Anchorage nature writer Bill Sherwonit is the author of 12 books; his most recent is Changing Paths: Travels and Meditations in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness, published by the University of Alaska Press.
Alaska Northwest Books, RIP - 11/18/2009 6:34 pm
Speaking Up for Anchorage’s Public Libraries - 11/11/2009 5:03 pm
Check it out: Alaska Dispatch’s In-depth Coverage of the Point Hope Caribou “Massacre” Controversy - 11/2/2009 8:57 pm
Remembering Gordon Haber - 10/21/2009 2:34 pm
Celebrating the Central Brooks Range and one of America’s Wildest Parklands - 10/12/2009 8:32 pm
The Horrors of Chinese Fur Farms, Crush Videos, Factory Farming, and Aerial Wolf Kills - 10/9/2009 5:36 pm
Do We Need Trails That Would Boost Human-Bear Conflicts and Likely Increase Maulings? - 10/2/2009 2:18 pm
Say It Ain’t So, Lisa - 9/23/2009 7:46 pm
Xenophobia and Fear Mongering on the Right - 9/20/2009 6:31 pm
Facing the Specter of Alaska’s ‘New Coal Rush’ - 9/11/2009 8:07 pm
A Citizen Effort to Monitor Belugas along Anchorage’s Coast - 9/3/2009 5:24 pm
Ted Kennedy, Health Care Reform, & the Need for Change - 8/26/2009 5:40 pm
Watching Belugas - 8/20/2009 9:29 pm
Brooks Range Reflections - 8/12/2009 11:10 am
The PAW Act & Palin's Predator-Kill Legacy - 8/4/2009 6:49 pm
Summer Reading Suggestions - 7/28/2009 5:23 pm
Firing Back: Ruminations on Nature Writing - 7/23/2009 7:08 pm
Sarah Palin, McNeil River & Alaska’s War on Bears - 7/19/2009 1:58 pm
Whatever happened to Joann Grimes? - 7/16/2009 12:24 pm
Musings on Sarah Palin, Michael Jackson – and Nature Writing? - 7/8/2009 8:21 pm
From Lipsticked Pit Bull to Quitter? - 7/4/2009 11:39 am
From Politics to Poetry - 6/18/2009 12:26 pm
NOVEMBER 18, 2009 - 6:34 PM
I was sitting in a favorite café this week when an old friend and colleague in the book-publishing world came over to say hello and share news of an unexpected and untimely death. Sara Juday, longtime regional manager for Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, put it bluntly: “I have some bad news. Graphic Arts has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.”
Initially I didn’t get it. I was thinking Chapter 11, the kind that results in a company’s re-organization. Graphic Arts had been down that road once before and I knew the company has again been hurting financially. More than a year has passed since the company paid me any royalties. But Chapter 7? Liquidation? The company was going out of business? Wow, bad news indeed, not only for its employees, but also for its many authors and Alaska’s book lovers.
NOVEMBER 11, 2009 - 5:03 PM
I went to the Z. J. Loussac Public Library Tuesday evening, drawn by a “town hall meeting” organized by Friends of the Library and the Anchorage Library Foundation. I arrived early, so before grabbing a seat in the Wilda Marston Theater, I headed for the main library itself. It was, I’m embarrassed to admit, the first time in months that I’ve climbed the Loussac’s concrete stairway, walked among its racks of books, and tiptoed through “The Quiet Zone.” You’d think an author and book lover would more regularly support and utilize the library. Alas, that’s not always true. I can think of several good reasons why I haven’t visited the Loussac (my favorite local library) much recently. But here’s the chief one: I most often visit the library to do research; and thanks to the Internet, I can now do nearly all of my research at home (where I work), on my personal computer.
NOVEMBER 2, 2009 - 8:57 PM
Once upon a time, the Anchorage Daily News was widely known and celebrated for its investigative journalism and the longer, in-depth magazine-style pieces that ran in “We Alaskans.” That began to change not long after the newspaper won Anchorage’s long-running newspaper war. (Looking back, it was something of a Pyrrhic victory; not necessarily for its owner, but certainly for the paper’s readers and staff.) The first sign of a diminished newspaper was the decision to dump “We Alaskans.” Editor Pat Dougherty assured readers this was a good thing and that many of the features that once made the Sunday magazine such a gem would now be spread throughout the rest of the newspaper. Of course that didn’t happen. Once the newspaper war had been won, and years before the Internet changed the face of journalism, the Daily News’s California owner began to cut back its flow of money to Anchorage. The newsroom began a slow (and later accelerated) shrinkage. And of course the paper’s coverage of both local and statewide events and issues suffered.
