b'The company finds waysAsignificantamountofthefoodservedonboardis FOGHORN FOCUS sourced locally. All the seafood is sustainably sourced as to leverage environmentalwell. Youre in southeast Alaska, youve got the best source right there, McIntosh said. All their leafy greens are pur-choices to enhance the chased from a small not-for-profit hydroponics operation out of Ketchikan, and even the beer they carry is brewed in customer experience .Southeast Alaska. Smaller groups not onlyThe company finds ways to leverage environmental choices to enhance the customer experience. Guests split into small have much less impact groups for daily excursions. A group of five may go saltwa-ter fishing while another group heads on a hike with a nat-on the fragile ecosystemuralist, and some passengers may go on a skiff tour with the captain. Smaller groups not only have much less impact on but allow guests to have the fragile ecosystem but allow guests to have a truly wild experience and foster a personal connection with the land. The whole purpose is to bring small groups into intimate a truly wild experience settings. You cant get much more intimate with Alaska than four people on a hike, McIntosh said. He described and foster a personal the feeling as Im standing amongst Gods creation. These thousand-year-old trees that you know if theyre cut down, connection with the land. well never see them again.The education and inspiration must translate into action for meaningful change to take place. The Boat Company is notedthatthewoodharvestedfromtheforestisoftena not-for-profit which guests can contribute to directly, but taken to international waters, companies purchase it, andthere are many ways that the company suggests passengers process it down to everything from paper to toothpicks toget involved in efforts to protect the region. They encour-whatever and then sell it back to us. age guests to take part in letter-writing campaigns to their members of Congress, and to join national organizations Beyondeducatingguests,TheBoatCompanymakessuch as Earth Justice, the Audubon Society, or Natural operational choices to manage their own impact on theResources Defense Council. As each of these organizations environment. While the vessels operate on diesel engines,play a part in the conservation of the Tongass, by joining they limit RPMs to reduce emissions. They also lower theirthem ones membership donations help the region. speed around orca or humpback whales, either cutting the engines off or bringing them to a complete idle and float- The Boat Company does reach out directly to their guests ing, letting the whales come to the boat. Once the animalsat times, looking for specific types of aid. About 30 years move on, the boat resumes its course.ago, when they requested help setting up meetings with members of Congress, they received a call from a gentle-McIntoshdescribedmachinestheyhaveonboardthatman in South Carolina asking if theyd like to meet with crush glass into sand. The team removes any paper fromany members of the North and South Carolina contin-thebottlesandsanitizesthembeforeprocessingthemgency. He also asked if theyd like to meet with members through the machines. Theyre able to transform hundredsindividually or with the entire delegation at once. Next of pounds of glass into buckets of sand which are pouredthing we know, were in a meeting with every member of back into the ocean. He explained that it not only savesCongress from North and South Carolina in one room, themtimeandmoneybutreintroducessandandsilicaMcIntosh said. Turns out this gentleman, whom we knew into the ocean. As part of their effort to reduce plastic con- nothing about, was one of the largest paper mill operators sumption, guests are provided with reusable canteens.in the United States.FOGHORN 18'