Boletes and others

Found 4 edible (that is not previously eaten) Boletus edulis last week. Three by the cemetary and one by SJ. The first three were somewhat eaten by fly or moth larvae, but the last one looked perfect. The larvae were pretty easy to remove by slicing the mushrooms and soaking them briefly in salty water. I'm not particularly sensitive to the idea of insects in my boletes, so I ate them and feed them to guests. I gave the fourth one to a group of Elderhostel folks to whom I gave a talk. They were particularly nervous about eating mushrooms since one of the company had a relative who required a new liver because of misidentification. Hopefully, the bolete left them with a more positive impression.



Also found Suillus fuscotomentosus in the muskeg near where we collected samples for the Mt. Edgecumbe projects. This species lacks a veil, the stipe is similar in color to the cap with dark brown punctuate fibers. The stipe is slight larger at the base than at the apex.
The cap is yellowish (#67 brillant OrangeYellow) with tufts of dark brown fibers. The diameter of the cap of the ones I saw was up to 5 inches (the one in the photo is 6.5 cm). It doesn't have a particular odor. The spore print is olive brown. What seperates this species of Suillus from a similar species (tomentosus) is that it does not stain blue when bruised.


This one is allegedly edible, however Arora says that it isn't particularly palatable.

Found Suillus tomentosus under the pines by the Mt. Edgecumbe High School Gym. It looked very similar in color, shape and size but stained blue when bruised. Despite this blue staining, this one is supposed to be edible, but not palatable.

Also under the pine tree at the gym was Suillus brevipes. A much tidier looking bolete. The cap was a warm light brown and the pores bright yellow. No blue staining.

Also collected a much larger (10 cm) Chalciporus piperatus than I usually find. It was more of a medium yellow brown than the red-brown that is typical. It was also much more irregular in shape than the smaller ones. The flesh of the cap was pale yellow to white. The stipe was bright yellow at base as is typcial. The stipe flesh is also yellow. The stipe was narrow for theLess than 1cm across and about 5 cm long. kind of mishapen. Because it was so different from what I usually see, I was compelled to check more characters. Yes, I had to taste it and was very hot.

The Leccinum scabrum were fruiting at St. Peter's church yard under the birch.


Russula emetica is another one I see every year, but still felt compelled to taste it (very hot), look at the spore color (white) and key it out. This one was growing in scrubby hemlock forest with Lysichiton in the understory near the bench muskeg off the Indian River trail.

Tom Volk had this to say about identification of Russula emetica "Even if you find a red Russula and think it's R. emetica, you're probably wrong." There is a longer explanation of the issues regarding identifying Russulas in general at both his post on R. emetica and on the Mushroom Expert, both seem to agree that one should treat all identifications as tentative. http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/sep2004.html

Collected a few mushrooms from the cedar dominated forest west of the Gavan Hill trail. There were several species that I hadn't noticed previously (yes, I've been sleep walking for years).

Chroogomphus vinicolor: I've found a number of Chroogomphus tomentosus, but never this species, but I haven't spent alot of time looking for fungi in cedar dominated sites. Cedar is not an ectomycorrhizal species, so the fungi that I've spent most of my time looking for are not present.

The overall size and shape are similar to C. tomentosus, but the color is darker and red brown. It kind of had a dark red wine sort of color to it, but I would have poured the wine through a filter before I drank it. The cap was smooth and viscid when wet, and dried to a nice sheen. The gills are distant and decurrant. This mushroom is most reliably differentiated from a similar species (C. rutilis more properly known as C. ochraceous) by the thick walled cystidia. Happily this feature was quite distinct.
Conifer forest, particularly those with Pine is where this species is said to grow in the PNW. I found it growing in a scrubby mixed conifer (Cedar, Western Hemlock) forest near a muskeg. There was Lysichiton americanum in the understory. There were several individuals in the area, growing on the ground. C. vinicolor is mycorrhizal. This species is edible, but these were too far gone to tempt me. I'm fairly certain that all Chroogomphus turn purple when cooked , but I'm not sure which pigment is responsible, what was interesting was that some of the ones I brought home developed purple stains after a couple of days. Decompostion?http://www.svims.ca/council/Gomphi.htm

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/chroogomphus_vinicolor.html

The next two species gave me a bit of grief. One because I was impatient and the other because I haven't yet found a great species match. They are both members of the Entolomataceae, with pink spores and Omphaloid stature, more apparent in one (gray/brown) than the other. Both were growing on the ground near cedar.

Leptonia serrulata: This should have been easy. It has a black or purple black, cap about 2 cm across, the gills were distant and white with a very striking black edge. The stem was gray/purple/black, slender about 3.5cm long.
This one drove me a little crazy and is a fine example of why one should make a spore print before proceeding with a new species. When I first looked at it, I didn’t notice the slight omphaloid stature and decided it was a Mycena. Oh my, that was kind of a frustrating error. Even looked at the spores and decided that perhaps a Mycena could have slightly angular/nodulose spores. Kept trying all sorts of keys and descriptions and just couldn’t cram it into any species. Gave up and went to sleep in the hope that it would all make sense in the morning. Indeed it did, the pink spore print was quite useful.

Leptonia in CA “fond of fruiting under fern fronds in redwood duff” In the PNW “frequent under alder and western red cedar”. There were two growing on the ground on a vertical eroded edge near the base of a Yellow Cedar.

The other species of Leptonia was less distinct. The cap was small, 1.2 cm , closest to gray/yellow/brown, with distinct umbo, cap flesh thin and white. The margin was distinctly striate. The gills were white, widely spaced and waxy, somewhat decurrent, the stipe whitish gray, 2mm wide, 5cm tall.

It keyed to Leptonia undulatella in Arora. I don't have a good description of this species, so I'm less than certain of its identity.

Lepiota magnispora (saprophyte): This is new species for me, in fact I don't remember finding a Lepiota in the "wild" up here before. The most similar mushrooms are the yellow sometimes found on soil in house plants. This particular Lepiota was growing on cedar and seemed to be attached to dead wood in a notch near the base of a pair of trees growing very close to one another. Lepiota wasn't on Hennon's list of cedar fungi.

In "Mushrooms Demystified" this keys out to Lepiota clypeolaria, I was happy with that, Arora mentions that clypeolaria probably represents a collective species, so what else is new? However looking at the description of and commentary about L. cypeolaria at the Mushroom Expert site, made me a bit less certain about the identification. Had to turn to the microscope to positively identify this species. The spores are quite long with a small hooked beak. This species is also supposed to have brighter colors and a more distinct "eye" in the center of the cap.

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/lepiota_magnispora.html

http://www.svims.ca/council/Lepiota.htm

Macrotyphyla juncea: also known as Fairy Hair. It is a very slender light colored slender fungus less than 2 inches tall and probably around a millimeter or two wide. They were growing on dead cedar foliage. They were quite abundant once one's eye was oriented to their overall look. Basically they looked like thick threads sticking up from the duff. http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Macrotyphula_juncea.html

Also noticed Russula bicolor and Russula fragilis in the woods.

The Cortinarius on left was growing closer to the trail. The cap is quite viscid with a distinctive color pattern. The veil fibrils are noticable on the stem. The spores were bright rusty brown, so I'm content with calling it a Cortinarius, but admit that it could be a Hebeloma.

On the way back to UAS picked a Russula from the roadside under the spruce and alders near the ramp. THe spore print is quite yellow and the taste intensely hot. It keyed to Russula queletii in the PNW key. The description from PNW reads:

CAP 4-10 cm, purplish red, wine purple, brownish violet, usually fairly dark, drying pruinose, fleshy, peeling 1/2 to 2/3, striate only in age; flesh white. ODOR pleasant. TASTE very hot. GILLS cream, subdecurrent, close. STEM strong red or purplish. SPORE PRINT cream to light yellow: HABITAT conifers.

The remarks section was kind of amusing, I translated the following to mean that we included this information to comfort you poor fools who indulge in Russula identification.

