Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow Photography

  • Portfolio
  • About
  • Contact
  • Archive
    • All Galleries
    • Search
    • Cart
    • Lightbox
    • Client Area

Search Results

Refine Search
Match all words
Match any word
Prints
Personal Use
Royalty-Free
Rights-Managed
(leave unchecked to
search all images)
Next
122 images found

Loading ()...

  • Spawning salmon in the Ozernaya River.<br />
The Kamchatka Shelf in Russia is the last safe place for salmon and the only place on Earth with seven species of oncorhynchus (derived from Greek words meaning hook nose). These photographs illustrate a story about fish that were left alone for millions of years but are now threatened.  Along the entire Pacific Rim, salmon production is down to 3 or 4 percent of historic production. Salmon transform from silver missiles in the ocean to brightly colored creatures as they make their way back up their ancestral rivers, and during spawning adult males develop a hooked nose. They stop eating, so it doesn’t matter that their mouths no longer work for food.  The photo in the Ozernaya River, above, shows pink salmon— the most abundant—coming in from the left side of the frame, and sockeye—the most valuable—just below them.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1248219.JPG
  • The Ozernaya River is full of spawning pink salmon— the most abundant—coming in from the left side of the frame, and sockeye—the most valuable—just below them.<br />
<br />
The Kamchatka Shelf in Russia is the last safe place for salmon and the only place on Earth with seven species of oncorhynchus (derived from Greek words meaning hook nose). These photographs illustrate a story about fish that were left alone for millions of years but are now threatened.  <br />
<br />
Along the entire Pacific Rim, salmon production is down to 3 or 4 percent of historic production. Salmon transform from silver missiles in the ocean to brightly colored creatures as they make their way back up their ancestral rivers, and during spawning adult males develop a hooked nose. They stop eating, so it doesn’t matter that their mouths no longer work for food.  The photo in the Ozernaya River, above, shows
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-10.TIF
  • The Kamchatka shelf is the only place where all seven species of Oncorhynchus Salmon can be found. Spawning salmon dominate traffic in the Ozernaya River. <br />
<br />
The salmon migration is one of the last great migrations that shapes the food supply and activities of many species, including humans. Salmon bring marine-derived nutrients from the Kamchatka shelf in the Sea of Okhotsk into the eight major river systems that run off the middle range of mountains that divide Kamchatka in half.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260965.TIF
  • The commercial Fishing Brigade outside of Sobolevo, Russia, fish the Vorovskaya River, ironically, the same river from which they offload supplies for the pipeline that will eventually destroy their salmon runs.  But at the end of the first big push, their nets are so full of salmon that they can’t immediately load them onto the trucks.  So while fish are in the holding pen, the truck driver has time to play with his dog. <br />
<br />
Commercial fishing is allowed 40 to 60 percent of the fish run every year in Kamchatka.  Poaching can take nearly as much, so on a good year only 20 percent of they fish escape to breed again.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1248222.TIF
  • A brown bear photographed underwater while fishing. Bears thrive on salmon but compete with 137 species of fish, birds, and mammals that also depend on salmon as a main staple of their diet. <br />
<br />
Grizzly bears gorge on rich protein of salmon for three months.  Though they munch on greens and berries, salmon are their main protein source and they fatten up before hibernating in the winter. <br />
<br />
Brown bears in Kamchatka can be 7 to 9 feet in length and weigh 700-800 pounds. Species: U. arctic Genus:Ursus<br />
<br />
Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the peninsula.<br />
<br />
To make this photograph, which was selected as one of the best photographs in National Geographic, I had to be approximately six feet away from bears like this one that was charging into the water to try to catch a fish. The water in Duril Lake is murky, so I had to be close and shot this photograph with a 12mm lens.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1248221.TIF
  • Spawning salmon in the Ozernaya River. Along the entire Pacific Rim, salmon production is down to 3 or 4 percent of historic production. Salmon transform from silver missiles in the ocean to brightly colored creatures as they make their way back up their ancestral rivers, and during spawning adult males develop a hooked nose.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-12.TIF
