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Welcome to the Hobbit Hole!

Greetings, friends of Alaska, salmon, science and rain!  It’s exciting to get started.  The website isn’t quite complete yet, but take a look around — and feel free to get in touch.  Our team is always looking for ideas and contacts for Inian Islands Institute.

I grew up in an incredible area of Southeast Alaska.  My little town of Gustavus only has about 400 people in it, and if you want to get there, you’ll need to take a boat or a plane — roads aren’t so practical in the land of high mountain peaks and deep Pacific fjords.  In fact, Gustavus is one of the only flat patches of land in all of Southeast Alaska, a glacial floodplain of gravel and till that the glacier left behind when it retreated into nearby Glacier Bay.

My good friend Hank Lentfer paddling outside the Hobbit Hole.

My good friend Hank Lentfer paddling outside the Hobbit Hole.

Near my hometown is a gorgeous and isolated property called the Hobbit Hole.  It sits on an natural harbor of the otherwise uninhabited Inian Islands.  The Hobbit Hole’s 5 wonderful acres are right smack in the middle of the largest and grandest stretch of protected lands on the planet.  The goal of our Stanford team is to purchase the Hobbit Hole and create a one-of-a-kind field school, that will give students a chance to see this eye-opening Wilderness long into the future.

I’m glad you visited.  And I’d love to hear from you.  Let’s start a conversation about this amazing place!

3 Comments Post a comment
  1. Tania Lewis #

    We are at the Hobbit Hole right now and loving it!!! Very excited about this website and the future of sustainable science here at this glorious place – good luck Zach and crew!!! – Tania, Eric, Ula, Melissa and Paul

    May 10, 2013
  2. Dan Brown #

    Way to go Zach! This is a wonderful mission.

    May 11, 2013
  3. This is so awesome. Can I come and make food for the “students”?
    I look forward to watching this progress and will share
    with others. Good Job Zach!

    May 12, 2013

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