Battling Black Slugs

When I was offered a chance for some deep, rich, earth for gardening in a tiny Southeast Alaska village, I asked if there were any black slugs in it. “If you’re going to garden here, you have to just get used to them!” a resident curtly responded.

And with that began my battle and fascination with the invasive giant black slug, Arion ater.

Tenakee Springs in Southeast Alaska, with a population of 120 souls in summer and possibly a third of that in winter, lies 45 nautical miles south of Alaska’s capital, Juneau. Sitting on Chichagof Island deep in the Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in America, Tenakee Springs is surrounded