Eric and Pam Bealer transcended their earthly bodies in September of 2018.  They chose to leave a legacy gift for Wilderness and left their estate to the Sitka Conservation Society’s Living Wilderness Fund. The Sitka Conservation Society considers this a great honor and we are humbled by their gift. We will honor their love of the wilderness through the stewardship of these spectacular areas of intact ecosystems and by working to protect West Chichagof–Yakobi Wilderness so that future generations may continue to be as inspired by this remarkable place as Eric and Pam were.

Pam and Eric with some of their beloved animals

Over the course of the summer, I visited five different Wilderness Areas located in the Tongass National Forest. In these places, I had the pleasure of interacting with people who were using these public lands. The Tongass National Forest has the most Wilderness Areas of any National Forest, both in the number of areas and in acreage and draws people from across Alaska and the United States to visit these untrammeled areas. Unfortunately, a congressional movement led by Alaska’s own Senator, Lisa Murkowski, is threatening the existence of treasured public lands across the country. This summer, I was able to talk with people using their public lands and was reenergized, because the American public wants a different outcome for their public lands.

Sign welcoming visitors to the Karta River Wilderness on Prince of Wales

To the people I met, Alaska’s public lands are:

 A place for family

 In the Karta River Wilderness, I met a father and daughter who lived near Hollis on Prince of Wales. The daughter had recently returned from college and was excited to explore the bountiful recreation Southeast Alaska has to offer. To celebrate her arrival, she was fishing in the river, hoping to catch a salmon for dinner, while her father was picking blueberries to complete the dinner with a pie. The tandem also set crab and fishing pots in the bay in case the fish weren’t biting. To this family, it was clear that the Karta River Wilderness provided a short escape from town, where cars weren’t zooming by—instead fish were—and one could enjoy time with a loved one alongside a flowing river.

 An escape from the elements

 While traveling through a narrow channel in the Maurelle Islands Wilderness, I came across a sailboat anchored in a wonderfully protected location. While talking to the couple on board the sailboat, I learned that they had been anchored there for the past two days as heavy winds were blowing and had a great time kayaking around in the protected waters around their anchorage. They also mentioned how peaceful their time anchored was, as they had not seen another person or boat during the past two days. The couple noted that earlier in their sailing adventure, they stayed at a Forest Service public use cabin outside of Petersburg with their grandchildren and had an absolute blast. In fact, they considered Forest Service cabins one of the best recreation deals around and were flabbergasted when told that there was currently only one permanent staff on all of Prince of Wales (the fourth largest island in the United States) that was supposed to maintain all of their Forest Service cabins.

View from the Maurelle Islands Wilderness

 A place to see what you can’t see anywhere else

 In Travels in Alaska, John Muir described Tracy Arm as a “wild unfinished Yosemite,” and the Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness continues to amaze thousands of visitors every year. Unfortunately, the glaciers in this Wilderness Area are quickly retreating. To educate visitors about the wonders of the area and also explain the challenges climate change presents to wilderness, Wilderness Rangers in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness give educational talks aboard small cruise tours. On a trip where I was assisting these Wilderness Rangers, I was able to join in on one of these educational talks. We started the talk by asking, “Who is loving their trip so far?” and “Who has been awed by something during this trip?” After every hand in the room went up, including my own, we began to inquire why people booked their trip to Alaska. The answers that flooded in included that they, ”wanted to see what you can’t see anywhere else,” that they “wanted to see glaciers and wildlife” and that they “wanted to get away.” Everyone agreed that their expectations had been exceeded and were delighted by the numerous bears, eagles, whales, seals and mountain goats that they saw during their time in Southeast Alaska.

Sawyer Glacier in Tracy-Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness

A sportsmen/sportswomen’s dream

Back in the Karta River Wilderness, I talked on a few different occasions to two different parties from the lower 48 that were having a grand time on their fishing trip. Both parties were staying at a Forest Service Cabin on the river, a vacation they plan every few years, and were catching plenty of fish to keep their enthusiasms high. One of the groups came from Arizona and the other was from Oregon, and although the combined number of times these people had visited Alaska was over two dozen, their excitement about catching fish in a wild salmon stream and hiking a trail that wasn’t crowded was contagious and youthful.

Floatplane departing with a group of sport fishermen who were stayed at the Salmon Lake Cabin in the Karta River Wilderness

Whether I was talking to a visitor from Boston on a small cruise boat in the Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness or to a community elder from Angoon in the Kootznoowoo Wilderness, a resounding theme was present in my conversations. People do not see these areas as places of restrictions, where you can’t use generators, mountain bikes or drill for oil. Instead, people see these Wilderness Areas as places of opportunity, where you can seek solitude, fish productive waters and find challenging hikes.