  • Crew members from a family fishing operation land approximately 1,000 Coho salmon in the boat from a purse seine in waters near Craig, Alaska.<br />
Alaska’s fisheries are some of the richest in the world, with fishermen harvesting hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of salmon, crab, herring, halibut, pollock, and groundfish every year. However, overfishing, exploitation, and poor fisheries management in the ‘40s and ‘50s took a heavy toll on the industry. The state adopted drastic measures that saved the fishing industry from collapse. Tough times again hit the fishermen in the 1970s as the number of boats grew and increasingly efficient gear depleted catch levels to record lows.<br />
Permit systems and reserves helped the commercial industry recover in the late ‘70s—a trend that has continued to the present because of cooperation between scientists and fishermen.<br />
Fishermen and loggers rank in the top two spots for most dangerous jobs. Both are common lines of work for people in the Alaskan outdoors. Since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking fatal occupational injuries in 1980, there were 4,547 fatal work injuries in 2010, and fatality rates of some occupations remain alarmingly high.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075033.TIF
  • Crew members refer to this maneuver as the  "fish walk" when they slide across a boat's deck to push pink salmon into the ice storage area. The fishermen were seining in the waters in Southeast Alaska.<br />
Alaska’s fisheries are some of the richest in the world, with fishermen harvesting hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of salmon, crab, herring, halibut, pollock, and groundfish every year. However, overfishing, exploitation, and poor fisheries management in the ‘40s and ‘50s took a heavy toll on the industry. The state adopted drastic measures that saved the fishing industry from collapse. Tough times again hit the fishermen in the 1970s as the number of boats grew and increasingly efficient gear depleted catch levels to record lows.<br />
<br />
Permit systems and reserves helped the commercial industry recover in the late ‘70s—a trend that has continued to the present because of cooperation between scientists and fishermen.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075032.jpg
  • A scientist studies salmon fry or young fish in the Kol River Biostation.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983.JPG
  • A salmon swims away from a brown bear that is fishing for salmon in Kuril Lake.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-2.TIF
  • Grizzlies fish for salmon in one of the best spots where the Ozernaya River flows into Kurilskoe Lake under the backdrop of a volcano.  <br />
<br />
Brown bears are not pack animals and an abundant food supply attracts them to the same place to hunt. The Kurilskoe Preserve is the model for poaching enforcement in all of Kamchatka. It is protected and the last wild place that produces all seven species of salmon.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-16.TIF
  • Brown bears fish for salmon in Kuril Lake. So many salmon—pink, chum, sockeye, coho, chinook, and masu—flood the waters that typically solitary brown bears crowd together
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-14.TIF
  • Scientists study salmon fish in the Kol River Biostation.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260982.JPG
  • Fish inspectors wade in shallow water are in pursuit of salmon poachers.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260976.JPG
  • Spawning salmon with hook noses dominate traffic in the Ozernaya River. The biggest threat to salmon in Russia is poaching.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260967.TIF
  • Colorful spawning salmon in the Ozernaya River. Salmon transform from silver missiles in the ocean to brightly colored creatures as they make their way back up their ancestral rivers, and during spawning adult males develop a hooked nose.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260961.TIF
  • A worker catches salmon at a fish camp.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260947.JPG
  • Crew members unload a catch of sockeye salmon from the hatch of their fishing boat. Economists estimate the commercial seafood industry contributes $5.8 billion and 78,500 jobs to the Alaskan economy.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075052.TIF
  • Hauling in salmon from their boats at a fishing camp, coastal people called Nymylan are village dwellers and hang the catch to dry on racks for winter.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260946.TIF
  • A fisherman hauls in salmon at a fishing camp.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260945.JPG
  • A brown bear, also known as a grizzly, feasts on sockeye salmon, which is a fundamental drama in Kamchatka’s still largely intact ecosystem. <br />
<br />
