By Carl Johnson

While preparing to head off alone into the bowels of the Death Star to disable the tractor beam holding theMillenium Falcon captive, Obi Wan Kenobi rhetorically asked of Han Solo, “Who is more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?”  I think of such questions sometimes when my legislators act foolishly.

You don’t have to be a lawyer to be a state legislator.  You also shouldn’t have to know all the relevant facts in relation to a proposed law in order to sponsor it.  But somewhere along the way, someone who knows the law and the facts should step in before a law is proposed.  Alaska State Representative Kyle Johansen shows his ignorance of the law and the facts with his sponsorship of HJR31, which calls upon Congress to designate Central Park in Manhattan a wilderness area, and thus prohibit any development absent approval from Congress.

“WTF?” you may rightly ask.  Rep. Johansen claims that the goal of the resolution is to bring to light the ridiculousness of Alaskans being prevented from developing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  Apparently Rep. Johansen is not afraid of looking like a total and complete idiot, and also disparaging the intelligence of Alaskans on a national stage, by making this proposal.

The resolution is legally and factually flawed in several ways.

First, only existing federal lands can be set aside as wilderness.  The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) was established by the Wilderness Act of 1964.  Under the Act, only existing federal lands are eligible for selection as wilderness, and five specific factors must be satisfied: (1) the land is under federal ownership and management, (2) the area consists of at least five thousand acres of land, (3) human influence is “substantially unnoticeable,” (4) there are opportunities for solitude and recreation, and (5) the area possesses “ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.” Not surprisingly, Rep. Johansen’s proposed resolution does not address these requirements.  Central Park would not satisfy at a minimum the first three factors: it’s not federal land, it consists of only 843 acres, and the influence of humans is substantially noticeable.

Second, under the Alaska Statehood Act – similar to all states that joined the Union following the original 13 Colonies – the State of Alaska was entitled to select 103,350,000 acres of land not already set aside by the Federal government for other uses.  Alaska has been granted an additional 1.5 million acres of land for university and mental health trust uses.  The lands encompassing what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge were never eligible for State selection and have, since the purchase of Alaska from the Russians in 1867, always been Federal lands.  Thus, creating the Arctic Refuge never took away from Alaska any land that was ever granted to Alaska.

Third, under the Alaska Constitution, the people of Alaska agreed to be bound by the terms of the Alaska Statehood Act that exclude certain lands from use by Alaska.  Specifically, Article 12, Section 12 states: “The State of Alaska and its people forever disclaim all right and title in or to any property belonging to the United States or subject to its disposition, and not granted or confirmed to the State or its political subdivisions, by or under the act admitting Alaska to the Union … The State and its people agree that, unless otherwise provided by Congress, the property, as described in this section, shall remain subject to the absolute disposition of the United States.”  Thus, by insisting that the Federal government allow Alaskans to do what they want with lands retained by the Federal government, Rep. Johansen (and virtually every other elected State official on this issue) has violated his oath of office, which includes a promise to “support and defend … the Constitution of the State of Alaska.”

Fourth, as noted above, Central Park is not federal land – it has always belonged to the people of New York. But, if Rep. Johansen is concerned about protecting it from abuse, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1963.  Plus, simply looking at the park not only in photographs and maps but in person (Rep. Johansen, have you ever been to Central Park? I have …), you can tell it is not under threat of development.  There is only one building in the park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and if the park hasn’t been developed by now, it won’t.  One could also say that it is a model for management, as most of the expenses for maintenance of the park are raised by a private non-profit, the Central Park Conservancy, thus alleviating much of that burden from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Finally, the claimed motivation behind Rep. Johansen’s resolution strongly suggests that the portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where oil companies and State legislators want to develop, what is known as the 1002 Area of the coastal plain, is designated wilderness under the Wilderness Act.  It is not.

One could say that Central Park is already like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  An oasis of habitat, surrounded by development (the North Slope region to the immediate west of the Refuge is a vast network of oil and gas infrastructure), it should be left alone to continue providing the valuable habitat it does to the many species that thrive within.  In fact, Rep. Johansen’s stunt is a compelling argument in favor of wilderness designation for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 1002 Area on the coastal plain.  The biodiversity and importance of the Arctic Refufe far outweighs that provided in the mere 843 acres seen in Central Park.

Oh, and Rep. Johansen, I would fire your research staff.

This was one of those sunsets where each minute you thought to yourself that this must be the absolute peak of color and light. And then another minute would go by and it would get better. Ultimately, though, I went with the shot from the last bit of dying light. It looks as quiet and breathtaking as it was.

This was yesterday’s sunset, or as I now like to call it – the intermission between the Blizzard of 2012, and the Blizzard of 2012. Looks like we’re due for another 12-18 inches of snow tomorrow, folks.

It’s certainly not the clearest shot in the world, since it was snapped from the car on my Blackberry… but it was such a beautiful scene that I hope you get the feeling of it, and forgive the technical sloppiness.

