Learning to Belong on Land That Isn’t Mine

How a historic compromise shaped Alaska’s public waters

There is a river in Alaska whose name I will not share, because that’s how it is with fly anglers, no matter where we’re from — every last one of us has a secret fly-fishing spot we like to think of as “ours.” Mine is not really mine, of course.

The federal government manages the stream’s waters, while the state of Alaska manages the land beneath and su…