REMARKS " we have included the descriptions to comfort the many who will find purple capped, red or purple-stemmed, hot-tasting Russulas with creamy spores."

A few more Fungi

Thursday the 4th was the third class of the mushroom identification workshop, so had a good reason to go collecting instead of spending the entire day in the lab packing biology lab kits.

Collected along the lower part of Gavan trail, the cemetary, Starrigavan, Totem park and Halibut pt rec. area. Didn't spend much time at any spot, because I wanted to see what sort of variety of fungi were available and I had limited time available.

Found Lactarius rufus along the Gavan trail, just townward of the small almost fen-like muskeg with the domestic Spiraea. It looked a bit larger than what I had seen previously, so I foolishly tasted it. Suffice it to say that it was intensely hot and peppery.

The mushrooms were less abundant than the last time I looked along the trail. Most of the Russulas and Lactarius were either too far gone or too immature. I did pick up a very large Cortinarius. The rusty brown spore print was about 4 inches in diameter. The stem was fairly even in thickness and had a few rusty colored fibrils just above the middle. The cap was somewhat viscid, but the stem was not. I haven't come up with a satisfactory species name yet for this one.

Found several Clitopilus prunulus in the grass near the Sitka spruce lining the cemetary road. They seem to be pretty abundant this year. The compactness of this species when immature is striking. Okay, it isn't unusual for something young to be small, but still they were an interesting form.

Amanita muscaria, both yellow and red forms, were growing at the base of several Sitka Spruce along the west side of the cemetary.

Carried on the Starrigavan and HPR. Collected a selection of Russula, Lactarius deliciosus, a Cortinarius or two, Amanita vaginata, Hydnum umbilicatum, H. repandum, Pholiota flammans (HPR), and Coprinus atramentarius. The Coprinus was growing on the woodchips on the path near the parking lot at Mosquito Cove.

I had plenty to share with folks, but the class was significantlly enriched by the nice variety of fungi that Jen and Vicki brought to class. Vicki collected from Skagway and Jen locally.
Jen brought Helvella lacunosa, Leccinum scabrum, Hydnellum suavavolens, Pholiota flammans, and several Russula and Cortinarius spp.



Vicki brought in Hydnelllum peckii, Amanita muscaria (yellow), another Hydnaceae that I dried for later, a bright yellow Russula looking mushroom, Sarcodon imbrictus and Phaeolepiota aurea.

I've seen Sarcodon imbricatus in Kelp Bay and near Hidden Falls, but don't remember seeing it on the outside coast. Could be here though.
Rich Philips has collected Phaeolepiota aurea from Green Lake Rd. and I've found it in Kelp bay.


Phaeolepiota aurea



Sarcodon imbricatus

Bird watching from the house has been rather rewarding the last few days. The bird feeder has been visited by a Steller's jay, several chickadees, 3 nuthatches and a song sparrow. Robins, both juvenile and adults, Varied thrush, Ruby and Golden Crowned kinglets, a Sapsucker, juncos, Rufous hummers and Crossbills have been in the garden.

As of yesterday, I had seen two nuthatches at the feeder, today there were three visiting at the same time. One seems rounder and larger than the other two. It was also the one that held still enough that the photo was adequate. I sat out on the deck for about a half an hour listening and waiting for an opportunity to get a photo. Deleted most of them, nuthatches are highly mobile little birds and the autofocus on the camera isn't functional at the moment.

The chickadees and nuthatches weren't concerned enough about my presence and proximity (about 6ft) to avoid the feeder, but the Steller's jay did some serious squawking. The nuthatches were not too thrilled with the presence of the Steller's jay. They skittered up the trunk (pursued by the jay) and eventually flew off. The jay didn't follow them away from the feeder tree.

Although I haven't seen a warbler for the last couple of days, I'm not convinced that they are gone yet. Probably just not looking out the window at the right time.

As I'm writing this, the chickadees, jay and nuthatches are at the feeder and deck rail at the same time.

August 25

My teachers told me to avoid Cortinarius and Russula, for some reason I've choosen not to listen to them. The last couple of days, I've experienced the pain of living in a place with so many of these maddening fungi.

This started benignly enough, in fact I was being nice. Libby Stortz wasn't able to attend the class field trip on Saturday, so the two of us went for a short walk up Gavan Hill trail to look for mushrooms.

These are some of the mushrooms, I found with her and on a trip the next day that I've managed to beat my head against.

Yellow cap, gills and stem. Fading much lighter when dry. The spore print is white/cream. The gill trama is very parallel. No veils present. The gills aren't even vaguely waxy looking to me and the attachment is more adnate than decurrent. No cystidia found. The spores are attached at the end.

There is a distinct odor to the fresh mushrooms. The taste isn't bitter, in fact not much taste at all. Stem hollow with tough catilaginous rind. Seems like it might be Tricholoma sulphureum, but I'm not entirely convinced.

Cortinarius:
This species keys out to C. bicolor in the unfortunately out of date (withdrawn in fact) key to Cortinarius published by the Pacific Northwest Mycological Society. It may be a synonym of C. cageii, but then again may still be a valid taxa.
In the woods it had a brown cap with a white margin. It wasn't viscid. The stem was purple or lilac.

The spore print was appropriately rusty brown, the spores themselves were slightly rough. What was remarkable about this species was how the color changed as it dried (hygrophanous). The cap is almost lilac colored or maybe lilac brown. The light color comes from a kind of "frost" over the surface.

In Arora, this fungus keys out to C. adustus and C. impennis neither described individually, but included in the comments section of C. evernius. This species seems to be one of several medium sized, hygrophanous, purple or lilac tinted species of Cortinarius in the subgenus Telamonia.

Cortinarius: orange brown, kind of looks like a Russula, but has brown spores. The resemblance to a Russula was accentuated by the flaring of the older individuals and the substantial bulk of the mushrooms. The stipe had a bulbous base. The fungus wasn't viscid, nor did the color change on drying. I looked at sections of the gills, the edge was packed with cystidia. Many of which have a narrow, bottle type of tip. Managed to cut one section thin enough to see the origin of the cystidia in the gill trama. The smudges in the background are the spores.

I haven't quite decided what to call this one. Okay, I'm pretty sure it is a Cortinarius, but am almost ready to give up on that idea as well.

I posted this photo on Mushroom Observer and Cortinarius rubicundulus was suggested as a possibility. Looking back in Arora's key, I bypassed this species because it didn't seem to fit the bruising requirements.

Fortunately for my sanity, one of the mushroooms I found was readily identifiable, at least I could more easily convince myself that I was on the right track.

Lactarius kaufmanii var kaufmanii: seems to demonstrate the concept of viscid quite well. The slime was very thick. Once dry the surface of the cap looked varnished.

The last mushrom that has been driving me a bit crazy is this Russula. It seems to be in the group of Russulas that are very hot to the taste, don't want to give up their spores and stain pretty readily. The cuticle didn't peel away from the cap as easily as the typical Russula and the margin was not striate. The mushroom was cream to light tan colored or maybe a light yellow when growing undisturbed in the woods. It wasn't viscid.
I tried to key this creature out in section Compactae because of the staining reaction and the difficulty in peeling the cuticle, but that doesn't seem to be working well either.

Fortunately for me, it is early in the season and I might be lucky enough to find these creatures again and give it another try.

On a happier note; the garden was full of birds this morning. Robins, Varied Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Ruby crowned kinglet, Townsend's, Orange-crowned and Wilson's warbler, Winter wren, Chestnut backed chickadees, Juncos, Song sparrow and I heard a Nuthatch and a woodpecker of some sort. This evening I saw the first ever Steller's Jay at the bird feeder. I can't say that they haven't been around, but I haven't seen one. This one was eating the seed off the deck rail and from the tube feeder.

