Alaska is often hailed as one of the world’s last true wildernesses, a landscape more than twice the size of Texas characterized by pristine natural ecosystems. The land of mountains, orcas, brown bears, salmon, glaciers, and moose. It’s also a place of complex human interactions with the natural world, a place that lends itself to conversations about wildness, climate change, indigeneity, the impact of human behavior on the land, and the necessity to protect and conserve these places for future generations.

This interdisciplinary, place-based learning expedition will take you into one of the remotest regions of Alaska to experience true wilderness firsthand and to provide opportunities for connection and conversation with Alaska’s people and places. Fly in a bush plane to Becharof Lake National Wildlife Refuge with professional Alaskan guide Tia Shoemaker to flyfish the sockeye salmon run and watch the world’s largest brown bears; meet with famed Alaskan writers to discuss their work on Alaska and conservation; travel to an indigenous fish camp and engage in conversation with native Alaskans about subsistence and indigeneity. Take a deep dive into a case study on the Pebble Mine extraction project currently threatening the Bristol Bay ecosystem and speak with various issue stakeholders as you contemplate the fraught balance between development and preservation.

These are just some of the remarkable experiences you’ll have that will help you think more deeply about the complex challenges facing wild places in Alaska and about what you can do to advocate for them.  In the end, you will leave with a deep connection to Alaska, with a nuanced understanding of this remarkable place, and with the comfort and confidence to travel well in wild places elsewhere around the world.