 Despite my inspiring interactions with visitors in Wilderness, the unfortunate reality of our political climate is uncomforting. Congress, led by Lisa Murkowski, has introduced amendments to try to open backcountry lands, including Wilderness Study Ares, in the lower 48 and Alaska to mining, drilling and logging. These politicians want state and local governments to seize federal public lands and open them up to private endeavors and other development. This pressure to seize federal public land is occurring, despite the fact a public opinion strategy poll found that 72% of Americans prefer public lands to be managed by federal agencies instead of state governments.

View of Sumdum Glacier in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror, threatened not only by climate change but also by political agendas

Alaska is teeming with wondrous public land, public land that should remain open to the American people, not given to the oligarchy that is trying to run our country. We must speak up and let our voices be heard. Please write or email your elected officials and let them know that you support your federal public lands, or sign the #KeepItPublic petition here.

Over a month ago, I met four vibrant teenagers, between the age 15 and 16, who were eager to learn about wilderness conservation and preservation by immersing themselves within the Tongass National Forest.  This Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) crew hailed from as far as Mobile, Alabama and as near as Tenakee Springs, Alaska. After a whirlwind of activities that had the crew building a community greenhouse in Angoon, working trail crew on the Cross Admiralty Island Canoe Route and removing an invasive plant in the Kootznoowoo Wilderness, I am confident that four new defenders of wilderness were born.

The Youth Conservation Corp crew walking in Angoon to go berry picking; (from left to right: Elizabeth Crawford, Breeze Anderson, Travis Maranto and Jaxon Collins)

Watching four teenagers develop into wilderness stewards was truly a delightful experience to witness. These four individuals have now returned to their respective homes, and I know that conversations with family and friends have been sparked about the need for conservation and preservation initiatives throughout the United States.

Let’s hear for ourselves what these new wilderness defenders have to say about their experience.

Breeze Anderson: Anchorage/False Pass, Alaska

What did you like most about the YCC experience? Do you have a best memory?

What I enjoyed most about the YCC experience was getting to meet new people and being able to help the environment out. My best memory was … I don’t know. There are a lot!

You’ve been in Southeast Alaska for a month now. What are your impressions of it now?

It is really pretty and really different from what I’m used too. There are so many trees! It is also really wild and has a lot to offer.

What is life in the field really like? What are the best and most challenging parts of living at a wilderness base camp?

Life in the field is pretty great. When you are in the field, you focus on one task without the distractions. There is solitude to think about what your task is without having the distraction of phones. Also, the dinners aren’t bad either!

What did you learn from your experience?

I learned that there is a lot going on that you can be blissfully ignorant towards. You could be walking down the trail not knowing the work that goes into it or walking down the beach without knowing that there is an invasive species taking over an area. This experience showed me that there is a lot more going on in an area than what I know.

Breeze and Dana Kimbell (U.S. Forest Service) boating across Lake Alexander

Travis Maranto: Sealy, Texas

What did you like most about the YCC experience? Do you have a best memory?

I liked getting to be in the Togass, because you can’t get this experience in Texas. There's practically no public lands or forest stewardship in Texas.  My best memory is catching my first pink salmon and cooking it in the field! I also enjoyed foraging for berries and tea and hiking.

You’ve been in Southeast Alaska for a month now. What are your impressions of it now?

Beautiful, breathtakingly beautiful. The wilderness is always harsh, but loving at the same time.

What is life in the field really like? What are the best and most challenging parts of living at a wilderness base camp?

It is challenge to hike gear back and forth between the kitchen and camp. Overall, I loved soaking up the sun and enjoying life.

What did you learn from your experience?

I learned more about how to protect and conserve wilderness areas. Also that many Forest Service employees got their start in YCC programs, and that I have a career to look forward to and a goal to strive for.

Travis celebrating the finding of a bear bone

Jaxon Collins: Tenakee Springs, Alaska

What did you like most about the YCC experience? Do you have a best memory?

Working together with strangers as we developed a better sense of wilderness and the problems that are occurring to wilderness right now. The whole experience was great. I don’t think I have a best memory.

What is life in the field really like? What are the best and most challenging parts of living at a wilderness base camp?

Life in camp is like a puzzle. Some things are really easy to find and put together, but sometimes the piece just doesn’t fit. Arguing happens, but it usually comes together to make one great picture.

What ended up being the biggest challenge during this time?

