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The president’s trip to alaska: reflections from an alaskan staffer at the white house.

My ancestors have occupied the lands known as Alaska for over 10,000 years. Our traditions are steeped in history and intimately connected with the land and its natural resources. One month ago, President Obama made a historic and unprecedented three-day trip to Alaska and I had the honor and privilege to accompany him. Looking back, I’m blown away by the fact that this was the first time a sitting President has ever visited rural Alaska and traveled above the Arctic Circle. As an Alaska Native who was born and raised in the state, the President’s trip was uniquely moving for me. I was fortunate enough to witness a moment in history. A moment that we may never see again in our lifetimes.

I grew up in a pretty uniquely “Alaskan” way. My summers were spent subsistence and commercial fishing for wild salmon, salmon that depended on the health of the environment to flourish. In my mother’s small Dena’ina Athabascan village, I’d help her and my grandmother filet and smoke salmon for the winter in the traditional Dena’ina way. Other summers I spent commercial fishing in Bristol Bay with my Dad on a salmon gillnet boat. Whether for subsistence or economic reasons, salmon and other natural resources were the lifeblood of my family, and the same stands true for many of Alaska’s people.

Reflecting on my life thus far, it was Alaska’s land and natural resources, coupled with the strong Dena’ina and Yup’ik cultural values instilled in me by my parents and grandparents—humility, hard work, generosity—that have allowed me to make it as far as I have in life. I often joke that I was fortified by a diet of moose, salmon, and berries, and that I would probably survive a zombie apocalypse with my Bear Grylls-style survival skills. But these natural resources do more than just fortify the body, they fortify the spirit, and they are essential to cultures that have thrived for millennia. My connection to my Athabascan and Yup’ik roots is the well from which I draw strength when faced with obstacles that would be otherwise insurmountable. And it’s this grounding, along with the guidance of my parents and grandparents, which has allowed me to make the journey from rural Alaska, as a first generation college kid, to the Ivy League and, most recently, to the White House.

This is why accompanying my boss, my President, Barack Obama, to Alaska was the proudest moment of my life. Hands down. And why it was such a privilege to be part of the White House team that helped orchestrate the trip from A to Z. The fact that President Obama cared to see a piece of Alaska that is typically shrouded from view by remoteness and a lack of accessibility, and that he was able to witness first-hand why Alaska’s natural resources are worth protecting, filled me with hope. And it filled Alaskans with hope. Hope that our futures, our cultures, our lifeways, have been noticed and are valued as an essential part of the intricate and majestic tapestry that is America. For that, I would like to say thank you. Thank you to Alaskans for giving our President the warmest welcome imaginable. And thank you to my President, Barack Obama, for prioritizing the preservation of our way of life.

Raina Thiele is Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement and works as the liaison for tribes and the American Indian and Alaska Native community. Raina earned her B.A. from Yale College and her Master in Public Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Born and raised in Alaska, her family hails from the rural communities of Pedro Bay Native Village on Lake Iliamna and Alexander Creek near Mount Susitna. She is Dena’ina Athabascan and Yup’ik.

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Paring His Bucket List, Obama Relishes Hiking at an Alaskan Glacier

Obama’s alaska tour continues, on tuesday, the president visited a melting glacier in the kenai mountains and bought some pastries at an anchorage cafe..

Seward, Alaska - 1 September 2015 1. US President Barack Obama walking up to foot of Exit Glacier 2. Exit Glacier 3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Barack Obama, US President “You guys have been seeing these signs as we walked, that marked where the Glacier use to be, 1917, 1951. This glacier has lost about a mile and a half over the last couple hundred years, but the pace of the reductions of the glacier are accelerating rapidly each and every year. This is as good as a sign post of what we are dealing with, when it comes to climate change, than anything. This is one of the most studied glaciers, because its so easily accessible.” 4. Exit Glacier 5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Barack Obama, US President “What it indicates, because of the changing patterns of winters with less snow, longer, hotter summers, is how rapidly the glacier is receding and it sends a message about the urgency we are going to need to have when it comes to dealing with this because obviously, when the glaciers erode, that’s also a sign of the amount of water that is being introduced into the oceans, rising sea levels and the warming generally is having an impact on the flora and fauna of this National park. It is spectacular though.” 6. Obama walks down path near Exit Glacier 7. Various of US Coast Guard ship POOL - AP CLIENTS ONLY Anchorage, Alaska - 1 September 2015 8. Obama shakes hands with employees at Snow City cafe before walking to display case 9. Exterior of cafe sign 10. Obama points to display case UPSOUND “Why don’t... I’m gonna take all of those..” 11. Various of Obama shaking hands with people in cafe

