Wildlife

One of the warmest winters on record in Alaska means the spring season for bearded seals, or ugruk, has come nearly two months early for some hunters in Western Alaska. Warm weather makes the hunt a little easier, but locals are concerned about precarious sea ice and unpredictable weather.

The village of Wales sits out on a point, along the Bering Strait coast, midway between Kotzebue Sound and Norton Sound.

“We live right on the bottleneck of the Strait,” explained Clyde Oxereok. He’s a seal hunter in Wales. He says hunters there are already gearing up for their spring ugruk hunt, which usually doesn’t start until April.

“Some of the hunters there are saying we have to get ready now because our leads are opening up, and when they open up, we’re hungry for the fresh meat and the fresh oil, and it’s coming earlier every year,” said Oxereok.

Ben Payana is also a seal hunter from Nome. “I’m a King Island descendant. My dad was born and raised for a little bit on King Island, and he brought me up doing all the ocean hunting, marine mammal hunting and that’s what I do now, every year.”

Payana explained the basics of hunting a seal. “Right now, if I were to go seal hunting, I would try to get up somewhere high and look out on the ice and try to find some leads, and then you’d go load up your snow machine and little row boat or whatever you’re going to retrieve the seals with,” he explains. “(Then you) try to find your way to that lead and then hang out on the edge of the ice there until some seals swim by, and then hopefully you’ll see one, shoot one, and be able to retrieve it in time,” he said.

Seal hunting can happen year-round and there are many species. Hunters usually wait until April to hunt ugruk, but the weather has been unseasonably warm this February.

As Payana stood along the coast in downtown Nome, he looked out over the sea ice.

“I see a lot of jumbled up, not very good ice for traveling,” he said.

Only a few days ago, steam rose from a large swath of open water, but a north wind blew big chunks of ice back up against the coast, so today, the bumpy, blocky edges peak out from windblown snow that seems to stretch for miles. Payana says there’s another problem with this ice.

“ … (it’s) not very thick ice out there for the seals to be denning in, because they should be having their pups in March and April, too,” he said. “I’m not a seal, but I would imagine they would prefer some thicker ice and more snow cover so they can have a nice safe den for their pups,” said Payana.

The story of this year’s sea ice up and down Alaska’s northwest coast is, well, jumbled.

“It’s a complicated picture,” said Becki Heim. She leads the Sea Ice Program for the National Weather Service in Alaska. There is no shore fast ice at Unalakleet to the south, or up in Kivalina to the north this year. Residents along the coast have posted photos and videos of thin ice and open water on social media sites all winter. Heim blames offshore winds.

“(The winds) have continued to blow the thickest ice that keeps refreezing out into the deeper waters offshore,” explained Heim. “What it’s doing is it’s leaving very thin, new ice near shore, so that’s why there’re more leads and thinner ice and access to the water,” she said.

Heim said it’s not rare for wind and sea ice to interact this way. But Clyde Oxereok said in recent years, not only is the ice less reliable but so is the weather.

“We can’t predict the weather,” he said. “We’re not going to 60 or 80 miles, even 30 or 40 miles anymore, which we used to do, because we knew the weather would hold. Now, we can’t predict that anymore. So that being said, we have to harvest what’s there when it’s there when we have the opportunity to go and get it.”

Otherwise, said Oxereok, they could miss out on the ugruk harvest entirely.

Dennis Davis of Shishmaref has also seen the weather become more unreliable in the winter.

“When I was growing up with my grandpa in Kotzebue in the late 80s and early 90’s, when they had dog teams and stuff like that,” said Davis, “you had to know how to read the weather or wonder what it’s going to do. Nowadays, it’s either hit or miss. You never know what’s going to happen,” he said.

People like Davis understand that the Arctic is always changing. But what’s unclear is how best to adapt to the increasing uncertainty of what change means for the sea ice, the weather, and a subsistence lifestyle.

A team of biologists traveled to Saint Lawrence Island Wednesday to consult with local walrus hunters in Savoonga and Gambell.

Jim MacCracken heads the Alaska program for marine mammal management with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He says biologists are eager to collect traditional knowledge from hunters and community members.

“One thing we’ve been thinking of is just basic walrus behavior and how they might adapt to changing habitat conditions, changing climates and things like that,” he said.

Some of that information will help the group as they develop an assessment of the Pacific walrus population as part of a process outlined under the Endangered Species Act. MacCracken said biologists need to develop a schedule for required government-to-government consultation because there’s a possibility Pacific walrus could be listed as endangered.