To me, the biggest challenge was picking up beach trash. It seemed like a never-ending task and that people will continue to destroy marine habitat.

What did you learn from your experience?

I learned that even if you have complete different opinions, you can be working to fight for the same thing. For example, [John] Muir and [Gifford] Pinchot.

Jaxon working on a trail structure in the Kootznoowoo Wilderness

Elizabeth Crawford: Mobile, Alabama

What did you like most about the YCC experience? Do you have a best memory?

I like being in Alaska. I love how beautiful it is here. I don’t want to go home. Meeting everyone was a highlight of the experience.

You’ve been in Southeast Alaska for a month now. What are your impressions of it now?

It is beautiful. From what everyone keeps saying, I imagine the weather has been remarkably nice. We were told it was going to be really rainy, but it really hasn’t been too rainy. 

What is life in the field really like? What are the best and most challenging parts of living at a wilderness base camp?

Life in the field requires a lot of hiking, and hiking is really hard. But it is also really rewarding.

What did you learn from your experience?

I learned how to hike. I also learned that boats and planes are fun.

Elizabeth and myself on the second flight of her life, which happened to be in a float plane

Although federally designated Wilderness Areas may have the highest protection of any public resource, Wilderness Areas are by no means void of threats that degrade their wilderness resource. The YCC crew worked to mitigate some of these threats, as we collected an abundance of beach trash and pulled thousands of invasive weeds. We also spent time reflecting on the best strategies and techniques to preserve wild places. As a group, the YCC decided that the best way to protect these places is to bring people to these areas, because spending time in the grandeur of wilderness allows the land to most eloquently speak for itself and inspire its preservation. Since the founding of the Sitka Conservation Society (SCS), SCS has also believed in this technique and remains committed to connecting people to Wilderness Areas throughout the Tongass. Working with the Youth Conservation Corps and the U.S. Forest Service during this time has been a pleasure, and we are thrilled to have four lively youth added to the network of millions of people working to protect our Wilderness Areas. 

Practiced wilderness steward Dana (left) shares the view of Mole Harbor with emerging wilderness stewards Breeze (middle) and Jaxon (right)

For more information about my time with the Youth Conservation Corps or about wilderness stewardship in the Tongass, please contact me at mike@sitkawild.org.

When visiting a wild landscape, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the expansive beauty of the place, overlooking what troubles may exist in the area. However, this does not mean these places are free of ecological or anthropological issues. On July 3, the four members of the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), Chrissie Post (U.S. Forest Service Wilderness Ranger), Irene Owsley (volunteer and renowned photographer) and myself spent 6 days in Whitewater Bay focusing our energy on managing these wilderness issues that are easy to neglect.

The View of Table Mountain from our camp in Whitewater Bay

The biggest project of this trip was hand pulling an invasive plant: black bindweed (Fallopia convolvulus). Black bindweed is listed as a restricted noxious weed in Alaska and management of black bindweed in Whitewater Bay began in 2009. Despite these efforts, there was still an abundance of black bindweed found in the area, meaning there was no shortage of work to keep us busy. However monotonous pulling an invasive plant may be, it does offer excellent time for reflection, allowing the group to engage in meaningful discussions about conserving wilderness areas. During one of these discussions about how to protect these wild areas, YCC crewmember, Jaxon Collins, offered the insight that the goal of conservation and preservation organizations may be shortsighted. Jaxon said, “We shouldn’t be working to answer why we need to protect these areas, but instead, we should be working to stop these questions from being asked.” This was just one of the countless times, that the learning was being done by myself as well as the YCC crew. 

Breeze searching for black bindweed to pull

Besides picking a gargantuan amount of bindweed, we also spent time picking up beach trash. We found fishing nets, tsunami debris and a lot of plastic. One day we walked to Woody Point, the point where Chatham Strait gives way to Whitewater Bay and were besieged by the amount beach trash. Although we were in a Wilderness Area over 15 miles away from the closest inhabited community of Angoon, we were reminded once again that we were not removed from human disturbance.

Jaxon removing beach trash found near Woody Point

The elegance and wildness of wilderness areas can make it is easy to overlook the human influences that are present in these areas. The YCC group gained experience in noticing these intricacies first hand, as they dove into projects that included removing invasive plants, bagging up beach trash and inventorying illusive campsites. The goal of the this trip was not only to manage an invasive species and clean up a wilderness area, but it was also to show the challenges that are facing wilderness managers throughout the United States. By showing these challenges, combined with the stunning scenery of wilderness areas, we hope to educate more people about the issues facing wilderness and develop more defenders of wild areas. As Edward Abbey famously said, “the idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.” I know that the opportunities provided to these teenagers have created four new defenders of wilderness and hopefully a group of citizens who will decipher how to “stop these questions from being asked.”