By Julie Hirschfeld Davis

• Sept. 1, 2015

KENAI FJORDS NATIONAL PARK, Alaska — President Obama hiked alone up a gravel path toward Exit Glacier, gazing at a mass of flowing ice as it melted into the plain below.

“How’s this?” he marveled as he surveyed the terrain on a cloudless day. “Beats being in the office.”

Mr. Obama is in legacy-building mode here in Alaska, where he has come to talk about the rapidly unfolding effects of climate change and the urgent need to address it. He saw the consequences of global warming during his trek to the glacier , which has receded more than a mile over the past 200 years because of rising temperatures.

“This is as good a signpost of what we’re dealing with when it comes to climate change as just about anything,” Mr. Obama said.

But the president is also in bucket-list mode, increasingly determined to use his remaining 15 months in office to do and see spectacular things. These days, when Mr. Obama’s policy agenda overlaps with an irresistible sightseeing opportunity, he grabs it.

So it was on Tuesday as the president donned hiking boots, black slacks and a slate-gray athletic jacket and boarded a helicopter from Anchorage to Seward to hike to the glacier. Amid a landscape of mountain peaks, glacial lakes, moose and bears, Mr. Obama met up with the television star Bear Grylls for a crash course in wilderness survival techniques.

Later, he toured more glaciers by boat, cruising through the blue-green water of Resurrection Bay, where a sea otter paddled and a porpoise leapt. “When I’m not president, you might find me over there in that cabin,” he mused, pointing to a log cabin nestled in Thumb Cove.

Mr. Obama spent three hours on the boat, a National Park Service ranger at his side, prowling the deck as the craft passed by tree-covered mountains and stony cliffs. He admired a group of Steller sea lions napping on a rock. When he reached Bear Glacier, the longest in the park, the president pronounced it “spectacular,” pointing out the icebergs in front of it, which he said were “as big as a Costco.”

Indulging second-term wanderlust is a well-worn tradition for presidents, who often strike out for far-flung destinations after they are freed from the constraints and set itineraries of politicking. With such travel, they look to shape the narratives by which they will be remembered.

“Trips in the second term are designed with an eye toward legacy-building,” said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas , a Brookings Institution fellow who has studied presidential travel. “If you can find a picturesque place that you’d like to visit and that fits nicely with a policy priority or announcement, it’s a good idea to make that happen while you can.”

Mr. Obama has been trying. Last year, on his way back from a NATO summit meeting in Wales, he had his pilot park Marine One at an air base, and he rode in his motorcade to Stonehenge so he could stroll around the ancient site. “How cool is this?” he said at the time. “Knocked it off the bucket list.”

Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to the president, said Mr. Obama “never forgave us” for not arranging for him to visit Angkor Wat when he traveled to Cambodia in 2012. When Mr. Obama’s staff members find an opportunity to “add something interesting” to the usual meetings and events of presidential travel, they try to do so, as they did with a 2013 visit to Petra in Jordan , Mr. Pfeiffer said.

The visits “serve a dual purpose,” he said, by satisfying the president’s interest and giving local residents a chance to “show off their most prized locales and sights.”

On the Alaska trip, Mr. Pfeiffer added, the hiking and fjord-touring were “fun” for the president but also spoke “directly to the core message of the trip.” The photographs and videos of Mr. Obama’s sojourn, he said, would be “seen more through social media than any speech or interview that he might do.”

