Snettisham Construction Adventure The Land & Wildlife
Home The Idea/Tour Land & Wildlife 2001-2: Exploring 2003: The Start 2004: Work Party 2005: The Lodge 2006: Having Fun 2007: Civilizing It 2008: Lodge Improvements 2009: I'm on a Boat! 2010: The Cabins 2011: Guests, etc. 2012: Dog Adventures 2013: Back to Basics 2014: Historical Adventures 2015: Living It Regional Map Videos	View from the lodge porch--looking past the river inlet into Gilbert Bay

Allow me to describe the setting (see the map for its geographic relation to Juneau).  The land, occupied by J. T. Martin in 1882 fo a fish saltery, is nearly two acres in size and forms a rough rectangle along the water (see the site/grading plan on the original plat for details).  It sits about a quarter mile inside the Whiting River Inlet off of Gilbert Bay on the only flattish non-marshy land in the area.  Based on its location and the rocks in the ground my guess is that it is the remnants of an old rock/landslide--the mountains to either side rise more or less straight up from the water.  The gradual slope of the homestead is broken by numerous flat spots, but behind the private property boundary the land rises steeply.  It is the only private land for miles, and certainly the only private land in sight, and about 35 miles from the nearest road system in Juneau. When I began work the land was completely undeveloped, so much so that I wonder if the saltery removed the buildings and all equipment when they left.

Given the surrounding landscape, it's not surprising that Martin chose this piece of land to homestead.  At the time, the water in front must have been deep, allowing barges and fishing boats to access the shore.  A rushing creek courses down the mountain behind (see photo to left), its mouth forming the northeast corner of the property.  The southeast corner is at the tip of a beautiful rocky point that protrudes into the river, rife with wildflowers and lichens (see photo to right).  At the top of these rocks is a mossy mound where eagles and probably other critters enjoy their meals of crab and fish, looking over a commanding view of the river.  The land has been stable for some time, evidenced by the mature old growth forest covering the property.  Huge spruces dominate the canopy and the forest floor is thick with mosses, ferns, blueberries and devil's club (see photo below).

The beach, admittedly, leaves something to be desired.  The Whiting River is a glacial river and the silt it carries is slowly filling in the inlet.  At high tide, the water looks deep off the property and the shoreline is a beautiful dramatic rocky landscape overhung with trees.  Low tide, on the other hand, reveals a flat terrain of sandbars.  At a -4' tide (as low as it gets) there is only one narrow rushing channel of water on the far side of the valley and one can walk out onto the sand and silt everywhere.  It helps with claustrophobia if you feel hemmed in by the steep mountains and thick forest.  The sandbars drop off two or three hundred yards downriver from the homestead in a precipitous slope to deeper waters.  The beach close to shore has a gradual grade until it hits the flatness of the sandbars, mostly covered in slick shale and seaweed (see photo below left).  This makes loading supplies and transportation a little tricky and often unpleasant, especially at low tide.  Between the high tide line and the forest is a marshy area of grasses, marsh marigolds (see photo below and bottom left), shooting stars, irises and other plants that favor soggy ground.

Natural spacings between the trees suitable for small cabins are abundant, but there was really only one place on the property acceptable for a lodge.  This was at the southeast corner of the homestead—a space devoid even of baby trees and perfectly sized for my lodge.  The porch of the lodge looks out over the inlet toward a stunning view of Gilbert Bay.  Just upriver from the lodge building (toward the creek and the rocky point) is a wet, almost springlike area thick with alders and elderberries and always muddy.  On the other side of this area the cabins begin, numbered according to the order in which they were built (and proximity to the lodge) and later named Cottonwood (aka Carp's Cabin), Mink, Harbor Seal, and Hermit Thrush. The second photo below is the view from Cottonwood Cabin looking downriver toward Gilbert Bay.

