Sean O'Brien, W. Alton Jones Foundation

Sean T. O'Brien, Ph.D., is a circuit rider for the W. Alton Jones Foundation in Charlottesville, Va.

Today I will write about Haida Gwaii, after yesterday's photo teaser. First, what is it? The islands now popularly called Haida Gwaii (the traditional name given them by the Haida people) have long been shown on maps as the Queen Charlotte Islands. They form an arrowhead-shaped landmass south of the Alaskan panhandle off the coast of British Columbia. The islands encompass 1 million hectares (and about one-half the size of the Madidi National Park in Bolivia that I wrote about on Monday).

I went to Haida Gwaii in August as part of an extended circuit ride in British Columbia. I met with several environmental nonprofits in Vancouver and then headed up the coast to the islands, where I spent most of my time with the Gowgaia Institute, a local environmental group supported by the W. Alton Jones Foundation. Gowgaia -- together with some of the Haida people, including their new president -- is planning a large web project to educate people about clear-cutting policies on the islands, alternative logging methods, traditional uses of the forest, and the impact of logging on the environment and people of Haida Gwaii.

My job was to help them brainstorm about the structure and content of their website and plan for the acquisition of photos to illustrate the issues they're concerned about. The photos in yesterday's and today's entries are examples of some potentially powerful images (which might also be presented as streaming videos on the web), especially when combined with comprehensive, clear, and substantive information about logging.

Another threat to the islands is introduced species, which can have dramatic impacts on the ecology of an area. On Haida Gwaii, beaver, deer, and elk are all nonnative, introduced species that are threatening the existence of some unique habitats as well as the overall structure and composition of the forestland.

The Laskeek Bay Conservation Society is working with others to eradicate introduced species from one small island in the area. In a very short amount of time, they have seen a change in the forest. But they have also learned firsthand how difficult it is to remove every last deer from even a small area.

The trip was really amazing. I had never been to that part of the world and was very impressed with the beauty and the incredible caliber of the people working to protect it.