May 19, 2026
Wrangell Sentinel
Mary Catharine Martin
"Ten years ago, fish research biologist Ryan Bellmore assessed how many salmon the Tongass National Forest contributes to commercial fisheries. The number turned out to be huge — 75% of 50 million salmon caught commercially in Southeast Alaska each year.
“I started thinking about the way the forest provides a diversity of services to people. Humans are a part of the food web,” he said.
Until recently, however, there was no study quantifying just how much value wild foods provide to rural residents — or the importance of incorporating that value into land management. Two new studies shed light on those topics for southern coastal Alaska."