Sunset is getting later. This was taken just a little after 3pm. The trees are covered with hoar frost that looks like snow in a can. We had a little cold snap and temperatures in Anchorage dropped below zero, causing the moisture to freeze out of the air as frost. (My apologies to Fairbanks and other places in the interior for my liberal use of the phrase “cold snap.” They’ve been dropping past -40F!)

Finally today the sun popped out, and we had some blue sky. The light on the snowy trees was just gorgeous all day, in its various colors and angles. I snapped this shot on my way home from Thursdays in the Mud. Gorgeous.

Happy Solstice to all! It’s that wonderful time (especially in the far north) when the Earth decides to tip back into the summer direction, and the amount of darkeness gets less, and the light gets longer. It will only be a second or two a day at first, but as the weeks roll on, it will turn to minutes at a time in its frenzied journey to long summer days.

I love the Solstice, and try to make time to appreciate it in some way. It’s almost a shame it comes surrounded by all the rest of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. It can tend to get lost in there. This year it was decorating the tree, listening to beautiful music, drinking yummy drinks, and feeling grateful to have made it through a difficult year. A new tipping of the axis has come, with new possibilities, new hopes, and new strength. This is one of those holidays that exists objectively, whether we want it or not. Every culture marked it, and every human has noticed it since the beginning of time. And nobody will change it to Monday so we get a long weekend, or combine it with another event and call it “Celestial Day.” It is what it is – simple, scientific, magical and beautiful.

The Sun, which has been conspicuously absent the last week or so, rose (literally) to the occasion today with a beautiful sunrise, and equally lovely sunset. A grand entrance and finale, worthy of celebration in itself.

But if noting the turning of the seasons, and basking in their resplendent symbolic glory isn’t enough for you… and if you’d rather mark this most notable of days by celebrating your Constitutional rights, and challenging the grinchy government interventionist mayor, who says that he can tell you when you can and cannot sit on the sidewalk, then have I got the thing for you.

Join the group of protesters who are ready to do the unthinkable, the untenable… They shall defy big gubmint, and those who have grown too large for their mayoral britches, and they shall SIT. That’s right. They’re going to sit – right in front of City Hall. They shall dare to park their backsides on the cement surrounding the Ivory Tower.  They are a mighty lot. To join this noble crowd, dress warmly, bring a thermos, and prepare to sit for liberty.

Where: Right in front of City Hall on 6th and G Streets

When: Lunchtime, any time 11am-1pm  [Note that there will be some hearty souls there at 6am when sitting officially becomes illegal]

Here’s one from the other day. Much nicer than the wind and rain we’ve been having, and will continue to have… at least for now.

08:16 – All is quiet in duarte park

11:26 – Blocked traffic to Holland tunnel for a bit…

11:27 – Things being thrown at crowd from apt buildings on varick and grand

11:39 – On the other side of the fence arrest very likely

11:41 – being arrested

1:50 -

1:51 – in processing

You can see Zach’s outstanding photography of Occupy Wall Street, and his other contributions to The Mudflats by clicking HERE.

This is a developing story and will be updated when more information becomes available.

Update: We’re happy to report that phone message was received by Zach this evening. He is out of jail, and is fine. He’ll have a criminal trespass charge on his record, he says, and will also have stories to tell and more photos coming soon. He thanks everyone for their love and support.

The only place I wanted to get a picture of that was from the comfort and safety of my house. This is what it looked like from there.

Last night, after the wind had passed, it began to snow. It snowed not in individual flakes, but in large colonies of flakes that had stuck together on their free fall to earth in temperatures that hovered right around freezing. Some were the size of walnuts. They accumulated quickly and before dawn, we had accumulations of over a foot of snow in some places in Anchorage. Between that, and the nasty icy road conditions, all schools in the district were cancelled today. Many homes, including Mudflats Central in Anchorage, and entire communities like Moose Pass suffered power outages.

But today was a new day – the calm after the storm. Every tree and twig was covered in snow. Bannisters and railings and cars were snow blasted with the sticky stuff. Mailboxes were frozen shut, and rutted icy roads provided a teeth-clattering ride around town. And everything was blanketed in a layer of pure sparkling white insulation that muffled traffic noises, and left the whole city in a hush.

As the sun set this evening, I took a little walk with my camera.

One of my favorite trees at sunset.

Cottonwood trees framed by spruce, and bathed in the orange glow of the sunset.

Who needs lights and ornaments? To me, this is the perfect Christmas tree.

Buf the Dog tagged along for the walk…

…and occasionally found it to be a tougher slog than she bargained for.

In the midst of all the magical winter beauty was a reminder of the incredible power of the storm the previous day. This beautiful, healthy, mature spruce tree snapped like a twig in the wind gusts which topped 100mph. You can see the break in the trunk on the left. Then as it fell across the creek and hit the bank on the other side, it snapped again in the middle. To give you a sense of scale, the tree was about 60 feet tall.