Jaxon, Elizabeth and Travis working to remove bindweed from the Kootznoowoo Wilderness

The Youth Conservation Corps finished their month residence in the Tongass and returned to their respective homes last week. It has been an amazing experience for all people and parties involved. Stay tuned for a final blog about the YCC!

On June 23, the four members of the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) and myself teamed up with the Angoon Community Association (ACA) Watershed crew and took a floatplane from Angoon to Lake Alexander in the Kootznoowoo wilderness area. Lake Alexander is a beautiful Lake across Admiralty Island on the Cross Island Canoe route. Lake Alexander has a U.S. Forest Service cabin on one side of the lake and a Forest Service shelter on the other side. Our group stayed at the cabin and met with three Forest Service Cabins and Trails employees as well as the ACA Watershed Crew staying across Lake Alexander in the mornings for our workdays.

Elizabeth stepping off the floatplane in Lake Alexander. Amazing to think that three weeks ago, she had never been on a plane.

When we arrived at the Lake Alexander cabin, Forest Service employee, Dana Kimbell, was waiting at the cabin to help us settle into our home for the next eight days. After setting up our tents and putting our food in the bear box, Dana instructed us how to clean the inside and outside of the cabin up to standard. Dana also guided the crew as we painted two sides of the cabin and stained the window frames and door to the cabin.

Jaxon painting a side of the Lake Alexander Cabin

When Dana left that evening to return to her camp on the other side of the lake, Zach Holder, a fellow Admiralty Island National Monument Cabins and Trails employee who was picking up Dana on the skiff, forewarned me, “Eat a big meal tonight and an even bigger meal tomorrow for breakfast. Trail work is a lot different than cabin work.” His hint was well received by the crew and myself, but that did not mean we were completely ready for the grueling work that lay ahead.

The view from our camp across Lake Alexander at Mount Distik

The following morning, we started our trail work activities. The section of trail we were working on was on the back half of the Lake Alexander shelter to Mole harbor 2-mile portage trail. To assist with the project, we hiked 1.3 miles to our work site with pack boards strapped down with puncheon boards and four-foot 4x6s, peeled trees for trail structures, assisted in building and digging these structures and collected moss to re-vegetate the area around the structures.

Breeze and Jaxon enjoying a lunch break away from the mud

This work had no shortage of carrying heavy packs or getting muddy. In fact, at one time, YCC crewmember Travis said, “Eight year-old Travis would love this job, getting paid to play in mud. Oh, who am I kidding, I love this job!” Although the rain, muck and tedious work made for long days, the crew enjoyed their time spent working on these projects.

Travis hammering in the puncheon boards for the boardwalk 

Upon completing our puncheon walkway across the wet muskeg trail and our staircase, we took our services to a different section along the Cross Island Canoe route. The next section of trail we focused on was the 1/3-mile portage between Beaver Lake and Lake Hasselborg. On our first day working on that trail, we also met with a group of Forest Service VIPs that included Leslie Weldon, the National Forest System's Deputy Chief. It was a great experience for the crew to be recognized for their hard work and to be encouraged to work to protect natural resources in their career and life paths.

Jaxon investigating a rough-skinned newt he found near the Beaver Lake Trailhead

The Admiralty Island Canoe Route has attracted adventurous canoeists since the mid 1930s when the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed portages to connect the lakes and bays and also built shelters. On the second to last day, we took our stab at a short 1/3-mile portage, although we were not participating in the traditional canoe portage. Instead, a team of 10 that included ACA watershed members, YCC members, and Forest Service employees grabbed onto a long rope harness and dragged a large skiff across the Beaver Lake to Lake Hasselborg trail. After successfully completing this portage, we took a slightly smaller skiff uphill from Lake Hasselborg to Beaver Lake. This trip inspired me to complete the Cross Admiralty Canoe Route, but any intention on bringing a 5-person skiff with me was quickly terminated. A pack raft seems like a better means to cross the island.

Breeze and Travis exploring the fashion opportunities granted by bear bones found on a side trip to Mole Harbor

On our final day, we broke down camp and cleaned up the cabin. As we sat together waiting for the floatplane pick-up, we discussed the highs and lows of the trip. Laughs were shared and hardships remembered. When taking off from Lake Alexander, we took one final look at our beautiful base camp for the past week and smiled a tired, triumphant smile.

