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Avalanche Mitigation

Drone footage of a large avalanche on Three Pigs Mountain, near Stuart Creek on the Richardson Highway, that occurred in February of 2025. Photo by Kyle Sobek, courtesy of Alaska DOT. See the story below.

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Avalanche Mitigation enters the Future
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 Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) currently uses the M119 105 mm Howitzer for avalanche mitigation. According to Glassett, these Howitzers are antiquated to the point where it is hard to find parts. The United States Army still produces shells, but not the cannons that shoot them. Maintenance is difficult.

“The army doesn’t have another viable artillery system for us to use that’s as portable and efficient,” said Glassett. Therefore, the army has told current artillery users, “‘you need to start transitioning away from it.’”

Glassett said the replacement is going to be Remote Avalanche Control (RAC) systems.

RACs are fixed systems built into avalanche start zones that can be triggered remotely to drop an explosive or detonate gases into a tube. “The problem,” said Glassett, “is that each one costs at least $175-200K and is only good for that one location.”

DOT plans to install RACs, which are currently only being made by one company, in “high frequency/high risk paths.” A project is “in the works” for these systems to be placed first on the Seward Highway.

Other tools, such as drones, will be needed to supplement RACs. Glassett said DOT is currently “validating the operational use” of drones carrying explosives. This is something that cannot be done lightly; these tools are typically not available to civilians and require extensive permitting.

(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

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ARTICLES
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.

 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

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.”

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

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:

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)

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GBOS Candidates offer to serve Community
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 
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:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/assembly-changes-girdwood-plan-to-allow-housing-in-upper-meadowsnbsp

Neighbors fear helicopters in backyards
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

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Cross Country: Native Alaskan Ava Earl stars as squad climbs to new heights
Cross Country: Native Alaskan Ava Earl stars as squad climbs to new heights

By Henry Frieman, Sports Editor

The Daily Northwestern

Girdwood, Alaska, population estimated at 2,500, sits in a valley at the base of Mount Alyeska, a ski resort in the winter and a hiking destination in the summer. The mountain town has one main road, a two-lane highway surrounded by hemlock and conifer. 

There is one elementary school, but the nearest high school is 30 miles away in Anchorage. There is a fire department, but no police station. Further away from the resort, the paved roads turn to gravel. 

It was on the gravel paths and dirt trails of the Alaskan woodlands where Northwestern cross country runner Ava Earl, now a senior, fell in love with running.

Read the entire story here:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/ava-earl-carries-alaskan-roots-to-nu-cross-country-stardom

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Raw Market: ‘Together, We Thrive’
Raw Market: ‘Together, We Thrive’

By Hannah Dillon

Assistant Editor

A red ribbon hung on the entrance to the Raw Market—just off Holmgren Ave. next to The Laundromall—as community members gathered around the store at 5 p.m. July 2. When the ribbon was cut, a new local market officially opened in Girdwood.

People quickly entered the intimately-sized store once the doors were open. Aesthetic lighting and plants hovered overhead as customers sorted through bell peppers, chocolate milk glasses, candles, locally made pottery, dried herbs, cherries and aloe vera plants.

Behind the register, employees created delicious acai bowls and smoothies for everyone in need of a cool treat on a warm sunny day.

Michelle Young, who, along with her husband James Glover, owns the Raw Market sat down with Turnagain News to discuss opening day and a little history of the store.

Young said the inspiration to establish a store like Raw Market stems from a visit to Maui, where nearly every small town had a juice bar that sold acai bowls, smoothies and juice. “We really loved the abundance of fresh food,” said Young.

Young’s experience with the fresh food available on the streets of Maui inspired Young and Glover to bring that experience to Girdwood.

Read the entire story here:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/raw-market-together-we-thrive

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Girdwood Board reverses community decision on Alyeska Development
Girdwood Board reverses community decision on Alyeska Development

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

The Girdwood Board of Supervisors, in a 3-2 decision Monday, rescinded an earlier community vote that rejected a subdivision proposed in a popular recreational area.

The board's move tells municipal planners it has no objection to plans by Alyeska Resort to build an assortment of housing, roads, parking lots, a tram and in the Glacier Creek watershed north of the town's airport.

The GBOS has since voted to reconsider its Monday vote and will discuss the reconsideration at a meeting Thursday at 1 p.m.

"I suspect [the vote] will be changed," said Supervisor Mike Edgington on Wednesday. "We're basically going back for a re-do."

He said he feels Pomeroy's goals for development are sound, but the location the company has chosen for development isn't.

In both meetings, community members expressed criticism, skepticism and dismay about Pomeroy Lodging's plan to acquire nearly 100 acres of municipal land in the upper valley for housing.

Read the entire story at:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/girdwood-board-reverses-community-decision-on-alyeska-development

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Alaska newspaper publishers worry about bill ending some public notice requirements
Alaska newspaper publishers worry about bill ending some public notice requirements

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

The Alaska Senate voted without dissent Monday to allow the Department of Natural Resources to stop publishing some public notices in local newspapers.

Senators approved Senate Bill 68 by a 17-0 vote. It now advances to the House for consideration. Sens. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel; Bert Stedman, R-Sitka; and Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, were excused absent.

Before the final vote, newspaper publishers unsuccessfully asked legislators to reconsider their plans. Allowing the state to control its public notice process poses transparency risks, they testified, and it likely will harm papers’ finances, potentially reducing the amount of independent reporting available in Alaska.

Read more at:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/alaska-newspaper-publishers-worry-about-bill-ending-some-public-notice-requirements-2

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Potter Marsh Watershed Park is on the Horizon
Potter Marsh Watershed Park is on the Horizon

Great Land Trust has been working with Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) Heritage land Bank and GCI to conserve 300 acres of important hillside watershed features that are critical to sustaining the vibrant habitat of the Potter’s Marsh, located between Golden View Drive to the east and Old Seward Highway.

“We are thrilled how this project is proceeding and it is nice to be doing a project in Anchorage at this scale as these opportunities are few and far between,'“ said Dave Mitchell, Conservation Director with Great Land Trust.

“We select our projects based on prioritizations that look at wetlands and anadromous streams and adjacency to protected areas and we try to collect all the data we can and rank and put it into GIS and rank land based on conservation value,” he added. “This property actually ranked number one.”

Set between the old and new Seward highways, Potter Marsh is a portion of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge is Anchorage’s gateway to Turnagain Arm. The new Potter Marsh Watershed Park will be owned, operated and maintained by the MOA Parks and Recreation Department.

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