Salmon—pink, chum, sockeye, coho, chinook, and masu—flood the waters that typically solitary brown bears crowd together to feed at Kuril Lake. Bears need to eat about 40 fish a day to put on weight to make it through the winter.<br />
<br />
Brown bears in Kamchatka can be 7 to 9 feet in length and weigh 700-800 pounds. Species: U. arctic Genus:Ursus<br />
<br />
Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1248220.TIF
  • A brown bear fishing for salmon leaps into Kuril Lake while her cubs wait on the shore. Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-1.TIF
  • A brown bear's claws hang onto the salmon in Kuril Lake.<br />
<br />
Grizzly bears need to eat about 40 fish a day to put on weight to make it through the winter.<br />
<br />
Brown bears in Kamchatka can be 7 to 9 feet in length and weigh 700-800 pounds. Species: U. arctic Genus:Ursus<br />
<br />
Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-13.TIF
  • Spawning salmon runs fill the Ozernaya River, considered the crown jewel of Kamchatka  and runs directly into the Bering Sea.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-11.TIF
  • Underwater photo of a brown bear fishing for salmon in Kuril Lake.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-15.TIF
  • A proud father photographs his son holding up the salmon he caught on their fishing trip.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075145.jpg
  • A boy proudly displays the salmon he caught when the family was fishing near Prince of Wales Island.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075143.jpg
  • Two fishermen net a salmon near Prince of Wales Island in the pristine waters of Southeast Alaska.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075107.jpg
  • Fishermen's catch of salmon are loaded into bins.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075096.jpg
  • A black bear (Ursus americanus) feeds on abundant pink salmon in Anan Creek adding needed protein to fatten up on a diet that otherwise consists of cranberries, currants, blueberries, devil's club ants and grubs.  Anan Wildlife Observatory in Tongass National Forest is restricted by permit to keep the bears families that feed there wild.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075091.TIF
  • A black bear (Ursus americanus) shakes water from his head while feeding on salmon in Anan Creek and hour from Wrangell.  Bears fatten up during the heavy run of fish that spawn in the summer.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075026.TIF
  • Scientists don equipment and carry nets to study salmon fish in the Kol River Biostation.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260981.JPG
  • A salmon carcass in the water with reflections.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260972.JPG
  • A brown bear catches a salmon fish in Kuril Lake. Bears need to eat about 40 fish a day to put on weight to make it through the winter.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260964.TIF
  • A brown bear fishing for salmon in Kuril Lake. Bears need to eat about 40 fish a day to put on weight to make it through the winter.<br />
<br />
Brown bears in Kamchatka can be 7 to 9 feet in length and weigh 700-800 pounds. Species: U. arctic Genus:Ursus<br />
<br />
Kamchatka has the highest density of grizzly bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260959.JPG
  • Icy water flies as a brown bear catches a salmon fish in Kuril Lake. Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260958.TIF
  • A pair of salmon carcasses float in the water.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260929.JPG
  • A boat driver's daughter helps fishermen at a salmon fishing camp.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260912.JPG
  • The last thing many migrating salmon see is this: the claws of a massive paw. Brown bears stun their targets with club-like blows, then gobble up their catch. This underwater shot of a brown bear was made at what is known as a Grizzly in Kurilskoe Lake Preserve, a World Heritage Site. A remote location, one must charter an MI-8 helicopter for a two-hour ride each way, so there aren’t many people to bother these bears. Once they memorize your scent they may come very close, and at times I saw 17 bears in the view shed.<br />
<br />
Brown bears in Kamchatka can be 7 to 9 feet in length and weigh 700-800 pounds. Species: U. arctic Genus:Ursus<br />
<br />
Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1248227.TIF
  • Brown bears fishing for salmon in Kuril Lake. Kurilskoe Lake Preserve is a world heritage site and had serious poaching. But now, two or three wardens are always out on enforcement and they pack out for a month at a time. The official salary for wardens is $200 a month, but the WWF came in and supplemented salaries and bought them the equipment they need to do the job. WWF decided one of the gems of the reserve system that exists in all of Russia should be poaching free - and that also protects the brown bears.