The crew in front of the lake Alexander Cabin. (Front row from left to right: Dana Kimbell (U.S. Forest Service) and Breeze Anderson; Back row from left to right: Elizabeth Crawford, Mike Belitz (SCS), Travis Maranto and Jaxon Collins)

The Youth Conservation Corps has one final trip before leaving the Tongass and heading back to their respective homes. This final trip begins on Friday, June 3, when the crew boats to Whitewater Bay in the Kootznoowoo Wilderness. On this trip, the crew will inventory and pull invasive plants, clean up the shoreline of debris and assist U.S. Forest Service archeologists in searching for possible petroglyphs. I have no doubt that another extraordinary experience will come of this trip and a greater land ethic will be instilled in these future wilderness champions. 

For more information about the YCC, please feel free to e-mail Mike at mike@sitkawild.org

The island of Admiralty remains to this day a place preserved almost entirely as Wilderness. Home to the highest density of brown bears in North America, a population of a few hundred residents, and prolific stands of old-growth that never saw the saw, this country, by anyone’s definition, the federal government’s included, is Wild. But the briefest of glances at Admiralty’s history makes immediately evident that this future was never assured; the preserved state of this landscape never necessarily its inevitable fate. To quite the contrary, nature on Admiralty has known many threats, its trees for decades the particular envy of loggers throughout Southeast. But despite the long history of people seeking to degrade Admiralty, there exists an equally long history and tradition of people working to defend it. This past week, I had the privilege of meeting the four individuals adding yet another chapter to this story of wilderness stewardship on Admiralty Island.

The Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) project taking place on Admiralty is engaging four youth from around the country in community and conservation work. Sponsored by the Forest Service and supported by the Sitka Conservation Society, this corps has been tasked with initiatives that address the health of Admiralty’s Kootznoowoo wilderness, its community of Angoon, and, hopefully, each YCC’s commitment to conservation, by bringing them into contact and communion with the land. Such connection, SCS has always believed, lies at the essence of environmental ethic and action. Or in other words, the land itself is oftentimes its own most effective advocate, the best thing we can do being simply to bring people out to it. By employing youth to work with our public lands, the YCC program is thus very much aligned with the model of conservation advocacy that SCS has always practiced. And by helping the Forest Service host this corps branch, we have been able to foster these person-place connections with an incredibly important segment of society: the rising generation of potential environmental stewards. 

When I arrived in Angoon, the YCCs had just completed construction of a community greenhouse, and were soon to set off for three weeks in the Kootznoowoo Wilderness. There they would be participating in shelter and trail maintenance, non-native plant control, and general restoration and monitoring – projects to which the Forest Service had put the Civilian Conservation Corps over eighty years ago, as part of the New Deal.

Sitting at the doorstep of Kootznoowoo – having just witnessed a whale pass by, listening to the roaring of a sea lion, and sated by the salmonberries we had picked on our hike – I had the chance to talk to the YCCs about their thoughts on the Wilderness, this tradition of stewardship, and the Southeast Alaskan environment in which they were immersed.

Below is some of what each of them had to say:

How much did you know about Wilderness before this program?

Jaxon Collins: Not a lot.
Breeze Anderson: I didn’t know anything.
Elizabeth Crawford: Not really anything.
Travis Maranto: Not very much.

And what do you know and think now?

Jaxon: I know that there are people who have been trying hard their whole lives to keep wilderness intact, and I think other people should try and respect that.
Breeze: I think that to work with nature, in particular these Wilderness areas, is a necessity, and that it needs to be done before we ruin it.
Elizabeth: This landscape already feels as if its home to me.
Travis: I’ve always had a love and respect for nature, but I never truly understood Wilderness as being so free and untrammeled. Just being in this space you immediately sense something special about it.

Why are you excited about the wilderness stewardship work ahead?

Jaxon: It’s just amazing to be one of the first youth groups out here in a while doing this. Maybe it can inspire others who have an interest to take action too.
Breeze: This work gives me hope. Hope that these efforts to conserve can keep going, since they’ve already been going on for so long.
Elizabeth: I just feel very fortunate to have been picked to come here. You need trees to breathe and well, to really do everything. And now here I am standing in their beauty and I get to help protect them. That makes me excited.
Travis: I have such a deep respect and love for wild places, and I don’t think there’s enough of them. In the modern age, humans have been destroying them rapidly. When you think about the millions of years Earth has been here, we’ve only been here a very short period of time, and we’ve already done a great deal to screw it up. I’m here because I want to do a something to fix that, and convince others to do so too.

If there’s one thing you would say to people to convince people that these places are worthy of protection, what would it be?

