Locals Gather for Second Weekend in Conjunction With Nationwide Protest
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Girdwood residents joined with protestors in Anchorage and across 50 states in a local rally under a warm sun Saturday. It's the second demonstration, on the corner of Alyeska Highway and Hightower Road this month.
The protest was in keeping with a "50-50-1" movement—50 States, 50 Protests, One Day—against policies of the Trump Administration.
"We need to use what voice we have," said Susan Carse, a 32-year-resident and retired attorney, who held a sign reading, "No Kings. Save Democracy."
She said she had concerns about a weakened role of the jucidiciary branch of government under the Trump Administration.
"We have three branchs and he's taken over the judicial. He seems to do what he wants," Carse said. She also said Trump seems to be getting away insider trading, an accusation levelled at the Administration following a sudden reversal in stocks and bonds prices.
"He's not honest. He doesn't follow the laws and, the big thing, he blatant ignored a unanimous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. You just don't do that. It scares the shit out me.
"I think we've crossed over the line," Carse said. "What can we do? We can do this (protesting)."
Andrew Gates, 14, stood with his dog, Cozy, and held a sign, "Hands Off Canada," he'd just made beneath a small canopy.
"There's been an erosion of checks and balances and, if we do nothing, that'll be our undoing," Gates said as cars drove by on Alyeska Highway and honked.
Girdwood demonstrators were joined by a cutout of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders recent swing through western states, on a "Fighting Oligarchy Tour", brought crowds in the tens of thousands.
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Federal employment and budget turmoil affects monitoring of Alaska’s Barry Arm landslide
By Yereth Rosen
The Trump administration’s mass firings of federal workers and funding restrictions has affected the monitoring of a landslide-prone slope that could create a dangerous tsunami in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
The Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, in a recent update, alerted the public about the problems affecting the multiagency team monitoring Barry Arm. The site is a fjord where an unstable rocky slope could collapse into the water, potentially creating a tsunami affecting the community of Whittier and a variety of Prince William Sound mariners and visitors.
Administrative changes affecting federal agencies that are part of the Barry Arm monitoring program “have resulted in delays in equipment repairs and service renewals essential to maintaining full operational readiness,” the DGGS update said.
Those delays “may have temporary impacts on tsunami hazard awareness and response efforts in the region,” the update said.
The slope at Barry Arm has been moving gradually, and its movements are recorded through an array of instruments at the site and elsewhere in the sound.
Barry Arm is one of dozens of sites in Prince William Sound where landslide risks have increased as glaciers that buttress mountain slopes retreat. The sound and surrounding parts of Southcentral Alaska are considered vulnerable because of rapid glacial loss.
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Girdwood Residents join Nationwide ‘Hands-Off’ Protest
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
More than two dozen rain-gear clad Girdwoodians poked signs into a stormy afternoon sky Saturday in a local demonstation against policies of Donald Trump's administration.
Residents turned out after being notified via a local Facebook post only the night before.
Organizer Emma Kramer said protesters received many waves and honks from passing cars along with one middle finger and a person who shoved a red MAGA hat from a crack in the window.
Photo: A protester in downtown Anchorage displays her sentiments on the actions of the Trump Administration. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/girdwood-residents-join-nationwide-hands-off-protest
Girdwood Food Pantry delivers in Uncertain Times
By Allison Sayer
TNews Staffwriter
The Girdwood Food Pantry’s volunteers provide meals for area residents facing food insecurity, working to find every corner where someone might be doing without. Food distribution days occur three days per month: the first Sunday and second and fourth Wednesday.
People come from Girdwood, Bird, Indian, Whittier, and occasionally Hope to pick up a box containing a week’s worth of groceries. Hot meals and community are provided every Sunday in partnership with other non-profits. The pantry served about 220 households per month in 2025. Last month, 351 individuals received food assistance.
For people who can’t come to distribution days, volunteers gothe extra mile. Senior or disabled households receive deliveries. Some Alyeska lifties and instructors, who may not be able to get off work on distribution days, receive boxes twice per month. Volunteers even make sure Girdwood school teachers and the school nurse have a stash of healthy snacks at hand. Girdwood Food Pantry Director Terry Sherwood, who is a volunteer, shared it takes six to eight volunteers to orchestrate each food distribution day.