OCTOBER 21, 2009 - 2:34 PM
News of Gordon Haber’s death came to me in bits and pieces, while I worked at my computer. One after another, news reports filed by various Alaska media appeared in my email inbox, forwarded by Wolf Song of Alaska. Each one added new details. First, a plane flying inside Denali National Park had been reported overdue and a search begun. The pilot and his passenger, still unnamed, had been expected back before nightfall, the previous day. Then, a short while later: the missing plane was a white and blue Cessna, flown by Daniel McGregor. His passenger: biologist Gordon Haber, looking for wolf packs. Already I felt a sense of foreboding. And sadness.
OCTOBER 12, 2009 - 8:32 PM
At age 50, I went on the longest backpack of my life: fifty miles in two weeks, across mostly untrailed wilderness in America’s remotest and arguably wildest parkland, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Traveling alone, I explored parts of the Central Brooks Range first made famous by Robert Marshall’s book "Alaska Wilderness." These far-north mountains are also where I got my first taste of Alaska’s wilderness, while working as a geologist in the mid-1970s; in a very real way, the Brooks Range transformed my life.
The following excerpt is taken from "Changing Paths: Travels and Meditations in Alaska’s Arctic Wilderness," which describes my solo trek and also moves across space and time while reflecting upon my days as a geologist, my Connecticut roots, the importance of wilderness to humans as a life-affirming, life-changing, and life-enriching presence, and, just as importantly, the inherent value of wild nature, in and of itself.
OCTOBER 9, 2009 - 5:36 PM
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
Like many Alaskans, I was disgusted and disheartened to learn that two “sport hunters” recently killed an adolescent brown bear near the Sterling Highway, a bear that several other people had been watching and photographing. How much sport is involved in killing a young and habituated bear that is clearly tolerant of people? What did the hunters hope to gain from their kill? Not meat. And not even a trophy, given the bear’s age and small size. A small bearskin rug? Bragging rights? The thrill of the kill? What? Yet that unsportsmanlike behavior pales in comparison to other disturbing stories and images that have passed my way in recent days, recounting various atrocities suffered by animals at the hands – or in some cases, feet – of humans.
OCTOBER 2, 2009 - 2:18 PM
It’s sometimes said that we humans have short memories. That certainly seems to be true when it comes to bear-human conflicts in the Anchorage area. How else to explain that planners with both Alaska State Parks and the municipality’s Department of Parks and Recreation have laid the groundwork for trails that could significantly increase the chance of bear-human encounters and maulings?
These plans have Rick Sinnott worried. I’m worried too. And every local resident who’s concerned about bear-human interactions should worry about plans to build new trails in areas heavily used by brown bears. As any bear-aware person knows, brown bears – the coastal cousins of grizzlies – pose a much greater danger to people than the more timid black bears that annually come into town.
SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 - 7:46 PM
Alaska’s senior senator has stirred up a beehive of protest and rightly so, given Lisa Murkowski’s proposal to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from “non-mobile sources” such as power plants and factories. (The Daily News ran a story about her efforts and the ensuing protest in Tuesday’s paper, headlined “Murkowski wants hold on gas emissions rules.”)
Without looking closely at the issue, one might suppose that the usual suspects – environmentalists – are the ones leading the charge to stop Murkowski’s pending amendment to a spending bill. And in fact, greenie groups have been sending out alerts and rallying their troops. But lots of other folks are also upset with Murkowski, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, which first alerted me to the senator’s shenanigans. The UCS is a non-partisan, science-based nonprofit which “combines scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.” In protesting Murkowski’s amendment, the UCS emphasizes that her action would keep the EPA from adequately “addressing the biggest environmental problem we face [and] will halt any serious effort by our country to effectively fight global warming.”
SEPTEMBER 20, 2009 - 6:31 PM
No doubt many conservative apologists across the country have been busy lambasting liberals in recent days for what Brian Sweeney calls “playing the race card” when discussing attacks on President Barack Obama and his push for health care reform. But I don’t have to search far and wide, because Sweeney’s own Sept. 16 Alaska Voices blog entry and Paul Jenkins’ rant in today’s Anchorage Daily News give me plenty to respond to locally.
Both Sweeney and Jenkins essentially call those who have raised the racism issue dishonest. Or even racist in their own way, a curious claim indeed. These liberal sinners have included former President Jimmy Carter and New York Times columnists Maureen Dowd and Paul Krugman and, Jenkins adds, “their pals.”
SEPTEMBER 11, 2009 - 8:07 PM
Though most Alaskans are largely – if not completely – unaware of it, and local media have mostly ignored or overlooked what’s happening, there is substantial evidence that our state is moving toward what some residents are calling the “Alaska Coal Rush.”
This is not a good thing, for all sorts of reasons.
