The Mudflats

Day 17 – Two Steps Back

Jeanne Devon — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:05:58 +0000

This morning, I awoke to this.

And this.

There will be “after” shots tomorrow. If we get snow on the 23rd, we will have broken a record for the longest snow season. The fact that we have not already reached that milestone is a bit mind blowing.

Today, as the flakes fall in that way that five months ago would have seemed magical, I am trying to reach deep, deep into my psychological reserves and make the best of it with my pal Ray Charles.

Repeal SB21 Fundraiser Photos

Jeanne Devon — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:25:19 +0000

An original Alaskan founding father – Constitutional delegate, and former State Senator Vic Fischer addresses the crowd.

Vic’s wife, and former Anchorage Assembly member Jane Angvik looks on.

(L-R) Sen Hollis French, Sen Bill Wielechowski, Sen Johnny Ellis, Sen Berta Gardner, Anchorage Assembly member Elvi Gray-Jackson, Constitutional Delegate Vic Fischer, Rep Max Gruenberg, Rep Harriet Drummond, Rep Les Gara – Heroes all.

A great time was had by all. Remember to sign the petition to repeal SB21. Signatures must be gathered by July 13.

All photos (except this one) by Zach Roberts.

Day 16 – Does a Bear Sit in the Woods?

Jeanne Devon — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:38:45 +0000

May 16. More than half way into the month. We are over the hump of May, and the weather calls for snow tomorrow and the day after. And yes, if one more person asks me, “So, do you still believe in global warming?” I’m going to wait for that snow, and I’m going to grasp them about the back of the neck and give them a good whitewash.

Repeat after me. Climate is not the same thing as WEATHER.

Last night when I went in to do Thursdays in the Mud on The Shannyn Moore Show, Shannyn suggested an interesting coping mechanism. “Why don’t you just put your Christmas tree back up, and start playing Christmas music?” It’s actually not a bad idea. When snow is inevitable, you may as well enjoy it, RIGHT?

The swallows, poor dears, are no longer flying around. I’m not sure where they’ve gone. And the wildlife I’ve spotted so far has been unusual. There are very few moose, but a first-time coyote the other day, and this guy is back.

It’s the same bear, I think, that almost hit my car at the beginning of the month when he darted out from the side of the road as I meandered up the hill.

This picture may answer that age old question about bears and the woods.

A strange misty fog clung to the mountains this evening. If this were a video you’d see that bank of it rolling and streaming along the face of the mountain, and rising up to the top of the ridge where it shot up and sort of vaporized into the atmosphere.

I checked the willows and alders along the driveway and there are no signs of life yet. Every bud is brown, and holds tight to its winter form. Even down at lower elevations, there is no haze of red or green in the treetops.

There is an eerie stillness that I sometimes like when the weather gets this way. This is a twisty old cottonwood that grows down in a damp place by the creek. My daughter calls it The Dragon Tree. I’m not sure why she does, but it seems to fit.

By the time I got back from walking to the end of the lawn to take a picture of The Dragon Tree, I felt cold to the bone. It was 36 degrees, and the moisture in the air had settled on my hair, and my face. Even the dog seems to know something is different. If there is spring out there, it has forsaken us so far.

Family of Explorers

Linda Kellen Biegel — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:28:42 +0000

Ground Truth Trekkers Hig and Erin walking with son Katmai — daughter Lituya is getting a ride

When a mutual friend notified me yesterday that Alaska adventurers Bretwood “Hig” Higman and Erin McKittrick might be looking for some transportation while visiting Anchorage, I jumped at the opportunity to meet them.

Erin and Hig, as they are known, are the founders of the organization Ground Truth Trekking which provides a unique education on Alaska’s resource issues through hands-on exploration. Erin and Hig, along with the other organization members, combine their travels with exhaustive research, offering comprehensive, science-based coverage of issues like mining, climate change, Alaska fisheries management, energy options, etc…They frequently debunk myths on both sides of the various arguments.

However, it’s their ambitious journeys and uniquely simple lifestyle that seems to get most of the attention.

Erin’s book, “A Long Trek Home,” documents their 4000-mile journey in 2007-2008 from Puget Sound to the Bering Sea — also documented in the movie ‘Journey On the Wild Coast.” The couple has continued their journeys which now include two toddler children (son Katmai and daughter Lituya). (A list an description of each journey can be found on their website.) When not hiking the wilds of Alaska, they live in a yurt on a stretch of land in Seldovia, along with both of their mothers in their own yurts on the same homestead. Their more recent journeys and family life will be chronicled in Erin’s new book coming out later this year.

This trip to Anchorage is not a “come-and-stock-up-in-the-big-city” visit from rural Alaska. Erin, Hig and the kids are walking the Cook Inlet area…”Tracing the Heart of Alaska.” From March through July, they will be traveling around the Inlet area and asking residents about Alaska’s future. Erin explains in this little video I took with my IPad Mini at Middle Way Cafe. (Includes gratuitous child cuteness.)

