Wilderness

Voices of the Wilderness Artist-in-Residence Program

The application period for 2025 is closed

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2025 SELECTED ARTISTS!

Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness Study Area, Chugach National Forest Kristin Vantrease | Anchorage, AK | Printmaker

Kootznoowoo Wilderness, Tongass National Forest Keith Boggs | Anchorage, AK | Painter

West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness, Tongass National Forest Sam Olsen | Fairbanks, AK | Woodcarver

Tracy Arm-Ford’s Terror Wilderness, Tongass National Forest Chris Sheppard | Sammamish, WA | Painter, Writer, Videographer

The Alaskan artist-in-residence program partners participants with a wilderness specialist to join in projects such as research, monitoring and education in a remote wilderness setting.

Sponsored by: USDA Forest Service, National Park Service & U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Residencies open to: Art professionals in all media – visual (two and three dimensional: photographers, sculptors, painters, etc.), audio (musicians, singers, composers), film (video/filmmakers), performance artists, and writers (poets, fiction, essays, storytellers). International artists are welcome to apply.

Residency period: Typically, June through August; dates & length of residencies vary

Coordinator contact: Barbara Lydon

The Voices of the Wilderness artist residency is a unique opportunity, modeled after the national parks program but with a twist. Instead of staying at a remote wilderness cabin, our participating artists are paired with a wilderness specialist and actively engaged in stewardship projects, such as research, monitoring, and education. The idea is to give artists a sense of the stewardship behind America’s public lands, fostering an artistic exploration of these natural and cultural treasures. The hoped-for result is artwork that communicates the significance of these lands beyond their obvious beauty.

Artists in Public Lands

Artists have long contributed to the preservation and interpretation of our public lands. Early examples include George Catlin, Albert Beirstadt, and Thomas Moran, whose nineteenth-century paintings inspired pride in America’s wild landscapes and influenced designation of our first parks.

In subsequent generations, artists used song, photograph, poetry and other mediums to celebrate America’s public lands. Their work demonstrates that artistic expression plays a vital role in connecting people to the natural world.

Now it’s your turn.

Recognizing that today’s artists continue to link people to the land, the Forest Service, National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service are sponsoring Voices of the Wilderness, artist-in-residence opportunities hosted in some of Alaska’s wildest and most scenic areas.

Your job is to be inspired! Experience the wilderness and use your creative energy to give it voice and connect human communities to its vital spirit.

Artist-in-Residence

In the summer of 2026, artists will be invited to participate in our residencies, each opportunity completely different. The purpose is to share artwork that conveys the inspirational and other values of wilderness.

Each artist will be provided the same safety training as other volunteers (may include aviation and boat safety, kayak safety, use of radios and satellite phones, review of Job Hazard Analyses, etc.). The hosting federal agency will provide transportation to and from the field, camping and field gear, and in many cases, food as well.

Travel to and from Alaska is the artist’s responsibility. Participants should plan to arrive in Alaska at least one full day prior to a residency to ensure enough time for safety training. Return travel should be planned for a couple days after a residency, as weather sometimes delays the return from the field. Artists are also responsible for their personal gear, including art supplies.

As an artist-in-residence, you will experience the wilderness like few others. Traveling alongside a ranger, you might kayak the calm fjords and camp on glacier-carved shores. There will be plenty of time to sit back in your camp chair and absorb the crackling ice bergs and roaring waterfalls. From the water, you might see a bear foraging among intertidal mussels, or seals hauled out on the ice. On remote beaches, your steps will mingle with the tracks of wolves, bears, birds, maybe even a mink. The wilderness soundscape will embrace you with the screeches of eagles or the songs of whales. Along the way, you’ll get a peek at what it’s like to care for the land by sharing time with a ranger.

As a volunteer, each artist will assist with some basic ranger duties, which may include boarding a tour boat to provide education; participating in research projects, such as seal counts or climate change studies; walking a beach to remove litter; or other generally light duties. However, the emphasis for the artist will be experiencing the wilderness and exploring how to communicate its inspirational qualities through their artwork.

2026 Participating Wilderness Areas

Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness Study Area

Chugach National Forest

In 1980, Congress designated roughly two million acres along western Prince William Sound as the Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness Study Area (WSA). This recognized the area’s exceptional beauty and remoteness and its possible future designation as federal wilderness. Until Congress determines the next step, the Forest Service is committed to preserving the area’s wild character to provide the public with outstanding opportunities for solitude, primitive recreation, and inspiration in an undeveloped setting.

