The ‘entrepreneurial spirit’: Exxon Valdez and nature tourism development in Seward, Alaska

After the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, residents of Seward, Alaska turned in increasing numbers to nature tourism. Once a shipping, logging, and fishing town, the community is now known for a range of nature tourism businesses designed to allow access to nearby Kenai Fjords National Park and Chugach National Forest. While the Exxon Valdez oil spill devastated the coastline in many parts of Prince William Sound, oil spill cleanup activities in Seward during the summer of 1989 accelerated two developments critical for the tourism industry in Seward. The cleanup efforts allowed for the evolution and expansion of Seward residents’ ‘entrepreneurial spirit,’ prompting them to turn increasingly towards nature tourism activities to bolster the community economy. Yet the growth of the ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ in Seward also relied on a changing understanding of ‘nature’ and the environment, a process that was also catalyzed by the oil spill cleanup efforts. Using ethnographic methods, including semi-structured interviews with local residents and participant observation, I explore how residents perceive the shift towards nature tourism in their community economy, and the ambivalent long-term consequences of the spill for community life.