And nothing speaks to its fragility like the sliver of time allotted to the herring opening, just 15 minutes. In this quick quarter hour, thousands of tons of fish are being yanked from the sea. This delicate dance between fecundity and fragility defines not only the herring fishery, but the whole of the Tongass. And as the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, its fertility is fueled by water. Alaskan state writer Richard Nelson.
Rain is the god here.
Rain is what makes this forest. Rain is to southeast Alaska as sun is to the desert. Water is the one thing that touches and fuses and influences everything else in Alaska's panhandle. Even the bookstores. But dripping is what the Tongass does best.