Read the entire store at the below link:
ttps://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/girdwood-food-pantry-delivers-in-uncertain-times
Avalanche Mitigation enters the Future
By Allison Sayer
Copper River Record
Most of us are familiar with the role of artillery in avalanche risk mitigation. Artillery is fired into avalanche start zones when the runout area is closed to the public, preventing future avalanches that could cause harm. According to Statewide Avalanche and Artillery Program Manager Timothy Glassett, these methods are set to change dramatically over the next two years.
(The story reprinted from the Copper River Record with permission)
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/avalanche-mitigation-enters-the-future
GBOS Candidates offer to serve Community
By Brooks Chandler
TNews Contributor
Brett Wilbanks and Kellie Okenek are both offering to serve Girdwood as members of the Girdwood Board of Supervisors. TNews chatted with both in separate interviews recently. Their comments below have been edited for length and clarity.
How did you come to live in Girdwood?
BW- Out of college I ended up with the State of Alaska as an engineer working hydroelectric projects. I found myself wanting more out of skiing and I got interested in ski patrol. I started with National Ski patrol as a volunteer and I ended up doing 27 years here at Alyeska as an early volunteer and then as a part time pro patroller.
KO- I always knew I wanted to live in Alaska and live in a ski town. So I took a job in Prudhoe in 2005 and moved to Girdwood.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/gbos-candidates-offer-to-serve-community
Mount Spurr: Preparation Can Ease the Pain
By Allison Sayer
TNews Staffwriter
On March 12, The Alaska Volcano Observatory announced “an eruption [of Mount Spurr] is likely, but not certain, to occur within the next few weeks or months. The most likely outcome of the current unrest is an explosive eruption (or eruptions) like those that occurred in 1953 and 1992. Those eruptions each lasted a few hours and produced ash clouds that were carried downwind for hundreds of miles and minor ashfall (up to about ¼ inch) on southcentral Alaska communities.”
Many simple, low cost preparedness tips are available from the Municipality of Anchorage Emergency Operations Center and ready.alaska.gov. The common advice from these and other sources is to have a mask handy, stock up on relevant air filters, and put some forethought into what would happen if you must shelter in place somewhere.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/mount-spurr-preparation-can-ease-the-pain
Ski to Sea: Mountain Magic in Clay
By Allison Sayer
TNews Staffwriter
The Girdwood Center for Visual Arts (GCVA) is currently featuring “Ski to Sea,” an installation by ceramic artist and Girdwood local Barbara Lydon.
Large ceramic serving platters decorated with ocean and mountain scenes are interspersed with freeform sea stars and other animals. Lydon explained it was her intention to have the repeated shapes and symmetry of the platters bring “cohesiveness” to the viewer, but also have the creatures bring an element of “chaos.”
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/ski-to-sea-montain-magic-in-clay
Assembly Changes Girdwood Plan to Allow Housing in Upper Meadows
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
For the Anchorage Assembly, a plan that could shape Girdwood's destiny faced two competing visions.
One, shaped by years of community consensus, favors keeping the valley's beloved rainforest, trails and areas like Stumpy's Trail protected as open space.
The other vision, promoted by the owners of Alyeska Resort, is to acquire more land for housing developments, to meet, as one Assembly member put it, the town's "dire need for housing."
(Photo: Equipment clears land for a new parking lot near Alyeska Hotel last fall. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)
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Neighbors fear helicopters in backyards
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
When Camilla and Dave Seifert moved into their newly built Girdwood home in 1981, there was only one hangar alongside an airstrip, they could hear chum salmon spashing in the creek and there were no trees behind her house.
"Between 1980 and 1983 everything seemed to be built at the same time," Camilla said recently, referring to the neighborhood by her log home on Lake Tahoe Street.
Seifert pointed to a photo in a gallery of pictures lining a stair case.
"This one shows my daughter and Rosie Fletcher (who would become an Olympic snowboarder). They were best friends."
Two parka-clad children stand on an unfinished top floor of the Seifert cabin.
Beyond lies nothing but snowy mountains, Glacier Creek and a shed.
"The cottonwoods weren't even there," she said, looking out a back toward a stand of trees up to 70 feet high.
And the airport has since expanded.
Helicopter chatter is so loud, "when we're talking on the back deck, we need to stop talking," Seifert said.
Now, the Sieferts have learned the state transportation has leased a parcel behind her and her neighbor's houses Silverton Mountain Guides for its heliski operation.
