A lot of time on your boat. Theres a very strong subsistence culture here. People fish, they hunt, they live off the ocean, of what the land gives them. Theres a very, very strong connection between the people here and wildlife. Its certainly a heritage from the tlingit, the alaska natives. If we look around, it seems like time has stopped and nature took over. Thats what life is all about here, on Baranof Island. john straley we are in the archipelago of southeastern alaska, on Baranof Island in sitka, alaska. I love the fact that we live on a contiguous temperate rainforest. And i believe that its one of the last great treasures on earth. Sophie Fouron john straley. Poet and author, the untamed nature in alaksa have inspired both his poetry and crime novels. Having settled on baranof some 35 years ago, this is his island. john straley this place on the outside of baranof is the ancestral home of the tlingit people of sitka. In the late 1700s, russians and aleut people came to harvest sea otters, and then the americans, british and spanish came. To this day, there are about 9000 people. The population in sitka, i believe, is still around 25 tlingit people. There is a coast guard base. There is a trouper academy, there are fish plants in sitka with transient workers from all over the world now. Its a relatively diverse community. Sophie Fouron its hard to imagine, but sitka is actually the largest city in the United States by landmass. Hello mim mcconnell hi well have a little stroll. Good. In your favorite city. Yeah. I say city, but its a town. Yeah, well, it is a city and a borough. Its been a pretty steady population for quite a while now. Almost 9000 people. Geographically speaking, were the largest city in the country. How long were you mayor for . I was mayor for four years and i was on the assembly for three years prior to that. So a total of seven years in city government. Did you ever think you would have that title . Mayor of the largest city in the United States . No. No. Sophie Fouron when you think of baranof, do people instantly think of sikta because its so wide and spread out . mim Mcconnell Sitka is the biggest town of our two town. When people think about baranof, they know that sitka is the place, so. Its also kind of the hub for the region. Theres a huge fishing fleet here, and people get their groceries here. Theres a lot of medical care in town here. Cultural activities. Theres just a lot going on in our community. Its the hub for Southeast Alaska . No, because juneau has a lot going on, our capital city. But on this outer coast, and for people that are fishing or living in some of the outer communities that dont have easy access to juneau, this would be the place where they would come. Government is really the highest workforce in our community, and thats coast guard, forest service, the state fish and game, wildlife, then theres the city government, theres the school district. Were kind of losing our young demographics. In their twenties, even maybe thirties especially, they will go away to college and then they not come back. Or they want to come back, but they cant afford to live here. Because its not really a job. There are lots of jobs. Exactly. Its not about unemployment. Theres not shortage of work, no. Its about where you can live. Can you afford to live here . Yes. And at the salary that they can pay. Whats the housing situation . We have a lot of people that rent because they cant afford to buy. So the average house costs about 350 000 . O. K. Thats a lot. People just dont have the kind of money to buy a house like that. And its hard to build also, because you cant build anywhere on baranof. Right. Right. Because theres protected land, and its just. You know . Well, yeah, were surrounded by the national forest. Exactly. And weve got the ocean on the other side, and the cost of the supplies here is very expensive, because theres a long distance. It has to come from seattle, so you add all the transportation cost for barging stuff up here, and its just really challenging to even build a home thats affordable, even if youre really focused on that. I was going to ask you. 4,59 . This is. I should get this. Thats 4. Yeah, we do Pay Attention to the prices here. You have to. I mean, its just so expensive to buy food here. It all gets shipped up here. Sometimes, things like this Fresh Produce will get flown in. O. K. 4 for an avocado. Yeah. That is very expensive. Thats pretty expensive, yes. Yeah. Its a big part of our expenses for living here, and its something that people complain about a lot. About the high prices. Utilities and groceries. There are actually a lot of cars. Its rush hour. Theyre the two main