You can follow their progress on Facebook and on the Ground Truth Trekking Blog. Feel free to leave them a message at either spot and tell them your thoughts on the future of Alaska.

Day 15 – Fromage Therapy

Jeanne Devon — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:35:56 +0000

Day 15.

I have just learned that the weather forecast is calling for up to six inches of snow at Mudflats Central. Yes, you read that correctly. No need for eye-rubbing or double-takes.

SIX. INCHES. OF. SNOW.

So, what’s the closest thing to a cure for this kind of mind-numbing disbelief, followed by abject depression? Cheese, that’s what.

I decided to take a little trip to my new favorite shop in town – Fromaggio’s. They now have a second location on Spenard Road. On its face it seems like an unlikely location for a cheese shop. It’s smushed between a former strip club, and a muffler shop, and something made of concrete. It also happens to be in the building that used to be Drop Zone, a military surplus store/security company/fugutive recovery service owned by FBI undercover informant for the Schaeffer Cox trial, Bill Fulton. I know, right?

I think that little bit of history makes it all the more awesome.

So, I went, I bought cheese, (an aged cheddar, and a semi-soft truffly one) and I had a grilled stilton sandwich with fig and almond that almost made me die of joy. My daughter raved, “I don’t ever need to eat again. I’m perfectly happy. I’m done.” They also have soup, salad, and a bunch of other yummy sandwiches. Do stop in if you get the opportunity. And no, they didn’t pay me to say anything. They’re just that good.

As for our sign of spring, I did find this cool little video from our neighbor to the east. This is why they call it Breakup. Check out the ice breaking up on the Yukon River in Dawson City, about 40 miles into Canada.

Day 14 – Tropical Colors Burst Forth

Jeanne Devon — Thu, 16 May 2013 06:35:35 +0000

Day 14. Provisions are running low. Down to the last pack of smoked salmon… Still have a large bag of dog food, canned green beans, and Pilot Bread™. Mind is slipping. Days running together… Dreamed about being on a boat… My pencil is almost gone. This may be the last I can write… conserving energy.

OK, it’s not that bad, but still.

There’s this appalling sight:

No, not the layer of Alaska Spring dust in my car.

No, not the 154,128 miles on the old beast.

The temperature!

It’s been two weeks now. Two weeks of May. Two weeks of blogging about the advent of spring which just seems to have decided it doesn’t like us any more.

The biggest change we’ve seen is that the world has morphed from white, to mostly white, to mostly grey, to mostly brown.

The only sign of color is this:

The omnipresent BP trash bags line the highways, full of Breakup detritus, blooming forth in tropical-colored splendor. So, yes, they CAN do a decent cleanup effort, just as long as it’s not oil.

And we continue to wait.

Murky Weighs In, We’ve Moved On

Wickershams Conscience — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:24:27 +0000

You’d think that a former governor who presided over the most corrupt government in Alaska since statehood would stay home and write his memoirs or something. You’d think a former Governor whose own Chief of Staff served a prison sentence for illegal campaign contributions would thank his lucky stars that Chief of Staff didn’t tell the Feds everything he knew and would keep discretely quiet. You’d think a failed candidate who helped give us Sarah Palin would have the simple decency to maintain an embarrassed silence. You’d think the man who single-handedly killed a national bank and seriously wounded a regional Native corporation would just shut up. But we’re talking about Frank “the Bank” Murkowski. You remember. Murky.

Which explains why Murky was in front of the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce recently. Not to apologize for being a disaster as Governor. Not to apologize for stuff that happened on his watch. Not even to make excuses. No, he was in front of the Chamber to blame everything on “extreme environmentalists.”

WC supposes that on Murky’s scale of environmentalists WC counts as one of those extremists. WC thinks that before you dig up the millions of tons of coal on the North Slope, maybe you need to think about the consequences for the planet of pumping all that CO2 and dirty-coal pollution into the atmosphere. WC thinks that before you cut more old growth forest in the Tongass National Forest you have a care for the future of the forest, the impact on fisheries and the impact on tourism. WC thinks before you dig the world’s largest gold and copper mine and create the world’s largest sulfide-laced, heavy metal-contaminated lake and spoil heap, you think about whether that’s a smart idea in the world’s most productive salmon habitat. WC thinks that before you drill for oil near Teshekpuk Lake, you consider whether that can be done without jeopardizing tens of millions of migratory birds.

Let me put this in terms Murky is certain to understand. If considering those things before proceeding with development makes you an extreme environmentalist, WC pleads guilty as charged.

More than that, though, WC thinks that among all but the most rabid drillers and diggers, even in Alaska, the days of jobs at any price are behind us. A majority of Alaskans were shocked and appalled at the Keystone Cops act of Shell Oil and its attempts to drill in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. The days of “Drill, Baby, drill” are an embarrassing memory.

But not to Murky.

