Amy Gulick and Salmon In the Trees

tommy — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 06:19:54 +0000

The New Science of an Ancient Cycle of Life

In conjunction with Braided River and The Mountaineers Books, we are thrilled to present a conversation with nature photographer Amy Gulick, the creative force behind the book and photographic journey Salmon In the Trees: Life In Alaska’s Tongass Rainforest.

Special thanks to Greg MacArthur and the CBS Radio cluster in Seattle for their help making this show possible.

Research has found colossal amounts of nutrient-rich salmon DNA in ancient Tongass forests.

Where the Rainforest Still Reigns Supreme

The Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska is the official designation for the largest surviving component of original Pacific temperate rainforest left in North America. The rainforest’s footprint lies along the west side of the Pacific Coast ranges from Prince William Sound in Alaska, all along the coast of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, through the Pacific Northwest of Washington and Oregon, and into the Redwood belt of Northern California.

While this is the largest temperate rainforest eco-region in the world, barely any of it’s native footprint survives today, with only four or five percent of the original old-growth intact. The lion’s share of that intact, ancient old-growth temperate rainforest lies in the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska: along hundreds of miles of coastline, in glacial fjords, and on some 5,000 thousand islands, big and small.

Lush vegetation abounds in the Tongass. At about 17 million acres, or about the size of West Virginia, the forests of the Tongass are known for their prodigious stands of old-growth Sitka Spruce and Western Redcedar, as well as dense growths of epiphytes and mosses. The area is also known for abundant wildlife, driven by the astonishing volume of salmon which pass annually through the region’s watersheds, the bears which consume them, and the amazing cycle of life they all play a part in.

"Do not disturb." Black Bear at Anan Creek, Tongass National Forest.

“Tug on anything at all, and you’ll find it connected to everything else.” – John Muir

For two years, writer and photographer Amy Gulick paddled and trekked among bears, islands and salmon streams to document the Tongass National Forest in it’s primeval, natural state. At one point she even found herself keeping company with black bears on a riverbank dining on salmon, oblivious to her presence only because of the bounty of food in front of them, literally jumping out of the rivers and streams, as salmon defy gravity to head upstream to spawn.

Salmon in the Trees was chosen to receive a 2011 Nautilus Book Award, which recognizes books which “promote spiritual growth, conscious living, and positive social change,” and is the winner of the 2010 IPPY Award, an independent publisher book award.

Along with spectacular photos of this vibrant, verdant landscape, Salmon In the Trees also features stories and contributions of Alaskans who live in and are dependent upon the forest, essays by Ray Troll and John Straley, and from members of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian, whose cultures are deeply interconnected to the cycles of life featured in Salmon In the Trees.

The Tongass has one of the highest densities of bald eagles in the world.

Four years after taking a photo of a Tlingit girl, Amy Gulick reunites with her young subject.

Trail Philosophy With Guidebook Author Craig Romano

tommy — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 16:58:08 +0000

An avid hiker, runner, kayaker and bicyclist, and the author of nearly a dozen books and hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles, Treehuggers International is thrilled to present guidebook author Craig Romano.

Tommy caught up with Craig Romano at the studios of KSVR radio at Skagit Valley Junior College, near Craig’s home in Mt. Vernon, where this interview was recorded with the help of KSVR General Manager Rip Roberts and Station Manager Dave McConnell. We at Treehuggers International express our gratitude to Rip and Dave and the team at KSVR for their assistance in producing this program.

Native New Englander Falls for the Pacific Northwest

Growing up in rural New Hampshire, Craig quickly combined his love for writing with his enjoyment of the outdoors. While first writing about bicycling, as he grew older, Craig’s writing began to compliment his zest for lacing up a pair of boots, grabbing a handful of chocolate-covered espresso beans, and hitting the trail.

A former backcountry ranger in the White Mountain National Forest, Vermont ski bum, and hiking guide in the Pyrenees Mountains of France and Spain, Craig has traveled the world from Alaska to Argentina and Sicily to South Korea, seeking, and often finding, wild and spectacular landscapes.

A resident of Washington state for over 20 years, Craig conservatively estimates he has hiked some 13,000 miles of the Evergreen State, from Cape Flattery on the wild northwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula, to Puffer Butte above the waving wheat fields of the Palouse of the southeast, and from Cape Disappointment in the southwest corner at the mouth of the Columbia River, to the Salmo-Priest Wilderness along Washington’s northeast frontier with Canada.

Trails and Frontiers

In fact, one of Craig’s most notable efforts is about Washington’s still-wild northeast corner. Written and released in conjunction with Conservation Northwest, Exploring Washington’s Last Frontier is a book about the growing Columbia Highlands wilderness initiative currently underway in the Colville National Forest.

Craig continues to set a prolific pace, putting the finishing touches on a new backpacking trail guide for the Mountaineers Books, and working with Rich Landers of the Spokane Spokesman-Review on a day hiking guide to Eastern Washington.

In addition, Craig has released a new day hiking volume on the Columbia River Gorge as part of the Mountaineers Books’ revised day hiking guidebook series, complimenting his previous titles on the Olympic Peninsula and North Cascades, with a portion of the proceeds from each guidebook going to fellow Treehuggers International friends at the Washington Trails Association.

Enjoying the vista from the Skyline Divide trail, Mt. Baker Wilderness.

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