highways that go 6 or 7 miles each way. Thats not much. No. Thats not much. No, but they are state highways. One end of town to the other. Thats it. Theres wilderness when you get to the end, on both of them. So the total number of highways is 14 miles. So its hardly anything. Thats nothing. Yeah, yeah. It doesnt take long to get to the end of town. And then it says end of road or the end. Sophie Fouron theyre waiting for us. mim mcconnell yay my family Sophie Fouron basilly, the kids were brought up on boats. mim mcconnell yes. Yeah. A lot of boating in their lives. My kids, actually, went commercial fishing. So that was a part of their upbringing. And my son still does commercial fishing. Its like our private beach. Sophie Fouron it is our private beach are you happy youre doing this with the kids and grandkids . I love doing this. Its one of my favorite things. Im sure oh yeah. I love it. mary saiz thats why we got our boat. My husband would say its to fish, but i did it for getting out on the island. This kind of thing. Getting out. On the water. I love being on the water. Do the kids actually learn survival skills in school here . They do, yes. They do. Theyll take them out and teach them how to build shelters. Theyll take them to the pools and teach them how to get in and out of the life rafts that are on all the boats around here. So they have to get in with all their clothes on and a lifejacket. Really . So they know what it feels like to be in the water completely, weighed down. With their clothes on, yeah. Its important. Yeah. Well, yeah. When you live out here, its the kind of stuff you need to know. Yeah. They also have to pass a swim test to graduate. Thats one of the things they have to do. You know, its not like that on every island. O. K. What do we have here . mim mcconnell we have salmon spread. Who caught the salmon . Actually, i brought that one in. You did . Yes. Mim do you know how good that is going to be . So which type of salmon is this . Because i know you have three or four types. Yep. This is a coho. The other name for it is silver. Sophie Fouron what do you bring for safety when you come out here . Sometimes, depending on where were going, ill bring bear spray. Theres so much activity here, with the dogs and the people and everything. Bears are probably long gone. So. Thats the last place they want to be. Yeah. So it just depends on where were going, whether ill bring the bear spray or not. All right. Ive never had to use it. Of course, you know, maybe tonight will be the night i wish i had it. But, you know, i didnt bring it. If you know how to survive, if you have the right skills, youre o. K. Right, mom . Yes. john straley it may feel constricted living on an island with only 16 miles of road, but for people with access to boats and planes, and kayaks, and canoes, and with this wonderful waterway, you dont feel trapped. You just have access to a huge world of wilderness. Alexander Allison in sitka, id say there are about 200 people who live on their boats. Either they are people who are commercial fishermen, who just live on their boat, or people who have boats and work in town and just live on a boat. I live on this fine vessel here, sound judgement. Youll notice it says vancouver on it, because thats where i bought her, down on the fraser river. I brought her up here, and this is where weve been for the last 10 years. There, that building over there, the beige and the blue, is the school where i teach, so i can usuay get from my galley on board to school before my coffee gets cold. People who live in the harbour are mostly commercial fishermen and people who spend a lot of time on the water. Its kind of joke. They call the harbour man town. A lot of guys get divorced, buy a boat, move down here. Its incredibly affordable. Sitka is a really expensive place to live on the land. So comparatively, a boat is a lot more affordable. So i have my recreation plus my home all put together in one. Most people in town, who rent in town, its 1000 or 1200 for a one or twobedroom place. And so, it just makes a lot of sense. This is where i get my electricity from for the boat. When im not plugged into the dock, when im away camping in some of my favorite bays, its all off the batteries. The water comes from the city. Its not metered. It just goes in the tanks that i have on the boat. I keep all my water on board here. Weve got a double or a queensize bunk here. I keep all my clothing in here. And its more than enough space. So were talking about 250 square feet, were living in here. Its kind of like a tiny home, right . I was on the cutting edge of the whole tiny home thing. Living here on Baranof Island, were in the middle