety and/or mitigation of environmental impact: 5. Wildlife stop protocols: a.) Remain quiet near animals b.) Camera lenses are the only things allowed to protrude from bus windows. All body parts, including hands and heads, must remain within the bus. (f) Drivers must enforce wildlife protocol on their buses. Drivers are authorized to terminate a wildlife stop if passengers refuse to obey wildlife protocols. Based on the preceding, it is a contract requirement for drivers to depart from the area IF passengers are non-compliant with the wildlife protocols, but sticking a camera out the window is NOT prohibited. Remember a private contractor operates the bus system NOT the National Park Service.

January 14, 2008

Alaska Photography Spots

An amazing variety of opportunities await photographers in Alaska. Polar bears to puffins, eagles to ermine, glaciers to granite, sunsets to starfish. Subjects and landscapes of limitless variety. Once off the limited road system, however, things get pricey due to air or boat transportation. Here are places to go, separated by ease and cost.

For beginners, or budget minded, Westchester Lagoon and Potter Marsh in Anchorage, and Creamers Field in Fairbanks, offers excellent photographic opportunities for waterfowl and other birds. The Sandhill Crane Festival in August at Creamers is a good bet for flocks of cranes and Canada geese. Denali National Park and Preserve can not be beat for a sampling of Alaskas large mammals and stupendous scenery. Although often crowded, this accessible wilderness is affordable and safe for less-experienced outdoor travelers. The spectacular mountain scenery of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is accessible from the end of the McCarthy Road east of Chitina. Here photographers snap away at mountains, glaciers, and historic mining relics and buildings. Exit Glacier near Seward, in Kenai Fiords National Park, offers up-close views of ice, and sometimes mountain goats and marmots.

For intermediate level photographers, with a broader budget, Pack Creek on Admiralty Island near Juneau, offers up close and personal encounters with brown bears under the guiding hand of a refuge employee. From the covered platform at Anan Creek near Wrangell, photographers snipe at numerous black bears, and an occasional brownie. For birders, the annual spring shorebird migration at Cordova, is a must see destination. Tens of thousands of sandpipers and dunlins congregate on the near-town mudflats. Charter boats out of Juneau, Sitka, Kodiak, and Seward set out on day trip in search of whales and marine mammals. One of Alaskas best, and most reasonably-priced, photos trips is the all-day excursion from Seward into Kenai Fjords National Park. Orcas, sea otters, sea lions, and puffins, may make appearances alongside tidewater glaciers and sea stacks.

For advanced photographers, with outdoor savvy and plenty of cash, the Pribilof Islands offer superb opportunities for close-ups of puffins, seabirds, fur seals and arctic foxes amid lush fields of wildflowers. St George Islands cliffs are the pinnacle of the Bering Sea experience. One of the worlds great wildlife spectacles is the gathering of brown bears at McNeil River State Game Sanctuary. The record count of 68 bears congregated along a quarter-mile stretch of river near the falls is unequalled anywhere. Permits to access McNeil are awarded by lottery and are tough to get but the lucky few often run out of film and digital memory before they run out of subjects. For wilderness experts, with generous funds, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuges is the place for wildlife amid un-sullied tundra and mountains, often bathed in the magical light of the midnight sun. Here the sweet light may last hours, not minutes. The tumultuous seas that pound the rugged shores of Round Island in Bristol Bay make access difficult but the islands gathering of walrus, seabirds, and red foxes are worth the effort. Here the day is filled with wind, and often rain, but images of foxes in flowers, and hundreds of bull walrus tusking it out over patches of beach gravel.

May 15, 2008

ALASKA BEAR-VIEWING AREAS REPORT C2006 Tom Walker

ANAN CREEK WILDLIFE OBSERVATORY {35 miles southeast of Wrangell. Aircraft or boat access. USDA Forest Service, Wrangell Ranger District, P.O. Box 51, Wrangell, AK 99929, 907/874-2323. www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/recreation/wildlife_viewing/ananobservatory.shtml.} Brown bears and black bears rarely utilize the same feeding areas. The largest pink salmon run in Southeast Alaska, sometimes over 100,000 fish, lures both species to Anan Creek. Brown bears fish upstream in early morning and late evening hours; black bears snag salmon in mid-day on the lower river. Dense forest allows this tenuous truce - black bears can climb trees, brown bears can not. Even though it is rare to see more than a half-dozen black bears at a time, as many as 40 individual black bears fish here. Many people consider this to be one of the best places in North America to watch free-ranging black bears close-up. The covered viewing pavilion located about one-half mile from the Anan trailhead overlooks the stream where it tumbles through a narrow, boulder-lined gorge. Natural vegetation was used to screen activity on observatory. A viewing blind was fashioned at the fish pass from two pre-fabricated hunting blinds purchased from Cabela's. To decrease the impact of visitor movement to the bears, USFS screened the walkway with hanging camouflage netting. Only females and cubs, or juvenile females frequent viewing area....about 20-30 total. Large male black bears or brown bears rarely, if ever use the lower river in mid-season. These animals use the rest of the river which is closed to viewers. The Anan Bay public use cabin, about a mile from the lagoon, is the only overnight accommodation. (Reservations accepted up to 180 days in advance, with a maximum stay of seven days.) Air and boat charter services in Wrangell and Ketchikan offer full-day and half-day trips.

