"Dirty Jobs" camera crew on the site of Avian Influenza monitoring project.

What do cackler cloacae, slippery slime, circling Cessnas, supine cinematographers, and sun-tanned celebrities have in common?  They were all part of a unique public outreach effort conducted recently on the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

For a few days in mid-July, Region 7 and the Refuge hosted the star and crew of the Discovery Channel's popular Dirty Jobs series.  The dirty job de jour was capturing molting Cackling Geese on the muddy banks of the Delta's tidal rivers, and then swabbing their cloacae for avian influenza.

The idea was the brainchild (literally) of Dalton Staller, 8-year old son of refuge Deputy Manager Doug Staller.  Both Dalton and Deb Rocque, Region 7's coordinator for avian influenza, e-mailed the show's producers to suggest that an AI-driven Cackler drive might make for both entertaining and educational television.  The show’s producers clearly agreed and Dirty Jobs' 9-person crew, including show host, Mike Rowe, arrived in Bethel on July 9th with 800 pounds of camera gear, and a helicopter with a gimbal mounted camera.  Deputy Manager Staller hosted an Alaskan potluck for the guests, complete with moose, caribou, musk-ox, salmon, halibut, berries and some traditional Alaska Native dishes.

The next day, the crew was loaded into a chartered float plane and whisked to the Refuge's Kanaryarmiut Field Station, near the shores of the Aphrewn River.  Once there, biologists, pilots, Rowe and a crew of photographers collaborated to capture Cackling Geese in order to both band them and obtain samples for avian influenza analysis.  Over 40 hours of video were shot, much of it by the ever-present helicopter hovering about the site. 

Several Refuge employees were on camera with Mike Rowe teaching him the intricacies of determining the sex of the geese and swabbing cloacae, flying airplanes while driving the birds from the air, and discussing biology and subsistence.  Refuge manager Mike Rearden did the traditional “stand-up comedy” routine with Rowe (with Rearden going against type by playing the straight man), and flew him to the banding site in a Refuge airplane.  Unusually good weather and cooperative birds contributed to a very successful outcome for a logistically complex project.

Pilot George Walters wrapped up the visit with an on-camera demonstration of the Refuge’s unique human waste burner.  You’ll have to see the show to appreciate the humor of that segment, which involved a griddle and some hot cakes.  The program will air on the Discovery channel on August, 28, 2007.