FORT KENT – Keith Nyitray was born in the Bronx, but left the bright lights for the outback of Alaska, where he learned about the “The Last Great Wilderness,” a topic he will discuss this week with audiences in northern Maine.

Nyitray, 42, portrays himself as a naturalist, an outdoorsman, and a homesteader whose trails have led him to environmental activism and lobbying for his adopted state. He also has been a volunteer trail breaker for Alaska’s famed 1,100-mile annual Iditarod sled dog race.

He has ties to Maine, including competition in the annual Kenduskeag River Canoe Race, which runs each spring, and sponsorship by Old Town Canoe for a 1,400-mile, 305-day trek north of the Arctic Circle in 1989.

“That was a very spiritual trip, one of self-discovery and one where I learned a lot about native culture,” he said Sunday over coffee at Rock’s Restaurant in Fort Kent. “This will be my first sharing of that trip with people of northern Maine.”

His solo traverse of the entire Brooks Mountain Range in Alaska will be one of his topics during a week of appearances, including a Friday night talk at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

The trip was recounted in National Geographic in 1993. He made the journey alone by dog sled, canoe and on foot across some of North America’s most remote wilderness. He was about 30 when he made the trip in his early years in Alaska.

“Maine and Alaska have a lot in common,” he said. “They could very well be sister states.”

It wasn’t last weekend’s minus-30-degree Fahrenheit weather that Nyitray referred to but the fragile environments of both states.

That’s what brought him to Fort Kent as a visiting professor – an opportunity to talk with students about all aspects of environmental biology as well as politics.

He will use different levels of his Alaskan experiences as he talks to elementary school pupils in Fort Kent and St. Francis, college students in four classes this week at UMFK and the community at large on Tuesday and Friday nights.

“You never know who you might inspire when you speak with different groups,” Nyitray said.

Nyitray is a commercial fisherman, operating his own boat near Sitka, Alaska, about five months a year. The remainder of his time is spent on environmental issues.

“It’s a wonderful lifestyle, sometimes very controversial, when you discuss environmental issues,” he said. “I’ve been there, done that.”

With younger pupils, Nyitray said, he uses personal photographs, slides and personal anecdotes. With young people, he likes to take questions because they really want answers.

“I try to learn about issues, educate people about them and defend many causes,” he said.

“I am also a naturalist and a teacher, something I enjoy immensely,” he continued. “It allows me to help build grass-roots support in the lower 48.”

Indeed, that is a key reason Nyitray has come East.

He will be in the lower 48 states for the next four to five months building support for his causes.

He does this work in conjunction with the Alaska Wilderness League and the Alaska Coalition, which includes about 300 groups supporting Arctic wilderness legislation.

And he has a definite point of view.

“I came to Washington because [President] Bush is acting like he was elected with a mandate, which he wasn’t,” he said. “He doesn’t understand that there is a super majority in this country that wants to protect the environment, and he ignores that.”

He is concerned that the Bush administration is attempting to overturn a policy restricting roads in Alaska. He is also concerned about the possibility of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration.

“While I am here I will try to empower students on how to participate in issues,” he said. “It’s amazing what people can do when they decide to get involved. People must not forget that their 2 cents is worth much more than that,” he said.

His Tuesday night presentation at the Lonesome Pine Trail Lodge will involve discussions on specific issues of national concern about the environment.

He will speak about his 1,400-mile trek involving the Brooks Mountain Range at 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 16, in the Bengals’ Lair of Cyr Hall at UMFK.