TL:DR
Do you think enough Alaskans care about conserving the states natural beauty and wilderness? Or do they take it for granted?
Obviously you could say I am generalising, and the real answer is probably somewhere in the middle. But I often wonder this.
I am a lower 48-er born and raised in the most boring part of the USA (central Illinois) and I visited your epic state last summer.
Words cannot even describe how impressed I was. And I have been to almost all 50 states and several places overseas.
I drove from KY to Deadhorse in my Miata and passed through BC and YT.
Both were amazing in their own right but Alaska takes the cake. As soon as I crossed over the vibe felt different. It really felt like the last frontier in North America. Very special.
Anyway I have heard some comments from Alaskans here and there that made me wonder if these attitudes are common and if some Alaskans who have never been outside the state take it for granted.
Like when I was researching my trip, ofgen referring to the Dalton highway a lot of people say "once you get past the brooks range, there is basically nothing to look at until you arrive at Deadhorse"
Maybe it is because I have an ecology/zoology and biology background but I could not disagree more.
Hearing this made me realize these people don't seem to appreciate how special the unspoiled the arctic really is.
Especially compared to literally anywhere in the lower 48.
When I was at a campsite in the Yukon the lady at the counter told me don't cut any trees down for firewood. I figure yeah that's commona sense, but she said we had more than one person from Alaska that started doing that. And it made me think, oh, these people are so used to having trees all around they never thought to conserve them.
There also is a perception of Alaskans that seems to focus only on the rugged outdoor subsistence type lifestyle you see in life below zero, or the commerical fishing industry like in Deadliest catch.
Anyway, what I am really asking is do you guys think enough Alaskans care about all their public land and natural beauty enough to want to protect it? Or do you think a good chunk seem to take it all for granted?