GBOS Candidates offer to serve Community
Voters to Choose Between Brett Wilbanks and Kellie Okenek by April 1 in Municipal Election.
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.
What inspired you to volunteer to serve on the Girdwood Board of Supervisors?
KO- I have lived here for over 20 years. I moved to Girdwood for the skiing and fell in love with Girdwood as a community. I have a passion for stewarding development and maintaining the quirky character and essence of the community.
BW- I have been co-chairing the Housing and Economic Development committee for almost 2 years now as a subcommittee of GBOS and it has led to some great discussions. I see GBOS as an opportunity to work towards local decisions and local input to local problems in the municipality. The challenge is for GBOS to engage with the municipality in ways that are new and Girdwood forward. That is what led me to look to spending some time trying to forward the community through GBOS.
What do you think are the most important issues for Girdwood?
BW- The latest includes what just happened with the Girdwood comprehensive plan amendments with the mitten and that amendment to what the community had come forward with in the Girdwood comprehensive plan. That’s one example I think of where the community’s interest may have taken a back seat to the municipality’s interest.
KO- Responsible development is the biggest issue. Frankly this means keeping the Assembly from bulldozing Girdwood as happened with Holtan Hills and the comprehensive plan. It also means Pomeroy participating in implementation of the comprehensive plan instead of doing its own plan without working with the community to maintain the character of Girdwood. Housing is a huge part of responsible development. Development needs to include housing for a diverse group of workers who live in Girdwood rather than just more dark homes.
Do you support Proposition 8 (the bond to pay for paving Timberline).
KO- Yes. Timberline is a maintenance nightmare. If there is one section of streets needing pavement this is it. I understand the concerns over safety but these can be managed. Paying for a capital project now will save future operational costs. But if Girdwood voters vote no I will respect that outcome.
BW- I would love to see infrastructure development in Girdwood. Missing from the conversation is the fact a major contributor to the municipal fuel tax is the Speedway. This municipality wide tax is used to improve municipal roads but it is only available to roads that are within the planning structure of the municipality road transportation planning group. Even though we may collect those taxes they do not directly contribute to our road infrastructure in the valley. A bigger conversation might be how being in the municipality could benefit us since one of the largest municipal gas tax contributors is right here in the valley.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/gbos-candidates-offer-to-serve-community
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."
In an 8-4 vote Tuesday, the Assembly gave the nod to the latter plan when it cleared a pathway for Pomeroy, a Canadian hotelier, to develop an enormous swath of old-growth forest in Girdwood's valley.
The controversial decision—to allow "mixed use" housing in undisturbed old-growth forest—comes on the heels of an Assembly vote last year approving a 60-acre subdivision in an ancient forest near Girdwood's school dubbed "Holtan Hills".
If developed as planned, the combined area, on both sides of Glacier Creek, would mean profound changes in the valley: massive clearcutting operations, trucks moving fill, home construction, and new infrastructure development.
Critics have long argued that planned housing will be too expensive for working families in Girdwood and new construction will likely end up as short-term-rentals or so-called "dark homes".
"In the two years I've been on this body, I don't think there has been anything I've contemplated as long or as deeply as this piece of this very detailed plan," said Zac Johnson, who represents Girdwood and South Anchorage on the Assembly, referring to the question of protecting or developing the area north of the Girdwood's airport.
(Photo: Equipment clears land for a new parking lot near Alyeska Hotel last fall. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)
Read the entire story at the link below:
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
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.
Read the entire story here:
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)
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
Commentary: Dark against an Oven of Yellow Fire—My Home of 41 Years
By John Gallup
TNews Contributor
I was just another college grad at loose ends.
I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do, and my supervising professor at college said, "If I were you, I'd go to Alaska."
It seemed like a good idea at the time, so here I am, 52 years later.
This story is about where I was born and spent the first 23 years of my life: Altadena, California.
Set up against the San Gabriel Mountains on sloping ground, Altadena was laid out on a basic grid pattern when old haciendas were broken up and Pasadena became built-out and expanded north.