The Wildlife
One of the great joys of spending time in Snettisham is, of course, watching wildlife--abundant and not particularly habituated to fear humanity.  One of the first exciting encounters I had was with a mink and, though their population seems to fluctuate, the area appears to be good mink habitat (see photo below).   Mink Cabin is named for one dark mink who used to romp by every day while I worked on it in 2004.  River otters also frequent the area, though I see only tracks of them at often as I see them in the water or loping along the land.  Several beaver have passed by, hopefully bound for better habitat upriver.  The river itself is alive with harbor seals who show endless curiosity in our activities whether we're on the beach or on the water (see photo below).  Though their abundance varies during the season and the tides, there is always at least one keeping an eye out on anyone within sight.  The seals of Snettisham are very active, frequently slapping the water with their hind flippers.  They also breach, a behavior I'd never associated with harbor seals.  I once watched one individual breach like a whale a dozen times or more in a row, seemingly without taking enough time between breaches to feed (the only explanation I could think of for this odd behavior other than play or social interaction).  Sea lions are around in the early spring when the nearby winter haul-out is active (through May) and again in the fall, but they don't make an appearance for most of the summer (see photo below).

To round out the marine mammals, there are of course whales!  Humpbacks frequent not just Port Snettisham, but the river inlet itself where they come right to the edge of the sandbars to feed (see photo below).  Their numbers vary, but it appears that feeding there is frequent, and they are very likely to be in the general area (if around the corner from the homestead) all summer long.  There appears to be something interesting going on in the area in terms of food sources for marine critters.  The marbled murrelet, a diminutive sea bird that gains notoriety for nesting in trees up to 50 miles from water, is found in Port Snettisham in larger numbers than anywhere else biologists have studied it.  Stephen's Passage, the large body of water outside the port, is more or less devoid of whales during the middle months of summer, and yet a few miles inside Snettisham they feed all season.  The two animals share similar diets, so I figure something is drawing them in.  As for orcas, I've seen them from the homestead once, so I am hopeful.

Land mammals aren't quite as abundant, but we do see a few.  A little shrew kept me entertained for a few days rooting for grubs in front of the lodge, not to mention the deer mice that colonized the building in 2006.  Red squirrels are abundant and porcupines visit.  About 20 feet from the back of the lodge is one end of a bear trail, the paw prints sunk at regular intervals into the moss on the forest floor.  In 2005 I found a black bear bed between the roots of a spruce tree in the same area.  Black and brown bears are around (see photo above) and I've seen both from the homestead, but rarely on it (though they leave abundant evidence of their passing).  Bats live in the area, too. 

The bird life is exciting.  Spring migration fills Port Snettisham with hundreds of murrelets, murres, loons, cormorants, scoters and other marine birds, some of which stay all summer.  Plovers and other shorebirds stop on the grassy shores of the homestead in the spring as do mergansers, teal, and other ducks.  Arctic terns and Bonaparte's gulls move up and down the river with the tide, following the edge of the sandbars.  The woods are home to thrushes, chickadees, warblers, jays, kinglets, wrens, dippers, and hummingbirds.  The sound of a single flycatcher calling in the branches while I work in the forest on hot sunny days is to me quintessential Snettisham.  I've seen and heard goshawks (I have a sneaking suspicion they nest in the area) as well as northern harrier hawks.  Eagles nest on the homestead and all along the surrounding shores (see photo above).

What about amphibians?  Western toads are about all I can offer there, which I've seen on several occasions in the forest and on the marshy beach.  The five major species of Pacific salmon run up the river, as do steelhead and eulachon (I think).  We once found a live starry flounder stranded in the sand at low tide and the tidepools are inhabited by tiny sculpins.  Fry frequent the shallows at high tide.  Once at low tide the beach was covered in thousands of dead spot prawns and the surrounding area is good for shrimping generally. Around the corner in Gilbert Bay is the mouth of Sweetheart Creek where hatchery released sockeye and pink salmon return mid-summer to pack the creek (trip reports on fishing Sweetheart Creek are posted among the 2006 trip reports).  Upriver the Whiting turns into a classic Southeast Alaska glacial fed river with clear water tributaries feeding into it and grassy meadows and cottonwoods along the borders. Due to the shallow water, I have yet to explore beyond the first few turns (see photo bottom right of the view upriver from Ox Point) but I can't wait.

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