of the Tongass National forest, which is a temperate rainforest, so it really never gets very hot or very cold. And being down in the water, the water temperature is always right around 45 or 50 degrees fahrenheit. And so theres a natural insulating factor thats happening there. So it actually takes a lot less to heat a boat than it does a house, because of that natural insulating effect of the ocean. noah allison i like living on a boat. Its cool. Theres a lot of fishing and that kind of thing. I was the youngest person to get a merchant marine certificate or something . Alexander Allison yeah. You were young. You were a deckhand at a very young age. So the whole point of having a boat in sitka is that it gets you out into awesome, pristine wilderness, right at our doorstep. Just the abundance of wildlife around here is incredible. I love the city, i love to go to the city and get doses of urban living, but when i want wilderness, when i want to be in nature, nothing beats this. john straley people love to come to alaska. I think what draws most of them is to know that there is still this wild country. Theres this whole mythology of being the last frontier. And the gold rush in the klondike. But the story of Gold Exploration is more about people going broke than finding riches. It is not an easy place to live. Its moody and its dangerous. Some places are depressing and ugly, and some places are spinetinglingly beautiful. And people are hungry for that. They want to know what is beyond themselves, and wilderness gives them the chance to contemplate that. Sophie Fouron now, i understand why they call alaska the last frontier. How beautiful this is your office . erin fulton this is my office. Its not a bad place to show up every day. Its amazing. Are you from here . Im not from here. I grew up in minnesota. I actually first came here on a cruise ship, about 16 years ago with my family. A big alaska cruise. Right. Sitka was one of the places we stopped at. And it always held a special place in my heart and the rest of my family. It was our favorite stop. And now i work for the park service, and its amazing. Sophie Fouron how big is your park . erin fulton o. K. Our park. Your park. My park, my personal park, welcome. Sitka National Historical park is about 116 acres. Most of it is our totem unit, where were walking now. And its part of the tongass forest. Yes. Sitka is nestled right in the middle of the Tongass National forest, which is the Largest National forest within the whole u. S. Forest service system. Its 17 million acres. Most of it probably has never actually had people walk through. Its the largest intact coastal temperate rain forest left in the world. Oh look at that oh yeah so we got a bald eagle that just flew overhead. You hear some of the highpitched chirping . Thats a bald eagle. Some of the weird [imitates birds], some of those weird. Those are ravens. You know what i love . Its the fact that you can just drive for five minutes, or just walk for 15 minutes and be in this environment. I think a lot of people, theyre caught up in the whole romanticism of it, of like yeah, i can go in the woods and test myself against nature, and what have you. And you cant just get off a cruise ship, throw on a backpack and some hiking shoes and just plan on going out and it being o. K. Because stuff happens. You dont know. Stuff happens. Because it is bear country here. Oh yeah. In the whole state, theres like one bear for every six people. That is a lot, erin there are a lot of bears. And with the tourists coming in. I mean, thats a bit of a threat. Its kind of stressful because. I mean, it is really exciting, the thought of oh my gosh, i could see a wild bear in alaska. And were not in agreement as park rangers. No, you dont want to see a bear. Lets not hope for that. Everyone is so used to it here, if youre going out kayaking or hiking, you have a whole plan set up of telling someone this is where im going, this is who im with, im hoping to be back by this time. If im not back by three hours after that, call the coast guard. It takes some prep to really deal with that, but ive met here some of the most amazingly competent people. Fix anything. Yeah just take it all in stride. They can make you some delicious, wonderful baked goods, and then fix a diesel engine. Now, youre actually taking me kayaking. Yes kayaking is so much fun. Its what i usually do after work. This is my noble steed. Well, i can tell that its yours. Look at the bumper stickers these boots. Yes. I have a couple of pairs. Yeah. Sitka sneakers. The extra tough boot. Sitka sneakers yes. People will wear them everywhere. Ive literally worn extra toughs in a wedding before. Come