YHMA Blog

The drive to Valdez was spectacular. The roughest section of the road was between Destruction Bay and the border. Very little wildlife was out and the highways were quiet. The foliage was in full show of fall colours. We stopped for dinner at a restaurant called “Fast Eddies” the food was great and they had an all you can eat salad bar.  There was construction on the Richardson highway just before Valdez we could hear the water falls beside us but it was so dark at midnight we could not see them.

I am looking forward to the drive back so I can see what this area of Alaska looks like in the daylight.

Key Note speaker Dr. Douglas Brinkley

Dr. Brinkley is a self-confessed “Park Brat” as a youngster he traveled with his parents to national parks throughout the states. This has led to a life long journey exploring history and in particular field of study and his topic of discussion was Theodor Roosevelt. He was a delightful speaker full of amusing anecdotal conflicts with in TR’s life. This brought TR to life for many of us in the room and gave us insight into the man and his believes. Inspired by Darwin TR made it his mission to save as many natural space as possible in the us because he believed that they were the defining characteristic of America loosing those spaces in his mind was tantamount to America loosing what made it great. This was the prefect Segway to Dr. Brinkley’s second book which is on saving natural spaces in Alaska. An inspiring message throughout was one person can make a change. TR was the first to create game and wildlife officers and progenitor of refuse and protected spaces throughout the US. This was a truly fascinating lecture.

New Facility Development and Community Based Capital Campaigns

This lecture was given by a panel of three. One organization was looking at finding a place for a museum, the second was in the design and development of the museum and the third was in the construction phase of building the museum. The topic as we all know is funding how do we get it and where will we find more? This lecture series was great in the fact that all of them have a plan. They have written grants to plan out their museums on every level. They have plans for the architecture and placement of the building and who will be involved in the development and final outcome of the design. They have a fundraising plan, which included who they would approach for help from Federal to State governments, foundations, community and membership. They have developed community support through rallying different groups and organizations.  They have identified their needs in this capital project from artefact shortage to signage; they have even planned out more energy efficiency throughout the buildings. The message for this lecture was it does take a very long time and planning is the most important part of any captial project. This was an inspiring talk and many ideas were share throughout the Q&A.   

Trace