The Salmon Way: An Alaska State of Mind

Alaska Wilderness League was honored to conclude our second season of our Geography of Hope series talking Tongass National Forest with our great friend, Amy Gulick.

Intrigued that there are still places in the world where the lives of people and wild salmon are linked, photographer and author Amy Gulick traveled throughout Alaska to explore the web of human relationships that revolve around these extraordinary fish for The Salmon Way. Commercial fishermen took her on as crew; Alaska Native families taught her the art of preserving fish and culture; and sport fishing guides showed her where to cast her line as well as her mind. Alaskans everywhere shared their salmon riches with her in their kitchens, cabins and fish camps — it’s the salmon way. Along the way, Gulick learns that salmon are so much more than fish — they can connect people to a place, a community and to each other.

Amy Gulick is an award-winning nature photographer and writer, and a fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers. Her images and stories have been featured in Audubon, National Wildlife, Sierra, Outdoor Photographer, The New Republic and other publications. Her work in Alaska has received numerous honors including the prestigious Daniel Housberg Wilderness Image Award for excellence in still photography, film or video from the Alaska Conservation Foundation; the Voice of the Wild Award from the Alaska Wilderness League; a Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation; and a Philip Hyde Grant Award from the North American Nature Photography Association. Her previous book, “Salmon in the Trees: Life in Alaska’s Tongass Rain Forest,” won an Independent Publisher Book Award and two Nautilus Book Awards.

Watch the full Geography of Hope episode below.