By Emily Case-Buskirk, Communications Specialist
A recent graduate developed job skills and confidence in her abilities after a unique summer job experience: tracking salmon migration in the Alaska wilderness.
Hillary Morris graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May 2026 with a major in fisheries and wildlife and a focus in fisheries conservation and management.
“Alaska, they call it the Last Frontier, and after going I understand why. Alaska was always a pinnacle of nature and beauty," she said. "Things I never grew up seeing."
It was a bucket list item for Morris to visit Alaska someday. She didn't realize her first job after graduating college would lead her there and she'd get to see its wildness in person.
Morris grew up in larger cities, including Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., Baltimore and Chicago. Going on camping trips with her family was a way for them all to connect with nature.
“We did a ton of outdoorsy stuff growing up, camping and hiking,” she said. "My parents are big on conservation. Growing up, camping taught us about being nice to the outdoors."
She also developed an interest in fish after spending time in lakes.
"On the East Coast I was always on the water. In Chicago, and Lake Michigan, I’ve always loved fishing and looking in tide pools for critters," she said. "My love for wanting to conserve fisheries and fish themselves--that all comes from a love of the water."
When it came to choosing a college, Morris had always wanted to go somewhere far away. After visiting all the colleges she applied to, she had a feeling that Nebraska was the one.
"I love it and I love East Campus," she said. "I’ve never once doubted my gut."
Her original plan going into college was to study to become a vet. However, once she discovered conservation biology, she changed her focus. A fishery science field course helped her develop an interest in fisheries work.
Despite her goal to visit Alaska one day, the opportunity to get a job there wasn't on her radar until after she'd been searching for jobs for a while. After becoming a final candidate in a job just to get rejected, she decided to widen her search. A job application-sending spree landed her an interview for the job she would ultimately get in Alaska: a fisheries technician position for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The position was a seasonal role spanning three months. She was one of six techs on the crew for the summer, with three teams of two techs each going to different remote field camps in remote Alaska. Going into the experience, Morris knew she would be installing and operating a weir, which is a fence-like apparatus in a waterway set up to track the number of fish passing through.
The job operated out of a field office in Soldotna, Alaska. This city is southwest of Anchorage and has humbling views of trees, mountains and lakes extending to the horizon.
Morris and the other techs were helping with an effort called the JCL Weirs project, one of many weir projects the Department runs every year. They worked to count populations and get samples for sockeye salmon.
For the first two weeks, Morris and the other techs prepared for the six weeks they would be working in remote locations. They were trained on operating equipment including small motorboats. They also prepared meal plans and went shopping for groceries and other supplies.
"The day-to-day was a lot of training," she said. "We would have these crew meetings and just talk about different things we may need to know."
Despite all the work, Morris quickly bonded with her teammates, who were from all over the U.S. Having a team leader to encourage this camaraderie also helped. Anna Freedman-Peel, a fishery biologist at Alaska Department of Fish and Game, organized a birthday celebration for Morris, who had a birthday during training.
"My birthday was our third day of work and that was our boat training," she said. "We went to hidden lake and at the end, Anna was like, 'Why don’t you go out with Brayden and Jay and get a photo.' We loop back out on the island and pull in, and the rest of the crew had cake and chips and a card. They surprised me and we all hungout.
"To me, that was one of the best examples of us as a crew. Unless you’ve worked at a weir camp you can’t understand. It made this fun rapport."
Operating the weir
After two weeks of training, the techs were sent to different weir sites. Morris and her partner, Celeste Jerome, were assigned to Larson Lake. This is a 614-acre lake in Matanuska-Susitna County, Alaska, which is 15 miles east of Talkeetna, Alaska.
Over these six weeks, the techs worked seven days a week with no breaks. They had five mandatory checks per day, and sampled fish once per day.
"Our field sites were looking at escapement in the Susitna River drainage," she said. "That’s where (some of) the fish come through to spawn."
To complete a check on the fish population, they'd open pickets of the weir and count the fish that came through for at least a half hour, up to an hour and a half. They would also pull a fish to record characteristics including length and sex, plus take a scale sample. This data helps biologists see how this year's stock is shaping up and estimate the age of the population.
In between these checks, they had maintenance work and chores, which included collecting water from a spring and cooking.
"We were living in a dry cabin, we had no water or electricity," Morris said. "There were a lot of things that went into just living out there. "
Making food was an ongoing effort. They had to get their groceries in resupply shipments, and they had limited fridge and freezer space. Because of this, they had to get creative with their ingredients, often using canned meats and vegetables.
"It would turn out, way more things can be canned than you would think," she said. "That was kind of one of the difficult parts, the lack of access to fresh foods and ingredients, but we were able to get (foods) like cucumbers and lemons."
Through their culinary creativity, Morris and Jerome made pizzas, shepherd's pie and lots of pastas.
Outside their job duties and cabin upkeep, they had plenty of downtime to spend in the stunning wilderness.
"In between we would do our own thing: go swimming on the lake, if it’s a nice day take a boat out to the cove and just hangout," she said. "I did a lot of reading, a lot of yoga."
They also had video check-ins with other techs, which Morris said helped keep her going through the six weeks.
Takeaways from Alaska
The experience of working independently and remotely in Alaska gave Morris much more self-efficacy.
"I developed this independence and confidence in my decisions and my abilities," she said. "When we’re out there, our bosses were six hours away, no one around to hold our hand and walk us through things. We were responsible for every judgment call when it came to work."
There were plenty of challenges and situations that required Morris and Jerome to think on their feet, but they had the full support of Freedman-Peel and their team.
"(Freedman-Peel) was really supportive and encouraging throughout the process," Morris said. "As it often does in field work, a lot of things went wrong constantly. Having a boss and a crew like that just made a huge difference. What could have easily been multiple existential crises turned into laughing it off and getting it done together. They were awesome."
After making it through this experience, Morris said she feels like she can take on just about anything.
"I have a little bit of this fearlessness now," she said. "It was really fun to push myself to see how far I could go, and I feel like Alaska really did that and I did it. Not only did I do it, but I loved it."
The temporary position showed Morris how much she loves field and seasonal work. She is now working as a tech in the lab of Rene Martin, Assistant Professor at UNL, a position she will have until January. Her goals moving forward are to seek out more remote positions and get a master's degree.
"I’d love to keep going to live in little corners of the U.S. and see some places I’ve never seen before and work with cool fish," she said.