It is divided almost exactly in half by north/south Lake Avenue. East of Lake was more upper-middle class, larger homes and lots, and it was here that Dr. Gallup moved into 1560 Homewood Drive on my sixth birthday in April 1955. I was enrolled in Noyes Elementary school.
The house at 1560 was huge by our standards, it was called a "New Orleans Colonial" and had wide balconies on three sides. In the backyard was a formal garden with a rectangular fish pond which was quickly emptied of its fish and became our summer swimming hole. To the west, down a steep slope, was well over an acre of raw scrubland which we called "The Jungle" and where four young boys could dig for buried treasure and build forts.
Fifteen-sixty was at the end of a cul-de-sac, so the street also was our playground and our football and baseball field. The Baby Boom provided us with lots of other kids to play and make mischief with.
We all had bikes, and our mother would greet us as we came home from school, saying, "I don't want to see you or hear you until dinner." Which was just fine with us. We pedaled off into the afternoon smog in search of adventure.
Elementary school, junior high, high school, then off to college. College was only about a 20 minute drive away, so I was back home a lot, usually with my hand out for spending money.
Read the entire story at the link below:
A Heating Planet and La Niña add to Colder Spring with Less Precipitation in Southcentral, Scientists Say
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
A series of warm winter storms that have walloped Girdwood and Southcentral Alaska in recent weeks has caused power outages, difficult travel, downed trees, avalanches and mudslides.
Climate change—driven largely by ever-increasing amounts of oil pollution—has increased the severity and unpredictability of weather events, scientists say, so that new monikers have spread, such as the "climate emergency", "climate chaos", and "global heating".
Last year was, globally, the warmest year on record. Alaska has warmed by more than 3 degrees in 50 years with the biggest changes taking place in the winter, according to climate scientists, and, they say, "the frequency of avalanches, landslides, floods and coastal storms is increasing in Alaska."
Are recent storms and warmer temperatures in Southcentral Alaska this winter unusual? Unprecedented?
Record-breaking heat waves, widespread warming and above average precipitation plagued the Arctic last year, according to an "Arctic Report Card" issued in December by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"The rapid pace and complexity of Arctic change demand new and strengthened Arctic adaptation and global reductions of fossil fuel pollution," the report summarized.
And, despite above-average snowfall in the Arctic, snow melt is occurring 1-2 weeks earlier in the spring, the report said.
Researchers found December to be a warmer than average month at all its data stations and that it was a "relatively dry month" in most of the state, according to the UAF's Alaska Climate Research Center.
Read the entire story and graphics at the link below:
A Personal Tribute to former president Jimmy Carter
By Frans Weits
Jack Sprat Restaurant Owner in Girdwood
In July, 2005, four years after we'd opened Jack Sprat in Girdwood, my two year old son and I were about to go camping on the Kenai Peninsula when Kurt Hoessel, owner of Girdwood-based Alaska Wildland Adventures, contacted us.
Kurt said he could not say what was happening, but that he was bringing a "very important guest" to our restaurant for Sunday brunch.
“Just make sure to be there!" he said.
This was my first time taking my son, Frans Ryker, camping and his mom was getting a much deserved break from child rearing.
What did my wife, Jen Weits, do with her free weekend? Well, she cooked brunch, of course, as she often did.
Jen has a way with making excellent soups, and on this particular weekend, she made a Welsh Rarebit Soup special served in a sourdough bread bowl.
We had only been in business for a few years so I was rarely away from work. Having a baby to care for turns out to be a great reason to take time off and so I was cashing in.
James Dare had invited me to go fishing with him on the Kenai River and it was peak summer in mid- July. James was a chef for us and I have no idea how he had the weekend off. We were open seven days a week back then, so anything was possible, I guess.
I was sure to leave camp earlier than normal so we would not miss whatever surprise was waiting for us.
Meanwhile, Jen's cousin Tom Herrick was visiting from Michigan so he, Ryker and I made it back to the restaurant with time to have a latte before we found out what was happening.