He said the team will also solicit advice from Saint Lawrence Island residents.

“We’re trying to develop an oil spill response plan in case there was a spill out there,” he said. “So, some things that they can help us out with, is in terms of walrus behavior, if we might want to try and move animals away from an approaching oil slick about how best to do that and if it’s even feasible,” said MacCracken.

He said this week’s visit is routine.

“Every year, about this time of the year before the spring hunt starts, we go meet with hunters out there and other people in the village and just exchange information,” he said.

He says biologists will also present new findings from ongoing research. MacCracken said any new information they collect during their visit will also be used in future research. The group will be on Saint Lawrence Island until Friday

Imagine a small, but very busy high school science fair, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what it was like at the Coast Guard’s open house on Tuesday to explain the imminent salvage of the wrecked tug Challenger. The neglected 96-foot World War II era vessel sank last September in Gastineau Channel just across from the Juneau Yacht Club.

During the event at the Douglas Island Pink and Chum facility, visitors milled through a handful of tables with propped-up poster boards showing enlarged pictures, timelines and detailed plans of action. Separate slideshows of area weather and the vessel’s history repeated on a set of monitors, a diving helmet was put on display, and small metal flashers on a wire demonstrated a bird deterrent. There was even a demonstration of how an absorbent pad would soak up oil.

The Coast Guard is worried there could be as much as 9,500 gallons of diesel and lube oil still on board which would threaten the environment. As the rotting vessel is brought up, the wreck could easily cause a full-blown oil spill. Right now, roughly a cup of unrecoverable oil is trickling to surface a day.

As a precaution, Coast Guard Petty Officer Jeffry Crews said they’ll have containment boom placed around the wreck as it’s lifted up.

“At no point should this vessel be in a position where it can discharge a significant amount of oil into the environment where we can’t control it and collect it,” Crews said.

Diversion or exclusion boom will be placed around the intertidal mouths of nearby creeks and near DIPAC.

“They just put salmon fry in the water a couple weeks ago. And they have two or three pens of salmon fry, the net pens behind here,” Crews said. “We want to make sure those species are protected because they’re a commercial species for Alaska. They’re very important to the commercial health of the state. One of the things that we don’t want impacted is Alaska seafood.”

Crews, a marine science technician, brought a glass food container filled with an oily-looking substance. It was actually chocolate powder mixed with corn oil that was being soaked up with a small portion of a polypropolene absorbent pad.

“It can be a volume significantly greater than the volume of the pad,” Crews said. “One pad can pick up a quarter pound of stuff.”

Crews said they want to keep any oil from drifting into the Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge. They’re also concerned about protected species such as sea lions, harbor seals, humpback whales and killer whales, even though not all of those mammals frequent the area this time of year.

Bob Mattson, on-scene coordinator for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, said — just in case — they’ll have additional boom pre-staged at the Yacht Club.

Mattson said Gastineau Channel’s speedy tidal flows will be a big factor in boom placement.

“The currents are what really carry the oil,” Mattson said. “It’s not so much the wind.”

Mattson also said timing is key for effective booming.

“If it goes beyond a tide cycle, then you have to take down the boom you have for one tide cycle and replace it to protect on the other side of the tide cycle,” Mattson said. “And that’s true not just for the Challenger. It’s every spill that we set boom out for. It has to be tended and maintained through tide cycles.”

Skimmers will be available in case of a big spill. But they are usually effective only with thick crude oil in light winds and calm seas, while absorbent materials are better for soaking up refined oil products like diesel fuel and lube oil.

As the Challenger is being lifted up, a pair of federal biologists will circle the salvage site in a skiff and haze any birds to discourage them from landing in the area.

Marc Pratt, district supervisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Service Program, said they want to make sure eagles, ravens, gulls and ducks don’t get oiled.

Pratt said they’ll just maintain a presence and use noisemakers.

“So, if the contaminants are explosive, we don’t want to be using cracker shells or any sort kind of a pyrotechnic that would be making a spark,” Pratt said. “What we’re going to be using is more air horns and stuff like that.”

Kyle Watson, project manager for Global Diving & Salvage, said they’ll likely move the 280-foot derrick barge Brightwater over the Challenger wreck this weekend.

“This one is pretty straightforward,” Watson said.

The water is relatively shallow at 50 feet, the current is only 2 knots, visibility is good, and the bottom sediment is a hard-packed clay.

