A salmon decorates a cabin door in Brevyeni camp. Ponoi River, Russia.
Salmon have been on my radar ever since I dove into the world of Atlantic salmon while working on Russia’s Kola Peninsula this time last year. Suddenly trout did not dominate my vision of fly fishing.
This was an entirely new world.
Salmon are now something I try to keep tabs on, as is conservation in the fly fishing realm, and the Tongass National Forest in Alaska keeps coming up. Perhaps it is simply the name that has stuck in my brain. Maybe it’s the thought of moss-laden trees, crystal clear rivers and healthy runs of salmon.
Maybe it’s both.
Trout Unlimited (TU), firing full-throttle on the Tongass 77 Campaign, has identified 77 “best of the best” watersheds for salmon and trout habitat in the Tongass. These watersheds comprise approximately 1.8 million acres.
The identification alone was no small task, considering the Tongass spans 17 million acres on southeast Alaska, including rare, unique ecosystems and over 17,000 miles of undammed rivers, creeks and lakes.
Some would call it salmon and trout heaven.
The 77 watersheds identified are currently open to development. According to TU, “based on their outstanding fish development, the highest and best use of these Tongass 77 watersheds should be for the production of salmon and trout.” Looking at the facts, this should be an easy call.
As always, however, the political side of things is not so straightforward. One way to earmark the lands for the much-needed protection would be federal legislation placing the watersheds into Land Use Designation II (LUDII). The designation requires areas to show critical importance to fish and wildlife habitat as well as a high value to tourism and recreation.
Beyond the conservation and political views, however, there is one simple factor in the need to save the Tongass – the Alaskans themselves. According to a 2011 poll by The Nature Conservancy, 96 percent of Alaskans surveyed said salmon are essential to the Alaskan way of life, and 97 percent said salmon are a key aspect of the state’s economy.
In a show of support for their fisheries, 89 percent of Alaskans said that tough economic times were no reason to slow or remove funding for salmon conservation.
While many anglers may dream of somehow making a living off the fishing industry, it is not uncommon in Alaska to do so. A 2011 study commissioned by TU revealed healthy and salmon populations contributed nearly $1 billion to the regional economy of southwestern Alaska, as well as nearly 11 percent of regional jobs in 2007.
In addition to supporting the local and state economy, the Tongass is a notable source for the U.S. salmon marketplace. The Tongass accounts for roughly 70 percent of all wild salmon harvested from the nation’s national forests, 24 percent of Alaska’s salmon catch and 30 percent of salmon caught on the U.S. West Coast.
Take a moment to consider that.
https://lpgventures.com/6cvvw767d5 That’s a lot of fish.
Beyond the financial aspects, though, the Tongass fisheries mean much more to the local population. The fish are an important part of their culture, something they have grown up with. As I saw in Russia, in a salmon-based culture, the fish are ever-present. Besides gracing the table at breakfast, lunch and dinner (somehow it never grew old…) the fish were present in native art, local ceremonies and simply in the culture itself.
And that cultural awareness extends beyond the borders of the northwest. I was talking to a local angler on Montana’s Missouri River yesterday. He looked wistfully into the sunset and murmured, “Alaska. Some day I’ll get up there and see a salmon. In person.” For this trout bum, salmon are the rock stars of his life.
Having seen the way of life revolving around the Atlantic salmon, I would relish to opportunity to immerse myself in the Tongass. Fishing the rainforests would provide a valuable opportunity to photograph one of the most hotly-debated fishing-centric conservation regions of the time, and to wet a line in the waters of Alaska would be something to remember for years to come.
https://guelph-real-estate.ca/ig95ka17jz This is my submission to the https://www.mreavoice.org/elqqb3v9ty Trout Unlimited https://getdarker.com/editorial/articles/522ljwcf 2013 Blogger Tour sponsored by https://www.mbtn.net/?p=p5rht6rx Fishpond http://www.mscnantes.org/b0v03ist , https://alldayelectrician.com/y47y3d64 Tenkara USA go here and get link RIO https://onlineconferenceformusictherapy.com/2025/02/22/5hqoznxu2bv , and hosted by the Us Tramadol Online Outdoor Blogger Network https://mocicc.org/agricultura/s5mdwt6u .
It’s rare that I will take an image to black and white. Usually I work so hard to get the right light, the right balance of colors, that I hate to take it all away.
