Q&A with SEACC Leadership, Past & Present

Written by Emily

October 22, 2020

Bart Koehler


1984-1991 & 1995-1999

Executive Director


What was your vision for SEACC when you worked there? Do you think you reached it? Why or why not?

To conservationists, it seemed the Forest Service and the Alaska Congressional Delegation saw Southeast Alaska as a timber colony, mandating 450 million board ft/year timber sales and $40 million a year to make clearcuts and using taxpayer money. Our mission: repeal all sweetheart provisions and shut down the pulp mills by getting rid of their contracts. We also needed permanent protection for key watersheds with pristine environment. It took a decade, but in 1990 the Tongass Timber Reform Act (TTRA) was passed, turning the tide. By 1999, pulp mills in Southeast were closed. SEACC stayed the course and led the way to a huge sea change.

What was the biggest political challenge during your tenure? How did you approach overcoming it?

We had two priorities, both major challenges: making the Tongass a national issue and building grassroots support in communities throughout Southeast. We had a traveling slideshow that hit key districts and states, coordinated by our SEACC staff in D.C., and we kept a consistent presence in Tongass communities who were trying to protect their best-loved fish and wildlife watersheds, each one vital to their ways of life. Our grassroots organizing was effective, most clearly during the Senate Tongass Hearings in Ketchikan and Sitka, when the spokespeople for Southeast communities came forth and testified in favor of the TTRA.

What was your most memorable public speaking engagement as the ED, and why was it so memorable? What was the issue? What was the crowd like? Do you still think about that today?

1995, my second stint as E.D. We’d thoroughly prepared for the Senate Oversight Hearing on the Tongass: we were bombproof. A political ceasefire had been called once the TTRA passed, but Senator Ted Stevens pushed the USFS to make excessive timber sales, so SEACC reluctantly filed a lawsuit blocking one sale. At the hearing he retaliated, calling me a liar and storming out. I was next to testify. My response was akin to: “I’ve never been called a liar before, certainly not by a Senator. To be clear: SEACC stands by every word we say today. I wish the Senator had stayed, we’ll hash this out.” 

Kay McCarthy


1976-1982

First Co-Director


What was your vision for SEACC when you worked there? Do you think you reached it? Why or why not?

SEACC’s first big goal was to have 45 unprotected watershed areas we had selected designated as wilderness areas. In 1975 there were no congressionally protected wilderness areas in the Tongass. The wilderness study areas the Forest Service had proposed were either rock and ice or remote bird nesting islands. We obtained wilderness protection for five major areas in the 45 with our work on the Alaska National Interest Lands bill, which was signed by President Carter in 1980. We continuously made progress on the 45 watersheds, culminating in the 1990s with the Tongass Timber Reform Act.

What was the biggest political obstacle/threat during your tenure? How did you approach overcoming it?

The biggest political obstacle was that conserving areas in the Tongass seemed irrelevant to most people. People said, “this forest is so vast, it is a huge wilderness. Development won’t make much of a dent in it.” Most Southeast residents had never seen much of the forest, and were not aware of logging practices on the Tongass. Also, anybody with an economic connection to the pulp mills was antagonistic toward us, including the Alaska Congressional Delegation. We didn’t overcome that hurdle entirely. What helped was a lot work by SEACC showing that these timber sales were deficit sales that cost the Forest Service and the tax payers money.

What was your most memorable public speaking engagement as the ED, and why was it so memorable? What was the issue? What was the crowd like? Do you still think about that day?

All public events were memorable. The first congressional hearing I attended was in Wrangell. I was representing SEACC, talking about areas around Wrangell we’d proposed for protection. The audience was polarized. Clearcut logging was happening so fast, but the other side saw wilderness protection as a threat to their jobs. The crowd was hostile. People kept referring to me as the “silver tongued lady.” Then, Wrangell was home to the Alaska Lumber and Pulp Co. sawmill. Looking back, I was naïve. People were scared. Loggers and mill workers were feeling the winds of change blowing. Many had come to SE Alaska to work because of conservation battles in Oregon.

Meredith Trainor


2016-Present

Executive Director


What was your vision for SEACC when you worked there? Do you think you reached it? Why or why not?

When I started at SEACC in 2016, my vision focused on steadying our organizational ship, and returning to many of the ideas that informed SEACC’s founding. I have strong ideas about running a business and team, and I prioritized a consistent approach to advocacy, a carefully thought-out structure and budget, and a sustainable, happy staff. My vision today is focused on how we create the future we want to live in, here in Southeast. That includes elevating work towards a Just Transition and new economic model for Alaska, and priorities around justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion within SEACC.

What was the biggest political challenge during your tenure? How did you approach overcoming it?

The Trump administration. When I began working for SEACC we anticipated a Clinton presidency, and the first months of my tenure were spent planning how we’d work with her administration to advance our goals! When we woke up on Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, everything had changed completely. Leading during the Trump administration has been the challenge of my life, from meeting attacks on long-standing conservation laws like NEPA and policy like Roadless, to facing relentless efforts to tear apart our democracy. I will spend the rest of my career repairing the damage Trump has done.

What was your most memorable public speaking engagement as the ED, and why was it so memorable? What was the issue? What was the crowd like? Do you still think about that today?

The most recent Roadless meeting in Juneau comes to mind, because we interrupted it! The Forest Service seemed to be trying to literally bore the hundreds of people who showed up to voice their support for the Tongass out of the room, and I was incredibly frustrated by the way they were handling that event. So I stood up and interrupted, and asked people to stand if they were there because they wanted to see the Tongass protected, and the Roadless Rule kept in place. Nearly the entire room simultaneously rose to their feet, which was a powerful, compelling, and visual demonstration of public support.

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