John Schoen

“I have a dream. In my dream, it’s 2028 and I’m hiking up the Kadashan River with my grandchildren, fifteen-year-old Maya and twelve-year-old Toby. It’s early July, and we’re sitting on a big, shaggy beach log at the high-tide line just below a stringer of Sitka spruce trees. We’re looking northwest across the river delta over a dense patch of beach rye… in my dream, it’s mid tide and very noisy with flocks of gulls and crows scattered up and down the river along with a few ravens and eagles. All these birds and myriad other creatures are beginning to congregate here as they prepare for another summer’s bounty of Pacific salmon — the priceless gift that returns from the sea like clockwork each summer.”

"I would hope that people’s grandchildren all over the country have opportunities like that someday. Those are the choices that we’re making right now.

— John Schoen, biologist and author of “Tongass Odyssey”; first quote excerpted from "Tongass Odyssey"

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