Colette Czarnecki, Reporting
A visit to Anan Wildlife Observatory where anyone can view now - KSTK
A group of six people filled a quarter-mile wilderness trail in the Tongass National Forest with chatter while walking towards a bear observatory platform. Salmon berries lined the trail, which began at Anan Lagoon, where everyone waded through the water from a small fishing boat to get to the trail. We tried avoiding the bear droppings as bald eagles and gulls swooped down into the rushing Anan Creek for salmon. The thousands of salmon swimming upstream were on a mission to spawn and up the creek, the bears were also hunting for them.
Tory Houser, Wrangell’s district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, said July 24th marked a big deal for anyone who wants to see the bears at Anan Wildlife Observatory.
“We want to be able to show the wonderful resources to the world because many people will never be able to get to this very remote place,” she said. “Our camera live stream project went live at 11 o’clock and we’ve got it up on the screens here. Folks at home can go to explore.org and they can look up the bears of the Tongass and see the Anan bears.”
A few other people were at the bear observatory deck when we arrived. A big black bear stood in the creek and fished directly below us. To get closer, people needed to sign up on the sign up sheet to go down to the lower observatory deck. It’s scheduled in 10 minute increments. On top of the new live stream project, the Forest Service also recently put in a spiral staircase this year that leads down to the lower deck.
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