Carving a canoe paddle by hand
WORKING HARD Courageous people in Alaska are making a better future. © Erika Nortemann/TNC

Stories in Alaska

Working for Home

Meet courageous people in Alaska who are making a better future for nature—and for their neighbors, too.

Has there ever been a time when we haven’t turned to nature? Nature needs us now more than ever. So we bring you the stories of courageous individuals in Alaska who, through their own grit and deep love for the world around them and with help from TNC, commit to the hard work of making a better future for nature—and for their neighbors, too.

All of this matters—for wild salmon, for caribou and deer, for tundra lakes and stable permafrost. And it matters to us—for truly sustainable local economies, for the remarkable Alaska way of life, and for the way nature nourishes and renews us all. 

Marina Anderson
PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE Marina Anderson in Kasaan, Alaska. © Bethany Goodrich / SSP

‘What Would Our Ancestors Have Done?’

In Kasaan, a Haida village in Alaska, experiences from the past and dreams of what the future will be are tied to the decisions people are making about the present.

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Jacki Cleveland
SEE US LEAD Jacki Cleveland of Quinhagak, Alaska.

'I Care Too Much to Be a Bystander on Climate Change'

People who live in remote villages on Alaska’s Bering Sea coast, where winters are now 8 degrees warmer, are left with no choice but to respond as the sea and the tundra change in ways that shape their lives.

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Phillip Sharclane
STREAMS AND FORESTS Phillip Sharclane in Hoonah, Alaska. © Bethany Sonsini Goodrich/SSP

'Salmon's Really Got a Place in My Heart'

In the Tlingit village of Hoonah, Alaska, when you talk about fish you’re talking about people and a food tradition reaching back thousands of years—and a belief in wild salmon for the future.

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Quinn Aboudara of the Klawock Cooperative Association is a key player in local wild salmon research efforts.
SALMON SCIENCE Quinn Aboudara of the Klawock Cooperative Association is a key player in local wild salmon research efforts. © Lee House/Sustainable Southeast Partnership

‘There’s a Deep Connection’

Sockeye salmon have always returned to Klawock Lake. It’s just that today, people know there are far fewer fish than ever before, prompting a coming together of the best in science and community will.

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