‘We Made It Through!’ How A Bristol Bay Lodge Navigated A Covid Summer

The following appears in the December issue of Alaska Sporting Journal:

BY PETE ROBBINS

The struggles of 2020 hit Alaskan outfitters and lodges square on the nose, but Nanci Morris Lyon is happy to say that Bristol Bay is back.

Well, it never really went away, but the ability to make a living sharing its vast resources over the course of a short season was in peril. Now, with people anxious to get out of the house, and realizing that the outdoors have long been the ultimate form of social distancing, Lyon was fully booked throughout the summer of 2021.

“We made it through,” she said. “Not everyone did. We were fortunate to have rules in place – you either had to be

vaccinated or get a negative test within 72 hours. Everybody complied.”

“I am no longer touch and go,” she added, referring to the 2020 feeling that finances were precarious and might not get better. “But I do need one more year to be sure. Fortunately, people are anxious to be out of the house. As far as bookings for next year, we’re far ahead of where we were at this time last year, which is far better than the year before.”

Indeed, though there’s still work to be done, outdoor recreation received a huge boost during the pandemic. While travel enterprises have clearly suffered, Alaska has split the difference: It’s exotic, but within the country and readily accessible.

2021 SEASON IN REVIEW

Fortunately for Lyon and the other guest-dependent businesses in the area, the one thing that remained consistent was the splendor and prolific nature of Bristol Bay’s natural resources. Several of the salmon runs on the Naknek and surrounding rivers were “the best in several years,” which led Lyon to conclude that “it was a good year to be in Alaska.” While the ongoing pandemic was a constant presence whether mentioned or not, Lyon chose not to make it an overwhelming presence of guests’ visits. “It’s a sensitive topic,” she admitted. “We respect everyone’s opinions, and we do our best to accommodate them, even if they differ from our own.”

Once inside the bubble of the lodge, the strict protocols that characterized her limited 2020 traffic (Alaska Sporting Journal, September 2020) were generally kept in place but loosened where appropriate, per guests’ desires.
The enhanced cleaning and hygiene

measures were still utilized, but unlike last year – when each group ate separately – now guests and staff could mingle or sequester, whichever made them feel more comfortable. Similarly, whereas previously masked and gloved staff doled out appetizers and drinks, there was now more freedom for self-service, although the offer still stood to stand apart.

Nevertheless, despite maximizing guests’ autonomy, Lyon realizes that she was lucky. “Several other lodges were either temporarily or permanently shut, even though I suspect they had the same regulations in place. It felt like we were living in a bubble.”

WHAT CHANGED?

In a typical year, approximately 15 to 20 percent of Bear Trail Lodge’s clientele comes from abroad. This year, despite a continuously full house, “It was almost exclusively U.S. citizens,” Lyon said. “We had just about nobody from a foreign country.”

What also changed was visitors’ preferences for when to come and what to do, whether they were first-timers or re-peat guests. Instead of fixating on particular weeks or particular runs of fish, most just ached to get out of the house.

‘“Just get me on a trip,”’ Lyon recalled them saying, ‘“I’ll fish for whatever’s biting.”’ She also said that while most of her clientele continued to focus on angling, she had an unprecedented high demand

for ecotourism. “I was inundated with calls about Brooks Falls excursions.”

Despite the overall positive attitude of both guests and staff, staffing challenges persisted. Lyon prides herself on retaining key staff members year after year. It’s not necessarily easy to replace missing or departing staff members for skilled positions in any scenario, but particularly in her semi-remote location, this year she experienced new hurdles.

“I did lose a couple of older staff members,” she said. “They simply weren’t comfortable with the situation. But despite that loss it was one of the best crews I’ve ever had. The other weird thing was that two people accepted positions and never showed up. That happened to other lodges, too. It was a big issue for everybody – we were all busy and also short staffed.”

Fortunately, most of Lyon’s staff have already committed to coming back next year.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

There is a friendly rivalry amongst the Alaskan lodges, especially those near one another, because they are essentially competing for an overlapping set of customers. Nevertheless, the struggles of 2020 led them to band together in a way that hadn’t previously been seen.

“COVID brought us together quicker in a lot of ways,” Lyon said. “We realized that we have more power as one big voice versus multiple voices. We all give each other well-deserved respect. We do it for the good of the industry and the resources.”

Nowhere was that seen more clearly than in response to the Pebble Mine project, where not only did the various recreational entities come together, but they joined tightly with commercial fishermen to oppose the mine. The pro- posed project has risen from the dead on several occasions, and now once again it appears to be on its last legs.

“We’re not out of the woods, but we’re close,” Lyon said. “It’s like we’ve been in a prison cell and now we’re finally getting some fresh air. We’ve just got to get the legislation in place.”

That’s good news for a region that has struggled to keep alive a “normal” that included the world’s greatest run of sockeye salmon, but it will require a continuing vigilance – both on land and in the water – to expose future generations to the glory of America’s greatest wilderness.

Nanci Morris Lyon is ready to address that challenge head-on, as she’s addressed all those that have come before. ASJ

Editor’s note: For more on Bear Trail Lodge, check out its website at beartraillodge.com or call (907) 246-2327. Author Pete Robbins is an outdoor writer based in Vienna, Virginia. He and his wife Hanna share their outdoor adventures and offer tips for anglers at their website, halfpastfirstcast.com.