Defending Alaska
For those who have followed me for a long time, you know that I have been using my photography for conservation for over 20 years. I also was in a past life an environmental law attorney, working for an Alaska non-profit law firm called Trustees for Alaska. It was the intersection of the two that led me to publish my first book, Where Water is Gold: Life and Livelihood in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. The main focus of my work at Trustees involved prosecuting a lawsuit agains the State of Alaska over its practice of allowing multi-decade, extensive mineral exploration on public lands without a public process. The focus was on a large scale exploration to develop the Pebble Mine. If constructed, it would have been the largest open pit mine in North America, and situated at the headwaters of the most productive salmon fishery left on the planet. After the trial was over, my time at Trustees ended. I wanted to continue to work on protecting the Bristol Bay region, so I spent five years on fieldwork that ultimately became the book.
If you follow the news, you know that Alaska’s clean waters and public lands are fiercely under attack by the new Administration, beginning with an executive order that (illegally) bypasses the National Environmental Policy Act (which requires agencies to examine environmental impacts by projects with a federal nexus) and the Administrative Procedures Act (which requires a public process for agencies to change their regulations). These actions are so egregious, they prompted Alaska State Senator Cathy Giessel (R), who is notoriously pro-resource development, to state, “We’re not a colony to be pillaged.”
Stopping the current administration’s desire to bypass the law will require a strong defense of the laws that protect Alaska’s environment. To that end, I commit to donating 50% of all profits from my print sales for the entire year to Trustees for Alaska to aid in their defense of our lands and waters. Trustees for Alaska has a 50-year history of working hard to ensure that environmental laws (state and federal) are followed through initiating lawsuits on behalf of local people and organizations to require compliance. Direct donations to them are also tax-deductible. You can donate directly to them or buy a print from my website.

A brown bear chases after a school of salmon in northern Katmai National Park & Preserve.