Here are more of the “Birds of Homer.”  These are black-legged kittiwakes, beautiful smallish sized members of the gull family.  They are ubiquitous in southcentral Alaska.  Their cousins, the red-legged kittiwakes live up in the Bering Sea. All kittiwakes are noisy, raucuous, and prolific.  They shared this rookery with murres, and cormorants which will come in future [...]

By Stephen F. Stringham, PhD Director, Bear Viewing Association ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF PREDATOR CONTROL According to estimates by the Bear Viewing Association: At its peak, a few years ago, before intensive predator extermination got into full swing,  bear viewing brought at least $50 million per year into Alaska — about half from payments to guides [...]

(In my best TV announcer voice) Yes that’s right, boys and girls, it’s time for another installment of your favorite Mudflats feature – Troll of the Week! (you all bounce up and down in your seats, clapping)  In this episode we discover an interesting hybrid troll flailing around in the mudroom.  (The mudroom is that [...]

~photo by James Holleman By Marybeth Holleman Tuesday marked day 50 of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It also marked World Oceans Day. Think of it: BP’s massive oil spill started on Earth Day and still gushes forth from the hole in the ocean 50 days later, on World Oceans Day. [...]

Sen. Mark Begich today met for about half an hour with Elena Kagan, the U.S. Solicitor General who was nominated last month by President Obama to fill the pending vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sen. Begich issued this statement after the cordial meeting: “I found Solicitor General Kagan well informed, keenly interested in Alaska [...]

Sarah has a new blog entry. You’ll need a pair of chest waders and a barf bag to get through it. Blasting the president for not taking control of a free-market corporation reveals frayed tea bag credentials: These decisions and the resulting spill have shaken the public’s confidence in the ability to safely drill. Unless [...]

Mudflats’ own flyinureye reminds us that a good scapegoat is never hard to find.

Last weekend in Homer, we celebrated 15 years of Cook Inletkeeper watching over the watershed of Cook Inlet in Alaska, with a great party. I spent a long time looking out at the water.  I am a coastal person.  I don’t feel right when I’m not near salt water.  While I leaned on the rail [...]

The plot thickens.  The latest Alaskan ethics complaint has it all – former Palin aides of ill-temper, a malfunctioning Blackberry, oddly dated paperwork, amnesia, and a secret trip to a cabin in Sweden. You read that right.  An ethics complaint has been filed with the Attorney General’s office against Bill McAllister, Palin’s former Communications Director and current [...]

He’s at it again. Tonight the Anchorage Assembly will be voting on Mayor Dan Sullivan’s latest appointment, and it’s a doozy.  Presenting one Dave Bronson who has submitted his resume for consideration, and has been chosen to be a member of the School Budget Advisory Committee.  Remember when Sullivan tried to jam his cronies Adam [...]

Making all Alaskan women have to work a little harder to prove that we aren’t all for sale, Lisa Murkowski is at it again.  And while Sarah Palin sells out her job and her people for wealth and celebrity, Senator Lisa Murkowski sells out her planet for her job, and power.  And while Palin gambles on the outcome of [...]

I can’t say I’ve ever had quite such a unique greeting. This awesome coffee-spit moment came to me from AKDaveDownUnder via Twitter. You can follow all of the Mudflats crew on Twitter: Jeanne Devon @Mudflats Shannyn Moore @shannynmoore Linda Kellen Biegel @celticdiva See you in the Twitterverse!

It’s been a bit difficult to smile these days.  Images of dead turtles, oil-soaked pelicans, and delicate wetland ecosystems covered in brown slime fill our eyes. There is no real end in sight, and the despair that comes from such an enormous catastrophe just doesn’t seem to have adjectives big enough to describe it. And [...]

The time is now. If we have learned nothing from the Exxon Valdez and the Deepwater Horizon, then what a waste it has been. We will have proven that humans would rather be ignorant than challenged, would rather sacrifice the future of their children than face change, and would rather risk the only planet we [...]

In Homer last weekend while attending Cook Inletkeeper’s 15th Anniversary beach party, I was having a fantastic time listening to the great bands, and stuffing myself with seafood and mead, and all of a sudden, I looked down at the feet of the dancers and it made me smile. This about sums up the town [...]