Located in south central Alaska on the Chugach National Forest, Prince William Sound is the homeland of Alutiiq, Eyak, and Chugach people, who have lived on and stewarded these lands for thousands of years. The landscape features countless glaciers - the densest concentration of tidewater glaciers in Alaska, some flowing a dozen miles from ice-capped peaks to terminate in cliffs of ice towering hundreds of feet above the water. The history of glaciation is evident everywhere you look, from newly de-glaciated barren hillsides to ancient moraines just below the water’s surface.
Traveling amongst the expansive fiords, you’ll look straight up at peaks rising thousands of feet right from the water’s edge. Camping alongside the ocean shores you’ll be able to follow wildlife tracks, check out glacier ice up close, or take a short hike up to the alpine for an expansive glimpse of the fiords. Diverse wildlife is prevalent in the Sound, including black bears, humpback whales, sea otters, Dall’s porpoises, harbor seals and sea lions.
During the residency, artists will be partnered with rangers to participate in various wilderness stewardship duties, which may include marine debris clean-up, trail work, rehabilitation/restoration work, and monitoring projects. The artist may also be asked to participate in visitor contacts, wilderness character monitoring, and rehabilitation projects, while camping in remote areas of the Sound. The trip will utilize boats for transport and involve walking remote shorelines on uneven and slippery surfaces. Conditions may be rainy, windy, and cold.
During the residency, there will be plenty of time to experience the solitude and wildness of this place. Artists fly into Anchorage and depart for the field from the Glacier Ranger District in Girdwood, located approx. 40 miles southeast of Anchorage.

Nellie JuanCollege Fiord Wilderness Study Area PDF.pdf

Prince William Sound Stewardship Foundation

Contact Timothy Lydon at the Glacier Ranger District for further questions about Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness Study Area.

Kootznoowoo Wilderness

Tongass National Forest

The Kootznoowoo Wilderness encompasses the majority of Admiralty Island National Monument near Juneau, Alaska. The indigenous Tlingit of Southeast Alaska know Admiralty Island by the name Kootznoowoo, meaning “Bear Fort” or “Fortress of the Bears”.

Kootznoowoo Wilderness is the largest expanse of intact temperate rainforest in the northern hemisphere and is home to one of the densest populations of coastal brown bears and bald eagles in the world. This wilderness area has a rich indigenous history spanning 12,000 years of human presence in the village of Angoon, whose inhabitants rely on the abundance of natural resources found in the lands and waters of the island.

The Artist-in-Residence (AIR) will be partnered with wilderness rangers at the Pack Creek Bear Viewing Area and surrounding waters of Seymour Canal. The artist will assist with a variety of wilderness stewardship projects which may include wilderness monitoring, bear data collection, marine debris cleanup, trail maintenance, and sharing their artistic experience with visitors to the bear sanctuary. During their time in the field, the artist will stay in a small camping tent or rustic wall tent in the administrative camp on Windfall Island, a short skiff ride or kayak away from Pack Creek Bear Viewing Area.

Artists applying to this residency should be prepared to camp, work, and hike in coastal brown bear habitat with frequent bear encounters. The terrain of this residency includes tidal beaches and old growth forest which is muddy, slippery, and uneven underfoot. Conditions often include extreme levels of rainfall, high wind, and temperatures between 40-60 degrees. Transportation to the wilderness field camp will be by 30ft boat and may include inclement marine weather. Artists fly into Juneau and depart from the Juneau Ranger District office in Juneau, Alaska.
For questions regarding Kootznoowoo Wilderness and the Voices of the Wilderness program on Admiralty Island National Monument, contact Grace Corrigan.

Stikine LeConte Wilderness

Tongass National Forest

In 1980, the United States Congress designated 448,926 acres as the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness. The mighty Stikine River is the lifeline flowing through this wilderness. It is North America's fastest, free flowing navigable river. LeConte Glacier also flows through the wilderness. LeConte is North America's southernmost tidewater glacier, depositing icebergs into LeConte Bay.

