Salmon symposium and a gun show

I just arrived home from attending the second day of the two-day 17th Annual Mat-Su Salmon Science and Conservation Symposium which was held at the Palmer Depot. This marks the thirteenth or fourteenth of these symposiums I have attended. The symposium is hosted by the Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership, which has been recognized nationally for its proactive approach to salmon conservation.

Jessica Speed of Trout Unlimited coordinated this event. I’m going to paraphrase a press release Jessica sent me to discuss this just completed meeting and give you an idea of what the Salmon Partnership does. The press release says things better than I could, so why reinvent the wheel?

The event involved more than 30 oral and poster presentations covering a broad range of topics related to salmon habitat, reflecting diverse areas of expertise held by partnership members. There were presentation blocks on Indigenous salmon stewardship, fish and habitat assessment, aquatic invasive species, salmon habitat restoration, fish passage, human use, policy, and climate change.

This year’s theme, Making the Invisible Visible: Unraveling Freshwater Mysteries through Science and Storytelling, unfolded with the help of four keynote presenters. On the first day, founder and director Jeremy Monroe and natural history photographer David Herasimtschuk of Freshwaters Illustrated shared how they work to conserve freshwater worlds through visual storytelling. They showed several short videos and photos of mostly underwater fisheries scenes which were stunningly beautiful.

On the second day, we were told about a true science mystery. In 2020, Dr. Jenifer McIntyre of Washington State University, and colleagues, discovered that acute die-offs of coho in roadway-impacted watersheds in Puget Sound could be blamed on a novel chemical called 6PPD-quinone, one of the most acute toxicants known to science, that leaches from vehicle tires.

Dr. McIntyre discussed the history of 6PPD-quinone, where the science for understanding its toxicity currently stands, and regulatory actions to address the issue. Dr. Patrick Tomco, Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Applied Science, Engineering and Technology Lab at University of Alaska, Anchorage, provided important updates on 6PPD-quinone here in Alaska. A panel presentation followed which focused on 6PPD-quinone in the MatSu and what can be done about it.

Other notable speakers included MatSu Borough Assembly member Stephanie Nowers, Peter Micciche, National Fish Habitat Partnership Board Member and Kenai Borough Mayor, and Miaja DiSalvo, a planner with the Mat-Su Borough. Gabe Kitter, a member of the Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission, gave an update and overview of topics the commission has been and will be dealing with in the upcoming weeks.

Many of the presenters have made presentations in this format in years past, with several speaking about updates to their work and new directions they were considering moving toward. There was a session on how to share the data being collected by these researchers and their projects. This is an important topic. Collecting information is one thing but how to share it and get the data out in front of policy makers is a challenge.

As Peter Micciche stated in his talk, most of the folks at this symposium were particularly good at collecting data but were not so good at making the information understandable in plain English to both non-scientific policy makers and the public. This is a very valid observation of most scientists in the research world and is an area where most scientists could stand to make improvements.

Overall, I have always been impressed at how professionally the work presented at these symposiums has been performed. I’m also impressed that, usually, if a question is asked and the answer is unknown, the researcher readily admits they don’t know the answer. Rarely is there any attempt to double-speak to the question, as opposed to how politicians and folks in authority often attempt to answer questions.

Quoting from the release to summarize the symposium, “For almost two decades, this two-day forum has enabled the fluid exchange of ideas about salmon science and conservation between peers and diverse stakeholders. The need is great to not only increase our scientific knowledge of salmon and their habitat, but to translate and share it by way of impactful and clear storytelling in order to reach those making decisions that impact our world.”

On another topic, the 1st annual Willow gun show is this coming weekend, Nov. 23-24, at the Willow Community Center. The Upper Susitna Shooters Association is hosting the show. We are in the gun show season with winter in place, so expect to see regular notices of upcoming shows here.