Chris Flickinger is at least a fifth-generation rancher based on Kodiak Island, AK. His ancestors came to North America from Germany and Switzerland in the 16th century and ventured west to Colorado, where they became ranchers.
The four generations before Flickinger ranched in the Gunnison Valley of Colorado, primarily raising cattle. They added chickens and corn to make ends meet during the Great Depression.
Flickinger came to Kodiak Island in 1999 and purchased a 31,000-acre state grazing lease and ranch from a previous rancher, along with the cattle. He named it Pasagshak Ranch after the name of the bay on the grazing lease. The name Pasagshak is derived from the Alutiiq place name “Pas’rsaq” which is believed to be a traditional term for the region.
Flickinger operates the ranch with seasonal help from his father, Don. The ranch is about 40 miles away from the town of Kodiak. It provides food security for Kodiak Island, which is critical since it’s not connected to the contiguous U.S. road system and is vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.
The ranch provides quality beef to more than 80 families a year, harvesting roughly 80 steers annually.
Flickinger cares deeply about the health of his herd and the rangelands they graze. He has taken on multiple projects to improve and maintain resilient and sustainable rangeland.
Over the last 25 years, Flickinger has worked with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to improve grazing management on the leased rangelands. He installed fencing using the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to help him manage where the cattle graze to maintain healthy range conditions and forage quality.
He enrolled in the NRCS Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) to protect sensitive red salmon habitat by fencing out cattle from the riparian areas of Lake Rose Tead—an anadromous lake where thousands of red salmon spawn each year—which is located in his grazing lease.
“When I got here, there was overgrazing in many preferred areas due to unmanaged access by cattle and neighboring bison,” Flickinger said. “By installing fence through EQIP and WHIP, I now have stands of grass for winter grazing, and I generally don’t have to feed hay in the winter. Working with NRCS has been great.”
When asked about what inspires or motivates him to continue ranching into the future, Flickinger replied, “I’ll never get rich doing this, but I love working with the animals and I love being a rancher … doing the work of helping to feed people in Alaska.” — USDA NRCS