Glaciers have sculpted the granite bedrock into the U-shaped valley of the Stikine River. For centuries that valley has served as a corridor through the Coast Range for wildlife and humans, including native peoples and the rush for gold.

The Stikine River valley, with its thick forest and side sloughs, provides a Wilderness playground for boaters. There are opportunities for tranquil paddling as well as speedy motorboat rides. One moment you may be watching a lone moose or brown bear venturing to the edge of river and the next, meeting a group of fun-loving visitors at Chief Shakes Hot Springs.

The wilderness includes the River's estuary with extensive grasslands and delta mudflats as the river reaches the Pacific Ocean. The Stikine-LeConte Wilderness boasts: the highest peak on the Tongass National Forest (Kate's Needle at 10,002 ft); the largest ice field on the Tongass National Forest (Stikine Ice fields); the world's largest spring concentration of bald eagles (up to 1500); and a major stopover on the Western Flyway with shorebird migration averaging 350,000 birds a day.

Stikine has been a major transportation route for centuries, first beginning with Alaskan native inhabitants and later with fur traders and miners. Today the river remains an important transportation route for the United States and Canada. Many outfitters and guides use it for fly-fishing, hunting, and camping but the highest amount of guiding involves high speed jet boating for nature-based sightseeing tours. Commercial fishing industries transport fish for processing and to the market.

The river channel is important culturally for subsistence and sport fishing, hunting, and sightseeing. Twelve public use cabins, 16 special-use permitted cabins, a developed hot springs, two hiking trails, and swimming area provide a variety of recreational activities for visitors and the local public along the banks of the river.

The Artist-in-Residence (AIR) can expect to take a 5-8 day backcountry trip in between the Stikine River and the LeConte Glacier, traveling by both powered boat and kayak. We will be camping either in a Forest Service cabin (with a wood stove and bed platforms) or in a tent. Camping experience is not necessary, but experience with small craft (kayak) operation is preferred. The AIR will be taking part in a variety of Wilderness stewardship projects, including but not limited to solitude monitoring, campsite inventory, invasive species mapping and management, special use permit monitoring, public outreach and education, and general Wilderness interpretation work. Artists depart from Wrangell; once on the island, the Forest Service will be able to provide lodging and transportation.

Stikine-LeConte Wilderness.pdf

Learn more about the Stikine LeConte Wilderness (website)

Contact Jeremy Padilla at Wrangell Ranger District with questions about the Stikine LeConte Wilderness area opportunities at jeremy.padilla@usda.gov or (907) 874-7515.

South Baranof or West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness

Tongass National Forest

The South Baranof Wilderness Area (319,568 acres) is in the southern portion of Baranof Island (originally named Sheet’-ká X'áat'l by the native Tlingit people). Bounded on the west by the Gulf of Alaska, the scenery is stunningly picturesque with granite glacier-scored mountains, long saltwater fiords and hanging lake valleys. On the east side of the wilderness by Chatham Strait, the saltwater coastline is not as rugged and there is a higher snow accumulation over the whole area with over 200 inches of precipitation per year. Permanent snowfields and active glaciers blanket the high country above 2,000 feet, giving way to dense undergrowth in a coastal forest of spruce and hemlock. The wildlife that inhabits this area includes brown bears, Sitka black-tail deer, mink, marten and river otters, as well as eagles and shorebirds. Seals, sea lions, whales, and a large population of sea otters are often seen offshore, and crab, shrimp, herring, salmon and halibut are harvested from the sea.

The West Chichagof–Yakobi Wilderness Area occupies the western portions of Chichagof and Yakobi Islands in the extreme northwest portion of the Alexander Archipelago of Southeast Alaska. The wilderness consists of 265,286 acres of wave-pounded open coastline, remote rivers, forests of old-growth western hemlock and Sitka spruce and uplands of alpine, muskeg, and rare karst cliffs. Sitka black-tailed deer are common here along with brown bears and an abundance of smaller furbearing animals including mink and marten. Migratory waterfowl frequent the more protected bays and inlets in remarkable numbers. Marine mammals include sea otters, Stellar sea lions, and harbor seals.

As an artist-in-residence you will be joining in a unique collaboration between the Sitka Ranger District and the Sitka Conservation Society in monitoring this rarely visited wilderness area. Access will be by floatplane or motorboat. Trips will consist of working from a support vessel or basecamp, or by roving monitoring from a sea kayak. Artists should be available for at least a two-week period to allow for adequate weather windows given the area’s exposure to the wide-open Pacific Ocean. Artists fly into Sitka and depart from the Sitka Ranger Station.

