Anchorage Daily News

Toting plastic buckets, an army of berry pickers traipsed across the hills of Arctic Valley on Sunday. Some got more exercise than nutrition. Others picked dozens upon dozens of blueberries.

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Blueberries harvested in Arctic Valley Sunday.

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"Seems like it's a great year," said Lynne Lloyd, general manager of Arctic Valley Ski Area. "Early warmth has helped us a lot. It's funny how the word seems to spread like wildfire."

Arctic Valley has a hand in that. A big, deep blue headline is emblazoned across the ski area's Web page announcing, "Blue Berry Season Is Here!"

Blueberries may be the most popular of more than a dozen species of edible wild berries that grow in Southcentral.

In addition to Arctic Valley, harvesters work Eagle River Valley, McHugh Creek, Hatcher Pass and the tundra slopes along the Denali Highway, among others.

Prefer other berries?

Crowberries and lowbush cranberries often grow alongside blueberries. The former can fill out a bucket of blueberries. The latter are best picked after the season's first frost.

Other berry pickers prefer lowland forests to alpine areas. Succulent orange salmonberries have been ripe in scattered locations south of Anchorage for a few weeks.

Four species of currants, high-bush cranberries and rose hips abound in forests among birch, aspen, spruce or hemlocks. Currants grow on bushes with leaves like those found on maples. High-bush cranberry leaves are more rounded. Rose hips, or wild rose fruit, grow on thorny bushes; like the lowbush cranberry they are best picked after the first frost.

There are innumerable places to search out woodland berries. Try the trails through Hillside forests, the trails near Eagle River Visitor Center and those around Kepler-Bradley Lakes in Palmer.

Porcupine Campground Road in Hope can have wild raspberries. Like salmonberries, which they resemble in texture and exceed in taste, wild raspberries grow only in scattered Southcentral locations.

But Arctic Valley is one of the most convenient locales for Anchorage residents. A six-mile road leads to the parking lot ($5 charge).

But beware where you go after that. Fort Richardson property, including the old Nike Missile Site, is above Arctic Valley, to the left when facing uphill.

"We've been trying to tell folks to head up under the ski lifts," Lloyd said. "There's plenty of berries up there."

Hikers with the Alaska Outdoors hiking group on a blueberry picking expedition were ticketed by Fort Rich security officers July 30 for trespassing on military property, banning them from Army property for a year.

"As we are hikers," noted group member Toshihide Hamazaki, "we naturally went up and visited the Nike site, just walking around the fenced building. I have done this dozens of times in the past.

"When we came back to the parking lot, we were surrounded by Fort Richardson security officers and were ticketed."

Hamazaki and others in the group said they did not see signs warning them to stay away, but since then signs have been posted.

"We went straight up the valley," said Bill Bradshaw, another member of the hiking group. "We took a right up the road and didn't see any signs until we got to the gate."

Bob Hall, a public affairs officer at Fort Richardson, said "a few" citations have been issued this year. Penalties can range from a warning to a federal trespass violation; most, he said, have been the one-year ban from Fort Rich property.

"During the summer, yeah, Arctic Valley is a very popular area. People don't realize our land is off limits."

Hall suggested that hikers and other recreationalists who want to use Army land obtain a recreation-access permit, available at Fort Rich's main gate.

"Then it's a simple phone call to tell which areas are open and which are closed. It tells us who's out in training area, and it tells the public which area is an active training area."

Reach reporter Mike Campbell at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.

RESOURCES

• Army Recreational Access Permit: Details of the USARTRAK system for Fort Richardson, Fort Wainwright and Donnelly Training Area are at www.usarak.army.mil/conservation/rec_usartrak.htm

• Berry Picking for Kids -- Junior Naturalist program helps youngsters learn to identify edible Alaska berries and stay away from what's poisonous. 2 p.m. Aug. 29 at Eagle River Nature Center. Free; $5 parking for non-members.

• Seeds and Berries -- Junior naturalists learn how plants produce and distribute seeds in a hands-on program. 2 p.m. Sept. 12 at Eagle River Nature Center.

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