Two secret service men briefed us on the situation: Ex-President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn were coming in for brunch.
Top photo courtesy of Frans Weits. Official photo courtesy Library of Congress.
Read the entire tribute at the below link:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/a-personal-tribute-to-former-president-jimmy-carter
Lions give Neighbors a Christmas Boost
By Allison Sayer
TNews Staffwriter
On Thursday, Dec. 19, a group of volunteers from the Girdwood Turnagain Arm Lions Club met at the Girdwood School to prepare holiday boxes for families who, according to longtime Lion Kathy Trautner, “could benefit from a Christmas boost.”
Lion Ally Goens supervised food sorting while taking and making calls regarding the special components of holiday meal boxes.
This year 14 families received a combination of holiday gifts. A gift-wrapped holiday meal box for each family contained traditional foods such as ham and pumpkin pie. Holiday items were purchased with some of the proceeds from fundraisers held throughout the year.
A supplemental box contained nonperishable pantry-stufferscollected by Girdwood School students. The sixth grade was the biggest collector this year, with 214 items. Sixth graders Aria Rice and Reagan Martyn spent one of their free periods helping sort food drive donations.
Families also received gifts from the “Angel Tree” program, which anonymously pairs families in need with local individuals willing to purchase presents on their wish list.
The Girdwood United Methodist Church, the Girdwood School, and the Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows identifies families to ask whether they would like to be included. If the families are interested, they submit information including how many children are in the family and the children’s ages.
A few days before Christmas, families can pick up boxes at the Girdwood School. The pickup occurs after the school has closed for the holiday break.
Trautner expressed her appreciation for the school’s partnership. She appreciates school staff’s efforts to identify families in need, host a food drive, and provide a venue where families can pick up their gifts discreetly.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/lions-give-neighbors-a-christmas-boost
Mining for Gold from Alaska to Paris!
By Seth Beaubien
TN News Contributor
Kristen Faulkner, double Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Gold Medal Champion, thank you so much for taking time from your very busy schedule to share your thoughts with the Turnagain News and its readers.
TN: Growing up in Homer, what are your memories of the Arm and Girdwood Valley?
KF: I remember learning to downhill ski at Alyeska. My family spent the whole day on the mountain and would break midday to get cinnamon rolls from the Bake Shop. I also love cross-country skiing in Moose Meadows, which are some trails in Girdwood that my Grandpa Stumpy helped build.
TN: You have been an active athlete your whole life, in Homer, at Phillips Academy then Harvard before getting into the competitive cycling world, what about those experiences helped prepare you for becoming an Olympian?
KF: Sports taught me the importance of discipline and hard work. As a student athlete, I also learned the importance of time management. I used to wake up at 6am for morning practice before school, and so it was an easy transition when I started training on my bike in the mornings before work.
TN: Cycling is both an individual and a team sport, can you describe that and the differences/similarities for our readers?
KF: For each race, the team Director selects a team leader, and the entire team sacrifices themselves to help that leader win the race. Support riders do this by chasing down competitors, distracting the other teams, and allowing the leader to draft off them. Different races suit different riders, and so the team leader changes depending on the race. It's important that we sacrifice ourselves for our teammates, knowing that they will do the same for us when it is our turn to be the leader.
TN: Can you describe what it feels like and means to you to represent America and wear USA kit and jersey? How is it different from the Tour de France Suisse or Giro Donne?
KF: I love representing my country. I am really proud to be American, and donning the Red, White, and Blue is a dream come true. I feel like I am racing for something much greater than myself, and that inspires me and motivates me.
Read the entire story here:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/mining-for-gold-from-alaska-to-paris
Enjoying Turnagain Arm’s Winter Wonderland
By Girdwood Parks and Recreation, Girdwood Trails Committee, Girdwood Nordic Ski Club
Girdwood is a magical wonderland in the winter because of the variety of activities available during this special time of the year. Ask any local, and most will say their favorite time of year is winter! Download a Girdwood Trails Winter Map or a map from the Girdwood Nordic Ski Club and get prepared to ski, walk, bike, or snowshoe on some of the best winter trails in Southcentral Alaska.