Harbor-Gavan TrailTwo trips lazily morphed into one entry

August 27

Had the opportunity to take a couple of folks off a cruise ship for a hike up Harbor-Gavan. They are friends of a former Sitkan (Shawn Newell) who hired me as plant guide as a birthday present for her friend. Initially, I thought that her much less mobile parents were coming on the walk, but they decided to stay on the boat which made it possible to venture up the mountain. The high ceiling and lack of rain were motivating to get back up to the mountain. I didn't realize that going for such a "long" hike (3-4 miles) was going to be an onerous event for the adult male. He was pretty good natured about it, but said that generally he has to be working (that is paid) to go for such a long walk. Now the views are tremendous and the meadow usually inspires an off key versions of various songs. This time, the birthday girl and I were singing "the hills were alive with the sound of bitching" The moans we have heard for many years" . We didn't get too much further with the song, but it kept us laughing.

Blooming: Geum calthafolium, Anemone narcissiflora (one poor straggler), Lutkea pectinata, Cassiope mertensiana, Vaccinium caespitosum, Erigeron peregrinus , Pedicularis ornithorhyncha, Pedicularisverticillata, Castilleja parvifolia, Castilleja unalaschcensis, Elliotia pyroliflora, Nephrophyllidium crista-galli,Trientalis europaea, Dodecatheon jefferyi (one), Valeriana sitchensis, Rubus pedatus, Veratrum viride, Tiarella trifoliata, Cornus canadensis, Geranium erianthum, Hieracium triste, Senecio triangularis, Fritillaria camschatcensis, Aruncus dioica, Aconitum delphiniifolium, Castilleja unalaschcensis, Saxifraga ferruginea, Angelica lucida, Sanguisorba canadensis, Aquilegia formosa, Prenanthes alata,Tellima grandiflora, Heracleum maximum, Saussurea americana, Heuchera glabra, Achillea millefolium, Conioselinum gmelinii, Pedicularisverticillata, Montia parviflora, Saxifraga ferruginea, Epilobium (hornemannii?), Viola langsdorffii, Platanthera stricta, Claytonia sibirica, Gentiana platypetala. Not to neglect the graminoids: Vahlodea atropurpurea, Calamagrostis nutkensis, Elymus hirsutus, Luzula parviflora, Juncus mertensianus, Carex nigricans and Carex macrhochaeta

Saw a rather odd looking little orchid, unfortunately I didn't stop long enough to get a very good look at it. It was small with 2 round basal leaves and white flowers. Thought that it had to be a Malaxis, but didn't get a chance to slow down and get a better look because the people I was guiding were in a time crunch.Not many fungi, just a few of the bright orange Mycena aurantissima (spelled very wrong or maybe even made up). There were a few ripe blueberries and salmonberries

September 6th

The sunny day inspired another trip to the meadow. This time Jeanne Stolberg came along. we had a very nice hike, picnic and talk. We weren't in a big hurry to get started in the morning, so it was a pretty relaxing day. The photos are Jeanne's.

Much of the same plants were still blooming, although some of them were definately on the way out. Gentiana platypetala was exceptionally nice this trip. Geranium erianthum was still blooming, almost as fully as it was the time I came up here in early August. The fireweed leaves were turning red and a few plants were mostly seed, (Heracleum, Hiericium and Valerian). I was hoping to collect Monkshood seed, but it wasn't ripe yet. I did collect seed from Hiericium and Valerian.

We were kind of perplexed by the odd smell that dominated the meadows. We smelled alot of flowers before we settled on the source being Erigeron peregrinus. Just past the boulder fields we crossed a second meadow area that must keep the snow a bit longer. The paintbrush and lupines were still in full bloom. Carried on to the shelter this time; found what seems to be either a population of really weird Erigeron or one of the former Asters that are driving me a bit crazy. We found a variegated Monkshood. I should have marked it somehow to collect seeds, but didn't think that far ahead.

We also found the mystery orchid after some serious searching. It seems to be a rather small Malaxis monophyllos var monophyllos. It was growing just before the last set of stairs before the meadows.

Decided to carry the clinometer this time and measure the slope in a couple of spots; we took only two measurements on either end of the boulder field, 55% and 72%. The first was from the larger area of the boulder field and the steeper from the trail as it climbs back out of the meadows toward Harbor mtn. In both cases, I climbed up slope above the trail and Jeanne did the measuring. Not sure what information that really adds, but I was kind of curious.

Saw one nuthatch, many robins and other birds that I can only identify as warblers and sparrows. I managed to bring the altimeter and clinometer, but no binoculars.

We ended the day at a Cross sound concert "Maroon Settings". Difficult to share the music, but what I can share that I enjoyed was two poems by Robert Davis Hoffman that were used as inspiration for a piece called “A Change of Season” from the Crosssound concert “Maroon Settings”
“Taking the Night Trail” (just a small piece of the poem)

This is the kind
of night
the moist forest shadows
lift themselves, spread
and offer their fingers.

The other poem “Drowning” (again just a small portion)

We think we are safe
on this beach, in this dream
luminescence washing the shore.

We come out of the fog
to cling to this fire
and our own voices
at the edge of the woods,
at the edge of the sea,
somewhere between two kinds of darkness.

August 23

Opted to offer the annual mushroom identification class a bit earlier this year with the thought of giving people more time to practice their new skills before the hard frosts ended the season. Besides, it has been a particularly wet and cool summer, so it feels a bit more fall-like. The fungi have been fruiting since July, particularly Entoloma strictius and Stropharia species. Not that fungi fruiting in July is particularly unusual, I've just been in a postion to pay a bit closer attention.
Like every other year, I see both familiar fungi and ones that I've either not seen previously or haven't noticed. Fungi don't fruit every year, at least some fungi don't. Why some species produce mushrooms every year and others don't must be related to something more than nutrition, I'm guessing that temperature is another important factor. It would be interesting to know if it is the same mycelium (genetically) that produces fruiting bodies every year. It would also be interesting to know how extensive the mycelium is from a given species. PCR?

We spent the morning at Starrigavan, mostly on the Mosquito Cove trail and the campground and the early afternoon up Indian river. The fungi weren't as thick or a species rich as they have been in other years, but there was enough. People had the opportunity to collect alot of the Winter Chanterelles, everyone went home with some chanterelles to eat. There were few Hydnums repandums around, but people did get to see them. One student (second time in class) found a nice bunch of Chroogomphus tomentosus to eat as well. Actually, he found quite a variety of fungi. Thinking back, he was an effective gatherer the first time as well. I think he covers alot of ground and has his eyes pretty well trained. His appetite for fungi is an effective motivator.


I didn't keep an exhaustive species list of what we gathered. I did rescue a few Russulas and Lactarius from people in an attempt to continue my quest for some understanding of those 2 genera at least in terms of what occurs around here.



Russula 1: very deep red cap, mild taste, (Medium sized cap), 65mm across, stipe 75 mm tall, wider at base. Spores creamy (almost yellowish). When the cuticle is peeled back the flesh is bright pink at least on the surface. This one keys to Russula cessans in the PNW key council key











Russula 2: deep pink red in center, lighter toward margin, hot taste, (small cap)46 mm across cap, stipe 50 mm tall, stipe evenly wide. Keys to Russula fragilis

Russula 3: light yellow brown at margin, medium yellow brown at center, striate margin, Viscid, (large)105 mm across, Mild taste, actually kind of tasty. Stipe 70 mm tall, slightly wider at base, a few pink spots (beginning of Indian River trail). Spores cream colored. The young caps don’t smell all that pleasant when broken
Russula pectinatoides only problem is that collected specimen is a bit on the large side compared to the description of that species. At beginning of Indian river trail.
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/russula_pectinatoides.html








Lactarius 1: Medium Orange-yellow and light Orange yellow. Concentric rings, white latex, hot taste, 65mm across cap, 35 mm stipe.

