- Grace

When Opportunity Knocks
by Grace Belew and Olivia Oerther

         “Where else in the world can you sit and drink your morning coffee while watching the fastest and second largest animal in the world?” According to Conrad Field, a freelance naturalist, Alaska is the perfect place to do just this.
         Conrad has always wanted to work with nature, but his interests evolved from studying plants and small animals to large and marine animals as he grew older. Conrad was brought to Alaska in 1989 while studying at the University of Wisconsin. He came to do PhD work on the Baron Islands and decided to stay because “it’s a beautiful place to live, [it’s] right on the ocean.”         
         Conrad was also a part of the 1989 oil spill clean up. He and his colleges scrambled to look at the beaches’ mussels and clams because half of the beaches in Alaska had not yet been surveyed.
         Conrad then found opportunity to be knocking. He ended up traveling to South America, South Africa, Antarctica, the High Antarctic, New Zealand, and South Georgia to look at the different marine environments. He was away from home so often he realized that every time you get to leave home you appreciate home even more.
         Conrad is not only a freelance naturalist and a marine biologist; he is also a botanist, biologist, and a very talented freelance artist. During Conrads years spent studying at Wisconsin University he recognized “that it’s better to be kind of good at a lot of things than to be really good at one thing.” Not only does Conrad know unusual things like the extensive history of whaling in Alaska, he has been successful at many other things, even writing and illustrating a book about sea life that was dedicated to his daughter, Eryn.
         Because Conrad kept an open mind he has experienced breathtaking sights, unique wilderness and amazing animals. He has spent the first part of his life seeing the world and educated people about wildlife, and he loved every minute of it. For now Conrad is staying put with is wife and daughter, but if opportunity ever knocks again Conrad will be sure to answer.