South Baranof Wilderness.pdf

West Chichagof Yakobi Wilderness.pdf

Read: Bones of the Tongass: Kayaking the West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness - Sierra Club website

https://www.facebook.com/votwsbwildernessartistresidency

Contact Laurent Deviche at the Sitka Ranger District for further questions about the Sitka Ranger District Wilderness area opportunities: (907) 747-4212or laurent.deviche@usda.gov.

Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness

Tongass National Forest

Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness, located 50 miles south of Juneau, is a striking landscape crafted by water, ice, and time. This spectacular Wilderness Area cradles two steep-walled fjords that terminate at three of the most southerly tidewater glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere. Come experience what John Muir called “a wild, unfinished Yosemite,” and bear witness to the crescendo of post-glacial succession as old-growth temperate rainforest transitions to the powerful, calving face of a tidewater glacier.
Our stewardship projects here are as various as the characteristics of Wilderness. Artists may assist rangers in monitoring cruise ship emissions, providing shipboard education, treating invasive weeds, recording wildlife, and monitoring solitude and recreation sites.
Each selected artist will accompany a wilderness ranger for approximately eight days. Artists should plan on a trip 10-12 days in Alaska to accommodate training, and trip adjustments due to weather. Artists depart for Tracy Arm-Fords Terror from Juneau via motorboat. During the field trip, the artist will travel primarily by sea kayak (paddling up to 10-15 miles per day) and will camp in a two-person tent. The climate in Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness is often wet and cold, with average summer temperatures hovering in the mid-to-high 50s. As you travel deeper into the fjords and approach glacial termini, temperatures decrease by approximately 5-10 degrees and wind is common.
The selected artist will participate in kayak training in Juneau before departing for the wilderness, and the district will provide all needed kayak and camping gear. Applicants should have backcountry experience and be physically and mentally capable of extended primitive travel and camping in arduous conditions. Prior kayaking experience is beneficial.

Tracy Arm Fords Terror Wilderness.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/votwtaftwildernessartistresidency

For further questions about Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness, contact wilderness staff at the Juneau Ranger District: dylan.miller@usda.gov or (907) 789-6224 or Chrissy Post at christine.post@usda.gov.

Glacier Bay Wilderness

Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve - National Park Service

Traveling through Glacier Bay today, you pass through areas covered by thousands of feet of ice as recently as 200 years ago. In very few places are the powerful, changing forces of nature more evident than in Glacier Bay.

Here we see the full spectrum of pioneer to keystone species emerging from the ice, and a place known as Homeland to the Huna and Yakutat Lingít, who have remained resilient through these changes since time immemorial. Glacier Bay is also a part of the vast Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek World Heritage Site; together these areas comprise one of the world’s largest protected areas. Glaciers, icefields, high latitude, and the diversity of plant and animal life conspire to make this wilderness an ideal, unfragmented living laboratory for scientists and adventurers alike.
3.28-million-acres of Glacier Bay National Park is designated Wilderness.
Surrounded by a spectacular glaciated rim of mountains, Glacier Bay is sheltered by the Fairweather Range to the west and the Saint Elias Mountains on the north. The highest peaks, topped by Mount Fairweather at 15,300 feet, stand almost three miles above the sea and attract intrepid mountaineers. No trails exist; most visitors see the wilderness by boat, and the sea kayaking ranks among the best in the world.
The main bay divides into East and West Arms, which are split into many inlets. The water is dotted with islands, and the paddling goes on and on in eye-aching splendor. Campers share the shorelines with black and brown bears, moose, bald eagles, among other wildlife. Sightings of humpback whales, sea otters, harbor seals, and sea lions are common.
The selected artist for this residency will spend 1-2 weeks in Glacier Bay, a portion of that in the park's remote wilderness, either via sea kayak or on foot. Remote backcountry experience is preferred.
Artists may receive guidance and support with logistics such as travel planning, gear, or other aspects of their residency, offered with support from our non-profit partner Alaska Geographic. Artists will arrive and depart for the wilderness from the town of Gustavus and the park's headquarters in Bartlett Cove.