Featured SalmonState Column

“Massive ecosystem transformations” from glacier retreat mean new salmon habitat — and new challenges — for wild salmon
Mary Catharine Martin Mary Catharine Martin

“Massive ecosystem transformations” from glacier retreat mean new salmon habitat — and new challenges — for wild salmon

Alaska is about to get thousands of miles of new salmon habitat — and how we manage that habitat will have long term implications for the salmon that find it. By the year 2100, melting glaciers will open up new watersheds containing thousands of miles of salmon habitat across Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, according to an aptly titled scientific paper, “Glacier retreat creating new Pacific salmon habitat in western North America,” out recently in the journal Nature Communications.

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‘Tongass Odyssey’ explores decades of research, politics and change
Mary Catharine Martin Mary Catharine Martin

‘Tongass Odyssey’ explores decades of research, politics and change

In 1977, John Schoen flew to Hood Bay on Admiralty Island. He’d been hired as the first Southeast Alaska research biologist to study deer and this was his first trip into the field.

“Flying into the bay, looking at humpback whales and all the bald eagles in the trees… we got out of the Beaver, stepped on the beach and saw these huge, enormous brown bear tracks. And listening to the blue grouse, and the geese on the beach, I just thought ‘Man, I’m getting paid to do this? Unbelievable!’” he recalled.

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Why are Alaska’s salmon shrinking?
Mary Catharine Martin Mary Catharine Martin

Why are Alaska’s salmon shrinking?

Alaskans who have fished for salmon consistently over the years know it: Alaska’s salmon, especially king salmon, are getting smaller. Now, a new study, published August 19 in the journal Nature Communications by lead author Krista Oke, a postdoctoral fellow with the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks; senior author Eric Palkovacs, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Santa Cruz; and an international team of co-authors, many of them also based in Alaska, delves into why that is — and what it means.

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