June 1-10th, 2025

• When I first arrived on the island, there were still fiddleheads to harvest and the spruce tips were just starting to lose their caps and begin to grow out, ready for harvest. The Salmonberries were in full bloom. Fireweed shoots coming up, Dandelions in bloom. I wasn't able to harvest Cottonwood buds, I think they already budded out.

• Good first runs of Red Salmon out past Afognak and up the Buskin. Sea Lion pod swimming through the channel

June 16-21, 2025

• Dandelions have gone to seed. I've heard you can plant the seeds to grow some great dandelion greens!

• Most spruce tip hats have fallen off, those on sunnier sides of paths/road have grown into full-on branches by now.

• No fiddleheads left, mostly unfurled, some still furled but past eating.

• Salmon berry flowers are falling off, green berry bunches forming.

• We are having high numbers of Salmon running up the Buskin still - super high June 20: 4962!

• There seem to be more birds around. Maybe they are just louder because they are guarding their nests, but I've see a lot of magpies and was listening to the beautiful trill of the Fox sparrows in the woods today. Such a soothing sound. 

• I finally found some devil's club, I haven't seen much of it around town or on Near island. It prefers to be under the Spruce but we've cut away a lot of it. I will have to go investigate more closely, the Devi's club shoots are supposed to be a spring delicacy!

June 21-26, 2025

Doing my observation early this week because I am headed out beyond the reach of computer-land to the real land for the next 5 days to go to Dig Afognak :)

Here in Kodiak we are seeing:

• Some of the first ripening salmonberries, which seems pretty early

• Chocolate Lillies in full bloom, ready to be harvested.

• No more spruce tips, the tips are grown into full branches now.

• Gayla reported seeing Rose blossoms, she has never seen them as early as June before. 

• The weather has been overcast, with some sunny days. Not that much rain until today. I was beginning to get a little worried about the Salmonberries and streams for the Salmon going low.

• The Iqalluk, or the niklliq (Red Salmon) are still running strong up the Buskin- we have a count of around 6,000 cumulative since end of May- Nikllit Iraluat (Red Salmon moon). This is significant compared with recent years, especially considering the closure of the Buskin for commercial and subsistence fishing in 2023 because of record low fish.

QUESTION: The Stenekes et al. (2020) article highlights how the Kátłodeeche First Nation engages TEK indicators to monitor the health of their aquatic ecosystems, observing significant changes in fish health, water quality, and ice thickness due to cumulative environmental stressors. Reflecting on your own community or a place you have a deep personal connection to and understanding of the local environment (e.g., gathering site, a specific body of water, a natural area you frequent), consider the following:

• What are some "indicators" (formal or informal signs, observations, or stories) that you or people in your community use to understand the health and changes in that environment?

• How might these personal or community-based observations differ from or complement more formal scientific monitoring methods you might be aware of?

• What personal responsibilities or actions do you feel arise from these observations and understandings, and how might they contribute to local environmental stewardship or broader governance, as discussed in the paper?

 I have been thinking deeply about all of these questions in the last few weeks since I started my new job. I was just today making plans with Gayla to find some way to get more seasonal ecological observations going across the island for comparisons across years. We think a photovoice situation could be particularly effective. 

I think there are a lot of successive indicators here in Alaska. the growing season is so short that things just go and go and then it is winter again. Gayla was just saying today that she has been seeing rose petals already, and that she has never seen them in June before. We are also seeing Alaganaq ripen, the Salmonberry- already. Even a newbie like me can feel that that is a bit accelerated.

I have heard from many sources that the Salmonberry harvest indicates the fish runs. But now the Salmonberries are struggling at some parts of the island and ripening too fast in my area. When there is greater snow, there is greater Salmonberries, and more Humpies (Salmon swimming downstream after spawn).

Formal scientific monitoring methods for Salmon observation are the weir counts. They keep the Salmon waiting at the top of the stream using a metal grate, after they have swum all the way up from the ocean, and let them all into the lake at once at the end of the day while they count them. The Iqalluk wait for a whole day, finning around and bothering each other, unable to enter the lake to spawn. This process really bothers me, as someone not in ecology. It seems really invasive to the Iqalluk.

Traditionally, I believe that this process of counting the fish at the weir would have been done during Ceremony. If a whole community was there at the river bank giving thanks for the Iqalluk and gaining an understanding of the count, they wouldn't have to impede their journey in order to track them. The community would then have a collective understanding of the fish count, leading to greater personal responsibility community-wide. They would also be giving thanks for the Iqalluk and practicing reciprocity in their stewardship of them. It would have been an integrated, spiritual relationship with the Iqalluk, which would have allowed the community to track them and harvest them responsibly and honor them during that ceremony.