As anyone who pays attention to such matters is aware, coal is a relatively cheap but awfully dirty source of energy. Dirty as in polluting, spreading toxins (most notably mercury) into the atmosphere, water, and landscape, and, through coal-fired power plants, adding huge amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, thus contributing substantially to global warming.
SEPTEMBER 3, 2009 - 5:24 PM
In a recent post, I described my serendipitous sighting of beluga whales while walking along the Coastal Trail. What I didn’t mention then, but what I’d like to share now (with the blessing of the program’s chief organizer), is my participation in a coordinated effort to monitor and document the presence – or absence – of belugas along Anchorage’s coastline. Off and on throughout the summer, I’ve sat atop a bluff near the Kincaid Motocross site with two or three other “citizen scientists,” looking for belugas.
Started as an experiment last fall, the Anchorage Coastal Beluga Survey is the brainchild of Barbara Carlson, a long-time Anchorage resident who is also the driving force behind a group called FAR, Friends of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge. My guess is that many locals don’t even know we have a wildlife refuge along the city’s western edges, but in fact this state-managed preserve stretches some 16 miles and is seasonally inhabited by more than 120 species of birds plus assorted fish and mammals. The latter include belugas, which sometimes pass through refuge waters at high tide and occasionally swim up the lower reaches of Campbell Creek (where it curves through the coastal flats), and whose bodies now and then wash up on shore. In a recent conversation, Carlson told me that something like 20 beluga carcasses have been found along local shores over the past decade or so, a shocking piece of information. She also notes that not so long ago, belugas were seen more frequently along Anchorage’s coastline during the summer months than they are now.
AUGUST 26, 2009 - 5:40 PM
“This is the cause of my life: new hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American – north, south, east, west, young, old – will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.”
-- Sen. Ted Kennedy
Like many (and perhaps most) Americans, I have been closely following this latest round of debate over health care and its reform in the United States. And like Ted Kennedy and others who believe that decent – and I would add, affordable – health care should be a right of all Americans and not a privilege, I have become increasingly dismayed by right wing opposition to the health care plans being debated in Congress and across the nation. To debate the merits of a plan is one thing; it’s quite another to use the tools of fear and ignorance and hate. Kennedy's death and his words and hard work on behalf of health-care reform and other social issues have finally moved me to give voice to my thoughts on these and related matters.
AUGUST 20, 2009 - 9:29 PM
This is one of the big reasons that I prefer to walk rather than jog or bike or rollerblade on local pathways: yesterday I spotted a pod of beluga whales while walking my collie mix, Coya, along the Coastal Trail. It’s also why I often choose to walk alone and with my binoculars. Though I greatly enjoy my walks with friends, we inevitably engage in conversation and I pay more attention to our dialogue rather than the surroundings. (This, I’ve been told by various partners across the years, is how it should be; my problem has been that I am sometimes too easily distracted from my human company by sounds and movements going on around me.) Walking alone, I am more engaged with the landscape and its other inhabitants: birds, squirrels, moose, even the occasional bear or lynx or whale. I notice spiders crawling across snow or curious assemblages of wildflowers where I never expected them or blueberry patches rich with ripened fruit. I’m the sort who needs both kinds of walks: in the company of humans; and in solitude.
AUGUST 12, 2009 - 11:10 AM
Heaven knows there is plenty going on locally, statewide, and nationally to work up a good rant, but on this August day I’m choosing reflection over agitation. Here then, some food for thought.
Since first coming north in 1974, I have spent well over a thousand days in Alaska's wilderness, from the Southeast Panhandle to the North Slope, and among all the places I've been, the Central Brooks Range – which I explored that first summer – remains my favorite place of wildness. It’s a landscape I love deeply, one that is always with me, not only in memory but also in spirit. When I think about my relationship with the Brooks Range, I’m often reminded of a poem by Nancy Wood that’s become a personal favorite:
AUGUST 4, 2009 - 6:49 PM
A couple of days ago, a friend forwarded me a commentary by Tim Lindell, who writes opinion pieces on the Conservatives 4 Palin blogsite. Among his many grievances, Lindell was unhappy that the Alaska media has largely ignored the recently introduced PAW (Protect America’s Wildlife) Act, which he argues “will make hunting in Alaska extinct.” Like Lindell, I’ve been surprised that the PAW Act hasn’t received more local media coverage, because it is aimed at a controversial predator-control program begun under Gov. Frank Murkowski and dramatically escalated by our recently resigned ex-governor Sarah Palin. I can’t recall seeing even a small mention of this newly introduced legislation in Anchorage’s “good-morning paper.” But the Daily News publishes less and less of what’s newsworthy and of interest to Alaskans, at least in its print edition. Unlike Lindell, however, I believe the PAW Act is a good thing. And long overdue.
