Juneau Empire

Notable works

Small as it is large (April 2026)
In his 1977 book Coming into the Country, John McPhee wrote “The central paradox of Alaska is that it is as small as it is large–an immense landscape with so few people in it that language is stretched to call it frontier, let alone a state.”

Protecting the Tongass (Feb. 2026)
If you’re lucky enough to put wet hands on a steelhead, time moves faster. Fingers become dull and red, then purple and numb. You could sit under a tree and warm up, but that’s not where the fish are and being at least a little uncomfortable is a prerequisite for steelheading. Steelhead fishing is not generally described as a volume fishery experience, but good days can become great, so you keep casting. You’ll deal with cold hands later…

Rule or No Rule, logging continues in Southeast Alaska (Aug. 2025)
Logging is destructive, but necessary. Historically it has been unnecessarily destructive, especially here in Southeast Alaska, one of the last stands of strong salmon and steelhead runs. More than a few times in the last twenty years I have been asked why, if there is a Roadless Rule in effect in Southeast Alaska, so many hillsides have been freshly cut and others that are healing but bear the scars. 

Tongass National Forest makes up the overwhelming amount of Southeast Alaska which makes the region mostly Federally owned. But that’s not the entire story of Southeast Alaska.

Second crossing in Juneau threatens major flyway (June 2025)
Looking east out of the fuselage you feel an intimacy with the mountains that is typically reserved for flights in bush planes. It feels tight and you wonder what type of wind makes a 737 jolt and sway, but you take the opportunity to scour the alpine for mountain goats.
This is clearly not duck country. 
You miss downtown because it is directly beneath you at the bottom of the glacial carved slopes, but the mountains eventually float further from you and you relax. Tidal flats appear, next wetlands, then the plane banks sharper than you’d expect at the elevation. Before you can consider what that means, you’re level again and looking over the trees at the Mendenhall Glacier just before the wheels make contact. 

August 22, 2025
The right investments

Sept. 19, 2025
Meals on a moose hunt

October 29, 2025
The fear of fear

October 10, 2024
Tribute to John Geirach

July 5, 2023
Building your cabin