The 55-year lease could mean "helicopter operations will be quite literally ten feet from our back doors," Seifert told the Girdwood Board of Superviors at its recent meeting.
According to the Seiferts and others, Parcel H was never meant to be developed.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/neighbors-fear-helicopters-in-backyards
Timberline Road and Drainage Improvement, Bond Proposition on Ballot
Commentary from Girdwood Board of Supervisors Briana Sullivan and Mike Edgington
Voters in Girdwood and across Anchorage will be receiving a Municipal ballot in the mail this week. This is an opportunity to elect members to the Assembly, School Board and Girdwood Board of Supervisors, but it also contains several propositions including approval to issue bonds for capital projects. One of these, Proposition 8, is for a bond to fund safety improvements to Timberline Road here in Girdwood.
What exactly is the Timberline Road Safety Project?
The Timberline Road project aims to enhance both the safety and accessibility for all road users in Girdwood, including pedestrians and cyclists. The initial section of Timberline Road to the junction with Vail Drive is one of the busiest sections of gravel road in South Central Alaska, and has to be frequently maintained due to traffic volume and road conditions.
The project will narrow and mark the vehicle lanes and broaden the shoulders, better accommodating pedestrians, cyclists, and other users, while still providing critical space for snow storage. Wider shoulders and clearer separation from vehicles will encourage alternative transportation and help promote a healthier community. Paving the vehicle lanes will control water runoff, improve drainage, and decrease potholes. This will reduce maintenance costs in the future by providing a stable foundation, making the road more durable.
The speed limit of 20mph will remain, but the project will examine enhancements to keep vehicles to safe speeds through this residential area such as additional signage, speed bumps, or other traffic calming measures.
Read the entire commentary at the link below:
(Girdwood Town Manager for the Municipality of Anchorage Kyle Kelley contributed information for this commentary)
Lack of snow prompts early start to official fire season in Alaska’s southern regions
By Yereth Rosen
Responding to the lack of snow across Southcentral Alaska and other regions, state officials on Thursday ordered an early start to the official fire season.
Instead of the usual start date of April 1, the fire season will be in effect as of March 17 in Southcentral Alaska, Southeast Alaska and much of Western Alaska, the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection announced. That means that permits will be required for any burns conducted on state, municipal or private lands in the designated areas, which stretch from the Southeast Panhandle to the eastern Aleutians.
The state forester “has determined that weather conditions including warm temperatures and low snowpack across specific areas of Alaska raise the risk of wildland fire ahead of the statutorily designated fire season,” the order said.
The order follows a forecast issued on Monday by the National Interagency Fire Center that warned of “the potential for a busy start to the fire season across much of southern Alaska.”
Alaska’s official fire season start date of April 1 was set in 2006, after the record-high fire season of 2004 and a near-record season the following year. Up to then, the start date was May 1.
As Alaska has warmed over the past four decades, the state’s annual wildfire season has been stretched over a longer period, according to scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Big fire seasons have also become more frequent over the past decades.
The early start to the official fire season does not affect Interior and northern Alaska, which have plenty of snowpack for now. The very large wildfires that are common in places like Interior Alaska generally start with lightning strikes that start around midsummer.
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Above Photo: The ground at Anchorage’s Earthquake Park, at the edge of Cook Inlet, is almost entirely snow-free on March 6, 2025. Downtown Anchorage is in the background. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
(Article courtesy of Alaska Beacon by Creative Commons)
Assembly again punts decision on Comp Plan
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Following nearly two hours of testimony Tuesday night, the Anchorage Assembly chose to once again postpone a decision on adopting Girdwood's comprehensive plan.
Some members said they didn't know enough about changes Anchorage's planning department wants to make on the plan.
"The information is just too much to consume tonight," Assembly Chair Chris Constant said.
Twenty or so people spoke against changes recommended by the planning department, particularly its desire to include housing designations in areas set aside as "open space" in the plan.
The two biggest points of contention are amendments for a strip of housing near Virgin Creek and a change of public land north of the airport from open space to "mixed use" housing that would allow Alyeska Resort owner Pomeroy to build 365 housing units.
Many said that area, called "the mitten" by planners, is essential to the recreational character of the community. The area is home to undisturbed wetlands, primitive and groomed trails, and a stand of ancient trees known as the Enchanted Forest.