Alaska may seem an odd choice for a president who has never been seen as having a penchant for wilderness issues, as did Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter, said Douglas Brinkley, a historian who has written about the history of conservation efforts in Alaska.

“Barack Obama is much more urban — he’s not an outdoorsman, a fisher, a hunter — but like a lot of second-term presidents, he has understood the beauty of the Antiquities Act when you have an intransigent Congress,” Mr. Brinkley said, noting that the president had used the law to preserve vast stretches, including in Alaska, in recent years.

“He wants a climate legacy,” Mr. Brinkley added, “and anything that contributes to that legacy is front and center getting his attention.”

Most tourists and campers who come to this slice of southcentral Alaska do not travel with a motorcade of more than a dozen vehicles. But Mr. Obama has been “eagerly anticipating” the trip, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said.

Mr. Earnest noted that the president often lamented how much time he was forced to spend inside, his movements tightly controlled because of security constraints and the size of his entourage. In addition to a security detail and a physician, there are more than a dozen members of the news media, as well as aides and advisers.

Even on Tuesday, Mr. Obama — who has referred to his occasional attempts to break out of the presidential bubble as moments when “the bear is loose” — found his outdoor adventure limited. Mr. Earnest said the Secret Service had ruled out certain activities that Mr. Grylls had proposed for the segment he was taping for his show, “Running Wild With Bear Grylls,” which is to air this year on NBC.

But that did not stop the tourist in chief from enjoying his outing. “It is spectacular,” he said as he turned to approach the glacier. “We want to make sure that our grandkids can see this.”

An earlier version of this article misstated the part of Alaska where Kenai Fjords National Park is located. It is in southcentral Alaska, not southwestern.

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• climate change

Obama’s Trip to Alaska Shows Both Sides of His Climate Change Legacy

P resident Barack Obama brought his crusade against climate change to Alaska this week with a three-day trip designed to highlight the devastating effects of global warming and promote initiatives to address the issue.

“Human activity is disrupting the climate, in many ways faster than we previously thought,” Obama told a meeting of international delegates in Anchorage Monday. “Climate change is no longer some far-off problem. It is happening here. It is happening now.”

The visit to Alaska, a state that is both rich in fossil fuels and particularly vulnerable to climate change, places Obama at the heart of the struggle to adapt. Rising sea levels, devastating wildfires and coastal erosion all threaten communities across the state, thanks largely climate change. But, at the same time, Alaska benefits from the very fossil fuels that help cause man-made global warming. Oil resources support thousands of jobs in the state and allow the state to avoid levying income or sales tax. Every year the state government issues a royalty check to state residents (nearly $1,900 in 2014) funded by the oil industry.

While Obama has billed his trip as an opportunity to highlight the threat of climate change—and the steps his Administration is taking to fight it—his policies embody the tension between the vital fossil fuels play in the U.S. economy and the need to reduce carbon emissions. Obama has proposed aggressive U.S. action on climate change, including a 26% to 28% reduction in carbon emissions by 2025 from 2005 levels. But he has also supported measures to open oil drilling in the Arctic, a move condemned by environmentalists angered over the danger of an disastrous oil spill and the threat of more carbon emissions

“Obama’s visit to Alaska is really significant, not just because he’s the first sitting president to visit this state, but because Alaska is really at the front lines of climate change in the U.S. right now,” said Marissa Knodel, a climate change campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “But, while he’s claiming he wants to be a climate leader, he’s doing the exact opposite by opening offshore oil and gas to companies like Shell for drilling.”

Obama, whose arrival in Anchorage on Monday was met with protest from opponents of drilling, has said that allowing limited drilling will allow the U.S. to remain energy independent while it pursues alternatives to fossil fuels. “Now even as we accelerate [the clean energy] transition, our economy still has to rely on oil and gas,” Obama said in his weekly radio address days before traveling to Alaska. “As long as that’s the case, I believe we should rely more on domestic production than on foreign imports.”

