One of the functions of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge is management of federal fisheries on the Kuskokwim River. And just in time for the 2024 salmon season, the refuge has hired a new manager, who will also serve as the Kuskokwim River in-season manager.
Spencer Rearden, who grew up in Bethel, said that he has always been passionate about the outdoors and comes from a family with multiple generations in resource management. His father, Michael Rearden, served as refuge manager in the late '90s and early 2000s.
Rearden takes the helm from the prior manager, Boyd Blihovde, who left the position at the end of the 2023 salmon season to head a region-wide federal project for Western Alaska.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
KYUK (Evan Erickson): Can you talk about your background, how you came to be among the names that were considered to be the new refuge manager and ultimately were picked?
Spencer Rearden: Yeah, so I guess it all started off with where my interests were. And fish and wildlife were interesting to me as a young kid growing up hunting and fishing in the Bethel area, and then I also lived in the Kotzebue area for a while. And, of course, my father was into fish and wildlife. He too was a pilot, manager, biologist, and even long before that, my grandfather was also a state manager back in the day and a professor of wildlife at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. So it kind of was a natural path for me to follow. And that's where my interests were, ever since I was a young kid. And so I never diverted from that.
I've been working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 2009. I first started in Anchorage at the Office of Subsistence Management. And soon after that I came to Bethel to work as a biologist, an assistant manager, a supervisory biologist, and then now in my current position as refuge manager. So I've been around a little bit and dealing with multiple issues: fish, moose, caribou, waterfowl. And then when the last manager left, I simply said now's the time, because I have the qualifications and the interest, even though I know it's a big job. But I was encouraged also to apply by some local people, and that probably pushed me over the edge a little bit to go ahead and apply with that kind of support. So that meant a lot to me, and here I am.
KYUK: So you grew up in Kotzebue and Bethel, but is this kind of like coming back to your hometown?
Rearden: For sure. This is where I grew up. My mom is from the lower Yukon, from a village called Kotlik. We used to commercial fish there when I was a kid, and that paid for college with myself and my brothers and my sister. And living in Bethel with family and friends, it was definitely coming home.
KYUK: So once the salmon fishing season kicks off, what do you expect your average day to look like?
Rearden: Well, we return a lot of phone calls. And we hear a lot of people with some ideas and thoughts and we welcome that. That's what we're supposed to be doing: trying to listen to the local people that are most affected. But I'm not doing this alone. I have pretty good staff at [the U.S.] Fish and Wildlife Service, people that I rely on. And I have a heck of a partner in the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. They represent a lot of tribes up and down this river. And they bring a lot of voices to the table, and they bring some expertise to the table too. So when I need help, they're a partner that I've been able to rely on. And we try to navigate through these hard decisions together.
KYUK: Do you anticipate an amicable relationship with the state? Last year, it was nice to see a lot of people coming in for the Fish Talk call-in show to take calls, and to sit on opposite ends of the table and just get right into the issues and have real open lines of communication. Do you feel like that's gonna be the situation?
Rearden: Absolutely. I think down at our levels, there's some real professionalism when we're trying to make good decisions for the people and for the resource and having those relationships. We depend on the state to provide us information. They help run multiple projects within the refuge, and then upstream of the refuge, which is still important information for us, and trying to get their opinions and their interpretations of data, as well as trying to get that from local people and other entities. I imagine that will continue as it's been with the sharing of information and data, because we need it. I mean, that's important stuff for the resource, and the resource is first.
KYUK: Are you optimistic that more resources are going to be channeled into Western Alaska proportional to the crisis that's being faced right now?
Rearden: I don't know if it’s in proportion, but I think there's been some attention that's been given to this area from some high-level folks, even from the [Washington] D.C. area. There's been some extra money set aside to help bolster our knowledge about salmon and trying to help us make good decisions. The [Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal] Fish Commission, they've become organized, they've started hiring more people, more fish biologists. They're involved with universities trying to get research done within the refuge and outside the refuge. And that's a good thing. I mean, we're happy to see that. Would I like to see more? Absolutely. I wish we could have more fisheries biologists and more dedicated people to helping with making good decisions. But that's not to say we don't have good people right now. Could we use more? Yes, the right kind of people, we can.
KYUK: Are you optimistic that's gonna happen?
Rearden: In some ways I am. I mean, that extra money that kind of came from getting the attention of [Washington] D.C. worked. And I'm optimistic about that, that finally people are looking towards this area of Alaska. In my biased opinion, it's one of the most important refuges of all because of the density of fish and wildlife and the subsistence dependence on it. So the people are a huge factor for this refuge. So I'm hoping people get notice of that. I really want people to know how important this area is, not just to the people that live here. I mean, salmon go beyond this refuge. Waterfowl do the same. And this part of Alaska is wild and free for the most part still. And we're still feeding people for subsistence needs and to preserve culture. That's very unique, and I'm hoping more people value that and understand that they need to support our efforts out here in Western Alaska to make good decisions for managing our resources.