Visitor limits: Maximum group size is 10. Visitor numbers unlimited.

General regulations: Purpose of rules: to make all human behaviors predictable to the bears and consistent. Strictly designed to prevent food conditioning. Regulations enforced from June 15 to September 15 by two on-site natural history interpreters who do not accompany visitors but explain rules, biology, natural history. Visitors may not leave the trail and approach bears. Visitors limited to the trailhead, trails, viewing platform, outhouse and the public recreation cabin. A Forest Closure Order prohibits dogs, food, and camping. Upper falls closed to provide space for "non-viewer tolerant" bears. Both species utilize the upper falls for fishing. At the lower falls, bears have almost 9 daylight hours per day to fish, that are not in the core viewing time (10:00 AM to 5:00 PM). Managers concluded that the current viewing situation is not likely to adversely affect Anans bear population

BROOKS CAMP, KATMAI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE

{4,093,229 acres. Alaska Peninsula, about 290 air miles southwest of Anchorage; 30 air miles from King Salmon. Air access. Contact: www.nps.gov/katm/pphtml/planyourvisit.html

Once at Brooks River, on the shore of Naknek Lake near the mouth of Brooks River and the parks main destination, all visitors stop at the Brooks Camp Visitor Center which operates from June to mid-September. All visitors required to attend the Brooks Camp School of Bear Etiquette, a 15- to-20 minute safety and bear orientation program. To overnight at Brooks River visitors must stay in either the campground, located about one mile from Brooks Falls, or in the nearby lodge. The rustic campground has a limit of 60 persons per day. Advance reservations and both day use fees and campground fees must be paid prior to arriving at Brooks Camp. Despite an array of wildlife, wilderness, and geologic wonders, Katmai has become best known for its bear-viewing. During the peak of the sockeye salmon run each July, and during return of the "spawned out" salmon in September, forty to sixty bears congregate along the Brooks River. Bear watchers - campers, lodge guests, fly-in day users - jam Brooks Camp in July. Raised platforms along the river enable viewing. Crowding may result in waiting lists to access viewing platforms. At peak times, a 2-3 hour wait often necessary to access falls platform. High demand may limit visits to falls platform to as little as 20 minutes. A new boardwalk and platform reduced this unpopular congestion and waiting period. On occasion in the past, especially in July, a few visitors were unable to get to the falls platform due to time constraints or flight schedules. During peak season, visitors first must check in at the lower bear viewing platform, or trailhead, before continuing to the Brooks Falls platform. The lower bear viewing platform is large and often over-crowded, yet the location of this platform does not deter bears from wandering by. Juvenile bears, and some females and cubs, tend to hang out here, the favored fishing spots up river controlled by more dominant bears. Larger individual bears, and family groups, dominate fishing sites at the falls. This is the site for Katmais icon photo of a salmon leaping into a bears open maw. Large males and other bears intolerant of people begin showing up at Brooks River in mid-September when few visitors are present. The outer Katmai Coast, facing Shelikof Strait has become a popular summer alternative to Brooks Camp bear viewing. The coast is remote and access limited to boats and aircraft, thus trips are expensive. Contact for lodge stay: Katmai Wilderness Lodge For boat trips: Chuck Keim, Katmai Coastal Explorer: coastalexplorer@hotmail.com

General regulations: Except when on the bear viewing platforms, visitors may not intentionally approach or remain within 50 yards of a single bear, or 100 yards of a female with cubs, and follow all procedures detailed in the Brooks Camp School of Bear Etiquette. With the exception of the campground, camping prohibited within five miles of Brooks River. Visitors may not carry food of any kind on the trails and paths. Clean camping techniques strictly enforced. All food must be stored in bear-proof lockers and meals prepared in designated shelters. Strict food and garbage controls enforced.