Starting a couple of years ago, narrow-gauge grooming was initiated around the perimeter of Moose Meadows and upper valley, on Winner Creek Trail, the Lower Iditarod Trail and part of the Beaver Pond Trail. Narrow-gauge grooming provides a great multi-use surface for walking, biking and skiing and is maintained as snow conditions allow.
Cross Country Skiing
The Girdwood Nordic Ski Club and Girdwood Parks and Rec volunteers groom diagonal and skate skiing lanes in Moose Meadow, some upper meadows, and the community’s Nordic 5K Loop. Moose Meadow and the upper valley multi-use trails are groomed once the snow depth measures 16”. The Nordic 5K Loop is groomed once 6” of snow has collected on the trail.
Moose Meadow is the ideal place to go if you are unsure of your ability or have small children who want to cross country ski. This multi-use trail is approximately 2K, slopes gently toward the middle of the valley, and has terrain that is most often soft and forgiving. The ski trail is set wide enough to accommodate diagonal as well as skate skiers, and dogs are welcome. A headlamp can be handy on dark winter nights, but if the night skiing lights are on at Alyeska Mountain, try a lap without your headlamp. You’ll be amazed at how your eyes adjust and how well you can see. Stop for a minute and listen for owls, too!
Connector cross-country trails lead from the northwest end of Moose Meadow to the upper meadows, requiring a thrilling trip down Horror Hill. It is fine to side-step or walk down this hill. Grooming through the upper valley meadows makes a great out-and-back ski, although if you like to go off-trail, you can ski through the trees and discover social trails and quiet meadows.
Read the entire story here:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/enjoying-turnagain-arms-winter-wonderland
What’s New at the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center
By Tim Lydon
TNews Contributor
Girdwood is home to the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center, which provides daily Turnagain Pass avalanche forecasts from the Glacier Ranger District office. The center’s director, Wendy Wagner, recently shared updates with the Turnagain News.
TN: Southcentral Alaska has several avalanche programs. Do you all work together?
Wagner: We do. We have a close-knit network that includes avalanche professionals at the Department of Transportation, Alaska Railroad, and Chugach Electric, who work along the transportation and powerline corridors. There’s also the Alyeska Ski Resort and Chugach Powder Guides. We all communicate regularly, especially when conditions get interesting or scary. We also coordinate with the Alaska Avalanche School on outreach and keep our online platform consistent with the Hatcher Pass program since people might visit Turnagain one day and Hatcher the next.
TN: What’s new this year?
Wagner: The big news is we have two new positions on the Seward Ranger District. We’ll now have daily forecasts for Turnagain Pass, Summit Lake, and Seward/Lost Lake. With three zones, you might see different conditions across the areas. We’re also updating our website for greater consistency with the National Avalanche Center and others. It’ll be a new look, but it should be easy to navigate.
Read the entire story here:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/whats-new-at-the-chugach-avalanche-center
‘Fire in the Hole!’
By David Nyman
TNews Contributor
For more than 40 years, two state agencies have kept a good record of avalanche forecasting, control and detection along Turnagain Arm and in the mountains above Alaska Railroad corridor to Seward.
While avalanche control has relied on military surplus 105 mm howitzer artillery—big, booming cannons shooting at a snow pace—ammunition has become five times more expensive and harder to find.
Now, state agencies are exploring new technology to shear a dangerous snowpack before it becomes a dangerous and massive avalanche.
Read the entire story at the link below:
New District Representative Holland Ready to get to Work
Girdwood Vote Key in His Election, Helps in Flipping House
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Though November's election saw a Republican takeover of federal offices, a more local race that sent independent Ky Holland to Juneau had the effect of tilting the state house in a more progressive direction.
Holland won District 9 which e. Girdwood overwhelmingly approved Holland and, he said, the margin not only gave him the win, but his election helped give a bipartisan coalition a slim majority in the state house.
