Learn how Trustees for Alaska keeps a watchful eye on the state and federal land and wildlife management agencies to protect Alaska’s wilderness and wildlife.
We looked up the hillside and saw a pack of five or six wolves. We spent the next half hour watching their movements. They continued howling while we continued skiing. — Katie Strong shares a story of time in wild places. … Read More
We filed a petition en banc late last month asking the entire Ninth Circuit Court to review a March decision by a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel that allows an Interior Secretary to overrule Congress by approving a land swap that allows a commercial gravel road in Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. So what is an en banc review and why did we petition for one? … Read More
It doesn’t take long spending time with dogs, bears, birds and bees to know they communicate. Some animals even manipulate. Only human animals uniquely share knowledge, wisdom, tall tales and lies through stories. The writer Margaret Atwood describes the origin of storytelling as the coupling of language with concepts of the past, present, and future to help people learn about what happened before—to teach people things to avoid having to learn by trial and error every time.… Read More
The Alaska legislature finishes its first session of the year in mid-May, and there’s a lot going on. Some of it sounds weedy, confusing, even like good news for climate. There’s more than meets the eye, though, so let’s take a look under the surface. … Read More
The thick sludge of winter can get to me sometimes. The dark, the cold, the cycling from snow to slush to ice to snow to—you get the picture. All of it gets old. I suppose that’s how cycles feel sometimes. That’s why we have to break out of them—at least in terms of our emotions and perspectives.… Read More
We argued in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 18 to defend a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to protect brown bears and wolves in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge from the state of Alaska’s aggressive targeting … Read More
It’s hard for me to understand why we can’t look directly at the insurrection, or climate chaos, or the way technology has undermined social connections and democratic principles, and then have the hard, necessary conversations to get back to our common constitutional values. When you really listen to people, you hear the same claims of feeling left out, of feeling demeaned or without opportunities—and the same fears, resentments, anger, and other dangerous emotions—no matter their political perspectives.
There is common ground, even if it’s lost in the chaos and sound bites.… Read More
Okay, it’s true. Sometimes I want to stay in bed. It’s cold and dark, and it’s been a few hard years for all of us, and the water line in the house is taking forever to get fixed, and I’m … Read More
Birds give us song, beauty, food, a vision of flight. Some birds use tools. Some fly thousands and thousands of miles nonstop one way on annual migrations. Some swim as seamlessly as they fly. Some birds rely on specific foods like eelgrass while others eat almost anything. Some birds live all year in Alaska and others fly over oceans and continents to get here.
Seriously, I got really cold hands, along with an amazing birthday week journey to Katmai National Park with friends for a joyful experience of wind, rain, snow and the sight of bears with swinging bellies sleeping, playing, and snatching end-of-season salmon from the Brooks River. … Read More