47°

Sound off on the important issues at

Jordan Creek may be small, but it offers some interesting natural history. Coho salmon spawn here, although the numbers are generally declining (except for rare peak numbers), and young coho rear in these waters. There are small runs of chum and pink salmon, and Dolly Varden are regular residents. Great blue herons sometimes stalk the shallows, hunting for small fish. Luxuriant stands of skunk cabbage offer food for bears that dig up the roots, deer that nibble the leaves and flowers, and seed heads that are demolished by foraging chestnut-backed chickadees, mice, squirrels, and Steller's jays. Last spring, this creek was the last retreat of a lonely Virginia rail, normally a marsh dweller and very rare in our area, who arrived before the severe cold spell in March and starved to death here. It now resides, as a specimen, in a Fairbanks museum.

Last spring I received a report of an American dipper in the tributary near the water tower. Slightly dubious, I went to look, and indeed there were TWO dippers. My crew and I visited this area many times, trying to follow the birds upstream to their nest. We were stymied by a tall waterfall in a very steep-sided valley, so all we could say was that the birds had a nest, and were feeding chicks, somewhere up there almost at timberline. And we did see fledglings with their parents later on, down by the water tower. I had thought that this tributary was too small for nesting dippers. But it has the rather peculiar property of having more water upstream than at low elevations, because so much of the water flows through the gravel instead of on the surface. The occupation of this tributary by dippers shook up my preconceived notion of what constituted suitable habitat for them - somewhat unsettling, but very constructive!

• Mary Willson is a retired professor of ecology and a Trail Mix board member.