Citing academic research, climate change advocates argue that burning all the fossil fuels buried in the Arctic would contribute to global warming to an unsafe degree. The region contains nearly a quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas resources, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And a 2014 study published in the journal Nature concluded that “development of resources in the Arctic and any increase in unconventional oil production are incommensurate with efforts to limit average global warming” to a level deemed acceptable by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Not that you’d know the President supported Arctic drilling from his Alaska visit. In appearance after appearance, the President highlighted the ways in which climate change has threatened the region. There may not have been a better place for such a pitch. The state has warmed by 3.4°F (1.9°C) over the past 50 years, twice as fast as the country at large over, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This past winter was especially warm in Alaska, with temperatures 4 to 10°F (2 to 5.6°C) warmer than normal , according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Experts expect temperatures to rise as much as 7.0°F (3.9°C) by 2100.

Temperature increases have contributed to melting ice and glaciers in the region. In total, 75 billion tons of ice from glaciers melts in the state each year, according to a recent study in Geophysical Research Letters. The melting of glaciers contributes to global sea level rise, in addition to destroying a local treasure and tourist draw. In the Alaskan Arctic, melting ice has threatened the habitats of many native animals, including the polar bear. Just last week thousands of Arctic walruses flocked to an Alaskan shore, likely because they couldn’t find ice haul out. Ice loss, sea level rise and warmer waters have also contributed to the erosion of the state’s coast at an average rate of 4.6 feet (1.4 meters) each year. Entire communities may need to be relocated just to survive.

At the same time the gradual loss of Arctic sea ice has opened new shipping possibilities in the far North—which in turn has contributed to a battle of influence in the Arctic between the U.S. and Russia, one Washington is seen at risk of losing . During his trip, Obama announced a number of measures aimed at quelling those concerns, including an expanded U.S. naval presence in the region.

Beyond melting ice, Obama highlighted a laundry list of climate facing the region: melting permafrost, dramatic storm surges and changing migratory routes for animals hunted by native Alaskans.

The trip to Alaska is the latest in a series of effort by the President to draw attention to global climate change and position the U.S. as a leader on the issue. The White House recently finalized the Clean Power Plan , which mandates emission reductions from power plants, and announced initiatives to expand solar power and billions of dollars in private sector commitments to finance renewable energy production. Climate change was also in the background of Obama’s visit to New Orleans last week for the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

The White House hopes that recent climate actions will give the U.S. a leadership position at a United Nations conference on climate change in Paris later this year. Climate advocates and global leaders alike hope that summit will yield the world’s first binding and global agreement to address global warming that will require concrete cuts to curb carbon emissions.

“This year, in Paris, has to be the year that the world finally reaches an agreement to protect the one planet that we’ve got while we still can,” said Obama in a speech on Monday. “We can have a legitimate debate about how we are going to address this problem; we cannot deny the science.”

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Write to Justin Worland at [email protected]

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President Obama's Alaska Visit: The Instagrammer-in-Chief's Photo Diary

By Cynthia Drescher

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This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

Obama began his trip with a declaration, renaming Alaska's Mount McKinley to Denali, its native Alaskan name. The mountain was given its second moniker in honor of President McKinley—an Ohioan who never even visited Alaska—in 1896. Obama's decision ended a debate over the validity of the name that dates back to 1975. Air Force One later landed in Anchorage, and the President used the occasion to share his very first Instagram image, of Denali on the horizon. Denali National Park ranks as one of our 10 national parks to see before you die .

Resurrection Bay, Kenai Peninsula

On an excursion to observe climate change in the region, Obama took a boat trip to Resurrection Bay outside the city of Seward. Of it, he noted: "Resurrection Bay is one of those places that reminds you of all the beauty this country has to offer. It's home to whales (I got to see one!), sea lions, and dozens of other species. Surrounded by jagged cliffs and alpine glaciers, this is a place that's worth protecting."

