Brian Kraft

"The first time I laid eyes on the Kvichak River was mid-May 1994, and the clarity of the river was unbelievable. I had never seen anything so clear, and there was so much of it— a massive wide bodied river flowing gin clear. Mesmerizing.

Now, it’s my favorite place in the world to be with my family. I get emotional about it. Whether I’m catching a fish or not, just being on the river is very moving, and it’s been a driving factor for me in supporting protections for the area. The people of the village of Igiugig are another major component— Native Alaskans that can track their ancestry to the region back thousands of years. Their good heartedness, their understanding of nature, fish, habitat, and how it’s all interconnected— it’s spiritual and emotional. I never could have imagined in my wildest dreams, a kid from Chicago, becoming touched like this and educated about something that our society doesn’t even have a fathom of understanding. When you have a group of people that have subsisted for thousands of years and continue to hold onto their culture and take pride in it, it’s humbling. It’s really a major driving factor that I’ve had in trying to lead the charge for protection of the region from large scale mineral development."

—Brian Kraft, Owner of the Alaska Sportsman’s Lodge on the Kvichak River

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