THE SALMON WAY

A writer and photographer offers a thoughtful
exploration of the vital role played by salmon in Alaskan communities.

Gulick (Salmon in the Trees, 2010), whose
work has appeared in Audubon and National Wildlife, follows up her
preceding book with this well-reported and gorgeously illustrated volume
about the intimate, complex relationship between salmon and the Alaskan people.
Salmon is a gift, the author explains, and those who receive it all share a
“deep connection to these remarkable fish,” though they may sometimes disagree
on the best way to use and protect the prize they’ve been given. Alaska is one
of the few places that still has a flourishing population of wild salmon, Gulick
asserts before interviewing people whose very existence depends on the
continued health of salmon runs. Some are transplants who run the sport-fishing
businesses that attract tourists to America’s last frontier; others are commercial
fishermen; and several are Alaska Natives who keep centuries-old traditions
alive when they catch and preserve the flavorful fish. The author provides an
up-close look at “the salmon way” as
she ventures out on a fishing boat, travels by seaplane into the wilderness, encounters
bears, and sits down for many meals as she gets to know “the salmon people of
Alaska.” The result is a vivid portrait of a place that will likely be foreign
to many readers; 18% of the population still harvests fish, game,
and plants in order to survive. Those who embrace a subsistence way of life
(either by choice or necessity) might seem poor to outsiders, but they
“consider themselves the richest people in the world,” with access to the vast
variety of nature’s bounty, as Gulick explains. Her conversations with those
who depend on salmon deftly show how the fish are a vital link in the state’s
environmental and economic systems but also how they bind families and
communities together. Few who read this illuminating book or see the author’s
awe-inspiring color photographs will fail to come away with a sense that this
is a way of life well worth preserving.

A rich, compelling look at a
thriving yet increasingly threatened natural resource and those who depend on
it.