“All in all, things have been going pretty smooth,” Watson said.

Watson said the tug’s hull appears solid and intact, but the vessel is rotting above the waterline. So, he said they’re going to take their time. The hoist operation could start as soon as Sunday and last 18 to 24 hours depending on the amount of vessel damage.

“Nothing happens really fast when it comes time to raise a large vessel like this. We take things very slow,” Watson said. “The safety of the crew is our first priority. We double-check and triple-check everything before we make any movements with the crane, because we’ll have divers in the water during the operation.”

Divers have already rigged the tug so that it can be easily hoisted up. Watson said they have a device called a spreader beam that is in the shape of a box.

“That is what will hang from the crane,” Watson said. “What that does is keep the straps that are underneath the boat from compressing in the sides of the wreck and collapsing the boat. So, it keeps the weight evenly distributed around the bottom of the vessel.”

Watson said they’ll bring the wrecked tug just to the surface. They don’t need to completely pull it out of the water.

Then, they’ll patch any holes in the hull, dewater the vessel and tow it to the AJ Dock. That’s where crews will remove any hazardous materials like fire extinguishers, asbestos, and the oil and fuel that is believed to be located in tanks under the aft structure.

The tug will be dismantled after it is moved to Thane.

If you’ve ever wanted to feed a snow leopard, a moose, or a pack of wolves, this year you’ve got a chance. Albeit, for a tidy sum.

It’s part of a package deal at the Alaska Zoo, one piece in a funding strategy particular to non-profits in the high north: Finding ways to bring in extra cash during the long, lean winter months ahead of tourist season.

On a recent Monday afternoon, zookeeper Timothy Lescher split a side of caribou ribs with a hand-saw.

“I think we got probably nine pieces here, which is a good number.”

He stuffs assorted chunks of carcass into a black trash-bag, and gets ready to toss piece after piece over the fence to a hungry pack of wolves.

“Looks delicious, doesn’t it?” Lescher asked as the wolves whined nearby.

“Is that moose scapula?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “The wolves, they like everything.”

The five loping lupines are just a few in the long list of Lescher’s animal wards: Brown bears, the snow leopard, dall sheep, trumpeter swans, among others.

“I also take care of the petting zoo animals,” he added.

It’s like parenting a barn full of kids, even though some are on opposing sides of the food-chain. Lescher has made peace with the gentle contradiction that is zoo-keeping wild animals. The wolf pack is kept alive on a diet made up partially of donated meat scraps that come–quite feasibly–from cousins of a nearby adolescent moose named Uncle Fudge, that Lescher raised from the bottle.

When we stop at Uncle Fudge’s pen he lunges excitedly at his keeper’s palm for pieces of frozen banana.

Likewise, Lescher is unfazed by the pacing and growls that greet us when we step into the chilly lair of a leopard.

“You just wanna make sure you stay against this wall, because he will jump up on this fence,” Lescher tells me.

“Ok,” I heed.

Lescher is giving me a behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo as part of a special program called “Keeper for a Day.” For $200 a person you shadow the zookeepers for five hours, feeding fruit to shaggy Bactrian Camels, watching the wolves get walked on chain-leashes, or watching Nakai the snow leopard nibble lunch from Lescher’s finger-tips.

In the wild, Nakai would be stalking blue sheep, ibexes, or Tibetan yaks in the Himalayan mountains. Today he’s getting high-grade hamburger.

“That’s all bud,” Lescher tells the elongated feline, who gives a very relatable growl as the meat runs out.

Nakai has the coloring and musculature of a very buff house-cat blown up to the size of a coffee-table. Plus a three-foot long tail for balancing on snowy boulders. His globular eyes are captivating, and when the food is gone his head bobs up and down tracking my movements in a flattering but unsettling way.

“Keep your back against the wall, is what I tell people, and you’ll be fine,” Lescher adds.

Nakai is the only snow leopard at the zoo. Lescher says they hope to get him a companion, but the wait-list for endangered snow leopards makes that unlikely within the next year. Photo: Zachariah Hughes.

For animal super-fans this is the sweet nectar of first-hand experience the Alaska Zoo is leveraging to help pay its bills.

“The zoo is actually comprised of like six different businesses,” said Jill Myer, the zoo’s development director.

At the standing desk in her office, overlooking the alpaca pen, she ran through line after line of the organization’s expenses.

“$125,000 dollars a year–I mean, that’s just to basically care for the animals,” Myer said. It covers things like toys, husbandry, and food.

