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.

 On March 20, the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) announced the Office of Emergency Management stepped up to a “Level Two activation status,” meaning “A situation or threat has developed that requires increased public information and has the potential for agencies to take coordinated ac​tion… Conditions are being monitored with information sharing networks activated.”

 To stay informed about changes to the volcano’s status, you can sign up for email notifications from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Locally, KEUL will broadcast emergency announcements if needed. KEUL is at 88.9 on the FM band, or can be streamed from the station’s website. Area residents can also text ANCHORAGE to 67283 for text alerts from the Municipality of Anchorage Office of Emergency Management or sign up online

According to Girdwood Town Manager for the Municipality of Anchorage Kyle Kelley, the Anchorage Emergency Operations Center would be the coordinating agency if there is an emergency related to a volcanic eruption. “They are experts in emergency response to events like this,” Kelley said via email, “We will work with Emergency Operations staff and the Girdwood Fire Department to provide local resources to Girdwood.”

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/mount-spurr-preparation-can-ease-the-pain

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.”

Lydon draws her inspiration from “The things that I love so much: working on Prince William Sound and living in this amazing place we live in.” She pointed out a detail of waves on one of the platters. “Waves don’t really look like that,” she said, “but I love taking these things that make me so happy and distilling them into bold lines, shapes and colors.”

 Lydon explained the concave shape of the platters has both practical and artistic value.  A large, flat slab would warp or crack, while the concave shape is more resilient. The shape also draws the eye in, adding depth to the scene.

 Lydon throws the platters on a potter’s wheel using a form. She then waits till the clay dries to just the right consistency to draw lines on, going over the lines again and again to deepen them. Lydon prefers drawing on the clay when it is about the consistency of “cheese.”

 The platters are fired twice- once before and once after being glazed. It takes patience to see a piece through all of these steps. Lydon explained it can’t be rushed. If a piece goes into the kiln too wet, for example, it can explode.

 Sea stars of every imaginable color dot the walls. Each one has a name, like “Charlie,” or “Ellen.” Lydon explained this is because they are all unique. They each seem to have a personality.

 Lydon studied art, art education, and art history in college. Her major creations then were wooden sculptures. It wasn’t until years later, when she signed up for a “random ceramics class at Colorado Mountain College” that she discovered working with clay. She remembers thinking, “This is it.” She continued, “It’s just so fun. You can do anything- be additive, subtractive… whatever you want.”

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/ski-to-sea-montain-magic-in-clay

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:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/timberline-road-and-drainage-improvement-bond-proposition-on-ballot

(Girdwood Town Manager for the Municipality of Anchorage Kyle Kelley contributed information for this commentary)

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

By Corinne Smith

Alaska Beacon

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. 

Read the entire story at the below link:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/alaska-senate-approve-18-year-old-alcohol-servers-plus-16-year-old-restaurant-workers

By John Gallup

TNews Contrbutor

Ancient civilizations spent a lot of their evenings looking up and telling stories about what they observed. 

They noticed that almost all the bright things they saw in the night sky moved very slowly westward with each passing night and returned to the same place in the heavens at about the same season of every year. 

However, five of the brightest objects didn’t follow this pattern. They behaved oddly, wandering back and forth against the slow-moving background. 

The ancient Greeks called them “planets,” which is Greek for “wanderers.” They seemed to confine their wandering to a narrow strip in the sky, the same stripe that the Moon and Sun moved through. 

Three of them moved east across the night sky against the background, but all three stopped moving east and moved back to the west for a period of time, stopped again, then resumed their easterly course. 

The other two were stranger yet. They would bob up in the morning or evening sky, rise to a point, then fall back down to disappear from where they rose, only to reappear in the morning sky, rise to about the same angle from the horizon, then turn around and head back down. 

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/look-up-to-the-new-moon-night-sky-to-see-the-old-wanderers

By Yereth Rosen

Alaska Beacon

How much are Alaskans willing to pay for produce that is homegrown? A newly published study has some answers: a significant premium, especially when they have information about the benefits of locally grown food.

Alaska grocery shoppers on average were willing to pay $1.90 extra for a head of lettuce if it was labeled as “Alaska Grown,” the study found. When given information about locally grown products’ benefits to health, the environment and the state economy provided by products with the “Alaska Grown” label, that premium jumped to $3.31 on average, the study found.

