(Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News) James Hart smooths a red cedar log with a carving tool called a scorp as he works on a replica of the Friendship Totem on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, in Haines, Alaska.

The smell of red cedar lingers in a repurposed shop where Haida carver Sgwaayaans TJ Young, and local Lingít artists Rob Martin and James G̱ooch Éesh Hart worked for more than a week. 

Three red cedar logs are on…

Rashah McChesney is a multimedia journalist and editor who has reported and edited newsrooms from the Deep South to the Midwest to Alaska. For the past decade, she has worked in collaborative news as the...