Sunshine and Watersheds

Friday, September 9, 2011

Kathy takes the car, since she must travel to the Hydaburg office each Friday.  It’s a nice sunny day, so I and the dogs are not trapped in our apartment this time.  I do some work, then head off for a nice long walk up, farther out Port Saint Nicholas Road.  It’s uphill to start, then levels off.  I come to the spot where someone slipped off the road and crashed down an embankment into the low trees.  The road is muddy along here, and with the heavy rains we had, I can see how this might happen, especially at night, and then being surprised by a deer or a bear crossing the road, it’s even easier to understand.  They had a nice cushy landing in the alders, probably didn’t even get hurt or damage the car.

We keep walking, enjoying the chance for a nice long and dry walk.  There is no sound but the occasional little waterfall cascading down from the hill on the left, flowing along the road.  These flow along the road, then come to an underground pipe and flow to the inlet on our right.  We've had plenty of wet walks, that's for sure, mostly down to the new bridge over the creek that has many many dying salmon, swimming in place, noses pointed upstream.  It’s too late for wildflowers, and the trees are silent, no birdsong.  I can hear seagulls screaming once in a while:  we are close to the waters edge, though we can’t see it through the dense forest.  We come to a long downhill section ( not realizing how steep it is until the return trip!).  I find gap and a trail in the forest and we walk through to the shore.  I’m hoping by sitting quietly by the shore we will see some birds and wildlife. 

The water is very still, glassy, very picturesque against the forested mountain across the way.  The bright sun is a nice reprieve from all of the clouds and rain we've had almost constantly.  Shores here, by the way, are always made of rocks.  I read there is only one sandy beach on the entire Prince of Wales island.  Also, there is a twenty-something foot swing in tides where we are, twice a day, and the trees grow very close to the high tide line, so there are not long stretches of shore to explore. 

I hear a winter wren, and stand still, getting a glimpse of him when he inevitably hops out of the dense trees to get a better look at us.  These birds are evenly brown, no other color or distinguishing marks, but I’m happy to see any bird at this point, and their habits are fun, chatting to themselves as they examine branches for insects, hopping around from branch to branch and tree to tree.  Wrens always seem very busy, and almost cheery at the same time.

We get to the shore, and immediately bother a kingfisher with our presence.  There habits here are the same as in San Diego, very skittish, and not shy about letting you know you disturbed them, calling loudly as they flee down the beach away from you.  I appreciate this habit:  if they flew away silently, I might not even know they were there.  I see and hear them often, and enjoy their blue and white color and crested head; I wonder why the other famous fish-catcher, the osprey, is nowhere to be found.  I’m sure they inhabit Alaska, and I would think the island is prime habitat for them, but haven’t seen one yet. 

We are sitting quietly by a couple of big downed trees, and I suddenly notice a shorebird at a creek mouth 30 feet away, dipping, but it’s not a Dipper, or at least not like one I’ve ever seen.  It is the right size, but the color is way off, light brown on top, white below, but the size and habits sure seem like Dipper.  It is keeping and eye on is, but doesn’t move from it’s spot, just keeps dipping.  It seems to be a young bird:  do Dippers look like this when young, then turn brown all over as they mature?  I wish I’d brought my binoculars with me.  

We walk the shoreline, and find a backbone and maybe a shoulder bone, all picked clean.  It's way too big and substantial to be a salmon; I'm guessing maybe a seal?   I spy something breaking the surface of the water, maybe 30 yards off shore.  It's too far away to see detail, but doesn't look enough or act like a duck, so I'm guessing it's an otter, cool!  He seems to be watching us.  He dives and then surfaces 15 or so feet away, only showing his head above water.  He keeps doing this, as we sit quietly.  He never comes closer, so after ten minutes we move on up the shoreline.  He seems to follow us a bit, then disappears.  Again, wish I'd brought my binoculars.  I'll definitely have to come back here, better prepared.

Kathy comes home a little early.   She's still recovering from her cold.  

Thursday I went to the meeting of the Prince of Wales Watershed Association.  This is a group is in the planning stages, with a mission to educate the public about the value of healthy, intact watershed on Prince of Wales Island.  There are groups like this all over Alaska.  The National Forest Foundation is stewarding this effort.  A coordinator has been hired, and now bylaws and an interim board are being formed.  This was my second meeting, and I came away as an interim board member, very cool.  I am sure my experience in nonprofits and as a member of the Serra Mesa Planning Group for five years will be useful, and it will be great to be involved, especially with a group just getting started.  I also met two key people involved in resource protection on the island, so this was a very successful meeting.

CAUTION, LEAVING THE "NO WHINING ZONE," you have been warned.  :-(

The place we are staying is gorgeous, even with the cloudy rainy weather.  It would be great, for a vacation, or even a summer house.  However, it's apartment living, with the owner's daughter and kids and boyfriend behind us, with thin walls.  The TV audio goes up and down about 30 decibels between stations, and we are very sensitive to sounds traveling through walls, so that's a pain (we do, however, get lots of channels on the dish, and rarely any loss of signal despite the clouds and rain, very nice).  The cell reception is sooo frustrating!  We get a call, and then it drops, right in the middle of a sentence.  It's useless to try and call someone.  Fortunately texting works much better, but not perfectly, and my phone keypad takes me about three times longer than it should to type a message, ugh.  On top of all this, we have to drive about four miles over a gravel road, half of it filled with potholes, to get somewhere with better reception.  They are working on improving the road, but with the constant rain, it sometimes seems like the project takes two steps forward and two back. 

Oh, in the Took It For Granted Department, the kitchen issue leaves a lot to be desired.  They did let us move a microwave up to our room, but you all know that is better, but not best.  

So, between just having our own place, having more than one room, having our own kitchen, being able to cook a full, home-cooked meal, we are just going feel like we are in heaven when this is over!  On top of that, we will be a five minute drive from Kathy's SEARHC office.  Two weeks down, four to go!  Come on, October!