Lactarius olympianus
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/lactarius_olympianus.html

http://www.svims.ca/council/illust/Lactarius%20olympianus%201%20Michael%20Beug.htm

Lactarius 2: pale to light Orange yellow. Hot, white latex, cap 40mm across, stipe 25 mm. (spotty looking). The specimen I colllected was immature. Probably L. alnicola. Alas no photo


Tremella foliacea
I hadn't seen this leafy brown jelly fungus previously. It was growing on a dead hemlock






Pseudohydnum gelatinosum (a very tiny individual)
Nidula candida
Hydnellum aurantiacum
Hydnellum suaveolens
Hydnum repandum
Hydnum umbilicatum

Sarcodon calvatus (in a cluster at the base of a tree near the picnic shelter). Brown spored. In photo at right

Also collected:
Entoloma strictius
Clitopilus prunulus
Collybia acervata
Chaliporus piperatus (two found)
Mycena aurantiidisca (the minute orange ones)
Laccaria laccata
Craterellus tubaeformis



Cortinarius spp
one with substantial bulb, viscid cap, top of stem purplish, lower stem rusty with veil remnants. Gills purplish. Too far gone, actually it was rather mushy

Inocybe spp (didn't bother with these)









Tricholoma vaccinum (best fit) Cap is dry, with orange/red brown fibrils over a yellow/brown base cap. In young caps the fibers are densest at center then further apart at edges. In older caps the center also has the densest fibrils, which are radially arranged toward the margin. (no photo)

http://www.grzyby.pl/gatunki/Tricholoma_vaccinum.htm

A small truffle; Alpova trappei (yellowish smooth outer surface) Looked like small, very small potatoes


Ramaria testaceoflava (green stain in ferric sulfate)
Thanks to Ron Exeter's gift of his book "Ramaria of The Northwestern United States"







Omphalina (Lichenomphalia) umbellifera
Blue Mycena ( seems like amicta)
Amanita pantherina (one)
Chroogomphus tomentosus

Indian River
Mycena haematopus (nicely bleeding, growing on wood)
Amanita vaginata
Russula 3(see above)
Lactarius spp
Craterellus neotubaformis
Collybia acervata (lots) Gymnopus acervatus in Orson & Hope Miller's North American Mushrooms
Clavaria purpurea (by river, dipper gravel bar)
Pleurocybella porrigens ( just a few, older ones)

Decided that it might be impossible to catch up with writing about past activities without getting further behind, so I'll just give a brief summary of recent activity.

Did manage to get up to Picnic rock on Verstovia on August 2nd. We were motivated by the fact that it had been 20 years or more since Jeanne Stolberg had been up there and that it was a vaguely nice day. No sun, but it was warm enough for shorts and t-shirt, at least while moving. What was blooming above treeline was pretty similar to the July 11, 2007 trip. Viola glabella, Vaccinium ovalifolium and Harrimanella stelleriana were blooming in the meadow. One Castilleja parviflora was blooming as well. Near picnic rock, there were also a few Erigerons blooming. There was still snow on the slope between the clump of krummholz trees above the meadow and the stairs just below Picnic rock. In other words, it still looked rather spring-like.

August 6
After walking up Verstovia on the 2nd I had been antsy to get up to Harbor/Gavan to see the meadow near the boulder field. Richard Carstensen.provided a good excuse for a trip up after work. He was in town overnight on his way to join Scott and Bob at False Island for a groundtruthing trip. Richard hadn’t been up Harbor mtn before and it was a rather nice day. Okay, it didn't take much of an excuse to head up there.
The timing turned out to be excellent for flowers. There was Elliotia blooming on the way up the road. Lots of Pinquicula vulgaris in bloom just past the picnic shelter parking lot. The Dodecatheon jeffreyii in the wet meadow near the parking lot at the trail head were in full bloom. The fragrance was exceptionally nice, both of us were inspired to get down on hands and knees to partake of the excellent aroma. Up the trail, where the it levels out past the Mountain hemlocks, the Anemone narcissifolia and Castilleja parviflora were in bloom. We saw a Sharp-shinned hawk in the mountain hemlock elfin forest where the trail dips down.

The meadow near the boulder field was kind of breathtaking. There were masses of flowers in bloom, including Aconitum delphinifolium, Castilleja parviflora, Fritillaria camstchatcensis, Geranium erianthum, Aquilegia formosa, Valeriana sitchensis, Artemisia norvegica, Tellima grandiflora, Arnica latifolia, Erigeron peregrinus, Phleum alpinum, Rubus spectabilis and Heracleum maximum. Senecio and Sausseria weren’t in bloom yet. The Vaccinium were still blooming, so I’m not sure that the berries will have a chance to ripen this year.

It can be very good going to a familiar place with someone who hasn’t seen it before. I don’t think that I take this spot for granted, but it was good to hear some questions posed about the meadow. Specifically, how long has this meadow been here or how old is the slide? Why a herb dominated meadow and not a shrub dominated slope? When I told RC about the meadow, he had pictured a flat sort of place, not the very steep slope that this meadow occupies. He was curious about why there was a meadow here instead of Sitka alder. In the end I’m not really sure, it could be related to the very low frequency of disturbance (rock slide), the snow load, accident of arrival timing, dispersal or even aspect. The surface is of small rocks covered with a thin layer of soil. Another possibility we discussed was the possible affect of deer browse. Although I’d think that the deer do some serious damage on the herbs as well.
The areas that aren’t as well drained (without the rock) have extensive Nephrophyllidium crista-galli and probably sedges. At least I assume that it is related to drainage.

We heard a Ptarmigan mom and chick/chicks near the trail, no luck finding the birds.

Last year I collected and planted seeds from the meadow. Columbines and lupines were pretty successful, and there are very small seedlings probably from monkshood. One surprise was a single Hiericium triste that did well enough to flower this year. The columbines and lupines are now in the garden at the park, not sure if the Hiericium will join them or not.

August 7
St. Lazaria
Kristi from the Historical park arranged a training trip for the park staff on an Allen Marine boat. Went from 6-8pm on the public tour operated by Allen Marine on Thuradsy evening.
The weather was sunny and very calm, so we were able to go out to St. Lazaria
Two Humpback whales on the way out. Also stopped at Low island to look at Sea Otters and Harbor Seals.
Lots of Rhinoceros auklets on the way out. One small group of Phalaropes just outside the airport.
Saw Tufted Puffins, Common Murres, Pelagic Cormorants, Glaucuous-winged gulls, one Horned puffin, 3 Fork tailed petrels, Oystercatchers.
One odd plant, on the walls of a cave (crayola cave) which I'm still not sure of the identity. Campanula rotundifolia was blooming along the cliffs.

The red huckleberry crop on the lot is particularly productive this year. I've managed to pick a few gallons so far and am hoping for more before the thrushes and the weather finishes them off.

There has been a number of warblers in the garden, including Wilson's, Yellow, Orange crowned and Townsends. Adults and juvenile Robins and Varied Thrushes are pretty abundant in the garden and forest as well.