McNEIL RIVER STATE GAME SANCTUARY {246,700 acres. 250 air miles southwest of Anchorage, 100 air miles west of Homer. Aircraft access. June-August. Contact: McNeil River Sanctuary Manager, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 333 Raspberry Road, Anchorage, Alaska 99518-1599, 907/267-2182. www.wildlife.alaska.gov/mcneil/index.cfm)

Excessive, uncontrolled public use in the early1970s endangered this unique area. People sometimes out-numbered bears at the falls. Bears abandoned the river or fished at night. Since preservation of the unique concentration is the sanctuarys primary goal, managers instituted a permit system. Regulations prohibit solo inland jaunts. Visitors travel in groups lead by a sanctuary employee. These stringent rules work. By being consistent, and going to the same predictable locations, bears view humans as non-threatening. Other than a communal cook shack and pit toilets, the only campground is undeveloped. There are no concessions of any kind. The campground is a two-mile walk from the McNeil Falls. Visitors are lead to one of two viewing sites, one at McNeil Falls, and one on Mikfik Creek. In spring, bears graze the sedge flats and fish for red salmon in Mikfik; in mid-summer they fish for dog salmon in McNeil River. The McNeil Falls impede salmon migration and provide bears with a unique fishing opportunity. The record number in sight at one time within the quarter-mile area at falls is 67. Now, as many as 144 individual bears utilize the sanctuary each summer. The congregations of bears at the falls are one of Alaskas most famous icons. However, due to low salmon returns the last decade, numbers of bears have declined at the falls, now dominated by large males. McNeil Sanctuary is viewed as one of the worlds great wildlife attractions and serves as the worlds ideal for bear-viewing and habituation. Here visitors experience bears close-up and with minimal risk. Because visitor numbers are tightly limited, and all human behavior conforms to predictable patterns, bears have learned to neither fear nor seek out people. The McNeil Experiment demonstrates that people and bears can co-exist peacefully. McNeils world-wide fame and publicity, but limited public access, has spawned additional bear-viewing opportunities and benefited regional businesses, such as that offered by Emerald Air in Homer. The majority of human-tolerant bears at McNeil are females with cubs, juveniles, and rarely a large male

General regulations: Visitor limits: No more than 10 total per day. Camping in campground only. Visitors may not approach bears and may not access the viewing sites unless in an staff-escorted group. Viewing confined to specific sites, or uncommonly, transient positions enroute. Groups do not approach bears but allow bears to continue their normal behaviors that often bring them within feet of viewers. Typical day at the falls involves 6-8 hours confinement to a small viewing pad so children not recommended. No pets. All visitors must sign a liability waiver. Permit system: Each year from 1500-2000 people apply for standard four-day permits, which are awarded by a random lottery, March 1 application deadline. Lottery application fee: $25. Non-resident fees: $350; resident fees: $150. Standby permits: non-residents, $175; residents, $75. Standby access not guaranteed.

STAN PRICE STATE GAME SANCTUARY

{60,000-acres. Located at the mouth of Pack Creek on the eastern shore of Admiralty Island about 30 miles south of Juneau. Aircraft, boat, or kayak access. Contact: US Forest Service Information Center, Centennial Hall, 101 Egan Drive, Juneau, Alaska 99801, 907/586-8751; www.wildlife.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=refuge.pack_ck; Admiralty Island National Monument, 907/586-8790.)

During July and August brown bears move along the shores and down from the steep slopes of Admiralty Island to the intertidal wetlands at the mouth of Pack Creek to feed on spawning pink and chum salmon and on the sedges found there. The bears tolerate a certain amount of human presence, and visitors may often view and photograph bears fishing for salmon and interacting. Visitors access two different designated viewing sites, a sand spit at the mouth of the creek and a viewing tower located a mile upstream and accessed by a groomed trail through old-growth forest. Most of the bears seen at Pack Creek are females and female/cub groups. Large males infrequently seen near the upriver viewing tower. Almost all visitors (more than 95%) are successful in seeing at least one bear. During peak viewing periods from mid-July to mid-August, fortunate visitors may enjoy close-up views of five or more bears during the day. Researchers say there are about 30 to 35 bears that use Pack Creek part of the summer. It is neither unknown to see several bears at one time nor watch for hours without seeing a single bear. Stan the Bear Man Price, spent 39 years on Pack Creek and became a local legend for his ability to live peacefully with the bears. Sailing a boat hed built in Seattle, Price arrived in Southeast in 1927, and worked as a miner, fisherman, mechanic, and logger before settling at Pack Creek. Price took in several orphaned cubs and raised them. Armed only with a walking stick, with which he sometimes used to bop the rare troublesome bear, Price wandered freely through the area. His continued presence habituated the bears to humans. The 90-year-old Bear Man once said if youre friends with the bears, they will be friends with you. General regulations: Visitor limits: 24 permits per day, peak season: unlimited shoulder season. To ensure safety and preserve the bear viewing opportunities, access to Pack Creek is restricted and limited by permit from June 1 to September 10, with a maximum stay of three days. Permits are especially hard to acquire during peak viewing season of July 10-to-August 20. No facilities or lodging of any kind exist, and campers are restricted to nearby Windfall and Swan Islands. A canoe or kayak needed to reach shore. No food beyond trailhead. Safe storage areas for gear and food at beach landing site. Advance reservations required for peak season, July 10-August 25. Viewing restricted to two sites, visitors may not approach bears.