Exit Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park

Still outside Seward, Obama used his visit to Kenai Fjords National Park to meet with other locals and tourists, announcing the Every Kid in a Park program. The initiative makes visits to U.S. public lands free for every child in the fourth grade (and their families). Here, the president poses with a marker showing the location of the edge of the glacier in his birth year, 1961.

Harding Icefield, Kenai Fjords National Park

Before continuing on his Alaskan itinerary, Obama filmed an episode of "Running Wild with Bear Grylls" and even took a selfie with the adventurer. Harding Icefield, of which Exit Glacier is a part, was created around 23,000 years ago and today covers some 700 square miles of Alaska's Kenai Mountains. Visitors can experience this vista while hiking the 8.2-mile round trip Harding Icefield Trail.

Sevil Delin

Anya Meyerowitz

Meaghan Kenny

Paul Richardson

Dillingham, Nushagak Bay

In addition to stopping at Dillingham Middle School to perform a traditional Yup'ik dance with local children, the president visited salmon fisherman in the Bristol Bay area. Of his experience, Obama said: "I had the opportunity to stand on a beach and watch subsistence fisherman pull their catches up out of the water. If you've eaten wild salmon, there's a good chance it came from here — and having sampled some pretty outstanding salmon jerky, I can attest that it's delicious. The region provides 40 percent of America's wild-caught seafood, and helps support a $2 billion commercial-fishing industry whose jobs extend beyond Alaska's borders."

With this stop in a town of 3,000 residents, Obama became the first president to travel north of the Arctic Circle. Kotzebue is located 26 miles north of the circle and, as Obama observed that "the town's main roadways, the community’s blood line, runs right above the Kotzebue Sound, making it very vulnerable to coastal erosion and the intense arctic storms that can raise the water levels much higher than normal high tides."

Kivalina Island

Before departing Alaska after a jam-packed visit, Air Force One made a low pass over this tiny island. Kivalina is an Arctic town fast losing land to the sea from erosion, and further threatened by the rise in sea levels. On Instagram, Obama wrote: "For many Alaskans, it’s no longer a question of if they have to relocate—but when. There aren’t many other places in America that have to deal with questions of relocation right now. But there will be. What’s happening here is America’s wake-up call."

Adventure Photography in Moab

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President Obama Shore Tour in Kotzebue, Alaska

President Obama was seen taking a tour of the shoreline of Kotzebue, Alaska. This trip to Kotzebue made President Obama the first sitting pr… read more

President Obama was seen taking a tour of the shoreline of Kotzebue, Alaska. This trip to Kotzebue made President Obama the first sitting president to go north of the Arctic Circle. Derek Martin showed the president Kotzebue Sound and explained the Kotzebue Shore Avenue Project, saying that it was a “permanent solution to a continual problem” of erosion from storm surges. President Obama also talked with John Baker , winner of the 2011 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race . The president was also introduced to Mr. Baker’s wife, daughters, and two puppies. President Obama put on a Team Baker hat and jacket and examined the sled used to win the race.

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President Obama to visit Alaska’s Arctic region in bid to fight climate change

President Obama announced Thursday while vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard that he will visit Alaska at the end of the month to try to draw attention to his fight against climate change.

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President Obama will become the first sitting commander in chief to visit the Alaskan Arctic, the White House announced Thursday, the latest in a string of stops this summer that have been presidential firsts.

In a trip from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3, Obama will visit the state’s rapidly melting glaciers and meet with hunters and fishermen whose livelihoods are threatened by global warming as he seeks to draw attention to his fight against climate change.

Last month, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit both Kenya and Ethiopia.

In a video released Thursday from the vacation home he’s staying at here, Obama said he’s going to Alaska because it is on the “front lines of one of the greatest challenges we face this century.”

“You see, climate change once seemed like a problem for future generations, but for most Americans, it’s already a reality,” he said.