The study is based on surveys and interviews of shoppers at Anchorage grocery stores and farmers markets. The surveys and interviews were conducted by University of Alaska Anchorage students; the study was led by Qiujie Zheng, an associate professor of business analytics at the University of Maine. Zheng was previously at UAA.

While the surveys and interviews were conducted several years ago, in 2018, Zheng said she believes the results still stand.

The COVID-19 pandemic that came later may have changed food consumption patterns worldwide, she said by email. “However, due to Alaska’s unique geographical location, I believe that the state’s agricultural supply and consumers’ fresh produce options have remained relatively stable over the past few years,” she said.

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/grocery-shoppers-willing-to-pay-more-for-alaska-grown-produce-study-finds

By Tim Lydon

Alaska Beacon

In my part of Alaska, not far from Anchorage, winter solstice is always a dark day, but not because of the lack of light. Instead, I lament the impending loss of winter’s long nights, with all their calm and beauty.

This makes me a contrarian amid all the hoopla over returning light. Yet, as we freefall into a climate-changed world, it seems more people are giving darkness and its benefits a fresh look.

Read the entire opinion at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/opinion-savoring-the-darkness-in-alaska

By David Nyman

TNews Contributor

With the weather visiting southcentral this week, new funding to support southcentral avalanche mitigation efforts is timely. Alaskans traveling the Seward Highway between Anchorage and Seward will get a safer highway with the Avalanche Mitigation Alert Detection (AMAD) project that was recently awarded $1.13 million award as part of a Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grant program. This grant program is a  component of the bi-partisan infrastructure law and from US Department of Transportation.

The AMAD project being led by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (AK DOT&PF) will utilize cutting-edge remote avalanche control systems and forecasting technology to mitigate significant avalanche risks along the Seward Highway corridor. The Seward Highway is a National Highway System (NHS) route and one of Alaska's busiest roadways, serving as a vital connection between the Kenai Peninsula, Seward and Anchorage, for commerce, residents, and visitors alike.

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/alaska-dotamppf-awarded-113m-for-avalanche-mitigation-technology-along-the-seward-highway-corridor

By Brian Burnett

Girdwood Resident

“It is so unfortunate that where once we spent hours agonizing over what trees needed to remain to protect Stumpy’s Trail or Enchanted Forest, we will now be agonizing over whether the road there should be paved or gravel.” – Girdwood Wanderer

Being a part of Anchorage has never been smooth; from 1977 when over 80% of Girdwood did NOT vote in favor to join the Municipality to when Anchorage voters declined to bond a local cemetery that over 80% of Girdwood voters approved to self-fund. However, we have carved out a great place to live and we are in the process of mapping out the future of Girdwood for all of us living here and all of Anchorage that comes here to recreate. Regardless of set backs, we continue to move forward and drive events and actions to be the community we all want to live in. We are now putting forward a new comprehensive plan for our community. We have rolled up our collective sleeves to engage the community in the multi-yearprocess of achieving a vision for G’wood. This effort is no different than Forest Fair, the community playground, GVFD and the fire station, or the Scott & Wesley Gerrish Library. Girdwood works together to build solutions regardless of support from Anchorage.

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://turnagain-news.squarespace.com/config/

By Yereth Rosen

Alaska Beacon

Child care shortages could be addressed by a combination of actions to help families with subsidies and help providers work through what is currently a daunting bureaucratic process, according to a new task force report released by the Alaska Department of Health.

Recommendations to expand child care options came in the second and final report of a task forceestablished last year by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The Governor’s Task Force on Child Care report, released on Dec. 27, follows an earlier report released last year.

Altogether, they contain 56 recommendations for action.

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/task-force-report-identifies-ways-to-make-child-care-more-available-and-affordable-in-alaska

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

Forested land targeted for development in Girdwood was called, among other things, "magical", "cherished", a "paradise", a "crown jewel" and containing the "largest trees in Anchorage", during testimony Tuesday night on Girdwood's Comprehensive Plan.

Two densely-forested parcels, one near Virgin Creek and the other by Glacier Creek, would be protected "open space" in an update of Girdwood's 30-year-old area plan. 

But that conception is being contested by Anchorage's planning department which aims to include housing in those places.

