Memories of Andy Rogers, the Seabeck ‘icon’
February 1st, 2012 by cdunaganHood Canal has lost one of the region’s original environmentalists.
Andy Rogers
Andy Rogers, who died two weeks ago at age 94, might be surprised that I would call him an environmentalist — and he probably wouldn’t like it.
But when it comes to nature, few people could match Andy’s love for Hood Canal. He worked as a trapper, logger and fisherman and often talked about the bounty once found in Hood Canal but now lost to the advance of our civilized society.
Andy would never deny someone the right to move to the Hood Canal region, to build a house, to enjoy the water and woods. But he understood better than most about what development has done to the natural world.
“Every time anybody moves here, it gets worse — and that includes me,” he once told me. “You can’t do anything about it. People have rights. It seems our rights are going to kill us in the country.”
If Andy were alive this week, he’d be one of the first I would call to ask about whether humpback whales — like the one observed on Friday — ever showed up in Hood Canal. (See yesterday’s Water Ways.) Other longtime residents I contacted could not remember seeing humpbacks anytime in the past.
I once asked Andy about resident killer whales — the ones that eat fish. The National Marine Fisheries Service was about to designate “critical habitat” for our endangered orcas, and the agency was not listing Hood Canal as a critical place for them to live.
Andy thought back and remembered watching killer whales when he was younger — and even hearing them breach before he could see them. “We called them ‘blackfish’ in those days,” he said.
I relied on Andy Rogers to put Hood Canal into historical perspective for me while writing a series of articles called “Hood Canal: Splendor at Risk,” a project that grew into a book by the same name.
Much of the Hood Canal region was logged before Andy was born, but he lived to see many second-growth harvests and some areas that grew into harvestable trees for a third time. As a child, Hood Canal was a wilder place.
“When I was 10 or 11 years old,” he said, “I saw a sign that said, ‘No trespassing.’ I went and asked my mother what that was, because I had never seen that before. People went where they wanted to go.”
Some wild animals have been displaced by logging, but the changes were not permanent. Rogers told me that humans remain in control and can decide whether to tolerate cougars, wolves and bears. In days gone by, he said, the answer was simply to kill them on sight.
“Man’s the only one of the species who can control how many there are going to be,” he said.
Andy recalled when salmon were plentiful and arrived on a regular schedule.
“I knew the salmon would start up the creek about the 20th of August,” he told me. “Pert’ near all these stream were full of salmon by Labor Day.”
I think the loss of the salmon saddened him. He once suggested that all fishing be stopped for four years — something that seemed out of character for Andy, a fisherman. But the result, he said, would be an abundance of salmon. People would be able to see the possibilities and learn how to manage salmon for the larger numbers that were possible.
Andy lamented the loss of steelhead. He told me that he remembers when they were thick in all Kitsap County streams. At the time, I wasn’t sure I believed that, because steelhead are so scarce today. You generally go to coastal rivers to find them. But later, after steehead were listed as a threatened species, state biologists told me there was no apparent reason for steelhead not to survive here — except for the fact that there are no fish left to breed.
Rogers said it was poaching that wiped them out. He remembers a man who ran a black market for the prized fish, and this “outlaw” foolishly netted the streams until all the steelhead were gone.
Andy supported reasonable efforts to protect wildlife habitat, “but you cannot shut the door and keep people out,” he insisted.
I concluded my profile of Andy with a comment he made: “Id sure like to stick around and see what this place is like in 50 years.”
If that were only possible, I’m sure many people — including Andy’s coffee and card friends at Seabeck Store — wouldn’t mind listening to his stories a little longer.
At Andy’s request, no services are planned. A military honor ceremony was held today with his family in attendance. Andy Rogers was an Army veteran of World War II.
Survivors include his children, Albert Rogers, Jo Ann Belis, Barbara Smith and Charles Rogers, along with many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Jo Ann told me that she wanted to offer a special thanks to members of the Seabeck Community who had supported Andy through the years. His family placed an obituary in the Kitsap Sun on Jan. 25.
Andy Rogers offered many memories of Hood Canal through the years. This photo, taken in 1991 on Stavis Bay near his home, appeared in the book Hood Canal Splendor at Risk.
Tags: Andy Rogers, Hood Canal, Salmon, Seabeck, Seabeck Store
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February 2nd, 2012 at 10:03 am
I remember Andy as a much younger man when I was a kid. He did occasional work at my grandparents place south of Seabeck. He and Les Lesley (anyone remember Les?) were jack of all trades and Andy especially was a master of trees and chain sawing. And when he lived out by the mouth of Stavis Bay, the garden he planted and tended by his house was a work of art. I would see Andy occasionally over the years at the Seabeck store….plug of tobacco firmly in place. You are right…a real icon.
February 2nd, 2012 at 5:35 pm
We are very fortunate to have Andy’s son Chuck alive and well. He has many of his father’s skills, is an encyclopedia on all things that grow, particularly native plants, and a generous helper-outer to many, giving time, advice, instructions, ideas, both his ears, both his hands when needed, and always with a heart bigger than a harvest moon.
February 2nd, 2012 at 5:58 pm
Worked with Andy when I was working for Carl Hintz logging. Every one liked Andy once they got to know him. Pretty much no nonsense kind of guy. He had one of the best gardens around when he lived at head of the bay. I met the guy who trained Andy to be a faller at Simpson timber at camp Grisdale some years later when I worked there and the guy remembered Andy and spoke highly of him. I also talked with Andy a lot when I lived at Stavis Bay. He was a all round sportsman and timber faller. Loved trapping and fishing. All around woodsman and Icon from Seabeck.
February 3rd, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Andy, I have some great memories from my time as a Cub Scout at the cub day camp that was held there on your property on Stavis Creek. Thanks so much for making that possible.
February 6th, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Speaking of Andy and his garden, we’ll sure miss his presence and his great radishes at our family reunions. They were the best ever; maybe Jo Ann and Carlos will take up where Andy had to leave off.
May 31st, 2012 at 8:07 pm
Loved coming across this article of Andy. We have a family cabin on Hood Point, past Seabeck that has been in our family since around 1960. Andy was a close friend of the Jones family (our family) and would come down every summer and tell us stories of Hood Canal, Seabeck, and nearby areas. He knew how many bear were around, how many cougar, how to catch this or that, tons of fishing stories, just a wealth of information, and amazing to listen to for a child, even through my teenage and adult years. We would always stop at his farm on the way out to get our produce, and I think of him everytime I drive by his old farm. He will surely be missed by many families, and the whole Seabeck community. Thanks for a wonderful article honoring his life.