He listed deeper droughts, longer wildfire seasons and floods as evidence of the current effects.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

“What’s happening in Alaska isn’t just a preview of what will happen to the rest of us if we don’t take action,” he said. “It’s our wake-up call. The alarm bells are ringing. And as long as I’m president, America will lead the world to meet this threat — before it’s too late.”

Later in September, Obama plans to talk with Pope Francis about climate change when the pontiff visits the White House during a tour of the northeastern U.S., as both prepare for an international climate summit in Paris in December.

For more White House coverage, follow @cparsons

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In Alaska, Obama becomes 1st president to enter the Arctic

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KOTZEBUE, Alaska (AP) — President Barack Obama crossed the Arctic Circle on Wednesday in a first by a sitting U.S. president, telling residents in a far-flung Alaska village that their plight should be the world’s wake-up call on global warming.

Obama’s visit to Kotzebue, a town of some 3,000 people in the Alaska Arctic, was designed to snap the country to attention by illustrating the ways warmer temperatures have already threatened entire communities and ways of life in Alaska. He said, despite progress in reducing greenhouse gases, the planet is already warming and the U.S. isn’t doing enough to stop it.

“I’ve been trying to make the rest of the country more aware of a changing climate, but you’re already living it,” Obama told a crowd of more than 1,000 in this rough-and-tumble town on Alaska’s western coast.

As he closed out a three-day tour of the state focused almost entirely on climate change, the president sought to show solidarity with Alaska Natives and rural Alaskans whose immense challenges are rarely in the national spotlight. His brief visit had the feeling of a campaign rally, with throngs of people cheering and applauding when he invoked the historic nature of the first presidential visit to the Arctic.

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From the moment Air Force One touched down in Kotzebue, examples of dire poverty and climate-related obstacles were easy to spot. Obama’s motorcade snaked through the town passing rows of rusting shipping containers and dilapidated huts – almost all on stilts to accommodate gusts of wind and other weather-related events.

It was a topic Obama brought up, by way of praising Alaskans for their perseverance despite poverty, isolation and a lack of support. He said while many speak of America’s pioneering, independent spirit, in Alaska it’s not just a slogan but a way of life.

“It can be harsh,” Obama said. “That means that you depend on each other.”

Obama came to Alaska with no grand policy pronouncements or promises of massive federal aid. Instead, he sought to use the changes to Alaska’s breathtaking landscape to put pressure on leaders in the U.S. and abroad to cut greenhouse gas emissions, as he works to secure a global climate treaty that he hopes will form a cornerstone of his environmental legacy.

Temperatures in the Arctic are rising twice as fast as anywhere else on earth, Obama said. Permafrost, the layer of frozen ice under the surface, is thawing and causing homes, pipes and roads to sink as the soil quickly erodes. Some 100,000 Alaskans live in areas vulnerable to melting permafrost, government estimates show.

As he flew to Kotzebue from the fishing village of Dillingham, Obama directed Air Force One to descend so he could get a closer look at the 400-person village of Kivalina, where residents have voted to relocate the entire village as it sinks into the water.

“Think about it,” Obama said. “If another country threatened to wipe out an American town, we’d do everything in our power to protect it.”

Obama ticked through his favorite sights from his tour of Alaska — the receding glacier in Seward, the spawning salmon in Dillingham and the cockpit of a tiny float plane. He took particular pleasure in reminding Alaskans that, on the eve of his visit, he’d renamed the famed Mount McKinley, the continent’s highest peak, to Denali, its traditional name.

Alaska Natives have joined the president in sounding the alarm on climate change. Yet the obstacles they confront daily in rural Alaska extend far deeper, raising questions about whether the federal government has done enough to help.

“The cost of living here is very high. We live off the land,” said Red Seeberger of the Inupiaq tribe. “But we still live by our culture.”

Alaska officials say well over $2 billion in federal and state funds have been spent over the last 50 years to bring indoor plumbing to rural Alaska, but the challenge is finding money to build water and sewer systems in nearly three dozen village that still lack them.