    MM7593_20080812_06379.tif
  • A young black bear (Ursus americanus) feeds on salmon in Anan Creek. The site is accessible for tourists to view wildlife in Alaska's Tongass National Forest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075090.jpg
  • A salmon swims up a 450 foot fish ladder to spawn in a fish hatchery.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075045.TIF
  • Spawning salmon with hook noses dominate traffic in the Ozernaya River.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260966.TIF
  • Searching for salmon in a fishing camp where waters reveal a bear carcass.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260944.TIF
  • Brown bears fishing for salmon in Kuril Lake. Kurilskoe Lake Preserve is a world heritage site and had serious poaching. But now, two or three wardens are always out on enforcement and they pack out for a month at a time. The official salary for wardens is $200 a month, but the WWF came in and supplemented salaries and bought them the equipment they need to do the job. WWF decided one of the gems of the reserve system that exists in all of Russia should be poaching free - and that also protects the brown bears.
    MM7593_20080818_07671.tif
  • A juvenile grizzly bear fishes for salmon at Pack Creek.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114710.jpg
  • Black bear feeding on salmon in the Tongass National Forest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114631.jpg
  • Juvenile black bear feeds on salmon in the Tongass National Forest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114628.jpg
  • Salmon running in the Thorn River.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114623.jpg
  • Salmon running in the Thorn River
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114621.jpg
  • Salmon dries on racks before being smoked with alder at a Native Alaskan fish camp near Sitka. The catch will help supplement traditional food supplies through winter months.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1073535.TIF
  • A brown bear fishing for salmon in icy waters of Kuril Lake. Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears, also known as grizzly bears, in the world. There are almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260960.TIF
  • A fisherman unloads his catch of sockeye salmon.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114685.jpg
  • A man and boy with caught silver salmon fish on Thorne Bay.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114665.jpg
  • A haul of salmon.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114648.jpg
  • Salmon on deck of fishing boat.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114647.jpg
  • Black bear shakes water off head and feeds on salmon in Anan Creek.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114639.jpg
  • Black bear feeds on salmon in Anan Creek.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114635.jpg
  • Black bear feeds on salmon in the Tongass National Forest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114634.jpg
  • Black bear feeds on salmon in Anan Creek.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114629.jpg
  • Salmon running in the Thorn River.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114622.jpg
  • Black bear at Margaret Creek feeding on salmon next to a  fish ladder.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114620.jpg
  • Black bear at Margaret Creek feeding on salmon.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114619.jpg
  • Black bear at Margaret Creek feeding on salmon.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114618.jpg
  • A family sets up racks to dry salmon and prepares it for smoking at a Native Alaskan Tlingit fish camp at Dog Point near Sitka.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075050.jpg
  • A salmon making its way upstream to spawn.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760131.jpg
  • A salmon fighting its way upstream to spawn.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760075.jpg
  • A brown bear swims with his head underwater as he fishes for salmon in Kuril Lake.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260955.JPG
  • A salmon making its way upstream to spawn.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760117.jpg
  • Kurilskoe Lake Preserve is a world heritage site and had serious poaching. But now, two or three wardens are always out on enforcement and they pack out for a month at a time. The official salary for wardens is $200 a month, but the WWF came in and supplemented salaries and bought them the equipment they need to do the job. WWF decided one of the gems of the reserve system that exists in all of Russia should be poaching free.
