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Fred Williams, Part 1
Fred Williams was interviewed by Bill Schneider and Dave Krupa on October 20, 1993 at his home in Copperville, Copper Center, Alaska. Fish Bug Lane is what he called his road. A 1964 snowmachine sat in the front yard: he just had it all overhauled. Fred and his wife, Halle, have three springer spaniels. Fred is a major collector of rifles; he has a whole room full of them. In this interview, he talks about his experiences as a fish and game biologist in the Copper Basin area. It is clear that he loved the time that he spent out in the field, which amounted to 75% of the work then. Now biologists spend 25% of their time out in the country. A large part of his job involved taking fish surveys from aircraft. His back room is stocked with antique guns which he says he can't resist. The basement has many testimonies to his interests, history books, animal trophies, and a display of his old Fish and Game badges from Alaska and Wyoming where he also worked. In this first part of a two part interview, Fred talks about his job as a fisheries biologist, subsistence, federal and state regulations, and his feelings about land preservation, the National Park Service and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
See also:
Digital Asset Information
Archive #: Oral History 95-71-13-01
Project: Wrangell-St.Elias National Park
Date of Interview: Oct 20, 1993
Narrator(s): Fred Williams
Interviewer(s): Bill Schneider, David Krupa
Location of Interview:
Funding Partners:
National Park Service
Parts:
Alternate Transcripts
There is no alternate transcript for this interview.
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Sections
1) His background
2) His father and his interest in history
3) Collecting, and his restored 1964 ski-doo snowmachine
4) His job as a fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game
5) Jack Wilson, and other pilots doing fish counts
6) A salmon counting airplane story
7) Doing background lake surveys
8) Changes seen in his job over the years
9) His techniques compared to earlier biologists' techniques
10) Adjusting to new techniques, and contrasting the Alaskan environment with Wyoming
11) Environmentalists and animal rights groups
12) The effects wrought by Congress upon subsistence
13) Federal and State subsistence regulations
14) Pressure on Alaskan fishing streams and lakes
15) Fishing pressure on the Gulkana River
16) The development of fishing regulations at Summit Lake
17) Dealing with the fishing pressure as a biologist and commercial versus sport fishing
18) Too many meetings and public hearings
19) The unusual Kokonee salmon of Copper Lake
20) Fish populations in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
21) His opinions on Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
22) Local feelings about Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
23) Distrust of the National Park Service, and wolf predation in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
24) Wildlife regulations in Yellowstone National Park, and his opinion on species reintroduction
25) Fred's opinions about land preservation
26) Park preservation, and tourism
27) Park access development
Click play, then use Sections or Transcript to navigate the interview.
After clicking play, click a section of the transcript to navigate the audio or video clip.
Transcript
Section 1: Nebraska\ U.S. Navy\ University of Wyoming\ fisheries management degree\ Wyoming Department of Fish and Game\ Williams, Fred -- marriage\ Alaska -- move to\ Williams, Fred -- 4 children\ Glennallen\ Alaska Department of Fish and Game\ Williams, Fred -- retired
Section 2: Williams, Fred -- fathers interest in history\ Williams, Fred -- amateur excavating\ Williams, Fred -- fathers death\ automobile -- Model T\ Williams, Fred -- service\ Model T -- sold
Section 3: Williams, Fred -- collector\ rural Alaska -- traits\ snowmachine\ Wilson, Jack\ Copper Center\ snowmachine -- restored
Section 4: fisheries biologist\ Upper Susitna\ Copper River drainage\ Prince William Sound\ Valdez\ sport fish\ job -- description\ fisherman\ public relations -- work\ salmon -- counting\ counting -- aerial
Section 5: Wilson, Jack\ pilots\ airplane -- Super Cub\ stream count
Section 6: flying -- low level\ Copper River\ Gulkana River\ story -- salmon counting\ lake -- landing
Section 7: lake -- background info\ fish -- populations
Section 8: changes\ field work\ office work\ reports\ computer age\ Williams, Fred -- resistance to computers\ biologists -- field work\ Williams, Fred -- retired
Section 9: equipment\ oxygen -- determination\ winter\ lakes\ lakes -- determining oxygen levels\ Alaska Department of Fish and Game -- management\ early days -- preservation\ present time -- conservation\ game -- populations\ computers
Section 10: world -- fast moving\ Williams, Fred -- hard to adjust\ changes -- on ground\ Alaska\ Wyoming\ Alaska -- environment\ climate conditions\ over hunting\ political field
Section 11: animal rights groups\ environmental group\ Williams, Fred -- first environmentalist\ wildlife -- management\ game biologist\ goldfish -- rights
Section 12: game biologist -- frustration\ subsistence\ Congress -- blame\ game -- limits\ Natives\ non-Natives\ Federal government -- responsibility for discrimination problems\ subsistence -- racial problems
Section 13: regulations -- hunting\ land \ more regulations
Section 14: fisheries -- problems\ opportunity\ environment -- delicate\ lake -- availability\ lakes -- "Lower 48"\ Gulkana River\ resource -- fish\ stream -- rehabilitation\ fishing -- opportunities\ bush pilot\ road -- build
Section 15: Gulkana River -- description\ fishing -- association problems\ fisherman -- spread out\ regulations
Section 16: Summit Lake\ bush pilots -- illegally stocking lakes\ rainbow trout\ resources -- fishing pressure
Section 17: fisheries biologist -- problems\ fisherman -- commercial\ fisherman -- sport\ fisherman -- subsistence\ fisherman -- personal use\ dip net\ Chitina\ Gulkana\ fishwheel\ diplomacy\ wildlife management
Section 18: meetings\ public hearings\ committees
Section 19: Allin, Roger\ fish -- unusual populations\ Wrangell Mountains\ Copper Lake\ fish -- Kokanee salmon\ fish -- red salmon\ fish -- fresh water\ Kokanee -- description of\ Copper Lake
Section 20: Summit Lake\ fish -- indigenous\ fish -- Dolly Varden\ streams\ Dolly Varden -- description\ lakes -- winter\ Wrangell-St. Elias -- fish populations
Section 21: park -- unnecessary\ park -- use\ land -- development\ guides\ hunters\ fishermen\ Wilson, Jack\ scientific work\ park -- visitors\ Wrangell-St. Elias National Park\ Yellowstone National Park
Section 22: park -- preserve\ park -- regulations\ park -- future\ park rangers\ Williams, Fred -- upset over park\ park -- resignation to\ local reaction\ park -- establish
Section 23: National Park Service -- distrust of\ Alaska Department of Fish and Game\ wildlife\ wolf -- control\ wolf -- predation
Section 24: Yellowstone National Park\ hunting -- privileges\ fisheries\ species -- native to area\ Bremner, John \ Copper River
Section 25: land -- impact\ land -- protection\ development\ mining\ Kennecott -- closure\ miners -- rights\ mining -- limit
Section 26: land -- conservation\ park -- visitors\ park -- "artificial wilderness experience"
Section 27: population -- growth\ land -- use\ visitor's center\ park -- development\ McCarthy Road