Old growth in the Tongass National Forest, Alaska. Courtesy Sitka Conservation Society.

Returning to my desk in Anchorage after working in the field is not always easy, especially after the kind of success and inspiration I experienced in May. I was on Prince of Wales Island, the largest island in Southeast Alaska and the heart of the Tongass National Forest. Here, as in so many other places in the region, rural communities are struggling with declining populations and timber harvests, forests and streams degraded by past logging, and longstanding conflict over how best to manage the forest and its resources. Read more