    MM7593_20080811_08158.tif
  • The main fish market street in Petropavlovsk sells Pacific Steelhead, which has been on the Russian Red Book of endangered species since 1983. Even though military, police, and government officials charge through this street all day long, and it is illegal, this endangered salmon is sold with impunity.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1248225.JPG
  • .A dog watches over as Russian fishermen pull in the nets from a fishing brigade on the Bolshaya River. Strict work hours at the mouth of the river allow some of the salmon can pass through to Kanchatka’s indigenous camps further upstream. <br />
<br />
The fish have gone into a dormant state because they have been in the net so long. This was the first great push of salmon—the storm had just passed, the tide was out and the water had cleared enough that all salmon make a mad dash upriver.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260950.TIF
  • A Koryak man dries fish in his summer camp that will feed his family through the winter. Koryaks are an indigenous people of Kamchatka Krai in the Russian Far East, who inhabit the coastlands of the Bering Sea to the south of the Anadyr basin and the country to the immediate north of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The koryak are typically split into two groups. The coastal people Nemelan (or Nymylan) meaning ‘village dwellers’ due to their sedentary fishing habits and the inland Koryaks, reindeer herders called Chauchen (or Chauchven) meaning ‘rich in reindeer’ who are more nomadic.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260943.TIF
  • Salmon peek out from containers where caviar is produced in a fishing plant.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260951.JPG
  • Workers pull a net with salmon at a fishing brigade on the Bolshaya River.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260949.JPG
  • Brown bears fishing for salmon in Kuril Lake. Kurilskoe Lake Preserve is a world heritage site and had serious poaching. But now, two or three wardens are always out on enforcement and they pack out for a month at a time. The official salary for wardens is $200 a month, but the WWF came in and supplemented salaries and bought them the equipment they need to do the job. WWF decided one of the gems of the reserve system that exists in all of Russia should be poaching free - and that also protects the brown bears.
    MM7593_20080818_07674.tif
  • Woman in fish processing plant is:<br />
Nadezhda.
    MM7593_20080806_05057.tif
  • Fish plant worker in a fish processing plant in Oktyabrski, Kamchatka, the town where Soviets built two of the largest fish plants in Russia.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260953.TIF
  • A fishing brigade on the Bolshaya River.<br />
Russian boats are so loaded with fish that they barely clear the surface of the water. These fishermen are fighting against time while the tide is out. When the ocean tide is high and coming in to the Bolshaya, it pushes their nets closed.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260922.JPG
  • This is the Ust Bolsheretsk area at the height of fishing season along the Bolshaya river.  These fishing brigades use tractors to tow one end of the net and then bring it around full circle in the river to cinch in the fish. The net is then dumped into small boats that have nets laid in them that the crane uses to pick them up and dump them into trucks that go to the processing plants in Ust Bolsheretsk.  This brigade is working in this area that is south of Oktyabrski.
    MM7593_20080805_04281.tif
  • A workers hangs onto a rope at a fish plant in Oktyabrsky.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260926.JPG
  • Seiners bring in their catch to Craig Harbor.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114649.jpg
  • A braided river ecosystem for salmon spawning. At the top of this photograph is the Sea of Okhotsk, and below it the Oblukovina River. They flow past wetlands created by heavy rain on the west side of Kamchatka. <br />
<br />
Wetlands are the primary sign of a healthy salmon ecosystem and clouds of mosquitoes form where insects are a main food source. Salmon create a mass migration engine that brings marine-derived nutrients into river ecosystems, and the carcasses fertilize the entire Pacific Rim.<br />
<br />
Salmon bring marine-derived nutrients from the Kamchatka shelf in the Sea of Okhotsk into the eight major river systems that run off the middle range of mountains that divide Kamchatka in half.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260979.TIF
  • Steller's sea-eagles hone in on a salmon run to feed. Kurilskoe Lake preserve is the gem of the Russian preserve system, and these soaring birds of prey are called Stellar sea eagles in the U.S. and white-shouldered eagles in Russia, also nicknamed “parrots.” <br />
<br />
They are one of the 137 species that depend solely on salmon for protein. Salmon carcasses frozen near the surface of very shallow streams make frozen “TV dinners” for several species.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1248229.TIF
  • Aerial photo showing the braided river ecosystem for salmon spawning.<br />
<br />
When salmon die they fertilize the entire Pacific Rim. Warm waters from volcanic systems within with the coldest sea in the Pacific Rim create an ideal, nutrient-rich environment. And the river systems—some of the last braided streams on Earth that have not yet been constrained by agriculture—are vital habitat for salmon.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260978.JPG
  • Fish inspectors in surplus tanks loaded with a boat and supplies as they pursue salmon poachers who are the greatest threat to salmon in Russia.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260971.JPG
  • Fish inspectors drive surplus tanks to pursue salmon poachers who are the biggest threat to salmon in Russia.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260970.TIF
  • Brown bears competing for salmon in Kuril Lake. So many salmon—pink, chum, sockeye (above), coho, chinook, and masu—flood the waters that typically solitary brown bears crowd together
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260962.TIF
  • A braided river ecosystem snakes through the tundra and is used by salmon spawning.<br />
<br />
Salmon bring marine-derived nutrients from the Kamchatka shelf in the Sea of Okhotsk into the eight major river systems that run off the middle range of mountains that divide Kamchatka in half.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260934.JPG
  • Salmon return from the ocean to spawn in streams on Prince of Wales Island. Scientists believe the fish species navigates to where they were born by using the earth's magnetic field like a compass.