"Developing that fragile ecosystem is something you can't reverse over time," said Liam Coyle, who lives in a tiny home in Girdwood.
The planning department sent a memo to Imagine!Girdwood, a local group overseeing the update of the 30-year-old plan, recommending five changes. Two—housing along Virgin Creek and developing the mitten—were unequivocally dismissed by the group.
The department's idea for a 500-foot strip along Virgin Creek, which Imagine!Girdwood chair Mike Edgington said would result in up to 30 single-family homes—drew resounding opposition.
The area contains among the largest old-growth trees in Girdwood, said Brenden Raymond-Yakoubian. Developing housing along a corridor, he said, would "cut down the bulk of the forest."
Read the entire story at the link below:https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/assembly-again-punts-decision-on-comp-plan
Former Resort Owner gives $1 Million to Childcare Center
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
In an emotional speech during a fundraising gala Friday night, former Alyeska Resort owner John Byrne III announced he is donating $1 million to the Girdwood Workforce Childcare Project for the new childcare center building for Little Bears Playhouse.
In the tearful address, Byrne suggested the new child care center—to be built on Alyeska-owned land near its hotel—be named after legendary volunteer and Girdwood, Inc. founder Diana Stone Livingston who sat before him in the hushed crowd.
The Little Bears Playhouse daycare center is currently housed in a six-decade-old building near the fire station and has capacity for 27 children.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/former-resort-owner-gives-1-million-to-childcare-center
Girdwood Comp Plan final vote likely Tuesday
Assembly to Decide on Future of Wild, Public Lands in Girdwood. Final Vote On Comp Plan Likely Tuesday, Following Public Testimony
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
The Anchorage Assembly may make its final ruling Tuesday night on a sweeping plan that charts the course of land use in the valley for years to come.
At stake are two wild areas that Girdwood's community wants to protect as open space but that Anchorage's planning department has targeted for housing.
The Assembly will decide the fate of nearly 100 acres of old-growth forested land between Glacier Creek and the Alyeska Resort that the resort's owner, Pomeroy, has included in its development plans.
"This is the last public hearing and I expect them to make a decision," said Mike Edgington, the chair of Imagine!Girdwood, an organization formed to guide a 30-year-old plan through a public process that, organizers say, had contributions from 900 Girdwood residents.
Edgington predicts there will be three versions of plan on the table for discussion by the Assembly Tuesday night: a version with changes by the muni's planning department, an "S" version that sustains Girdwood's original plan calling for open space in the contested areas, and, possibly a new "S1" version that could "narrow down" housing allotments.
The planning department and Pomeroy won a vote from an advisory panel last summer that allows for the Canadian company to develop housing and other amenities in an area designated for "open space" and trails.
Testimony so far has been almost universal in support of a land plan that includes open space and housing near pre-existing development.
Earlier this year, representatives from the muni's planning department met with Imagine!Girdwood's board to recommend five changes including eliminating size allowances for vegetative buffer strips called for in Girdwood's plan, some technical changes in parcel sizes, and adding a 500-foot strip of housing on the western edge of Alyeska Basin of up to 30 lots, Edgington said.
The planning department also continued to take issue with the Girdwood Plan's allocation of remote and wild public land—called "the mitten" for its shape on a map"—as open space and recommended its designation as mixed use allowing Pomeroy to build 365 housing units.
Planners said in a memo to Imagine!Girdwood that Pomeroy's housing would address a "severe housing shortage".
"The shortage has been described as 'crises' that forces locals out," the memo states.
Yet, in order to build enough housing in Girdwood that will yield year-round occupancy, the community would have to add 2,000 residences over the next decade, Edgington said, since 85 percent of homes being built are so-called "dark homes".
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"We have loads of housing. It's just that most of it is empty," he said.
There will likely be a final vote on the comprehensive plan Tuesday and it is the public's last chance to give testimony, Edgington said.
"This is like a battle, an important battle. It may be a decisive battle. But it's not the final battle," he said. "But I don't like war analogies."
Testimony on the Assembly's can be given in writing, in person or over the phone. In order to give testimony via a phone, a form needs to be completed by 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/girdwood-comp-plan-final-vote-likely-tuesday
Girdwood resident comments on Eaton Fire response
FOLLOW UP COMMENTARY PROVIDES HIS OPINION ON CHILDHOOD HOME
By John Gallup
Girdwood Resident
As of the week ending Feb. 14, some amazing progress has been made on the long process of rebuilding Altadena, Calif.