July 23-27 Marbled Murrelet trip


A reward that was offered to those who volunteered for last summers community marbled murrelet counts was the option to volunteer for a 4 day count at one of two Icy Strait sites. At first this didn’t seem like an option for me in terms of timing, fortunately when I figured out that I could go, it was still an option. I was assigned to go to the Couverdon side of Icy Strait along with Kameron Peresnsovich and Riley Woodford (ADFG).
Kameron and I left Sitka on the 6am flight for Juneau. Our flight to Couverdon was scheduled for 4:30 pm so we had the day to kill in Juneau. Handily, Kristen Romanoff left her car at the airport for us to use for the day. It turned out to be the beginning of a week of firsts for Kameron, the first new item for him was a bagel. Not sure how someone gets to be 19 years (living in Sitka and Moscow) and not eat a bagel, but he had managed it. For better or worse, his bagel experience began with a fresh Silverbow bagel, so he may have high expectations for future bagels. Then again he may have been so sleepy that he didn’t really notice. We did our camping trip shopping errands at Fred Meyer, Bought a cheap watch, allegedly with an alarm and miscellaneous small food items. Past experience with unknown people buying the food has taught me to bring a few supplies.
We decided that a trip to Mendenhall Glacier was the next time filler. The walk to the falls was pleasant, Kameron learned a few plants (Yarrow, River beauty, willow and Euphrasia) and we saw two dippers (an adult and juvenile) by the falls and a small family of Common Mergansers (4-5 young) in the lake. The trail has changed considerably since I first visited the glacier an uncountable number of years ago. Mary Stensvold took me on a Polystichum gathering trip here my first summer in Alaska. The trail was though the forested edge (alders and spruce) and I remember finding a lot of P. andersonii, P. braunii, and P. setigerum. The trail is out on the flats these days, maybe there are fewer encounters with wildlife than before?
Filled the rest of the time with lunch, more shopping (Kam was a very good sport) and playing on the computers at Egan library.
We caught a Wings flight (a beaver) from the airport. This was Kam’s second new experience for the day. Being that float plane rides are expensive, this seemed a lot more reasonable to have never happened. I encouraged him to take the front seat, but he was a bit nervous, and I was happy to sit up front. The view is tremendous. I had forgotten how much I like to fly in small planes. At least how much I like to fly in small planes on nice days. I tried to figure out how many times I’ve been on small planes and came up with somewhere between 40 and 50 flights as a very crude estimate.
The flight left from the float pond, out over the flats, and across Admiralty through the pass at Funter bay. We could see signs of beaver activity below, including a couple of dams. Hit a few bumps in Chatham/Lynn Canal, just enough to give Kam a complete first flight experience. It was a pretty short flight to the Couverdon area and soon the pilot was leaning over to ask me exactly where we were going. I felt more than a bit foolish, because I really had no idea. I hadn’t thought to ask Matt Kirchoff that question when he dropped off the food just assuming that the pilot knew where we were going. After all it was a special charter. Nice to start a trip feeling like a total idiot. Luckily, the 3 people who were returning to Juneau and Riley Woodford were standing on the beach with their gear. Taxied up to the beach, off loaded our gear and said hello/goodbye to the departing crew.
Entrance Island is a very small island about 0.9 miles long and at the widest point about . It is located just south of Couverdon Island on the north side of Icy Strait. Swanson Harbor where the Deception tied up on the way to Glacier bay is on the north side of Couverdon island. There isn’t a source of fresh water on the island, at least not that we found. This prompted a lot of conversation about whether or not deer need to drink water.

The beach where we landed our gear was of fine gravel and sand with a nice band of blooming Senecio pseudo-arnica just above the high tide line. Later on I noticed Mertensia maritima growing there as well. Landward of the beach sunflowers was a lush uplift meadow with most of the usual plants, plus the Ranunuclus orthorhynchus and the same array of colors of paintbrush that I found on Couverdon island. The trail to camp was a very circuitous route through the meadow.

The kitchen area of the camp was not too far inside the spruce trees. There were a couple of tarps, two ropes/pulleys for the food bags and a rigged up platform for the stove. It didn’t take long for Kam and I to add fire pit to the camp features. The tents were a short distance away by the opposite shore. The spotting scope had its own tent on the beach. The tent made the counting a lot more pleasant, a couple of days, the only time I took off my raingear during the day was when I was counting birds. Glad that I didn’t need the umbrella for counting that I’d brought along.
Riley gave Kam and I a brief introduction to the count schedule and procedures. The flyway count period is for 15 minutes and are done on the hour and half hour Shifts would last 2 hours, starting at 5 or 5:30am and end at 9 or 9:30pm depending on visibility. Basically that meant each person worked for two hours and had 4 hours off. We only counted Marbled murrelets on with the spotting scope. We only noted other species at the end of a count when we did a set arc survey with the binoculars.
The 15 minutes between counts were time to watch the beach, scurry back to camp for snacks or for me, do some yoga on the sandy beach.
Kam did a shift the first evening. The next morning Riley started at 5, I followed at 7am and Kam at 9 and on we went though out the three days. We each took one early shift, we didn’t count on the 27th as the plane was coming too early for us to pack up everything and count.
The weather on the trip was impressively rainy, on the morning of the 25th, we woke up to find the kitchen area tarps rendered useless by the strong easterly winds. The weather also put a stop to counting for a about 4 hours so we used the time moving the camp to a less exposed spot. We carried the coals to the new fire pit instead of counting on starting fresh.
The next day I was grateful to be able to take off my raingear and boots for a short time.
There was ample time to explore the island. The forest was of relatively young looking Western hemlock and Sitka spruce, with a pretty open shrub layer (blueberry, menziesia, Devils club and Ribes lacustre. Lots of browsed Deer heart in the understory.
The camp was roughly in the center of the island, just to the south of it, a higher elevation ridge that ran through the middle of the island. This area had the oldest timber. Below that toward the Icy strait shore was a band of forest in more of a stem exclusion sort of phase. There was very little understory, except Goodyera oblongifolia, Corallorhza (including one yellow form) and in a couple of spots Platanthera obtusata.
Along the shore on the southern point was Spruce, Calamagrostis nutkatensis, Ribes and Vaccinium. This area had abundant epiphytes including a lot of Ramalina menziesii.

The northern end of the island was more even in elevation and had a more shrubby forest. The exception was the very tip with open spruce and Platanthera obtusata in the understory. Platanthera obtusata is an unfamiliar species for me. I had thought it was a northern species, but it seems to occur on the southern end of southeast as well. The most abundant ground cover moss on the island was Rhytidiopsis robusta.
There was a large and abrupt “step” up from the beach fringe to the forest, similar in size to that on Couverdon island.
There was a uplifted meadow surrounded on three sides by forest not too far from camp. The meadow had Baneberry, Cow parsnip, Lady fern, Calamagrostis Canadensis, yarrow, Angelica lucida and A. genuflexa, Lathyrus, Trientalis, Geranium, Chocolate lilly, Paintbrush( both miniata and unalaschensis), and Columbine. The north end had a substantial patch of Thimbleberry.

I didn’t find Thimbleberry nor salmonberry or crabapple near the beach on this island. In fact I didn’t find any salmonberry or crabapple anywhere on the island. No roses either. Lots of Giant Vetch, Dune grass and Cow parsnip.
Did find several Mertensia maritima. I’d only seen this plant on Vixen islands before.
On the Couverdon island side of the island were a few patches of Salicornia which still tasted pretty good.

There were at least five deer on the island, including 3 fawns. Winter moose sign was not uncommon and we found a very large moose bed (with hairs) toward the north end of the island. The bed is so much larger than a deer bed, which shouldn’t be surprising, but was impressive.
Keeping the fire going wasn’t a challenge. The spruce on the island had abundant dead lower branches (open grown trees) that we could break off and burn. The fire burned rather deep hole in the duff layer. The first fire pit burned for a day after we stopped supplying wood despite the rain and us dumping water on it periodically.
Looking for firewood was a good way to find mushrooms. The most interesting of which was an Agaricus that I watched grow over the time we were on the island. It started out with nice pink gills which slowly turned dark chocolate brown. The cap had a light tan color with medium brown fibrils. The fibrils were densest at the center, with a few at the margins. The cap was about 3.5 inches in diameter, the stalk was about the same. There was a thick membranous veil. Below the veil that stalk was somewhat fibrous. It didn’t have a particular odor other than the usual mushroomy one. Unfortunately, I didn’t pick it and check for staining. Not sure if I can identify it to species without the staining info.

One morning after my shift I stood out in the meadow to listen for birds. Saw Orange crowned, Townsends, Wilson’s, and a Yellow warbler, Golden crowned and Ruby crowned kinglets, song sparrows, Chestnut backed chickadees, Siskins, and White winged Crossbills.
The grass around the spotting scope tent always had several song sparrows. There were juveniles begging, adults alarming. There was also a red squirrel or two in the beach rye near the tent. There were several piles of miscellaneous flower parts of the rye grass on the beach logs. We didn’t see a squirrel with the grass, but the other camp did. They told us about a red squirrel repeatedly leaping at the upright inflorescence and eventually knocking it over and eating the seeds.

There were many sign of people using the island. We found one areas that looked like a cabin footprint, a stove lid, old bailing wire around a tree and a lot of glass jars. More recent sign included three marked eagle trees and a bearing tree.
We found a number of examples of the rock formations in the photo. Not sure if it represents inclusions in the rock that wore away or something else.
On Thursday we counted 3,659 birds flying east and 8,673 birds flying west. Friday was 4, 243 east and 1,943 west (we missed part of the morning) and on Saturday 7, 461 east and 6510 west.
Riley Woodford supplied the photos.