JULY 28, 2009 - 5:23 PM
Sure, we may be more than halfway through Alaska’s “season of light” (and warmth), but better late than never for some “summer reading” ideas. I’ve pulled the dozen books below from my all-time favorites list, as a sampling of books that I believe combine great writing with wonderfully provocative stories and/or ideas.
I invite others to comment – and share their own favorites.
So here they are, in no particular order, from my ever-evolving favorite books list (which, I should mention, includes several other equally deserving and personally influential books that I'll share another time, perhaps for some good autumn or winter reads).
JULY 23, 2009 - 7:08 PM
Three times this summer, people – other writers – I respect have publicly fired broadsides at nature writers, either directly or in a roundabout way. Their comments have gotten me thinking about the place of nature writers, and their work, in our culture. And that thinking has led (for better or worse) to this blog post.
The first zinger was fired in Homer, at the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference, during a panel discussion titled “Our Words: More Thoughts on the Role of Writing and Today’s Global Challenges.” Yeah, that’s a mouthful. And a BIG topic. I wish now that I’d taken notes, but I didn’t. In my recollection, various panel members discussed (among other things) the ways they weave politics or larger social and cultural issues into their stories or poems and how it is best to do that. Or whether it should be done at all in what’s considered creative writing, the stuff of literature.
JULY 19, 2009 - 1:58 PM
The hypocrisy of our soon-to-be ex-governor shows no bounds. Even as Sarah Palin tweets happily about “mama bears” at McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, her appointees at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game oversee the most awfully audacious bear-kill program since at least statehood and possibly in Alaska’s history.
For those few who don’t know about McNeil, this state-managed sanctuary on the west side of Cook Inlet protects Alaska’s – and likely the world’s – largest gathering of brown bears. Each year, dozens of bears congregate here to feed on salmon, while watched by a small gathering of people (go to the state’s McNeil web page or simply do an Internet search for McNeil River). It is an amazing place that has been known to transform people’s attitudes toward bears. I doubt, however, it will do anything to change our governor, who has, in her shortened term, taken Alaska’s war on wolves and bears to unprecedented depths. At first merely shocked, I quickly became appalled while reading in Saturday’s paper about Palin’s McNeil “tweet” about a female bear with cubs: “Protect & provide for her young; She sees danger? She brazenly rises up on strong hind legs, growls Don’t Touch My Cuba & the species survives.”
JULY 16, 2009 - 12:24 PM
A few days had passed since I’d last checked the Alaska Voices blogsite, so Wednesday night I scrolled down the most recent entries, curious to see what new opinions had surfaced. I didn’t get far before Rudy Wittshirk’s headline, “Afghanistan and other leftover wars (see end for blog comments)” got my attention. I’ve never met Rudy, but over the years I’ve enjoyed his Compass pieces in the Daily News, many of which have dealt with wildlife management issues, also a great interest of mine. I especially appreciate the perspective he presents as one who lives in a more rural area (Willow), clearly gets out into the wilds a lot, and perceives many problems with the way wildlife is managed in Alaska. As one of the Daily News’s Alaska Voices, Rudy (much like me) has “spread his wings” to comment on a much wider array of topics. Though to be honest, last night I was more curious about his “blog comments” than his thoughts about leftover wars. Thus began my search for Joann Grimes.
JULY 8, 2009 - 8:21 PM
Last evening, not long before midnight, I left my slowly darkening house and took a seat on the front porch. The day had been a busy one, as summer days tend to be in Alaska. My mind had grown busy, too, after absorbing the most recent news reports and reading several online commentaries about our soon-to-be-ex-governor. I’d even begun my own new blog entry, a response to what some other, way more conservative, “Alaska Voices” had written about Sarah Palin and one of Palin’s chief nemeses, liberal blogger Shannyn Moore. I grew weary working on the commentary, so I left it for morning. At last my day’s writing, errands, and household chores were done. I’d already turned off the TV and said a long-distance “good night” to Helene in Oregon, so after shutting down the computer I breathed in the quiet of the house, then stepped outside and into the cooling late-night air. As much time as I spend outdoors, I don’t often sit quietly outside late at night, even in summer. I’m not sure why, because it almost always calms me. I could hear the rush of traffic on Northern Lights Boulevard and the occasional whine and roar of jets at the airport, but my own neighborhood was silent and still and that deep stillness is what I took in, along with the dimming shapes of birch and spruce trees and the dark zigzagging form of a dragonfly on the hunt. As I sat there, my body relaxed and my mind gradually emptied out in the best sort of way. Happily I felt no need to look for insights or wisdom or answers, but was content to simply be with the yard, the neighborhood, and the midsummer night, with its still bright, nearly midnight sky, such an amazing spectacle when I take a moment to notice it.
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