Jaxon: When you’re out here, you get to forget about all of the worries of life and just be yourself. It’s incredibly freeing.
Breeze: There’s a saying I like which goes: “we think we own the land, when really the land has no owner.” Being out here, in this stunning landscape, I get reminded of that fact. I mean, this place has been here for ages, and to help it stay the way it is rather than destroying it, that’s a powerful thing to be a part of.
Elizabeth: We always say in my family that we only have one Earth. In society we’re always searching for the newer, cooler thing. But why ruin what we already have, what we’ve relied on for all our lives? We need to appreciate and protect our Earth, because it gives us so much we don’t even realize.
Travis: Nature gives so much to us – wood, salmon, sustenance, fresh air – and we’ve been taking these things from nature for thousands of years in a manner that didn’t also destroy it. But now in modern times we’ve just been trashing the ecosystem. And I can participate in that destruction, or I can jump in and help.

Hailing from as nearby as Tenakee Springs, Alaska or as faraway as Mobile, Alabama, these four YCC members represent a diversity of background and experience. But it was clear from our conversations that a commonality of spirit exists amongst them when it comes to caring for and conserving the land. Which comes as good news, because as Matthew Fred Sr., the Tlingit elder of Angoon, bluntly put it, when it comes to conservation, “there are no guarantees. You have to fight for what you want.” Just as we owe Kootznoowoo’s current state to our predecessors who fought to preserve it, generations to come will inherit the landscape that our actions in the present have left to them.

And although wilderness exists in the minds of many an inviolable place, the truth is that these landscapes are not immune to assault. Just this year, an airport has been proposed within the boundaries of Kootznoowoo, and as of a few days ago, Admiralty’s Green's Creek Mine expansion project broke ground, threatening to leach more contaminants into the nearby Wilderness environment as waste product. All of which just serves as a reminder that wilderness work is the responsibility of each successive generation, or at least each generation that continues to find some value, apart from the economic, in these areas. It is unfortunate, but a reality, that lands with many threats require many defenders. Whether you’re examining the specific story of Admiralty, the history of Alaska, or America’s past more broadly, one fact will remain true throughout: the tree one person alone could fell it has taken many people to defend.

On the surface, I admit, this seems a depressing reality. But I wonder if, in some ways, this is actually the condition from which conservation also derives its strength, as it makes conservation, in my mind at least, inherently an act of community – something that requires conversation with the past, cooperative action in the present, and a commitment to fostering stewardship in the caretakers of the future. What I saw during my visit to Angoon was the YCC program doing just that: educating youth about the history of our public lands; engaging them in present preservation efforts; and empowering them to be future conservationists. And thus, while the future of public lands should not be taken for granted, never assumed as assured, of one thing it seems we can be certain: if the YCC is any indication, there remain those out there willing and eager to take on the cause of continued stewardship and service. 

The YCC crew, from left to right: Travis, Jaxon, Breeze, and Elizabeth

Be sure to stay updated on the YCC throughout the remainder of the month by way of the SCS Facebook page. Have specific questions about the YCC? Feel free to email to their crew leader, SCS’s own Mike Belitz (mike@sitkawild.org). And for more on wilderness stewardship at SCS, keep checking our website, or call (907-747-7509) or email (edie@sitkawild.org) to get involved. We’d love to hear from you! 

The Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) arrived in Juneau on Friday, June 12! The corps will be working on Admiralty Island for four weeks this summer, helping with various community and conservation projects. The crew consists of four 15-16 year olds from across the United States. The Corps met up in Juneau where they were greeted by Kevin Hood, the Wilderness Program Manager for Admiralty Island National Monument, and myself. After a few safety sessions, shopping for food and getting the crew outfitted for work in the rainy (albeit, it has been unbelievably sunny since the crew arrived) Tongass National Forest, we said our good-byes to Kevin and loaded the ferry to Angoon, where the corps will be based out of for four weeks. 

The crew on the MV Leconte, riding from Juneau to Angoon 

The Sitka Conservation Society (SCS) was born when a group of citizens worked to designate a Wilderness Area north of Sitka to protect the area from logging. To excite people about Wilderness, the SCS founders understood that people needed to experience the landscape to form a connection to it and ultimately to be motivated to protect wild places. The Youth Conservation Corps works to continue connecting people to wild places by bringing youth to Wilderness Areas, exciting them about Wilderness and ultimately encouraging them to become advocates of conservation. We live in an age of environmental crisis, and in order to live more responsibly with the land, there must be a shift in the way we view natural areas. By bringing youth to an amazing Wilderness Area in Southeast Alaska, we are working not only to create stewards of the environment, but we are also working to form stewards of their communities and themselves.

