Surprise! Here’s a sneak peek at the start of the field season. Shhh, nobody tell Fish & Wildlife in Bethel that they have no password on the wifi this year! Last year they practically held the internet under lock and key.

Yesterday I flew from Fairbanks to Anchorage, had my usual “ahhhh take care of everything humanly possible before leaving” hours in the airport, and then joined my new fellow techs Kelsey and Andy in flying to Bethel in the evening.
We had some nice views on the flights!

I’ll be honest and say that returning to the field job I held last summer has filled me with mixed emotions. I’ve spent the last couple days fighting off preconceived notions about life in camp. Last night I finally started getting the right thought in my head: I’m returning to the same place, and that’s it. I have a new crew leader and new fellow techs.  – This year we have 2 gingers in camp for the win! – I may even be working on the north side of the river where there’s more mudflat and therefore gulls flying at my head.

Let’s just say conditions are drastically different this year from last year. For instance, while metro Detroit and the midwest were setting records for snowfall this winter, much of western Alaska received very little snow. Since we snowmachine out to set up camp, snow is pretty crucial; with the severe lack of snow, we have funding to travel by helicopter. Apparently there was enough snow for machines last week, so my new crew leader and last year’s crew leader (who’s now writing up his research and supposed to be free from the field) changed their tickets and flew out to set up camp a week ago. Instead of our whole crew meeting up in Bethel and flying to Chevak together, just the (biological science) techs flew in and stayed at the bunkhouse last night. As far as we know, camp is mostly set up already!

There we were, waiting for our flight in the airport, when we heard the announcement that the midday flight to Chevak was canceled because the runway was too muddy. That’s right, while Michigan was waking up to snow, Alaskans couldn’t fly because of too much mud. Here’s that runway when we arrived last winter… Different story, eh?

Here are 2 photos showing some land close to Bethel in 2013 and 2014.

We have camp size differences in addition to the seasonal differences. This year we’ll have a crew from Utah State joining our camp for almost the whole season as they study grazing patterns of brant. Last year’s black turnstone crew from FWS/U of Alaska Anchorage will be joining us for about 3.5 weeks again. All of this means we could have about 12 people in camp at once! Ahhh! I’ll have to hide in my tent more this year.

Only one thing is for sure: it’s already a different story.