Richard Carstensen moved to Southeast Alaska in 1977. He works as a writer, nature illustrator, map maker, wilderness guide, environmental consultant, and instructor for the Discovery Foundation, a nonprofit organization teaching natural history to youth and educators of Southeast Alaska. He divides his time between the backyards of Juneau's schools and the remote wilderness.
Bob Armstrong has pursued a career in Alaska as a biologist, naturalist, and nature photographer since 1960. He is the author of the best-selling book "Guide to the Birds of Alaska" and numerous other popular and scientific books and articles on the natural history of the state. From 1960 to 1984, he was a fishery biologist and research supervisor for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, an assistant leader for the Alaska Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, and Associate Professor of Fisheries at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Armstrong retired from the State of Alaska in 1984 to pursue broader interests in natural history and nature photography.
Since 1978, Rita M. O'Clair has taught a wide variety of biology courses at the University of Alaska Southeast, Juneau, where she is currently Associate Professor of Biology. She received a PhD in zoology from the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1973. An honorary lifetime member of The Nature Conservancy, she belongs to numerous professional organizations. She has studied and photographed natural habitats around the world. She retired in 2000 and lives in Washington State.