SourDough Notes U.S. Forest Service Inside: updates on Alaska Region Magazine Economic Recovery Volume 6 Issue 4 projects in the Fall 2010 Alaska Region INSIDE : ON THE COVER: Rock-tober Fest! ...........................2 Multi-Agency Efforts ......................25 Hatchery Creek Falls .......................3 Caribou on Ice ...............................26 Concrete is poured for the new Bob Marshall Nat’l Award ................4 Farewell, Dear Friend ....................27 fishpass structure at Hatchery Mission at Martin Lake.....................5 Creating A Diverse Workforce .......28 Creek Falls, Thorne Bay Ranger Robert Marek: Trailbuilder ...............6 Voices in the Wilderness ...............29 District, Prince of Wales Island. Rebuilding Dan Moller Cabin ...........8 SCA Interns ...................................30 Photo by Sarah Brandy. Outdoor Classrooms........................9 Fallen Firefighters Memorial ..........31 Story begins on page 3. How Do We Love the Forests? ......10 Cordova RD Stars .........................30 Agglomerating Fecal Material ........12 Cordova Youths Seek Challenge ...32 Getting in Touch/Haida ..................13 Feeling Unmotivated?....................33 RF Pendleton at Grand Camp .......14 Copper River Interagency Study ...34 SourDough Notes Kasaan Youth Academy.................16 New Research Facility ...................35 Returning Home ............................17 Secure Rural Schools Act ..............36 There’s More to Fungi ...................18 RAC Funds Give New Look...........37 Quarterly news magazine Dutch Oven Cooking .....................19 Lassie and Friends ........................39 for the Healthy Forest/Communities .........20 Cordova RD Trail ...........................40 U.S. Forest Service Repairing Beaver Lake Trail ..........21 From the Archives..........................41 Alaska Region Tongass Rainforest Festival ..........22 Kenai Spruce Bark Beetle Project .42 P. O. Box 21628 Hazard Tree Risk Assessment ......23 iTrec! ..............................................43 Juneau, AK 99802-1628 Letter to Chief Tidwell ....................24 Pack Creek Tower ........... back cover http://www.fs.fed.us/r10 Rock-tober Fest! at Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center Fall 2010 Produced by: Regional Public Affairs Office Teresa Haugh, Editor Submissions: SourDough Notes is written for people interested in the Alaska Region. Your suggestions, articles, and photographs are welcome. Please contact: Public Affairs Office U.S. Forest Service Department of Agriculture P. O. Box 21628 Juneau, AK 99802 (907) 586-9337 [email protected] Photo by Kristi Kantola. Acceptance of articles does not arol Voneida, Regional Visual Information Specialist, dressed up guarantee publication. as the local sheriff to volunteer at Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Cen- The editorial staff reserves Cter’s Rock-tober Fest on the Saturday before Halloween. She offered the right to edit all articles for crayons to young visitors at the rock art table and showed them how to trans- journalistic standards and space fer petroglyph designs to paper. consideration. Articles will be The “petroglyphs” were designed by interpretive guide Jane Terry to edited to Associated Press style teach older children how to preserve history and create paper designs with- with consideration of out harming the actual rock art. One father said he loved how the rock art GPO guidelines. activity was used to teach children about the importance of petroglyphs on a level they could understand. 2 SourDough Notes on the web: http://www.fs.fed.us/r10 Twitter @AKForestService Hatchery Creek Falls—Partially Removable Fishpass By Sarah Brandy, Fish Biologist, Craig Ranger District atchery Creek Falls adjustable by design, and is located about because of the bedrock Height miles from controlled hydraulics, we Coffman Cove on the had to do some immediate Thorne Bay Ranger District, troubleshooting with the ce- Prince of Wales Island. The dar board configuration at Hatchery Creek sockeye various flows. This required run is one of the earliest in the crew to spend time ad- southern Southeast Alaska. justing boards and watching Fish often come into the fish navigate into the fish- system in May, when flows pass. are frequently low. The up- The objective was to: per falls, about three miles a) figure out the best con- upstream from Sweetwater figuration where fish could Lake, are considered a pass at low flows (i.e., the “partial barrier” to sockeye Team members build a form. Photo by Brent Mason. right jump height), and salmon. During periods of 2) determine if the water extreme low or high flows, sockeye the areas where sockeye and coho could bleed off the side, maintaining cannot surmount the falls; repeated