Katlian River

July 13th
Just back from the Glacier bay trip I had the opportunity to go on a Ground Truthing trip to Katlian Bay with Scott Harris, Richard Carstensen, Bob Christiansen, and Rebecca Hartwell.
Thanks to be able to jog my memory with RC’s excellent journal, I can include most of what I saw/experienced on that trip. I had a rite in the Rain notebook with me and actually took notes, but can’t seem to find the notebook at this point.
Definitely remember leaving at 7am from Crescent Harbor, I didn’t get enough sleep so I was a bit blurrier than normal. We took Scott’s boat, Pinguina. We traveled out Middle channel, around the airport and back through Western channel and north to Katlian bay. I’m not really sure that it is a faster way to travel than going through the channel, but it is a bit less tedious. We landed the boat not too far past the end of the estuary vegetation zone on the north shore. After a complex stern anchoring tutorial, we started down the relatively open former logging road on the north side of the bay.
The lower portion of Katlian Bay is owned by Shee Atika. According to an environmental assessment document that I found on the web (http://www.sitkatribe.org/environment/pdf/katlian_assessment_summary.pdf) Shee ATika selected 2557 acres in the lower Katlian valley in 1971. The land was logged in the early 1960s, 120 million board feet of timber was c cut from 3,270 acres. There was 17 miles of road constructed in the watershed.
Found a bit of information about Katlian Bay in “Haa Aani, Our Land” I’ve paraphrased some;

“There were smokehouses at Katlian Bay, there were humpies (from the Coxe river), dog salmon, mountain blueberries, salmonberries and wild currants. Tseit was also gathered from the bay. The Coho run was said to be quite valuable locally because the run lasts as long as Christmas.”
The Dairy was mentioned in the book, but I haven’t found too much more information about it.
There was also mention that people gathered here after the 1804 battle of Sitka before the trek to Fish Bay. http://www.alaskool.org/projects/history/Hope/1804March_12.htm


One of the tasks of the ground truthing team was to yes, to groundtruth the mapping, the second was to assess the idea of logging the second growth alder for biofuel.

Walked up the relatively open road up the Red alder dominated second growth. Lots of Veratrum viride and Heracleum maximum in the understory, definitely seemed like an unusual mix.
We wandered out to a small patch of blowdown of medium sized timber, not entirely sure why this patch survived the logging, too small to bother with?. Found an interesting Saxifrage on an upturned stump, had to put my glasses on to tell what it was. The way it was growing made it look a bit more like a spider web than an inflorescence. Was introduced to Bob’s fisheye lens while looking at the flower or how far away one can be from an object and still be in a close up photo (about 3ft).
We counted about 100 rings in one large stump (measured it by lying across the top, it was about my size, 5’3”. Found a goodly mixture of nettles in with the cow parsnip on the way back to the bridge.

Walking up the river, we heard voices in the distance. Looked out and saw Rich Billings leading some clients down the river. Nice to see an old friend, it was kind of amusing since I had just mentioned him to Richard as a source of information about changes in the watershed. Rich worked as a soil scientist on the Tongass from the late 1960s until the about 1980 and I thought he might have some useful observations.
We donned chest waders and crossed the river. I had Jojo’s incredibly fashionable, but slightly leaky chest waders. My attempts at repair weren’t successful and I had one wet foot.
The river was rather fast moving and a bit deep on me and of course being an incredible wimp, I took up Scott’s offer of help. I held onto his waist and Rebecca had mine and the three of us crossed the river in a strange side walking way. It probably wasn’t necessary, but I wasn’t too sure of myself and the chest waders. Fortunately, I have no pride whatsoever.
In places across the river, the Veratrum and Cow parsnip were largely replaced by large patches of Circaea alpine and Athryrium filix femina. Gathered some soil/mud from a cut bank in a small stream. It was rather fine sediment, not enough clay to roll out a good log. Bob and I wondered if the relative amount of fine sediment to gravel could explain the change in understory the somewhat diminished size of red alder.
Found the first of several large Cottonwoods right after crossing a rather deep pool of water on a precarious log. I discovered the down side of one log crossing technique. Some day I’ll suck it up and just walk across the darn things.
We had lunch on a gravel bar. I had kind of hoped that the gravel bars would be a source of interesting alpine plants, but they didn’t prove up. Lots of Monkey flower, yarrow and alder, some Oxyria. I did find one small plant that I brought home alive in my sandwich box. I still am not entirely happy with its identification. Okay, I haven’t identified it to species at this point. I think that it is a small ovate leaved Polygonum. The tiny flowers are in axillary clusters. There are 5 white and green tepals and 5 or so stamens, the ovary is superior. None of the species treated in Hitchcock and Cronquist, Anderson or Hall’s Floras really are a good fit. I tried a few different genera in case I was really off, but am still at a loss. Good thing it is alive.

Found several additional cottonwoods after we crossed the river back to the north side. They were part of an older riparian stand of mixed alder, cottonwood, spruce and hemlock. Interesting that this stand was thought to be a blowdown stand from aerial photo interpretation. It would be interesting to core the trees to find out how old this stand might be. The epiphytes on the cottonwood looked similar to what I’ve seen on cedar and larger alder. I did see Isothecium cardotii on several of the trees. The largest of the group had a dbh of 35 inches, others were 28, and 33 inches in diameter. Several of the trees had several bright red shoots coming out of the bark. Not sure if the trees produce shoots from the trunk in response to certain light conditions?

I found a row of Honey mushrooms on an alder log. Don’t remember seeing this species so early in the summer before.
Richard and I walked back to the boat via the road and through the estuary meadow while Scott, Bob and Rebecca traveled down the river.
We saw abundant deer tracks in the forest just before it opened out to the meadow. We did see one doe earlier in the day; she let us get pretty close. Bob and Richard were suspicious that she was so tame because she was trying to distract us from a fawn.

I hope to return and explore a bit further up the river and spend a bit more time in the cottonwoods.

July 11

Left Klag bay at 7am to take advantage of the typically nicer ocean conditions in the morning.

Saw a doe and fawn on the beach on the way out. The weather was nice enough that I sat out on flying bridge for the ride to Salisbury sound. Very flat calm, a little sunny, high overcast. It was kind of cool, but a pleasant place to ride.

Through the passage out of Klag bay heard Winter wrens, Varied and Hermit thrushes, and watched a Common merganser flying through the trees around the point. It never landed while I was watching.

A few sea lions and one harbor seal near exit from the passage out of Klag bay.

The ocean was beautifully calm. It was a nice way to finish the trip. There were a few birds on the horizon, fewer Marbled murrelets, Pelagic cormorants, Common murres, one Parasitc jaeger. Also saw a few sea otters (one with a pup) and 3 humpbacks near Potato patch on Khaz head.

One Rhinoceros auklet and Red necked phalaropes in Salisbury Sound.

Made it back to town around 2pm(?). The boats went to the fuel dock before settling in Eliason Harbor. I was kind of sorry to be disembarking. It had been a very interesting trip and the boat had started to feel like home.

July 10

Left Pelican at 7am for Klag Bay. We left at the early hour because the weather was supposed to kick up a bit in the afternoon and we had some unprotected waters to cross.

We traveled via Lisianski inlet then strait and to the open ocean. Saw Red-necked phalaropes in the strait. The ocean conditions were a little rough at the entrance, we freely indulged in candied ginger and decided to take the more circuitous course took a behind several rocks (Porcupine Rocks) to avoid some of the less than perfect ocean conditions. Nice to have accurate GPS. Saw a few sea otters, White-winged scoters, a few Pigeon guillemots, Common murres, Pelagic cormorants, 4 Ancient murrelets and a rather large number of Marbled murrelets.

