Message from the Director
AERC doesn't slow down in winter. As I write this, our team is in Hawaii moving plants and restoring a wetland on Oahu. Here in Anchorage, our team is collaborating with various university departments to develop sturdier and smarter tools for our salmon surveys. Read more about that new project in this issue.
I’m also happy to announce that AERC now facilitates the university’s vivarium, a live-animal research facility on campus. It's a natural fit for our science-minded staff. Tim Lescher, profiled in this newsletter, formerly worked seven years at the Alaska Zoo. He’s bringing that career experience to AERC as one of several research technicians training to oversee the facility.
Read on and see how AERC is staying active this season.
Warm regards, Jeff Libby UAA AERC Director
AERC Launches New Fish Technology Project
A new grant will carry the Center’s salmon expertise throughout the winter. The project, awarded at the tail end of summer, leverages AERC’s decade of experience completing salmon surveys for partners at Joint Base ElmendorfRichardson (JBER) in Anchorage.
AERC Research technicians have monitored salmon migrations on JBER since 2016, continuing the surveys that other agencies started in 2003. A lot has changed in the past 22 years. Currently, the Center completes annual surveys on three JBER waterways. All five species of Pacific salmon use these rivers and creeks to access spawning grounds. But each of the waterways presents its own environmental challenges.
AERC continues to innovate monitoring methods, the new project allows the team to focus on their survey methods and design equipment that excels in Southcentral Alaska’s AERC's Cameron Wilson with a fish weir custom-built for Eagle River. waterways.
New Salmon Project
AERC research technicians are working to innovate new methods for counting salmon that adapt the latest top-shelf technology for use in Alaska’s challenging environment. The cross-campus collaboration incorporates faculty from across the University of Alaska Anchorage, including welding, biology, and engineering experts.
Technologies that work elsewhere may not survive Alaska’s harsh conditions. With that in mind, AERC staff will develop tailor-made tools as the project progresses. That could include sonar systems strong enough to survive a glacial river, fish cameras that automatically distinguish different species, or new technologies in active development in UAA’s research labs. The advanced methods will bolster AERC’s surveys, providing the most accurate data possible.
To make the strongest case for environmental protection, AERC research technicians need to collect the best data possible. Accuracy is essential for effective land management. The presence of certain salmon species at certain thresholds can help JBER land managers issue protections, which can impact ecosystem health for the entire Cook Inlet food chain. The new project will contribute innovative designs that excel in Alaska’s wild waters without sacrificing accuracy. The result: clearer counts, better data, and a likely boost to environmental protections.
Staff Spotlight: Tim Lescher
Tim joined AERC as a full-time research technician at the start of the 2025 field season. It’s the latest stop in a wild career with wildlife.
Tim earned a biology degree from the University of Missouri and spent several seasons on-board commercial fishing vessels— sometimes for weeks at a time—as a fisheries observer, trained by the National Marine Fisheries Service. After several seasons in both New England and California, he headed back for graduate school at University of Missouri-St. Louis. His thesis looked at the relative abundance of alligator snapping turtles, a protected species that resides in the meandering streams of the Mississippi River watershed. His work included setting traps in streams and swamps to catch, release, and survey the population.
Armed with a master’s in biology, Tim next headed to Alaska. He worked seven years at the Alaska Zoo as the lead keeper for wolves, brown bears, snow leopards, Dall sheep, caribou, and mountain goats. Immediately before joining AERC, he was a wilderness guide at McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, home to the world’s largest known gathering of coastal brown bears.
Tim brought his academic background and deep field experience to AERC this year. He now leads AERC’s Otter Lake project, using cameras and canoe surveys to estimate population numbers for several species of Pacific salmon. He's also one of four research technicians trained to work in the University of Alaska Anchorage vivarium, a live animal research facility housed on campus. AERC began operating the facility in 2025.
After working in so many places with so many creatures, Tim says AERC stands out for its full research experience. Staff aren’t just collecting data. They’re completing the post-season analysis and writing and submitting technical reports for project partners.
"That's an important part of the research process,” he said.
It also connects the team in a unique way. Frequently, a small team of technicians works in a remote location. AERC, in contrast, has a larger staff working both in the field and in the office. That creates a tight-knit camaraderie and a larger level of responsibility, he said. After a wolf-keeping, turtle-counting crosscountry career, AERC is now providing the right balance of active f ieldwork and professional development across the environmental research spectrum.