on oh yeah. Like an alaska wedding . Yeah, yeah. Everyone got brand new pairs of extra toughs. Lets get rolling from forest to sea yes. Sophie Fouron i guess thats how you entertain yourselves here. erin fulton yeah. We have a really, really big playground. And you dont let the weather stop you. No, you cant. If you didnt go outside because its raining, you would never leave your house. I was expecting a lot of rain, and ok at this. Dont trust it we call it a sucker hole. Because it looks like its going to lighten up, its going to be a beautiful sunny day, so you go out thinking the best, and then. It clouds over and downpours. O. K. So always just plan on it raining, and if the sun does come out, even better how is sitka different from the other towns in alaska . I think its how close people are to this place. To the ocean, to the forest, to the muskeg, to everything. Everything is so tangibly interconnected. Like salmon populations are very dependant on healthy forest and watershed. Studying it in schools, its an academic exercise, all very well and good. But here, you see it. Are you still amazed by it . Yeah. Yeah. Ive never been here. This is a new paddling spot for me. Theres still always more stuff. Theres always more things to find and discover, and. Yeah. Its so exciting. And thats why people like me, who come thinking theyd be here for six months, end up staying for years if not forever. Thats unique. Yeah. And theres the rain again. I told you. Sucker hole. john straley subsistence, it means using the food that the world provides around you. Here, on baranof, it means using the fish, using the deer, using the berries, using the seaweed. Its a profound way to think about food, and how to feed yourself, and how life comes into your life. Sophie Fouron how long have you been doing this . Brendan Jones i first came to alaska in 1997. You know, id go out with friends, and they would set skates and i was always kind of fascinated with it. I mean, theres such a culture of subsistence on the island because a halfgallon of milk costs 8. This is a skate that were pulling. The idea is you set the skate in the evening or in the morning, and maybe eight or ten hours later, you pull it in the hopes that theres something on one of those 15 hooks. The subsistence culture is still very, very strong here. Very much, yeah. This island was inhabited by tlingits for 10 000 years, and they hardly went into the mountains because when the tide was low, the table was set. So much food to be had around here. You fish, but you also hunt. Basically, do you make sure that you dont go to the Grocery Store very often . Well, its kind of like a game my family plays. And we lose if we go to the Grocery Store. Really . So we have the garden and we have hunting, and then we have subsistence, gathering seaweed, foraging, theres the sitka coop. There are a bunch of different strategies for avoiding the supermarket. But of course, sunday rolls around and you need maple syrup. You just have to go. Ive got a starfish. You have two kids. Yes. They are two and a half, and nine months. You will teach them about all this . Absolutely. And i already do. Its one of the most incredible things my daughter loves. The first thing she does when i bring a deer in is she starts cleaning it. She starts taking the leaves and the dirt from it. And at the same time as shes doing that, shes saying mmmm. Shes really excited to eat it. She knows shes going to eat it. Yeah, so its this kind of simultaneous respect and adulation, and at the same time, you know. Shes really hungry. And she knows that means making deer jerky or tacos, and thats really exciting for her because she loves it. When you open your freezer, dont you have the best feeling when you see that you actually caught things, and you can provide for your family . Yeah, it is a special feeling indeed. Theres something to know, and you put in the work to get this food on the table. That said, we also have a night in our family that we just go out for pizza, and its just wonderful. We dont have to do anything. We didnt catch the fish. We didnt do anything. Its just wonderful pizza. This is rachel. This is sophie. Hello family hi rachel this is haley marie. Haley marie. haley mary berries right there. Yeah. There are berries right there. O. K. She knows what to get. Youre going to get some berries. You like that. So yummy. Are you the one who comes and gets the egg in the morning . Lets see. Oh yeah great well close it up. See you later chickens i guess you have to go. I have to go. rachel jones hunting season opened today. Yeah. Well be preparing food for the winter. O. K. Youll be o. K. Yes. See you later see ya. Bye miss