at- naturally have the most success. The moderate flow through the fishpass tempts lead to physical stress and an concrete and cedar board structure when the flows are elevated. increase in pre-spawning mortality. of the fishpass creates three jump We determined that 2010 was a For this reason, the Forest Service pools, and can be adjusted by add- great year for the sockeye at Hatch- first considered modification of the ing or removing boards at various ery Creek: 10,389 fish returned. This falls in the 1970s. In 1981, a contrac- flows. The aluminum columns that is up from 660 in 2009, 238 in 2008, tor attempted to build a gabion weir are bolted to the concrete base walls, and 4,510 in 2007. The fishpass, no structure. Three jump pools were cre- which the cedar boards fit into, are doubt, aided in efficient upstream ated on one portion of the falls, but removable as well, so that after the migration, increasing overall escape- the structure blew out during high sockeye run, all parts of the fishpass ment. Well over half of the escape- flows the first winter. Fishpass work can be removed, leaving only the ment (6,150 fish) came after the cof- was not revisited again until 2008. concrete base walls in place. fer dam was pulled and the fishpass We began construction of a new The grand opening of the fishpass was in operation. Two days after fishpass June 3, 2010. This was a occurred July 7; the coffer dam was opening up the fishpass, 1,600 sock- high priority project for the forest removed and water flowed through eye, which had been staging below and region due to the poor sock- the concrete and cedar board weir the falls, were counted through the eye salmon returns in recent years, structure. Because the structure is weir (about one mile upstream of the leading to subsequent emergency fishpass). This was by far the biggest closures, both state and federal, of daily total in 2010. In the four days the sport and subsistence sockeye Construction of the Hatchery Creek after project completion, 4,057 sock- Falls Fishpass took: fisheries on Hatchery Creek. First, a eye passed through the weir. coffer dam was built at the top of the • 39 days Rob, Miller Sitka Ranger District • falls upstream of the construction 37 people, including Youth Fisheries Biologist, was the lead on Conservation Crews crews area. This diverted water to the mid- from Craig, Thorne Bay, and construction. Design plans were de- dle and left portion of the falls to aid Kasaan veloped by Engineering Geologist the sockeye in passage during low • Two volunteers, Bob Gubernick and Structural flows while construction occurred. • The Thorne Bay Fire Module Engineer Allan Murph. Due to prior- The fishpass was built on a side • 700 bags of concrete ity ARRA projects, and vacant posi- of the falls that was the least pass- • Over 2,000 pounds of rebar tions for the zoned Prince of Wales • Lots of sweat. able to sockeye, leaving unaltered cont’d on page 4 SourDough Notes Fall 2010 3 cont’d from pg. 3 fish program, it was questionable whether this tar- get could be met this year. The work was completed however, thanks to the great determination, persis- tence, and leadership of the limited fish personnel to complete NEPA work, project planning, design, per- mitting, logistics, and coordination with the State Department of Fish & Game and Habitat Division. The project was a huge success and an important management measure for this valuable resource. The 68 miles of enhanced/restored streams made up half of the entire Alaska Region’s target for streams enhanced/restored for 2010. The hard work by dedi- cated employees made it happen. Completed fishpass before water is released. Photo by Sarah Brandy. Sitka Conservation Society Receives the Bob Marshall National Wilderness Award By Steve Kimball, Wilderness Program Manager, Alaska Region hief Tom Tidwell recently presented the Bob Marshall Champions of Wilderness Award to CChuck and Alice Johnstone, founding members of the Sitka Conservation Society. The presentation was at the National Wilderness Awards Ceremony in Wash- ington, D.C. on October 14. Also attending were An- drew Thoms, Executive Director of the Sitka Conserva- tion, Society Carol Goularte, Sitka District Ranger, and Mary Emerick, former Sitka District Wilderness Man- ager. The Sitka Conservation Society received the award for working with the Sitka Ranger District to develop a community-based wilderness stewardship program. Over one hundred volunteers collected information on wilderness conditions and visitor experiences in the West Chichagof-Yakobi and South Baranof Wilderness Areas. This raised awareness and appreciation in the Left to right: Deputy Chief Joel Holtrop, Chief Tom Tidwell, Chuck and Alice Johnstone, founders of SCS, Chris Brown, Director of Sitka community