    MM7258_20050823_08650.tif
  • Cannery workers take a break on the dock during the busiest part of the salmon season in Petersburg on Mitkof Island.  Hundreds of seasonal employees--some students trying to earn some quick money.<br />
Economists estimate the commercial seafood industry contributes $5.8 billion and 78,500 jobs to the Alaskan economy.
    MM7258_20050813_04457.tif
  • Salmon fishermen pull purse seine net into boat.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114726.jpg
  • Black bear feeding on salmon in the Tongass National Forest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114632.jpg
  • A juvenile brown bear (Ursus arctos) crosses Pack Creek to hunt for salmon. The native Tlingít people call Admiralty Island "Kootznoowoo," or "Fortress of the Bears." The island is home to an estimated 1,500 grizzlies.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075103.TIF
  • A juvenile grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) frolics  while his mother fishes for salmon at Pack Creek on Admiralty Island. The creek runs through an open intertidal meadow before spilling into the ocean. It has the highest concentration of brown bears in Southeast Alaska. Young brown bears begin life on their own when they are approximately two years old.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075010.TIF
  • Fish inspectors take a break during their pursuit of salmon poachers.<br />
<br />
A warden shares tea with the poachers in their kitchen tent. There are a lot of unwritten rules. Fish wardens know that it costs $10,000 to get into a poaching camp in Kamchatka, and $10,000 to get back out by helicopter with your catch. The wardens understand that if they destroy fishing gear and caviar production facilities, they have harmed their neighbors enough. And they also can’t afford $10,000 to get criminals back by helicopter for prosecution.<br />
<br />
The poachers know this, and know not to bring any kind of identity papers with them because it is possible for them to be prosecuted with their passports.  The kitchen survives the burn so men can feed themselves. The poachers go free, but have to sit and wait for their helicopter, empty handed which is why the wardens don’t burn their kitchen or sleeping areas.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260973.JPG
  • A river ecosystem for salmon spawning is braided and full of nutrients as it meanders through the tundra.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260948.JPG
  • A local indigenous girl inspects the nets while attending a salmon festival.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260908.JPG
  • Brown bears fish for salmon in one of the best spots where the Ozernaya River flows into Kurilskoe Lake.  An abundant food supply attracts the bears, also known as grizzlies, to the protected watersheds of Kamchatka’s Kurilskoe Lake Preserve, the gem of the Russian preserve system.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1248218.TIF
  • Brown bears fishing for salmon in Kuril Lake. Kurilskoe Lake Preserve is a world heritage site and had serious poaching. But now, two or three wardens are always out on enforcement and they pack out for a month at a time.  The official salary for wardens is $200 a month, but the WWF came in and supplemented salaries and bought them the equipment they need to do the job. WWF decided one of the gems of the reserve system that exists in all of Russia should be poaching free - and that also protects the brown bears.
    MM7593_20080813_06845.tif
Next