Longtime contributor continues to cover the outdoors

WASILLA — More than 10 years ago, Howard Delo noticed an advertisement in the newspaper.

The Frontiersman was searching for local outdoors writers eager to share their stories. Delo, a 21-year veteran of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, was barely 18 months into his retirement. In addition to getting his fill on hunting and fishing, Delo was toying around with writing about Alaska’s great outdoors. He’d written a half-dozen or so stories about his own adventures.

He thought about whether to submit one of his stories, and finally he sent then-Frontiersman outdoors writer Eowyn Ivey an example of his work.

“I picked one of the stories I especially liked, which I thought was perfectly written. (Eowyn) said she liked the story, but it needed extensive editing,” Delo said. “Here I am, I thought I was the next Ernest Hemingway. Turns out I was some guy who didn’t know what he’s doing.”

But after a bit of editing, Delo’s hunting story was published by the Frontiersman. And now, just about a decade later, Delo remains one of the Frontiersman’s longest standing regular contributors.

Since he saw his first story published in the fall of 2001 and a few news articles printed in the following months, Delo found a home in this paper’s outdoors section in late 2002 when former Frontiersman managing editor Frank Ameduri offered Delo a weekly column.

“I thought, holy smokes! How am I going to come up with enough stuff to talk about?” Delo said. “But I’ll give it a shot.”

But Delo said he figured out coming up with topics was not as difficult as he thought.

“After I got started writing for the column, all of the sudden I realized there’s not a shortage of material,” Delo said. “It was more pick a priority.”

During his time as a weekly columnist, Delo has brought a unique voice to the Frontiersman. In addition to working within the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in a number of different communities during his 21-year career, Delo also served on the Alaska Board of Fisheries. He was appointed by former Gov. Sarah Palin in July 2007 and remained on the board until 2010.

Delo said it was certainly tough to balance the roles as board member and Frontiersman columnist during his three-year stint with the Board of Fisheries. But it did give Valley readers a unique window into the inner workings of the powerful board.

“At the time it was (difficult),” Delo said. “As an actual board member, I was about as inside as you’re going to get on a lot of this stuff. Some of the stuff I thought the public would be interested in. Some of the stuff, I thought it would be good for the public to know how things work.”

Delo drew his fair share of critics during that time.

“There were three or four instances where the department thought I crossed the line,” Delo said. “I got some tongue-lashings by the then-commissioner.”

Delo said he knew it was a balancing act.

“I had to be careful how I worded stuff,” Delo said. “People didn’t see me as plain ol’ Howard, they saw me as Board of Fisheries Howard.”

But Delo has never been afraid to tell it like he thinks it is.

“Sometimes just telling the story the way it happened got me in trouble,” Delo said.

Delo was not reappointed to the board in 2010. Now, he said he feels he can speak more freely. Even though he is not serving on the board and he is retired from the ADFG, Delo said he’s been able to hold on to great contacts in the industry, which is a tremendous help, he said.

Delo also remains active with hunter education programs and local shooting groups.

Delo said he appreciates his opportunity to contribute regularly, share his feeling and represent a piece of the Valley population.

“It’s a forum where I get to express my thoughts on a lot of things. I guess you can call that a little bit of an ego,” Delo said. “But I found that one of my talents in life, I guess, is coordination. That’s the way I would phrase it. I hear stuff that I think people would be interested in. I’m moving information between groups. If you can coordinate a couple of different groups, you can get a whole lot more done.”

Delo has called Alaska home since 1977, but his love for the state was born as a college student in the early 1970s. Delo, a native of Michigan who also lived in Illinois, started his schooling at a small college in Illinois, but transferred to the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1970. Delo graduated with a Bachelor of Sciences with a double major in wildlife management and fisheries. He also had enough credits to earn a second Bachelor’s degree in biological sciences.

Delo also earned a Master of Science and Wildlife from the University of Maine.

Even after graduating, Delo knew he wanted to return to Alaska.

“I fell in love with the place,” Delo said.

Since his return, Delo worked in Homer, Prince William Sound, Bristol Bay and Kodiak before settling in the Valley in 1990.

Delo said he’s surprised he’s hung on as the Frontiersman outdoors columnist for more than 10 years, and jokingly said he’s still waiting for the call that lets him know the times come to an end.

“Ten, 11 years later, it absolute still amazes me I’m there,” Delo said.

But he said he’s enjoying his stay and appreciates the feedback he receives from readers, in and out of the Valley.

“It’s amazing how many people, from seeing that little picture (that runs with the column), come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I agree with your column, agree with what you say.’ Or, ‘Thanks for saying what you said in your last column,’” Delo said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.