Signing Off
Well, that’s a wrap.
The crew has all made it back to the lower 48. Without the crew Alaska feels a little bit quieter, colder, and the air is crisp…or maybe that’s just fall setting in. Regardless their work has left the last frontier with hundreds of pounds less of invasive plants, with 1/2 a mile of sustainable trail, and new potential for moose habitat. Looking back at the summer the places, people, and experiences from each project stand out in my mind and make me thankful for the opportunity to work in Alaska with awesome partnering agencies and their workers, and for the being able to share it all with a group of motivated, fun-loving individuals. I hope this summer has a lasting impact on each of us and we will carry into our lives, where ever we may go next, and that we may go on not only leaving this place better but ourselves too. Walt Whitman puts it best, “Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth.”
We couldn’t have done it without all the support and guidance we received throughout the season. Thank you to all of our amazing and inspiring partners:
Eagle River Parks and Recreation/Municipality of Anchorage
Chugach State Park
Interior Trails
Denali, Wrangell-St.Elias, and Kenai Fjords National Parks
Chugach National Forest
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| Chainsaw training from Interior Trails Christine Byl |
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| Group just before leaving Chugach National Forest |
Thanks to all the support from friends and family back home that helped to support the crew and share in this blog during our adventures. Thank you to the SCA and people who help fund our conservation projects to make them possible.
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| A distant view of Denali from our first project site, Mt. Baldy |
As a final assignment for the season each crew member found a quote that is representative of the meaning of conservation and how we experienced in our work in the field. Hope you’ve enjoyed the adventures, we sure did!
“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and the romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
“Heal the earth. Heal yourself.”
-Sticker in the SCA Trailer
“I have read many definitions of what is a conservationist, and written not a few myself, but I suspect that the best one is written not with a pen, but with an axe. It is a matter of what a man thinks about while chopping, or deciding what to chop.“
-Aldo Leopold
“A conservationist is one who is humbly aware with each stroke of the axe they are leaving their mark on the land”-Aldo Leopold
“Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”
-Chief Seattle
-Chief Seattle
“Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
-Mark Twain