Alaska Story Project

Spring Patterns and Surviving a Glacial Tsunami. 

• Dan & Joe reflect on seasonal patterns
• Preparations for an upcoming season in Alaska
• John Muir's quest to experience a living glacier
• A  story of  near-death from a calving tsunami at the Dawes Glacier
• Coming close to the Big Black Wings
• Deep appreciation and motivations for sharing stories

The Art of Listening  

• Stunning recordings from the natural world of Alaska  
• Hank's story of his "acoustic awakening"  
• An iconic recording of a Loon with Richard Nelson 
• Several of Hank's favorite recordings and the stories behind them  
• Hearing, Listening and the Art of Listening  
• Robin song:  getting to know individuals  
• A wolf howl and a Malamute's response  
• The Art of Listening and being human  
• Recording a whale trumpeting with perfect amphitheater acoustics  

Stories of Connection:  Barry Lopez;  Faith of Cranes & Sandhill Cranes;  Raven's Witness & the life and work of Richard Nelson;  sound recording. 

• Barry Lopez and the importance of story. 
• A childhood memory from the Arctic & reflecting on our times now. 
• Building a home in Gustavus and considering Sandhill Cranes. 
• Raven's Witness:  Friendship naturalist & author Richard Nelson. 
• Nels' time in the Arctic with the Inupiaq. 
• Nels' time with the Koyukon;  interconnectedness.  
• Writing and Island Years. 
• Hank and Nels' collaboration with sound recording. 
• A shattered and healed deer bone. 
• Barry Lopez:  Isumataq. 

Growing up with salmon, fishing for salmon, and transboundary mining issues. 

• Early memories & running north through the Inside Passage in the family seine boat. 
• Fishing for sockeye salmon off of Noyes Island in SE Alaska. 
• Alarmed by the Mt. Polley mine disaster, and implications for the major transboundary, Alaska—B.C. rivers with vital salmon runs. 
• Embarking on a documentary film project:  "Sisters and Rivers" concerning transboundary mining issues. 
• First nation peoples of B.C.— their perspectives on mining issues. 
• Stories of their long resistance and struggle with multi-national corporate development in the Sacred Waters area of northern B.C.  
• Implications of running a power line up the Stewart-Cassiar Highway, 37, into NW B.C.  
• The Red Chris mine in the headwaters of the Stikine River;  the KSM mine development in the headwaters of the Unuk River. 
• The complexities of transboundary mining issues:  perspectives. 
• Aliveness, storytelling, and the documentary. 

In conversation writer Holly Hughes:  

• Early years on the waters of Alaska as a fisher and operating a salmon tender. 
• As a mariner, the necessity of paying full attention and its influence on writing.  
• Holly reads from Sailing by Ravens. 
• A reading from Passings, which was recently awarded the American Book Award.   
• Choosing full engagement with both the challenge and beauty of our circumstances. 
• Reading from Holly’s newly released book, Hold Fast. 

More on Alaska's Humpback Whales. 

• Whale spouting and breathing, lung capacity. 
• Breathing in rough seas; sleeping whales. 
• Diving:  depths and prey. 
• Lunge feeding;  cooperative behavior & bubble net feeding. 
• Rescuing whales, disentanglement tools and techniques. 
• The Alaska Whale Foundation. 
• What continues to intrigue and surprise whale researchers. 

33 years of behavioral research with Alaska's Humpback Whales. 

• Formative years as a whale biologist. 
• The remarkable characteristics of Humpback Whales. 
• Songs of the Humpback Whale. 
• Whale brains, four times as large as a human brain. 
• Spindle neurons and social behavior. 
• Whale communication, ocean acoustics.    
• "Whale internet". 
• Concerns:  Ocean noise, ships, military, seismic testing, entanglements. 
• Warm water anomaly:  "the blob".    
• Whales and humans:  similarities in social behaviors, cooperation, altruism. 
• Whale health vigilance:  promising research tools and practices. 
• Whale vocalizations, structure & implications for what constitutes intelligence. 

Treadwell Gold, An Alaskan Saga of Riches and Ruin.   

• Approaching Juneau, Treadwell on Douglas Island. 
• The Treadwell Mining complex and Sheila's personal connection to its history. 
• The Alaskan Gold Rush;  placer mining, hard rock mining, and the Klondike. 
• A timeline, beginning with the Tlingits to the decline of Treadwell. 
• A description of life in Treadwell during it's heyday. 
• The business of a successful mine; labor and management. 
• Willy Kelly, machinist;  Gus Anderson, hoist operator. 
• The 1918 catastrophic flooding and cave in at Treadwell.  
• The aftermath;  Fire, Taku winds, the Spanish Flu. 
• Reflections on both the Titanic and Treadwell;  industrial romance and facts of nature. 

Alaska Writer Laureate 2008-10, Nancy Lord. 

• Coming to Homer, Alaska and early years as a set netter on Cook Inlet. 
• Reading from Fishcamp: Life on an Alaskan Shore. 
• Beluga Whales. 
• The Harriman Expedition and Green Alaska. 
• Early Warming:  Crisis and Response in the Climate-Changed North;  feedback loops and permafrost melting. 
• Ph:  A Novel;  pteropods, ocean acidification. 
• Reflections on Science and Art;  the FisherPoets gathering. 

Writer, Educator, FisherPoet Lara Messersmith-Glavin.  Reflections on growing up a Kodiak fisher. 

• Reads a piece, "Spellbind", performed at FisherPoets, from her forthcoming book. 
• How Alaska influences her life now as a creative writer and educator. 
• Reflections upon wildness, bigness and relationship with work. 
• Reads from her piece," Hiraeth". 
• Reflections on a big picture question.