Beaver Round-Up 2017

The great “Beaver Roundup” takes place in Dillingham Alaska at the northern edge of the Bering sea and the outer limit of the Tongiak Wildlife Refuge, ( (famous for walruses and herring). The Roundup started as the outgrowth of  a kind of Rendezvous-like fur exchange where the trappers would meet up to compete for best price and swap stories. As the ice starts to break up beaver yearlings leave their family lodge to find a new home sand that’s a good time to get some nice winter pelts.  Since the only transportation was by sled-dog, a sled-dog competition was the natural offspring of the gathering. There are still no roads in Dillingham, so the only access is by sea or air. Now the annual event is more than 70 years old and it’s a weekend-long much anticipated gathering of early March.

There’s a parade and a beauty contest,  games and contests of all sorts. A highlight of the day is when a plane flies overhead and drops candy and ping pong balls which the many children gather. (I’m not sure what the appeal is of ping pong balls, since there doesn’t appear to be tournament – but I guess since they’re white on the white snow it presents a challenge to find them?) Think of it like a kind of an Easter egg hunt from the sky.

 

Except, it started by trapping beavers.

 

 

Maybe you can explain why the Tongiak Wildlife Refuge is a sponsor of the event? They took first place in the parade this year with their ‘snow goose’. I guess its a different world where protecting wildlife by saving it for hunters makes perfect sense. And plus its REALLY cold (13 today) and quite honestly, unless you’re a walrus, there’s not much else to do.