Holland, 62, beat Republican Lucy Bauer by roughly 1,000 votes and will take over a seat vacated by Republican Laddie Shaw. Nearly 700 voters from Girdwood and Indian picked Holland on Election Day.
Girdwood resident Lee Ellis withdrew from the race after a primary election and endorsed Holland.
Holland said though the District, which encompasses Anchorage's hillside and stretches along Turnagain Arm to Whittier, is diverse—he called it "purple". He said many residents share the same views on issues like the economy, getting a secure natural gas source for home heating, and education. Holland's wife, Sharon, is a school librarian in Anchorage.
Read the entire store here:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/new-district-representative-holland-ready-to-get-to-work
Girdwood Votes 70% Blue on Election Day
District Slightly Favored Harris
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Girdwood's voters chose Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, 70% to 22%, in the Nov. 5 election with 830 people showing up at the community center to fill in ballots.
The election district containing Girdwood and Indian and which includes Anchorage's hillside and Whitter, District 9, also gave Harris the nod, but only by a fraction, 49.3% to 47.1%.
Girdwood's total vote, including absentee and early voting ballots, is not included on the state Division of Elections' website, but the community typically votes heavily in favor of Democrats.
In Girdwood, more votes in the U.S. House race fell to Mary Peltola, 75.4%, than to Nic Begich, 21.3%, though Begich would end up winning the total state vote.
Almost 600 Girdwoodians voted for Ballot Measure 1, which increases the state's minimum wage, then rejected it (208) and voters chose to reject a repeal of rank-choice voting 607-189.
Both measures would eventually go Girdwood's way in statewide totals.
And Girdwood helped bring independent Ky Holland to office. He beat Republican Lucy Bauer in a local Election Day vote of 609 to 176. Holland went on to win District 9 by just over 1,000 votes, 6,079 to 5091.
Seventy-two percent of registered District 9 voters turned out for the election, a turnout that is among the highest of any district in the state.
The municipality of Anchorage also leaned blue, with Harris winning there with a one-point lead.
Statewide results will be finalized at the end of the month.
Researchers find new non-native species in Prince William Sound
By PWS Regional Citizen’s Advisory Council
TN News Contributor
Last year, researchers from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, or SERC, partnered with the Council to conduct the largest survey of non-native benthic marine invertebrate species in Prince William Sound since 2003.
The work is part of a larger survey being conducted by Dr. Gregory Ruiz and a team of researchers from SERC to document non-native species in ports and bays throughout the United States. The researchers have also recently surveyed in California, southeast Alaska, and other sites along the Pacific coast of the U.S. Researchers anticipate surveying Cook Inlet in 2025.
What are benthic invertebrates?
Benthic: Occurs at the bottom of a body of water.
Invertebrate: An animal with no backbone.
This opalescent nudibranch (left) is an example of a benthic invertebrate that is native to Prince William Sound.
Non-native marine species of interest to the Council’s work
Researchers detected three non-native species during the survey: two crustaceans, Caprella mutica and the Monocorophium acherusicum, and a bryozoan, the Schizoporella japonica.
One of the three, Schizoporella japonica, had been detected previously. The other two are new to Prince William Sound.
Another new non-native species, Ciona savignyi was found by volunteers for the PlateWatch program, a separate monitoring program also sponsored by the Smithsonian. This tunicate has now been reported in both southeast Alaska and Prince William Sound.
Evidence of the Ciona savignyi was found using genetic analysis on a single settlement plate in southwest Prince William Sound. The report noted that this marine worm could be of concern as it has caused damage to oyster populations in locations where it has invaded. Further evaluation is needed to confirm this identification.
This survey brings the total number of non-native benthic marine invertebrate species confirmed in Prince William Sound to seven. The species Schizoporella japonica and Mya arenaria, a clam originally from the east coast of the U.S., are confirmed to be established in the area. Researchers do not know if any of the other five are established.
