Articles & Essays
A Democratic upset is brewing in Alaska’s governor’s race as Trump’s popularity craters
This July, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins spent four days and 450 miles (725km) wending his way down the Yukon River in a 24ft Alweld skiff, a flat-bottomed aluminum boat built for shallow Alaska rivers.
Fire in the hole: the Indigenous crews blasting the Alaskan rainforest to save it
After a historic land buyback by the US Forest Service, Tlingit crew members are demolishing culverts to restore streams, salmon runs and cultural history deep in the Tongass national forest. Photograph: blickwinkel/Alamy
In the Shadow of the Grand: A Reflection on the Life ofMichael Gardner
The world-renowned alpinist and extreme sports athlete died on October 7, 2024, while attempting to climb Jannu East (7460m) in Nepal with Sam Hennessey. Before his fall we had been working together on a profile. The piece has since become a tribute. Photo: Drew Smith
Living in the Alaska rainforest with 1,000 bears: ‘Not the easiest place to be homeless’
As housing prices increase in the picturesque town of Sitka, those already living on the edge are pushed off further into the wilderness.
It Goes Up Like Tinder: Unprecedented Blazes Envelop Alaska
Alaska has seen more than 500 forest fires since the beginning of April, which have forced the evacuation of mining camps, villages and remote cabins.
What Trump Doesn’t Understand About Alaska
As the only Republican senator fighting for her seat less than two years after voting to convict Donald Trump, Lisa Murkowski could be one of the crowning casualties in his war to rid the party of dissenters.
Fear and Loathing in the Mint 400
Fifty years after it inspired Hunter S. Thompson’s classic novel, the Mint 400 remains the great American desert race. GQ’s intrepid correspondent set out to conquer the course in a vintage Volkswagen Beetle—and search for nirvana on the far side of bone-crushing misery.
Going Deep Into America’s Climate Forest
For a moment the sun emerges, and the twin shadows of Kevin Mulligan’s aircraft floats take shape on the glacier below. “Oh man,” he groans into the headphones of his Cessna 206, looking down at Baranof Island. “I gotta cross over before I die.”
On the Mongolian Steppe: No Phone, No Pool, No Pets
An American family living in Siberia for a year goes on an adventure, dismissing concerns about bubonic plague and missing “Game of Thrones”.
We need the Tongass now more than ever
President Trump’s decision to direct his agriculture secretary to explore opening America’s largest national forest to logging comes as no surprise, considering that Friedrich Trump, the president’s grandfather, made his original fortune amid the Alaska gold rush.
We Need Salmon In Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, and They Need Our Protection
It’s winter king salmon season now in Sitka, trollers prowling the fishing boundary as chinook fatten up on needlefish, herring and krill, in preparation for their spring journeys home to their native streams.
Trump Officials May Allow Shaker Machines to Search Arctic Refuge for Oil
The Trump administration has announced it is considering a proposal to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas in the Arctic national wildlife refuge, the largest such preserve in the US.
We Can’t Survive More Cuts to Alaska King Salmon Quota
Alaska salmon fisherfolk have been giving up a disproportionate portion of their harvest — over 50 percent, at least — to rebuild damaged stocks elsewhere.
That Sitka Dock Rat Who Disappeared in his Skiff was a Friend of Mine
The other day in the grocery store, while my daughter Haley eyed the gumball machine by the doors, a headline in the Daily Sitka Sentinel caught my eye: "Search for Missing Boater Suspended," or something like that.
Trees Older Than America: a Primeval Alaskan Forest Is At Risk in the Trump Era
Tongass is the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest, with trees more than 1,000 years old. But a pro-logging effort could uproot them.
Pebble Mine Threatens One of Alaska’s Last Great Salmon Rivers
Corporate gold diggers pan for profit where millions of salmon spawn.
Like a conveyor belt of salmon: A Southeast fishing run to remember
A few weeks ago, I began receiving satellite text messages from Eric Jordan aboard the troller IGotta, with detailed reports on daily chum poundages. Could I break free from obligations in Sitka and fly down to deckhand for a bit, catch some fish?
Guest Essay: A Gold Rush In Salmon Country
It is almost winter again here. The days shorten and the furrows of the volcano that looms over our town steadily fill with snow.
Melting Into Alaska’s Thin Air
A glacier expedition across Baranof Island leads to a sad discovery.