Took Imperial pass to Portlock Harbor. I remembered seeing hundreds of sea otters in this area in the past and was surprised to see very few (10) animals. I shouldn't have been surprised that things change over the years. It was nice traveling through the passages of West Chichagof again. We did find a small raft of otters in Ogden passage and saw a Brown bear in the estuary at Black Bay. We didn't travel through rough or smooth passage to the gate to Klag bay, but instead went through the beginning of the elbow. Not a path that I've taken previously.

Found at least 100 marbled murrelets in the bay as well as a few otters. We were almost to the anchorage in front of the old mine site when we found a bit of shallow water. Okay very shallow water. In fact, the boat stopped moving entirely, we were aground (about 112:15pm). Fortunately we were going slow and the tide was just about at the minimum level. The bottom was soft with eelgrass and mud. Okay, I packed my laptop and camera in my backpack and put on my boots. I wasn't really sure about what would happen next. How thin in the hull on a fiberglass boat? or was an important through hull fitting damaged? It wasn't exactly panic, but I thought it made sense to be prepared.

It was a bit embarrassing for the crew of the lead boat to find ourselves aground and one of the other boat captains immediately took advantage of the situation. The real comedy came from the boat with a weaker command of english. The italians had no idea why we had changed our plans about where to anchor, but they were going to follow our lead and join us in our cosy spot. Fortunately, the right words (and speed of delivery) were chosen to convey the facts of the situation before Lorenzo managed to ground his boat as well.

David did a dive without tanks and inspected the hull, he didn't find anything obviously wrong with the hull or with the props or stabilizers. The water was about chest deep on the shore side of the boat, he had to swim on the deeper side. Another good sign was that the bilge was clear of water. Jordan was confident that the boat would refloat without a problem as soon as the tide came in. I was impressed by the calm. There may have been some internal strong reactions but everyone was quite cool.

It was decided to send me and little Jordan to shore to lead the other boat crews on a hike around the old Chichagof mine site. Interesting choice, since I had only been to the mine once and he had never been there. It was a scary number of years since the last time I was on shore in this part of Klag bay. The last time I was here, there was a small crew of miners from eastern Europe working the mine. Only one building is still standing (where the last crew lived) and it was in very bad condition. It doesn't look habitable at this point. There was still an interesting collection of sinks, toilets, water lines and misc. household goods in the young forest. We walked the rail lines in search of one of the mine openings. That plan didn't work, found the tailing pile instead. Decided to head uphill, but didn't go far, as the new growth became older mixed cedar forest at about 4ooft. Sidehilled and went down a ways. LJ and I were happy to wander around looking, but the rest of the party wasn't too familiar with the idea of wandering around in the woods without a trail. They had all given up and were starting down, when LJ wandered over one last creek and saw some machinery. There was a variety of equipment from the 1980s on a gravel deck in front of a gated mine entrance. The gate wasn't terribly functional in terms of keeping interested people out, harrassment was a much more effective deterent. It turned out that the mine entrance was much closer to the beach than we had known. The easiest path was just west of the standing cabin and up a short gravel road.

The plant life wasn't very diverse in the ruins, but I did enjoy seeing the maidenhair ferns in the tailing piles. Mostly young spruce and a few species of moss (alas I didn't note which ones, but nothing unusual). Near the cabin we did find a couple of Nootka roses (may have been planted?) and many blooming foxgloves. Looked around for other domestic looking plants, but didn't find any other signs of a garden.

The boat floated free at 2:50pm. Emmelina put on the complete dive gear and did a more thorough inspection of the hull and moving parts. All seemed fine.

July 9th

Almost sunny as we departed Elfin Cove at 8am for Pelican. We had a nice view of Brady Glacier, Cape Spencer light and the peaks of the Fairweathers as we departed.

Cruised into Port Althorp on the way in search of sea otters. We did find 3 deer and a Great Blue Heron in the estuary. Harlequins, Porpoise and sea otters, some with pups, in the bay.

Looked like there was an active mine claim in Port Althorp. At least I assume that it is a mine claim We could see a large pile of gravel, a barge, and several buildings that looked like they were in use. Given the number of mineral claims in the northwestern part of Chichagof, it is probably reasonable to assume that is what is going on.

It was very calm traveling around the corner into Lisianski inlet. Lots of Glaucous winged gulls, Kittiwakes, Marbled murrelets, several Pigeon guillemots and Pelagic Cormorants, 2 Tufted Puffins, 1 Double crested Cormorants on the bit of outside water. The bird sightings thinned out considerably as we traveled through Lisiansky inlet. Did see two more deer on the Chichagof island shore. Noticed that there was alot of snow on Yakobi Island and Chichagof islands at the 1000 to 1200 ft level.

Tied up at the Pelican dock around noon. Shortly after tieing up, I saw a beautiful little skiff rowing into the harbor. The most unique feature (that was immediately noticable) of the skiff was a collie figurehead. Turned out that the couple in the skiff was Eric and Pam Bealer. I had talked to the storekeeper in Elfin Cove about Eric's prints and mentioned that I was traveling to Pelican the next day and thought it would be interesting to meet him and see any new prints he had on hand. She sent an email relaying what I had told her and apparently it was a town day for the Bealers, so I was in luck.

They live about 3 to 3.5 miles east of town on a small piece of property with a large garden and some stock animals. They moved to Alaska from Vermont about 14 years ago, first settling in Haines, then in Pelican when they found this property. Both Pam and Eric seem quite dedicated to developing a connection with this place and the inhabitatants (of all kinds). I asked about problems with deer and bears in their garden or with the chickens etc. He is fairly convinced that mindful practices and respect for the animals and their habitat has prevented any problems, as they haven't had any to speak of.

Just for example, they bury the herring eggs in the garden (only had a bear visit when he was too tired one day to bury them in one area), and feed any suitable kitchen scaps to the chickens instead of composting them. They also don't have a smokehouse for fish. On a side not, it was interesting to confirm that there is consistant herring spawning in Liskianski.

The chickens are in an enclosed space with one side that opens for fresh air. The enclosed space seems to preclude problems with mink and weasels.

They have had weasels liviing in the barn and under the shed, but apparently haven't had any trouble with them, except for the smell. I enjoyed their stories about watching the juvenile weasels playing in the sun by the sheds. They were kind of amazed that I hadn't seen one before this summer.

They are very dedicated to growing their own food, storing it for the winter and not buying much from the store. Maybe more dedicated than I could pull off. Eric told me a story about cooking dinner the week before. They were out of carrots and potatoes from last summer and weren't going to buy any of lesser quality from the store, so the stew was rather meat rich. They would just as soon wait until their crops are in and do without. I probably would have compromised, but they seem rather happy with their choices.

I wish that I could have seen their garden, it sounds rather productive. At least it seems so when the weather is kinder. A couple of issues that they are having with crops: thrips (?) in the apple flowers and potato scab. Hadn't heard of thrips causing a problem with apples here previously. I suspect that a change in apple variety might help the apple production. Scab is just a pain around here.

Developing a connection is also how Eric approaches his art. Both in his "serious" landscape/animal prints and in the more amusing posters he produces for the Boardwalk Boogie. He seems rather dedicated to experience of the process rather than necessarily focusing on the product. Actually both of them seem to agree on this, but Eric was the most vocal.

The skiff is homebuilt from local spruce. He found naturally bent pieces of wood to use where the boat required it instead of steam bending to get the curves. Aside from the planer, the boat was built with hand tools. The boat is named for a collie's named Luna, who served as the model for the figurehead.

Beside gardening, found out that we share an interest in birds. Pam told me about a mockingbird that they had in the field last year and have since learned about a kingbird that is visiting this year.

I managed to repay them a bit for the afternoon, by taking a box of prints for the Rose Gallery. Seemed like the least I could do.

Spent the rest of the day wandering around Pelican, the weather was pretty nice through the evening. I did stick my head in Rosie's Bar, but didn't feel the need to stay long.

