Checking in From Fairbanks, Alaska

We arrived in Fairbanks this afternoon. The journey started in Ketchikan last Friday, from there we traveled the Alaska Marine Highway - aboard the M/V Matanuska - up the Inside Passage to Skagway.

From Skagway we drove up through Whitehorse in the Yukon, Tok, and now Fairbanks. Our next stop is Denali aboard the Alaska Railway on Saturday.

This is a magnificent, open, and breathtaking land. Despite the harsh conditions in winter (thus far we have had almost perfect late summer weather, most locals tell me it is quite unusual) I can understand why people want to live here. This is a place for the rugged, individualistic soul.

And despite the abundant natural beauty and pristine environment found here, there is ambivalence toward "tree-huggers" like me - environmentalist from the "outside".

Many, if not most, Alaskans are in favor of drilling in the Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge, aggressively logging the Tongass National Forest (the nation's largest temperate rain forest), or pursuing other resource extraction practices of which people like me are most often vehemently opposed.

The history of the land is that of boom/bust dating back to the days of the gold rush. As I sit here in Fairbanks, most of the talk I have heard in my travels this past week is of the end of the season. In little more than a week or two, the tourists and most that serve them will have gone back south for the winter.

Those that remain through the harsh, brooding winter have made a choice. This is their home. And if it means drilling for oil or cutting down trees to make it possible for them to live here, then so be it.

I don't know if that is the attitude of every Alaskan, but it is of many.

It adds yet another dimension for all of us to ponder when we consider the best ways to manage our resources and preserve the natural world.

That it must be preserved and sustainably managed I am as convinced of as ever.

More thoughts on Alaska as time and internet access permits.

Photo:
Aboard the Matanuski, the sun rising over the Inside Passage just north of Wrangell, Alaska

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