As Obama’s travels brought him near the Bering Sea, U.S. officials reported the presence of five Chinese PLA Navy ships in the sea — the first time they have been observed there. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said U.S. officials didn’t view the Chinese vessels as a threat but added that the reason for their presence was unclear.

In an earlier visit Wednesday to Kanakanak Beach in Dillingham, Obama inspected all aspects of the fishing operation and pronounced a sample of salmon jerky to be “outstanding.” He took it in stride when a salmon spawned on his shoes, quipping that the writhing fish “was happy to see me.”

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

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US presidents who visited Alaska while in office

The White House announced on Friday that President Barack Obama will visit Alaska at the end of August . It'll be the first time since he was elected that he has visited Alaska beyond Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

The visit raises the question: What other sitting presidents have visited the 49th State? Here's our quick stab at a history:

Warren Harding, 1923

Franklin Roosevelt, 1944

Dwight Eisenhower, 1960

Lyndon Johnson, 1966

Richard Nixon, 1971

Gerald Ford, 1974 and 1975

Ronald Reagan, 1983 and 1984

Bill Clinton, 1994

George W. Bush, 2004 and 2005

The above list refers to visits where the president made a public appearance, not refueling stops or trips where the president may have briefly left his plane to address military personnel, as Obama did in 2009, but was separated from the general public during the stopover.

Two of the trips involved meeting other international leaders in Alaska; Nixon met Japanese Emperor Hirohito in Anchorage and Reagan met Pope John Paul II in Fairbanks in 1984.

Eisenhower had previously been in Alaska as a general to inspect military facilities and, some say, fish.

John Kennedy visited Alaska twice as a senator, campaigning for Alaska Democrats and in his own campaign for president. Nixon campaigned here for Republicans when he was vice president. George W. Bush lived in Fairbanks briefly before pursuing politics. Herbert Hoover, then secretary of commerce, toured Alaska with Harding. Jimmy Carter has come to Alaska to fish since leaving office.

Roosevelt was the only presidential visitor whose itinerary did not include either Anchorage or Fairbanks. He traveled by ship to Southeast, Kodiak and the Aleutians.

The most ambitious trip to Alaska, by far, was Harding's. He departed from Seattle on July 5, 1923, and returned to Vancouver, British Columbia, on July 16, 1923. During his tour he spoke in Metlakatla, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Valdez, Seward, Anchorage, Nenana and Fairbanks, among other stops.

Alaska's first brush with presidential hopefuls came in 1869 when William Seward, a leading contender for the Republican nomination in 1860, traveled to Sitka and delivered a speech. Seward became the secretary of state for the man who defeated him for the nomination, Abraham Lincoln, and is credited with arranging the purchase of Alaska from Russia.

Mike Dunham

Mike Dunham has been a reporter and editor at the ADN since 1994, mainly writing about culture, arts and Alaska history. He worked in radio for 20 years before switching to print.

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Obama Visits Alaska: Itinerary, Events For President's Trip Addressing Climate Change

President Barack Obama is set to travel to Alaska Monday for a three-day trip largely focused on addressing climate change. Obama is expected to speak with a number of Native Alaskans and address a major conference in his first day in Anchorage.

Obama was scheduled to leave on a flight from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland Monday at about 10:40 a.m. EDT, according to the White House. The president was scheduled to land at Anchorage's Elmendorf Air Force Base about seven hours later. He'll then participate in a roundtable discussion with Alaska Natives at a convention center. Obama was scheduled to cap his day by speaking around 5 p.m. local time (9 p.m. EDT) at the conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience -- commonly called the GLACIER conference -- and was to address climate change issues.

It's North to Alaska for Pres Obama today. (North by Northwest, actually). @POTUS ' 3 day visit focuses on the Arctic & climate change. — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) August 31, 2015

After 7 hour flight, Pres Obama takes part in a roundtable with Alaska Natives and later addresses the US sponsored intl GLACIER conference. — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) August 31, 2015

The meeting with Alaska Native leaders Monday will include people who have been affected by rising sea levels, reports KTUU in Anchorage. That discussion is a prelude to the GLACIER conference, which will feature Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Secretary of State John Kerry. Prior to Obama's keynote speech, local leaders are expected to address the effects of climate change on their lives and the role of indigenous people in Alaskan culture, according to the Alaska Dispatch News . Some 400 people are expected at the conference, with about one-third of the attendees being Alaskans.