July 8th

Elfin Cove

High overcast with a bit of rain in the morning which carried on all day.
Emmelina, Jordan, Liz and I hiked up the waterline trail to the muskegs above Elfin Cove. We were under the impression that the waterline originated in a lake and went in search of it. The trail was narrow, wet and muddy. The mud was deep enough that we lost the 5th member of the group very early in the walk. I considered finding my own trail, but the slope was pretty cliffy and stayed with the group. The forest was a mix of Yellow cedar, western and a few mountain hemlock. The shrubs were blueberry, Menziesia, and some Copperbush. Found one Viburnum edule and one European Mountain Ash. Thelypteris limbosperma was relatively common along the trail.

As we gained altitude, there were more muskeg-like openings in the forest as well as lots of rock outcrops. The rock looked like some sort of Granite.

Blooming in the muskegs at the lower summit/bench were Dodecatheon jeffreyii, Nephrophyllidium crista-galli , Coptis trifoliata, Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Pinquicula vulgaris, Vaccinium uliginosum, and Eriophorum angustifolium.

Jordan and Emmelina turned back at the bench as they had a variety of errands to do, but Liz and I carried on.

We left the trail and continued on in hope of finding a lake (soon after this we found out there wasn't a lake to find). We were disabused of the lake notion by a phone call from Mary Jo Wild. She had my cell phone number in order to arrange a museum visit in the afternoon and called to confirm. Decided to ask her about the "lake", got a laugh and the straight scoop. The water line comes out of a water tank which we didn't think sounded quite as interesting to seek out.

There was one small meadowish area near a very small stream with Viola langsdorfii, Frittilaria camschatcensis, Dodecatheon jeffreyii, Rubus arcticus, Erigeron peregrinus, and several Athyrium filix-femina. We dropped down into a creek in a small ravine, found Petasites frigidus and Caltha leptosepala, both were done blooming.

We intially missed the trail on the way down, but relocated it by side-hilling. We were anxious to find it again as we wanted to miss the gnarly looking cliffs we had seen on the way up.

After the hike we were visited the tiny, but interesting Elfin Cove museum. What made it so interesting was the personal tour that we were given. Mary Jo Wild seems to have been the driving force behind the creation of the museum. She tells a good story, an often very poignant one about her life in Elfin cove.

Elifn Cove isn't an incorporated city, but a non-profit corporation connected by a boardwalk. There is a small grocery store, a post office, fuel dock, a cafe, 8 charter lodges and two harbor areas and a power (small hydro plant). 12 people spent the winter in Elfin Cove last year. There are only two children (1 was born a couple of months ago). The school closed because of low enrollment (0 at this point). I met the mother of the two kids on the boardwalk and she is actively trying to recruit immigrants with children so that the school will open in time for her kids to attend school.

The garbage disposal method is pragmatic, but not pleasant. Every day someone burns the refuse on the beach by the harbor. The smell of garbage burning is exactly what one would expect, bad. What won't burn gets dumped off shore.

Lots of ranunuculus repens along the boardwalk.

July 7


Left Reid Glacier at 8am bound for Elfin Cove vis South Marble Island. On the way out of the bay, passed several Arctic Terns on smallish ice bergs, Kittiwakes, Kittlitz and Marbled murrelets, and Tufted puffins near the mouth of Reid inlet.
South Marble island is a sea lion haul-out (Buster Hoffmaster shared his photo) and a sea bird breeding site. There are other similar sites in the park, but this is the only one that boats can approach as close as 50 yards.
Nesting birds reported from South Marble include: Glaucous-winged gulls (1999 minimum of 570 pairs), Pigeon Guillemots, Black-legged kittiwakes, Black Oystercatchers, Common and Thick-billed murres, Tufted and Horned Puffins, and Pelagic Cormorants. We managed to find all of the reported birds, plus Bald eagles and alot of mew gulls. We saw the one Horned puffin as it flew by the boat.
Found a few documents on the nesting birds of Marble island including this kind of entertaining report on Pigeon Guillemots.
http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/seabird_foragefish/products/reports/pigugu~1.pdf

I was kind of curious if there was any allowed harvest of Glaucous-winged gulls eggs from this island. Couldn't find anything in the park literature that addressed the question, but did finally find an answer in the posted regulations.
May 15 to June 30th Glaucous winged gull egg harvest is allowed by the Community of Hoonah (Harvest area: National Forest lands in Icy Strait and Cross Sound, including Middle Pass Rock near the Inian Islands, Table Rock in Cross Sound, and other traditional locations on the coast of Yakobi Island. The land and waters of Glacier Bay National Park remain closed to all subsistence harvesting [50 CFR Part 100.3]. (i)

Searching for the regs turned up this article in Current Anthropology on traditional environmental knowledge of the Huna Tlingit regarding sustainable Glaucous-winged gull egg harvest.
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/377666

Huna Tlingit Traditional Environmental Knowledge, Conservation, and the Management of a “Wilderness” Park1 by Eugene S. Hunn, Darryll R. Johnson, Priscilla N. Russell, and Thomas F. Thornton


"A study of Huna Tlingit traditional gull-egg harvests in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska, indicates that local traditional environmental knowledge includes a sophisticated appreciation of glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens) nesting biology and behavior—in particular, an understanding of this gull as an indeterminate layer with a modal clutch size of three. The community has applied knowledge to the design of sustainable egg-harvesting strategies. The dominant strategy is to take eggs from nests with one or two eggs but leave nests with three or more; an alternative strategy advocates partial harvests from three-egg clutches. "


http://www.nps.gov/glba/naturescience/upload/Hunn_etal2007_GullEggHarvests.pdf

Found another related article (probably the same one, but with a different purpose) by the same people.
Huna Tlingit Gull Egg Harvests in Glacier Bay National Park
Eugene S. Hunn1, Darryll R. Johnson, Priscilla N. Russell, Thomas F. Thornton
http://www.nps.gov/glba/naturescience/upload/Hunn_etal2007_GullEggHarvests.pdf

The last section of the article was on management implications of the harvest

"Evidence to assess the impact of a given harvest practice over the long haul is rarely available. Thus, if subsistence egg harvests by Huna in Glacier Bay were to be legalized, there would remain considerable uncertainty with respect to the sustainability and appropriate scale of such harvests. The Glacier Bay National Park administration is in a difficult position; on the one hand charged to protect for all Americans Glacier Bay as a premier “wilderness” park, while on the other hand, recognizing that Huna Tlingit people have a legitimate interest in managing resources that constitute the material and symbolic foundation of their community. Park staff has worked with the Huna community since the completion of our study to help arrange the harvest of gull eggs at a small colony outside of the Park at Middle Pass Rock in Icy Straits, which has allowed elders and young people from the community to experience this traditional subsistence practice without fear of arrest for the first time in decades. However, the Middle Pass Rock colony is subject to stronger currents and wave action than is the case at the Marble Islands and thus is not safe for younger children. If the legal obstacles to the resumption of Huna Tlingit harvests in Glacier Bay can be resolved, the administrative details of a truly cooperative
management effort will still need to be hammered out, in the face of stiff opposition by those committed to the notion of parks as “wilderness,” on the one hand, and by indigenous
activists on the other who reject as illegitimate any federal presence in their traditional homeland."

Have to admit that I probably would have been in the camp of keep the park as a wilderness without any harvest of much of anything at one time in my life, but feel rather differently these days. It seems reasonable that a small, sustainable harvest could be allowed, but can see the difficulty of working out the details of that one.

We saw a multitude of humpbacks between Gustavus point and Lemesurier island.
Proceeded out of the park and west through the passes to Elfin cove. At the east side of Lemesurier Island the fleet passed by two sea otters eating an octopus. They let us pass very close by, perhaps reluctant to risk losing their large meal. We couldn't tell exactly how large the octopus had been, but it didn't look particularly small. The otters were about 4-5 ft apart in the water. This pair were chewing on the legs and less often on the membranes of the head. Apparently octopus eating isn't unusual, in fact some otters prefer a diet of big molluscs if they can get it.

Between Lemesurier and Inian islands found a small group of Ancient murrelets mixed in with the Marbled ones. The white neck area stands out pretty clearly.

Arrived at Elfin Cove around 6pm.