Read the entire story here:
Annual Sports Swap a Community Affair
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Take a couple of local nonprofits, stir in 150 volunteers, sprinkle liberally with school students, and add a dash of eager, gear-hungry skiers, riders, and Nordic enthusiasts.
Set this concoction on an early November day when the winter’s first crust of snow hugs the edges of parking lots like frosting on a cake.
The result? The annual Girdwood Ski and Sports Swap—a beloved community event hosted by Four Valleys Community School.
"This is such a community event," said longtime volunteer Jacky Graham. "I love to see people come together to support Four Valleys. Girdwood is the best community in all of Anchorage."
As gear-hunters milled around Alyeska's expansive Daylodge hall, Four Valleys Executive Director Beks Rumley described some impressions of this year's Swap.
"This year we've had less skis and way more clothing," Rumley said, "and I've seen a lot of families shop together."
Nordic gear is always a favorite and the Swap is excellent place to shop for mid-layers, she said.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/annual-sports-swap-a-community-affair
Muni Land Bank isn’t selling Girdwood Industrial Park, Yet
By Soren Wuerth and David Nyman
TNews Editor and TN Contributor
Following concerns that Anchorage is planning to sell land in Girdwood's Industrial Park, the municipality's Heritage Land Bank sought Thursday to dispel conjecture of an imminent land disposal and to assuage the public the idea is only up for discussion.
Girdwood's Industrial Park is a 15-acre area, near Girdwood's transfer and wastewater facility, has a long history of use by various Girdwood contractors, the Girdwood Valley Service Area and Girdwood Fire Department.
In her report to HLB's Advisory Commission, director Tiffany Briggs said the industrial park the department is considering selling is the "Maui" industrial park in Anchorage and that her staff was only discussing "future options" for the Girdwood's industrial park.
HLB's Emma Giboney wrote Friday that her department will meet with the Girdwood Board of Supervisors Monday to get feedback on the industrial park's value and how to address it in HLB's 2025 work plan
Read the entire story at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/muni-bank-isnt-selling-girdwood-industrial-park-yet
A Lifetime of Mountain Memories
By Clark Fair
KMTA Contributor
When I was 14 years old—long before I understood the concept of pacing myself—my father decided to take our family on a hike up from the heart of Cooper Landing into the valley holding the headwaters of Slaughter Creek. Dad strapped my four-year-old brother into a backpack and grunted his way along the difficult, rocky ascent, while my mother and younger sister tottered along behind him.
I was reaching the age at which I was losing enthusiasm for “family time” and desired more to be in the company of friends. In a tacit acknowledgement of this adolescent switch, my parents had allowed me to bring along my buddy Monte, a junior high classmate. Together, we were irrepressible in our energy and enthusiasm, racing up the trail ahead of everyone else, chattering like monkeys.
Eventually, all of us reached the saddle—a nexus for decision, where one can choose to rest before descending to the car, drop into the boggy Slaughter Creek drainage for further exploration, climb an adjoining ridgeline to the west, or embark on numerous bushwhacking options. There, my father stepped apart from the rest of us and took a somewhat fuzzy color photograph of the family reclining in the soft moss, proof that all of us on this July 1972 adventure reached the same goal.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/a-lifetime-of-mountain-memories
Annual potato harvest yields of bevy of spuds
By TNews Staff
A cluster of eager "Explorers" from an after-school program sped from Girdwood School to the Forest Service building Thursday to dig up spuds in an annual potato harvest.
Among potatoes dug up from three patches were "Tlingit potatoes", a potato grown in Southeast Alaska for possibly more than two centuries. The Tlingit potato is a variant that may have been brought by early indigenous traders thousands of years ago.
"Though the potatoes aren't well suited for French frying, they're perfect in soups, where their creamy texture and somewhat buttery flavor complement salmon," Tim Lydon wrote in a an article for Hakai Magazine. Lydon is the Forest Service's lead gardener and helps run the Explorers program.
Read the entire story with more pictures at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/annual-potato-harvest-yields-of-bevy-of-spuds