But Obama's first move will likely be officially announcing the renaming of Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in the country, named after President William McKinley, a decision that sparked perhaps unexpected controversy, according to CNN. The new name , Denali, means "the high one" in the local Koyukon language and will be a nod to local culture. Indigenous people and locals have called the mountain Denali for years, despite it officially being named Mount McKinley on federal documents.

"With our own sense of reverence for this place, we are officially renaming the mountain Denali in recognition of the traditions of Alaska Natives and the strong support of the people of Alaska," said Jewell, according to the Associated Press. Some Republicans, especially from McKinley's native Ohio, have criticized the renaming as an abuse of government power.

Later in his Alaska trip, Obama was scheduled to meet with more locals to discuss climate change, visit a national park and even film an episode of a television show with famous survivalist Bear Grylls.

President Obama will tape an episode of "Running Wild with Bear Grylls" while in Alaska, to air later this year, NBC says. — Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) August 31, 2015

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Obama pushes climate change, energy agenda ahead of Alaska trip

By Reena Flores

August 29, 2015 / 6:21 PM EDT / CBS News

Ahead of a three-day trip to Alaska that begins Monday, President Obama is thrusting climate change into the spotlight, warning of the dangers global warming presents for the United States.

"If another country threatened to wipe out an American town, we'd do everything in our power to protect ourselves," Mr. Obama said Saturday in a video . "Climate change poses the same threat, right now."

"This is all real," the president added. "This is happening to our fellow Americans right now."

Mr. Obama cited Alaska's increasing wildfires, melting glaciers and eroding shorelines as reason enough for America to lead on climate policy. He touted U.S. and Chinese negotiations to set "ambitious" climate targets and said it was "a good sign" ahead of December's global climate summit in Paris.

But as the president pushes for more awareness on the global warming front, Mr. Obama also treads a shaky line on energy policy, especially when visiting a state whose economy relies heavily on oil.

Defending a controversial decision earlier this year to grant the Royal Dutch Shell company a permit to drill off the Alaskan coast , the president assured his audience that he too shares concerns about offshore drilling.

"I remember the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico all too well," Mr. Obama said. But, he said, America's economy still relies largely on fossil fuels, and "as long as that's the case, I believe we should rely more on domestic production than on foreign imports, and we should demand the highest safety standards in the industry - our own."

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"We don't rubber-stamp permits," the president added. "We made it clear that Shell has to meet our high standards in how they conduct their operations."

Mr. Obama will be the first sitting president to visit the Alaska Arctic, when he travels to the town Kotzebue on the last leg of his trip.

In their own video, Republicans continued to knock the president for negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran that ensures Tehran will get "a cash bonanza" after economic sanctions are lifted.

"Iran doesn't behave like the peaceful countries that have nuclear programs," Rep. Ed Royce, R-California, said in a video Saturday. "Why does this agreement treat it like one?"

"Iran gets a cash bonanza, it gets a boost to its international standing and a path toward nuclear weapons," the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair added.

When Congress reconvenes after its August recess, the legislative body will have to vote on whether to approve or disapprove the deal. Mr. Obama has warned that he would veto the bill if Congress rejects the deal.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, said earlier this week that the deal is likely to be implemented, despite GOP attempts to block it .

"My guess is this agreement is going to happen," Corker said during an event at Belmont University on Wednesday. "At the end of the day, I don't think there's going to be likely a veto-proof number of people to keep it from occurring."

But Corker's acknowledgements aren't stopping Republicans from moving forward with their objections.

"We all wanted this negotiation to succeed, but as America's representatives, we must ask - is this agreement in the long-term national security interest of the United States?" Royce said.

• Barack Obama

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