Now, let’s meet the crew!

Name: Breeze Anderson   Hometown: Anchorage, Alaska

Why did you choose to work with the Youth Conservation Corps?

I thought it would be a good opportunity to see a different part of Alaska that I have never been to, and I thought it would be great to help with conservation projects.

 What are your first impressions of Southeast Alaska?

It is so different from what I was used too! It is so green and so pretty!

What are you looking forward to most during this time? 

Helping out with community and conservation projects. I am also excited about meeting all these new people and hearing their stories.

 Give three words to describe how you are feeling right now.

Amazed, Happy and Yarrow

Name: Jaxon Collins     Hometown: Tenakee Springs, Alaska

Why did you choose to work with the Youth Conservation Corps?

I like nature, and this gave me an opportunity to spend time in a really nice place in Southeast Alaska. I also really wanted to help preserve nature, especially in this area.

What are your first impressions of the Youth Conservation Corps?

It is extremely rewarding and doing a lot of good work to help out communities and natural areas. 

What are you looking forward to most during this time?

Getting to know my crew as we help to preserve nature and work with the native community of Angoon.

Give three words to describe how you are feeling right now.

Calm, Surprised and Awestruck

Name: Elizabeth Crawford    Hometown: Mobile, Alabama

Number of times on a plane before YCC: 0

Number of times on a boat before YCC: 0

Why did you choose to work with the Youth Conservation Corps?

 I’m really big on conservation work in general, and I have wanted to work on a conservation project for a while. My mom saw an email, and we thought this would be an awesome opportunity to help on some conservation projects.

What are your first impressions of Southeast Alaska?

It’s beautiful here, and this may seem weird but this place kind of seems like home to me, even though I arrived less than a week ago.

What are you looking forward to most during this time?

Working to help the community of Angoon out as much as possible while I am here. 

Give three words to describe how you are feeling right now.

Zen, Happy and Tired

Name: Travis Maranto   Hometown: Sealy, Texas

Why did you choose to work with the Youth Conservation Corps?

I chose to work with the YCC because I wanted to make a difference, help the community and help the untamed wilderness because it does so much for us, but we need to do our part to help it in return.

What are your first impressions of Southeast Alaska?

The overwhelming untamed beauty that is Admiralty Island amazes me. This will be one of the most amazing summers that I will ever have.

 What are you looking forward to most during this time?

Helping out the community and exploring Admiralty Island as a group.

Give three words to describe how you are feeling right now.

Content, Relaxed and Untrammeled

Currently, the group is working in Angoon helping the community with a few projects. The main project is constructing a community greenhouse. The group will also help work to protect the beautiful Kootznoowoo Wilderness on Admiralty Island, by helping with cabins and trail work around Lake Alexander and also by surveying and treating invasive plants in Whitewater Bay.

Jaxon and Breeze working on setting the greenhouse foundation

This will no doubt be an amazing summer for the YCC and myself, and stay tuned for more pictures and posts on the YCC group!

Terrible news for the Tongass this week: Around 70,000 acres of the Tongass are being turned over to Sealaska for development.

As Davey Lubin told the Sitka Sentinel this week, “I’m highly disappointed that our treasured, priceless public lands have been privatized. It’s a huge loss for the whole nation … What Theodore Roosevelt established as a national legacy, Lisa Murkowski has squandered.”

This week’s developments show that not even our National Forests are protected from corporate control. Congress and the American public need to give this issue more scrutiny. Read the article below to hear SCS Executive Director Andrew Thoms’s take on the Sealaska Lands Bill. The article below was printed in the Sitka Sentinel on Monday, December 15.

By SHANNON HAUGLAND, Sentinel Staff Writer

A bill transferring 70,000 acres of land from the Tongass National Forest to Sealaska Corp. passed Congress on Friday.

Rodman Bay (Photo provided by Sitka Conservation Society)

“It has taken seven years, but I’m proud to say that we finally completed the land conveyance for Southeast Alaska’s nearly 20,000 Native shareholders, and at the same time ensured that the region’s remaining timber mills have timber,” said U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski in a news release, following the vote on Friday.

The Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization and Jobs Protection Act was included in the bipartisan package of lands bills approved Friday as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. It provides Sealaska with 70,075 acres to finalize the transfer of land owed to the Native shareholders under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

“Some 43 years after passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the federal government will finally finish paying the debt we owe Natives for the settlement of their aboriginal land claims,” Murkowski said in the announcement.

