![]() I'm still in communication with all of them today. We lived in the wall tents, and we stayed on the job all summer, and we worked hard, and we worked long hours, and the crew got along great. To be able to pull it off and at the end of the summer everyone's still just loving each other like brothers and sisters out there - probably even better, because there weren’t the brother-sister fights. Working with that crew, now, all the other crews were great, but this by far was the biggest project I'd done with a crew like this. It was the highlight of my Forest Service career. We blew the old fishpass up and built a new one, in one summer, with a crew that was just phenomenal. ![]() Two years ago, I built a fishpass on Mitchell Creek with a crew of SCA interns. So that's where I got that from.ĭescribe a recent, current or upcoming project that you're working on. If you didn't have the team building part, you were going to fail. That team spirit, that team atmosphere-I grew up playing basketball and continued through college. If you don't get along with somebody, something's not going to go right. Also building that camaraderie amongst your peers, from your SCA interns to your uppity ups. Not necessarily how to build a fishpass, anyone can build a fishpass if I teach them how to hold a hammer and pour concrete, but teaching them how to work as a team and complete your their goals in a timely and safe manner. Teaching them how to work, and just sharing what I know. Teaching young people and becoming lifelong friends with them. What's a professional or personal achievement that you're particularly proud of? ![]() So I feel like, by going out and restoring salmon habitat, and getting these streams as pristine as we can, that's what I can do to put my footprint on this planet. There's all kinds of factors and maybe two or three of these factors combined won't do much, but when you get eight or 10 or 15 or 20 factors combined, that one extra factor might be the tipping point where you're done. What are some of the greatest challenges confronting your field? I would just live my life subsisting, and that's what would make me happy. If I could go back in time, I would go back to the early, early days of Tlingit-hood and be a hunter-gatherer. I give most of my deer meat away to other people because my freezers are full. I go deer hunting and get meat for many people in town. I go moose hunting, provide meat for the family. I hunt sea otters and make clothes for my company. I live my subsistence lifestyle and harvest seals and give away the meat to the elders in town. I go out on my boat, and I hunt, and I fish. What do you like to do for fun in your free time? He's counting salmon to make sure the populations are healthy.’ I looked at my dad in that moment, and I said, ‘That's what I want to do when I grew up.’ That was the moment that defined my future right there. I pointed at him, and to my dad I say, ‘Dad, what's he doing?’ And he stopped to look, says, ‘Oh, he's a fisheries biologist. ![]() I was hiking in the woods with my father, just tagging along, and we saw this guy in the stream wearing chest waders, and he was wading in the water up to about his hips. I was in third grade, and I hunted a lot for elk and deer. I'm lifelong friends with many SCA interns. And at the end of the summer they look back at me and thank me every time. It's teaching this younger generation how to work hard, follow through and meet their goals. For me, that's more of an accomplishment than building the fishpass itself. My favorite part of my job is working with the Student Conservation Association volunteers and teaching them how to work and how to see a project through from beginning to end. I do fishpass enhancement, restoration, and a lot of work with salmon. In his off time, he enjoys his subsistence way of life, which is important to him, his family, and his community in Sitka, Alaska. He always knew he wanted to work outdoors, and he is now a Fisheries Biologist for the Supervisor’s Office on the Tongass National Forest. ![]() Robert Miller grew up hunting and fishing on the Olympic Peninsula in Quinault, Washington. ![]()
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