kiera lee. Sophie Fouron lets go. All right. You want to pick some peas . Do you know how lucky you are, to have peas in your garden . Can i eat them all . haley marie no. Come come what are we going to do . rachel jones we are going to bring some fishies outside. So these are king salmon, filleted, and they have been brining overnight. Look. This is pretty neat. Yeah. So just like that . Yeah. Just lay them right out. We cant go too far, because there are ravens and theyll come, swoop down, grab the fish and take off with them. Well just cover that up. O. K. Dont worry about it touching it. No flies, no ravens. No flies, no ravens. O. K. What i want to see is the inside of your freezer. All right. Treasure chest yeah. So weve got. Thats the last of last years deer. Its all filled. Like this here. That is halibut. Thats probably two years worth of halibut. Woah did you ever think you were going to do all that . I did not, no. I finished law school in 2012, and my first job up here was the law clerk at the court, and here we are five years later with a full freezer and two kids. Ive got some salmon inside thats ready for canning, which is another way we save the salmon. It lasts a lot longer. O. K. Ill help you. And two. So the babys sleeping . Baby is sleeping. O. K. Perfect. Were going to cut them right there. You want to put that in there . Yeah. Go ahead. Thats your job. Thank you for waiting patiently. Thats very helpful. And its important for you that she knows where the food comes from. Very. Very. Its important too that she understands that its an animal. Its a creature. Life is being given up for our sustenance. And thats such a big part of your life. The fact that you dont go to the Grocery Store much. Why is it important for you . A couple of reasons. Some of it is straight sustainability. Everything that gets shipped in creates waste, and that waste has to be shipped back out, dumped in seattle. Thats dumping our trash in somebody elses backyard. Some of it is that the food that gets up here does so on a barge, so theres fuel costs and its hugely expensive to shop at the Grocery Store. And its not reliable. In the winter, if the barge is late, the Grocery Store shelves start emptying out in about week until they bring supply in. Wow. So. Thus the huge freezer. Thus the huge freezer, yeah. And its just the consciousness that were kind of in the middle of nowhere. So you cant be fully dependent on the Grocery Store. So well put the lids on. O. K. Lets do that. Well tighten the caps. Then we will put some water in the pressure cooker. Watch out and youre going to have salmon all year long. rachel jones so ill have you guys guard that from the ravens and the flies, and im going to get the smoker started. O. K. Its a lot of work, rachel. It is a lot of work. Its a lot of downtime, though. So you know, you just set your timer and come check it, turn the chips over. Right. Its kind of just part of the day to day. So. Here. Yeah. Perfect. O. K. The number one thing we dont want to do is unplug the refrigerator. That would be very, very sad. That is the biggest risk of a power outage here. Youll lose all your meat. Exactly. Yeah. It could be devastating. john straley sitka has tourist economy, mostly in the summer. We get about 110 000 cruise ship passengers. We also have a lot of charter fishermen. The salmon fishing here is really fabulous. We talk about how good the fishing is by the number of rod hours it takes to catch a king salmon, and we have low, low rod hours per salmon catch. Sophie Fouron great parking sophie. Duane Lambeth duane. Glad to meet you. Welcome aboard thank you i get that this is like your car. It is. And thats how you get around because you actually live on an island. Yeah, on dove island. We dont have any cars out there. Just boardwalks. Sophie Fouron hello sienna so lets go check out the boats. Duane Lambeth so this is my sons little boat, and thats how they go to school, him and my daughter. When did they start using the boat on their own . My son started driving boats when he was 9, and then at 12, he was driving by himself. Were primarily a fishing lodge. So we have two types of residences. We have the cabins here and here, and then we have the main lodge which has suites. So you have a lot of fish loving people. Yes. Fishing is definitely the main thing that brings people to our lodge. I see that you actually have power here. We do. Youre not that isolated. Were not that isolated. We brought power from the city. It goes under the bay and then comes right up from the shore here, and right to here, and then its distributed through the different buildings that are here on the island. So that changes everything