Marty's Drift July 2002

Where No Drift Boat Will Ever Go

I place a very high value on the ability to take my drift boat out and float a river. The opportunity to do that means a lot to me. However, there are places that do not and never should have the kind of access necessary to get a drift boat to them.

This past spring I was able to visit one such place. The stream that I visited is so small that it bears no name on any of the maps of the area that I could find, although the friends who took me there had several different names they had given the stream. It is located in the midst of the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska. Getting to this stream is not easy. First you must arrange an air charter service to fly you in. You will need to take all the gear necessary for your stay. Your pilot will drop you at the head of the inlet and unload your gear. You then are responsible to carry it to a campsite in the timber a half-mile from the drop point.

According to surveys done by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, this stream is home to all five species of salmon, king, chum, silver, sockeye and pink. It also hosts cutthroat, Dolly Varden and steelhead, and while we were there we saw smelt entering the lower reaches. Walking the gravel bars, evidence of past salmon spawning was abundant. Salmon jawbones, backbones and ribs intertwined with the gravel everywhere.

Although this stream is now visited occasionally by anglers, this is a wilderness area. The forest in this river valley is as it has been for thousands of years. The relationship between forest and fish is obvious. The forest contributes large woody debris and logjams that create side channels and pools for juvenile fish rearing areas, and gravel is trapped that provides spawning areas. The fish contribute by spawning and dying, bringing nutrients to the forest in their spent bodies. I think you could say that this area qualifies to be called a Paradise.

However, there is trouble in Paradise. After the recent change in administration in Washington D.C., protection for areas such as these has been removed. The new chief of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is opening up this and other wilderness areas for timber sales. On May 17 the USFS released a draft proposal that NONE of the high value watersheds would receive protection from logging and road building. Most of the remaining timber that is available in the Tongass lies along river bottom lands, rivers like the one I visited this past spring, rivers that significantly contribute to the healthy wild salmon populations of southeast Alaska.

Logging these areas could permanently destroy the fish runs that are currently present and healthy. At this time the USFS is taking public comment about future management of the Tongass. Write the USFS a letter and tell them to protect the fish-producing streams in the Tongass National Forest. The address is: USDA Tongass National Forest-CAT, P.O. Box 9079, Missoula, MT 59807. FAX 406-329-3556.

You can get more information about this issue by contacting Southeast Alaska Conservation Council at 907-586-6942, www.seacc.org or the Alaska Coalition, 907-586-6667 FAX: 907-463-3312.

Give Marty a call at: (503) 655-9532

You can also call Idaho Falls at (800) 394-1345.