Salmon symposium scheduled Nov. 7-8

PALMER — When was the last time you went to a meeting to discuss salmon and there wasn’t a lot of rancor and grumbling?

Organizers of the fifth annual Mat-Su Science and Conservation Symposium Wednesday and Thursday say that if past is any prologue, their two-day event will be just that — a peaceful fish meeting.

The focus will be mostly on fish science, said Frankie Barker, Environmental Planner with the Mat-Su Borough.

“Since we have a body of science about our fish resources how can that be used to inform policymaking,” Barker said.

The overarching theme of the summit is probably best summed up by the description of the keynote speakers’ presentation. Dr. Robert Lackey, professor of fisheries science at Oregon Sate University, will discuss “what is it going to take to have wild salmon populations in 2100?”

“The first day it will be presentations, then 10 minutes to allow for questions, and there’s a lot of presentations, usually more than we can fit in,” Barker said. “Second day will be some discussion group time so that will be more informal and people can just go to whatever discussion group they’re interested in.”

Organizations involved in the event include the borough; the Nature Conservancy; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. Geological Survey; ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.; Chickaloon Village Traditional Council and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Barker said that since borough and state funding tends to center around restoring and protecting habitat for freshwater salmon, the discussion tends to focus on that side of the fish lifecycle. But there might be some talk of ocean-going fish in some of the discussion groups.

Which is also probably to be expected, given that the symposium is focused on Mat-Su, where freshwater fishing is king.

“As the borough grows and we get different projects, how is this going to affect the fish?” Barker asked.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.