“That doesn’t seem as huge as I thought,” I replied.

“It doesn’t, but then you need to continue on: A lot of the care of the animals comes into staff.”

It turns out, the most expensive zoo creatures are the keepers. The biggest expense in the budget is salaries and benefits for employees. It costs more to cover human medical insurance than buy all the animal food.

There are other challenges that make funding a sub-arctic zoo a little–let’s say, unique. Most of last fiscal year’s $2,936,700 in last year’s revenues came from admissions during the summer, when tour buses and cruise ships unleash a steady torrent of visitors. The zoo even extends its hours.

“It’s Alaska, and there’s light, and you can come to the zoo in the middle of the night and there’s animals still up and roaming around,” Myer excitedly explained.

Unfortunately, because the zoo specializes in cold-weather creatures, they aren’t exactly in their element during tourist season. The tigers get sluggish, and if the mercury climbs too high the bears demand special accommodations.

“When it gets over 70 degrees we start trucking in ice, and so they just lay in the ice and they’re so thankful.”

Winter is when the most of the mega-fauna are a bit more out and about. And they aren’t the only ones. With the bears hibernating, the hours reduced, and fewer visitors wandering around, the keepers have extra time too.

The Keeper for A Day program is a way for the zoo to leverage its biggest assets–the allure of the animals and the expertise of the keepers–to make extra money when the grounds are under utilized. They also rent the zoo out for weddings and host special programs. None of these revenue streams take in that much–Keeper For Day brought in just $15,500 last year. But that buys a snow leopard a lot of hamburger meat.

Offering programs that get more enthusiastic patrons to spend on unique experiences isn’t unique to the zoo. It’s part of a strategy non-profits and cultural institutions across the state use to cultivate buy-in. Keeper for a Day is a refined extension of the Alaska Sealife Center’s annual gala or museum events increasingly aimed at a younger, hipper set.

Ann Hale directs development at the Anchorage Museum, and has more than two decades of experience funding non-profits in Alaska. The fundraising profile exists at peer institutions in the Lower-48, but amplified in Alaska.

“Because the economy here is reliant on summer tourism,” Hale said sitting in her office, overlooking no animals. “It may be more unique for us than it is in other states or other communities.”

Like the zoo, the Anchorage Museum collects the majority of its admissions revenue during the three-and-a-half month summer window. Alaska non-profits have to plan accordingly for the non-tourist season, according to Hale.

Lescher, the zookeeper, is less concerned with the finances than a longer-term set of goals when it comes to programs like Keeper for a Day.

“I see as many adults as I do kids. Sometimes they’re aspiring zookeepers, sometimes they’re just people that have an intense interest in wildlife or in animals in general.”

He thinks that if a zoo can get people invested in a relationship with Nakai the leopard or Uncle Fudge the moose, that serves their larger mission of animal conservation.

The City of Angoon believes high levels of mercury have been discovered in subsistence food caught near Hawk Inlet and that Hecla’s Greens Creek Mine could be responsible.

Angoon’s tribal government is asking for changes with the monitoring and processing of mine waste. Albert Howard, the city’s mayor and tribal president, said dead crab initiated the concern.

Last year, a seal was harvested at Hawk Point and brought back to the village to share. Howard said a sample of the tissue was sent to a lab to be inspected.

“And the lab results came back and it’s one of the highest levels of mercury seen in the state of Alaska since the seal sample program has taken place,” Howard said.

Howard said the Friends of Admiralty Island also found elevated toxic metals in seaweed, clams, mussels, shrimp, cockles and crab. It’s such a concern that Angoon has warned tribal members not to collect traditional foods in the area.

Howard said he would like to see the city and the mine work together to clean up the water.

“I understand that the mine is important to a lot of people for jobs and revenue into the City and Borough of Juneau, but there’s also a responsibility to the community health. And what I meant by that is the city council and the tribal council understand the importance of the community’s health and our children,” Howard said.

Greens Creek spokesperson Mike Satre said the mine reports a sample on an annual basis.

“We meet all the permitted conditions that are put on us by the state for the discharge of our water into Hawk Inlet,” Satre said.

While the reports are annual, Satre said they’re based on continuous monitoring and sampling of the discharge water, supplemented by quarterly bio-monitoring and additional sampling of seawater and sediment.

Angoon has requested that Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott and Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services look into the matter.

Editor’s note: Comments by Greens Creek mine spokesperson Mike Satre about annual reporting have been expanded and clarified.