Gull Rookery in Glacier Bay National Park
Egg Harvesting Traditions
For centuries, the Huna Tlingit harvested gull eggs at rookeries scattered throughout the recently delgaciated islands of lower Glacier Bay. While gull eggs never comprised a major portion of the traditional Tlingit diet, they were nonetheless a prized spring food source for the Huna people. Family harvest trips once served as an important mechanism for maintaining ties with homeland and transmitting stories, moral codes and cultural traditions to the younger generations (Hunn et al. 2002).
For traditional people, the first spring harvests of gull eggs mark the transition from a season of confinement, scarcity, and reliance on stored foods to a season of activity, abundance, fresh foods, and good travel weather. Harvests typically involved the whole family, providing a unique opportunity for children to learn from their parents, grandparents, and extended family—in the context of an actual harvest activity—both practical and moral lessons. Such trips may have been the first opportunity Tlingit children had to experience the self-esteem that comes from successfully gathering and sharing foodstuffs.
Traditional harvest at Glacier Bay rookeries likely began as early as glacial retreat created suitable gull nesting habitat in the lower bay (perhaps the mid-1800s) and continued well into the mid-twentieth century. Members of the 1889 Harriman expedition were treated to a meal that included gull eggs (Goetzmann and Sloan 1982) and early National Park Service (NPS) representatives described egg harvest practices occurring in the bay (Traeger 1939; Been 1940). Throughout the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, NPS policy toward this traditional use was "to permit the Indians [sic] to take hair seals and to collect gull eggs and berries as they have done in the past until a definite wildlife policy can be determined." By 1965, however, the NPS began enforcing the Migratory Bird Act and related NPS regulations and policies, which prohibited egg harvest. The eventual enforcement of these laws and regulations strained relationships between the Huna Tlingit and the NPS. While some level of harvest continued at rookeries outside of park boundaries, the Huna Tlingit longed for the opportunity to return to rookeries on the islands that dot lower Glacier Bay called K’wát’ Aaní, the Land that Belongs to the Seagull Eggs. Harvest centered on these islands for many reasons: they were relatively close to permanent settlements; the calm waters and comparatively gentle shores of Glacier Bay allowed easy access for elders and youth in spring; rookeries in these “inside waters” were thought to produce eggs earlier than rookeries in Icy Strait or outer waters; and the productive, pristine waters of Glacier Bay are thought to produce particularly tasty, pure, and rich eggs.
Glaucous-winged Gulls
Glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens) are common in southeast Alaska throughout the year and begin nesting in Glacier Bay as early as mid to late May (Patten 1974; Zador 2001). They typically lay three eggs per clutch and will often replace eggs lost to harvest, predation, or natural events such as flooding until the clutches are complete (Brown and Morris 1996). Under the aegis of John Piatt of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), graduate student Stephanie Zador studied the potential effects of human harvest as well as predation on the glaucous-winged gull population nesting on South Marble Island in Glacier Bay. Using ethnographic data collected by Hunn and others (2002), Zador simulated a traditional harvest and developed population models based on observed parameters (Zador 2001; Zador and Piatt 1999 and 2002; Zador et al. 2006). Zador’s model concluded that egg harvest would have little impact on the reproductive success of gulls if infrequent harvests occur early in the laying season.