Through cooperation of FEMA, State of California, Los Angeles County, and the Army Corps of engineers, Phase 1, the removal and sorting of hazardous waste is almost complete, and Phase 2, the removal of debris has begun, at no cost to homeowners!
This is on a first apply first served basis, so it will be slow at first, but as it scales up it will involve 1500 trucks. This is huge, remember the fire itself was only 6 weeks ago.
Property owners can opt out and do their own removal if the want, but few have so far.
Also, if a property owner wants to rebuild the exact same house they had, only with non-flammable exteriors, they can get a building permit based on their original plans, short cutting a long and expensive process.
The only downside is that the already overcrowded 210 freeway will have to carry all those debris loads east to their final resting place in Duarte, a few miles to the east.
Read the entire commentary at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/girdwood-resident-comments-on-eaton-fire-response
Federal firings hit U.S. Forest Service in Alaska, with at least 30 jobs cut on Thursday
By Corinne Smith
At least 30 federal workers with the U.S. Forest Service in Alaska have been terminated immediately, as of Thursday, according to the National Federation of Federal Employees union.
“We got word yesterday that there were going to be 3,400 terminations of probationary employees within the U.S. Forest Service nationwide, and those terminations started at midnight,” said Matt Brossard, a national business representative with NFFE, speaking Friday at 10 a.m.
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Alaska Senate approve 18-year-old alcohol servers, plus 16-year-old restaurant workers
By James Brooks
Alaskans as young as 16 will be allowed to work in restaurants, and those as young as 18 will be allowed to serve alcohol if a bill passed Monday by the Alaska Senate becomes law.
Senate Bill 15, which passed on a 19-0 vote, advances to the state House for consideration.
The bill is almost identical to House Bill 189, which the Legislature passed last year but Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed it. In his veto message, the governor noted that the House passed it after the midnight deadline on the last day of the session.
HB 189 was sponsored by Rep. Jesse Sumner, R-Wasilla, who did not seek reelection last year. Sen. Kelly Merrick, R-Eagle River, reintroduced the bill at the start of this session, and it moved quickly through the Senate, becoming the first bill the Senate passed this year.
“Alaskan businesses are asking for relief when it comes to workforce shortages. Many establishments were in support of this bill and they wanted it to get through the Legislature as quickly as possible,” she said.
Restaurant and tourist businesses typically staff up during the summer with out-of-state labor or foreign seasonal workers, she said. If SB 15 becomes law, it would allow businesses to hire younger Alaskans instead, Merrick said.
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Late January Avalanches were close calls
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
We all live at the mercy of Mother Nature, as on-going ecological catastrophes attest.
For people living below the shadow of a mountain, in the path of an avalanche, the reverberations of this reckoning become particularly poignant.
Centuries ago, the Incas brought young women to the peaks of mountains in sacrifice. They revered the mountain deity "Apus", protector of land and animals. In the Peruvian highlands, folklore still has locals crafting gifts for mountain spirits.
In Nepal prayer flags flutter along ancient trails and pilgrims chant the words, om mani padme hum.
For Norwegians, the Bergrisi, or "mountain giant", guards craggy peaks and could command or prevent an avalanche.
In Chinese mythology, mountains were said to hold up the sky.
Two Girdwood avalanches, one in upper Crow Creek and another on Mt. Alyeska came so close to disaster, it was as if an Apus or Bergrisi had been summoned.
Though the slides were considerable in both locations, no one was hurt and property escaped damage.
An avalanche that shed from Ragged Bowl above a small community along upper Crow Creek Road during a late January evening passed beside one cabin, went over the top of a vacant garage and stopped short of several homes.
Avalanche forecasters had warned of "high" danger during a turbulent storm that brought wind, rain and a half dozen feet of snow in places.
During the storm, one resident thought he'd heard something, an earthquake he thought, but outside he couldn't see much beyond a white-flurried gale.
When another local woke up the next day, he saw the avalanche beside, beneath and above his home. The avalanche sailed over the top of a vacant steel and concrete garage (designed for such events) loading the roof with feet of snow, branches and debris and came to a stop just before a house.
In the end, only an abandoned car and fish smoker were damaged.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/late-january-avalanches-were-close-calls