The land transfer includes more than 68,000 acres available for logging, including land in Rodman Bay and Sinitsin Cove near Sitka, as well as 1,009 acres for renewable energy resources and recreational tourism, and 490 acres of Native cemetery and historic sites.

The legislation also includes about 152,067 acres of old-growth timber in new conservation areas to protect salmon and wildlife habitat, Murkowski said. The bill goes next to the president for his signature.

Representatives of Sealaska Corp. were unavailable for comment.

Sitka Tribe of Alaska Tribal Council Chairman Michael Baines said he was pleased by the news, which he ran across this weekend on Facebook.

“I’m 100 percent pleased, the council is pleased,” he said. He noted that the STA Tribal Council passed a resolution last week in support of the compromise legislation proposed by Murkowski.

Baines said he believes the legislation will be beneficial to tribal citizens.

“I hope it will mean an improved economic development for the corporation which will mean more dividends for the tribal citizens,” he said. “I hope it will mean jobs in Sitka but as far as I know there hasn’t been any jobs from the regional corporation.”

Asked whether he believes the land will be developed and logged any differently than in the past, Baines said, “I hope they’ve learned their lesson. They’ve done that before – and it’s taken decades to bring back more trees that they can log.”

Sitka Conservation Society Andrew Thoms said he was disappointed by the news.

“Anytime that public lands are given to a private corporation, it’s a loss for everyone,” he said. “It’s going to mean 70,000 acres of some of the best timber land in the Tongass put into Sealaska hands, and the old-growth stands they’ve been given are some of the best remaining stands of cedar left on the Tongass. The burden is on Sealaska now to do what’s best for the shareholders in the region.”

He called old-growth cedar a “cultural treasure of the peoples of the Pacific Northwest.”

“As Sealaska now owns those best stands of cedar, are they going to continue to foster that connection, or will it be exported to Asian markets?” Thoms said. “It’s about more than just (habitat). The cedar trees in those stands are thousands of years old, and they won’t grow back in our lifetime.”

He cited Rodman Bay, on the north end of Baranof Island (30 miles north of Sitka), and Sinitsin Cove on North Kruzof (25 miles northeast of Sitka) as two areas closest to Sitka that are identified as “economic development” lands in the transfer.

Clarice Johnson, a Sealaska shareholder, said she was opposed to the lands transfer as proposed. (Johnson works at the nonprofit SCS but specified that she was speaking only as a shareholder.)

“I think there are a number of shareholders who are supportive of receiving our full land selection but not the way it was put in the rider, and they don’t think it will be much benefit to the average shareholder,” she said. “Possibly because Sealaska has lost so much money, they’ll probably cut the land quickly; and a large portion of any natural resource development in regional corporation land will be shared with other regional corporations.”

She noted that this provision – calling for regional corporations to share profits – has made it possible for Sealaska to pay out dividends, since the local regional corporation has not been profitable in recent years. She added that she believes the main beneficiaries of the land transfer and development of the lands will end up being the corporation’s board and staff through salaries and other compensation.

Johnson said she believes one of many results of the transfer will be the inadequate protection of karsts in Southeast.

“There is no protection compared to the U.S. Forest Service,” she said.

Johnson said that although only two “economic development” land selections are near Sitka there are others she believes are designated as “historic sites” including Kalinin Bay. She said the 15-acre site is the fifth largest historic site in the land selection.

Johnson said she’s concerned about what may happen at this location. “They can’t log, and they can’t mine there, but they can develop it,” she said.

Davey Lubin, who has traveled to Washington, D.C., five times in the last six years to testify against the Sealaska lands bill, said he was “highly disappointed” with the news.

“I’m highly disappointed that our treasured, priceless public lands have been privatized,” he said. “It’s a huge loss for the whole nation … What Theodore Roosevelt established as a national legacy, Lisa Murkowski has squandered.”

The Sealaska lands bill is separate from legislation to transfer 11 acres near Redoubt Lake to Sealaska, which is now in the hands of the Bureau of Land Management, Baines said.

In this episode of “Living with the Land,” SCS’s Tracy Gagnon takes her recording equipment into the Wilderness! When she isn’t paddling 18 miles straight or desperately trying to keep the mic dry, she speaks with visiting artist Ray Geier, and SCS Staff members Paul Killian and Edie Leghorn about their own relationship with wilderness. Listen to this weeks episode to hear more!

What’s your Wilderness?

Living with the Land is a 12 part radio series exploring stories of place in Sitka. It is produced by the Sitka Conservation Society in collaboration with Raven Radio. You can also hear the episodes every Sunday at 10:27am on KCAW, just before Living Planet.