(Photos by Carson Baldiviez)

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/assembly-postpones-vote-on-area-plan

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

A sweeping land plan that could determine Girdwood's future as either a sprawling resort town or a mountain community with an intact rainforest is scheduled for a vote in a little more than a week.

Should the Anchorage Assembly adopt the city's changes to Girdwood's comprehensive plan, the town could see hundreds of acres of Girdwood's old-growth rainforest habitat cleared for subdivisions, roads, businesses and resort expansion.

Besides 500 acres included for development in the plan, hundreds of additional acres of public lands could be added, including remote lands sought by Alyeska Resort for development as well as forests and wetlands along Virgin Creek, where a group, decades ago, hoped to build a golf course.

The plan comes with few conditions on the size of homes in most areas and even whether anyone lives in them, a trend facing many Western mountain towns with ski resorts, said Mike Edgington co-chair of the Girdwood Board of Supervisors   

"We're not here to sell things in strip malls," Edgington said Wednesday during a meeting. "There's places that do that very well. That's not what Girdwood is for. Girdwood exists and this economy exists because of the environment. There's always going to be a point where additional development starts cannibalizing the whole essence, purpose and economic value of the community." 

Read the entire story here:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/anchorage-to-decide-girdwoods-future-in-land-plan-vote

Story by Brooks Chandler

TNews Contributor

Money may not grow on trees but November and December donations to the Turnagain News will sprout another year of non-profit local journalism for Turnagain Arm.  

For the second consecutive year TNews has received a NewsMatch challenge grant.    

NewsMatch is sponsored by the Institute for Nonprofit News. INN describes NewsMatch as “a collaborative fundraising movement to support independent public service journalism.”  

"Collaborators" are local readers and sponsors of Turnagain News and a national network of philanthropic foundations and donors. According to INN, since 2017, NewsMatch has helped raise $330 million nationwide to “jumpstart emerging newsrooms”.  

The concept of the Newsmatch challenge is straightforward. 

The first $3,000 in individual contributions received by TNews in November and December will be matched two for one.  Donations above the $3,000 threshold will be matched one for one.   TNews hopes to receive $6,000 in individual donations. 

This will grow to $15,000 in funding for 2025 operations.   

“Turnagain News is pleased and grateful for local support and the vote of confidence from INN.  TN has gotten off the ground. The ability to keep flying in 2025 will be directly tied to local support of the NewsMatch challenge,” said TNI publisher Jon Scudder.

To donate click on the “DONATE NOW”  banner on the top of the masthead at turnagainnews.org. 

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/turnagain-news-set-for-second-newsmatch-challenge

Story by Brian Pautzke

Photos by Deb Essex

TN News Contributors

Sometime in the middle of the night the rain stopped.  The race coordinators had been checking the river depth at the hand tram crossing and Plan A was still a go.  There has been Plan A and Plan B ever since the hand tram closed.  Either we get to cross the river or we run back through town.  This year Plan C was suggested the night prior when two days of rain had not shown signs of abating; the river crossing safety guide was authorized to turn racers back if the conditions were deemed too dangerous. As luck would have it, racers woke to a clear, cold morning.  Runners could be seen mozying around the neighborhood warming up their legs and encouraging their body to get its poop in a group.  

I had been awake since 5:30.  No need for an alarm.  A distance runner needs ample time to prepare mentally, physically, and with Body Glide.  I loaded my tank with coffee and set off for the race start at the Alyeska Day Lodge.  On the way to the start I listened to “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” instead of my usual Franti jam “Follow Your Heart”, what inspired the switch I cannot say.  Between the coffee and the sports hype music, I felt as ready as usual.  This would be the 9th running of the Girdwood Trail Race, and only Melanee Stiassny and I have the honor of having done it every year (as far as we know).  

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/girdwood-trail-marathon-a-reflection

By Claire Stremple

Alaska Beacon

Alaska has joined a growing number of states that are considering cellphone restrictions in schools.

Alaska’s Board of Education and Early Development directed the state’s education department to create a policy that limits the use of cellphones in schools during class hours at a meeting this month.

Currently, there is no statewide cellphone policy in Alaska and any restrictions must be set at the district or school level. A number of schools have already done that.

The principal of one such school, David Booth of Palmer High School, implemented a cellphone ban as a pilot program this year. He described the results as transformative.

“Cellphones distract kids,” he said. “There’s no way around it.”