Nor is he any more honest now than he was as governor. The claim that no oil has been produced from federal lands? He implies that’s because of extreme environmentalists. But, of course, all the oil has been produced from federal lands. Some of it – the stuff with the very highest potential for oil and gas – was selected by the State of Alaska under the Statehood Act. We’ve got the good stuff. The Feds have leased land for development; remember Shell Oil’s Keystone Cops act? All of that was on off-shore federal land. It just hasn’t produced any oil or gas. Millions of federal acres are available for development. Most recently, the overwhelming majority of National Petroleum Reserve Alaska has been made available for lease. Under a Democratic President. Something that didn’t happen during Murky’s tenure as U.S. Senator. The oil companies just haven’t found marketable quantities of oil. Blaming “extreme environmentalists” is fundamentally dishonest. It’s Murky.

But ignore the straw man arguments. Ignore the dishonest arguments. Murky’s view is that development is so overwhelmingly important that nothing else matters. It’s a minority view. Even in Alaska. Maybe even at the Chamber of Commerce. We’ve moved on.

Nothing to see here. Just another old geezer stuck in the 1970s. Move along.

Repeal SB21 and Take Back Alaska

Jeanne Devon — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:45:55 +0000

Here is everything you need to know about the ongoing effort to honor Alaska as an owner state. The time is now to be active, and take our state back from the undue influence of Outside corporations, and the legislators who do their bidding. Complaining is easy. Fortunately, so is acting in a positive way to take control of our future.

Gov. Parnell will sign SB 21 on Tuesday, May 21st at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage between 11:30am and 1pm. Be there with a sign to protest the giveaway!

Alaska is an owner state. We deserve a fair share of our world-class resources to maintain our roads, provide decent schools, and adequate public safety. SB21, the oil wealth giveaway, will create a fiscal cliff for Alaska and puts the state budget immediately in the red.

There is a citizen effort under way to repeal the giveaway. Vote YES! Repeal the Giveaway is a grassroots group of Alaskans, led by a few legends; father of the Alaska Constitution Vic Fischer, former First Lady Bella Hammond and former Fairbanks Mayor Jim Whittaker. They are hard at work, rounding up 30,000 signatures in the next 60 days to get a referendum to repeal the giveaway on the 2014 ballot.

Can you help gather signatures?

Can you chip in $10 or $20 to protect our PFD’s and the state treasury?

If you are in Anchorage, Thursday, May 16th, please join the team and help pack the house from 5-7pm at Cafe Del Mundo.

If you can help gather signatures, or if you need to sign a petition, please call 907-231-7925 for more information. Check out the effort online at www.repealtheoilgiveaway.org. Email is repealthegiveaway@gmail.com. Sign up to pitch in here.

Alaskans must have the chance to be heard about our resources and our future. Please donate as generously as you can. Already there are commercials on the air opposing the repeal. Checks can be mailed to “Vote Yes! Repeal the Giveaway, 1231 W. Northern Lights Blvd #846, Anchorage, AK 99503.

Click here to find us on Facebook. Get in touch with friends, family, and activists across the state. Please make sure your contacts know how to sign the petition and stand up for Alaska. Share this post with your email list, share it on Facebook. Tweet it. Call them on the phone. With your help, we’ll repeal this giveaway, and stand strong for our Alaska – our Owner State.

Alaska is in distress, and it needs you!

5/23 – BBQ Trout Unlimited in ANC!

Jeanne Devon — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:27:09 +0000

Trout Unlimited invites you to a spring BBQ!

Day 12/13 – Greetings from the Banana Belt

Jeanne Devon — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:32:03 +0000

Sleeping lady, and a few passing cars on the Seward Highway at sundown. The trees still have yet to bud.

After deciding to take Mother’s Day off, SpringWatch continues. One exciting development last night was rain falling on the metal roof. It was a glorious sound, and although I feared that by morning the temps would have dropped and it would be snowing again, it didn’t happen. But the warming trend seems to be missing our fellow Alaskans to the north.

The NewsMiner reported:

Fairbanks set a new record low temperature of 22 degrees on Monday at Fairbanks International Airport. That broke the old record of 26 degrees in 1938.

A strong cold front moved across northern Alaska Sunday night and temperatures dropped below zero in the Brooks Range and into the teens and 20s over the remainder of the Interior, the National Weather Service said.

The cold air mass resulted in record-low temperatures in other locations besides Fairbanks.
The low of 22 degrees at Eielson Air Force Base broke the record of 26 set in 1965. Bettles had a low of 10 degrees to shatter the old record of 20 degrees in 2007.

Sub-zero temperatures were reported in the Brooks Range north of Fairbanks… Winds gusting to more than 25 mph resulted in wind chills approaching 30 below zero in Brooks Range passes.

Suddenly, Anchorage felt like the Banana Belt.

Pics of the day:

This beautiful image of a rough-legged hawk was sent by fellow blogger and Mudflats’ Contributor, Wickersham’s Conscience.

Please make it stop raining so I can go out…