SERINE HALVERSON

Mr. Whitekeys is my hands-down choice for your travel editor. The Spam of Spenard is fearless! His conclusions are devastatingly sharp and downright accurate. He need only travel instate; Alaska “Scarelines” alone could flesh out several installments of his travel notes. Give him a budget!

—Larry Clarke

Wrangell, Yakima and Spenard

Local Eating Might Not Be Better

I’m sure Elizabeth Money’s heart is in the right place (“Think Locally, Eat Locally,” Nov. 2009, Page 34), lauding local food production and consumption as being a help to our beleaguered planet. Besides, who can argue with freshness and taste? I see little harm in the “locavore” movement, but I fi nd the logic behind it is greatly fl awed. There’s a reason those Outside veggies are cheaper. The reason for the lower prices is the economy of scale, meaning that resources needed to get those distant delectables to your table—even with shipping factored in—are less. That means fewer acres of other ecological systems (forests, wetlands, etc.) need be converted to farmland, and less oil and gas need be utilized to distribute the products on a per-pound basis. Although recent science suggests carbon dioxide may not be the bogey man that many greenies fear—it appears to fluctuate as a result of cyclical climate change and not cause it—those who cling to the idea that it must be reduced, ironically, leave a Sasquatch-size carbon footprint every time they eat local squash. In addition, heavier allocation of personal resources for pricey local food leaves less to combat hunger here in the United States and in the rest of the world. So, enjoy your $5 carton of eggs while I stick to being a “remotavore” and save the earth.

—Rick De Prisco

Twin Peaks, Calif.

The Old-fashioned Way

I am writing to comment on the article “Of Wood and Warmth” in the Oct. 2009 issue (Page 34). Ever since Youth Conservation camp in Wisconsin in the early ’90s, I have enjoyed splitting wood. Luckily, I also married a man who enjoys it and is an expert sawyer. Each year we buy a permit, borrow a friend’s truck, and gather our fi rewood for the winter. The act of splitting wood brings about a sense of rhythm and awareness that has always felt like home. Great to see an article on the reasons why people spit wood by hand, instead of using a log splitter.

—Nora Davis

Index, Wash.

Don’t Forget Bob Ward

I don’t wish to take anything away from your fi ne description of the accomplishments of Red Boucher and his many contributions to Alaska’s fi rst 50 years (“End of the Trail,” Nov. 2009, Page 72), but I noticed a mistake in your article about him. While he was the first full-term lieutenant governor of the state, it is my recollection that the 1970 Legislature changed the title of the secretary of state to lieutenant governor and that the law took effect shortly before the end of Bob Ward’s term as secretary of state. For a very short time Mr. Ward was therefore lieutenant governor, and Red Boucher was sworn as the second lieutenant governor in early December 1970 to a full four-year term.

—Keith H. Miller, former Alaska governor

Anchorage

Please Don’t Throw Fish

We were excited to see a photo essay on commercial fi shing in Bristol Bay (“Bristol Bay,” July/Aug. 2009, Page 34) but disappointed by the photograph of the set-net fi sherman throwing a salmon (Page 36). Throwing can cause bruising and degrade the quality of the final product. Many Bristol Bay fishermen handle their salmon with the utmost care and respect. The effort comes from the reverence for a noble fish and the desire to produce an excellent food product. Some of our harvesting techniques include gentle handling, padded decks, bleeding, submersed at-sea chilling and low off-load weights. The Bristol Bay boat fl eet taxes itself 1 percent of gross revenue to continually develop better harvesting and handling techniques. As fi shermen we have a responsibility to harvest nature’s fi nest food with stewardship and respect.

—Meghan Gervais, captain, F/V Sea King and

Timothy Gervais, captain, F/V Dreamboat

Ruby 

Corrections:

The photographer of an image on Pages 20 and 21 of our October issue was misidentifi ed. The photographer who made the image was William Bacon III of AccentAlaska.com.

The photographers in the November 2009 Alaska Sportsman feature were not credited. The credits are as follows: Page 56 Patrick J. Endres/AlaskaPhotoGraphics.com, Page 59 Lon Lauber/ AlaskaStock.com, Page 60 Lon Lauber, Page 62 Scott Dickerson/AlaskaStock.com, Page 63 Doug Lindstrand/AlaskaStock.com.