Brian the moose slakes his thirst by enjoying some new fallen snow. I don’t know how many calories it takes to warm up after eating a bunch of snow in 5 degree weather, but it’s definitely not as much as lugging around a 20 or 30 pound set of antlers!
Here’s a quick Iditarod update for those of you who are following my teams with me.
Team #50 – Aliy Zirkle of Two Rivers, AK is in 14th place out of Ruby – Still rooting for a top ten finish for her!
Team #4 – Wattie McDonald of Scotland is in 50th place out of Cripple
Team #14 – Newton Marshall of Jamaica is in 52nd place out of Cripple
Team #61 – Colleen Robertia (rescue dogs) is in 41st place out of Cripple
Team #36 – Michelle Phillips (zen dogs) is in 33rd place out of Cripple
A few teams have scratched, but mine are all hanging in there so far.
*Three teams of the four out in front are past winners. *Jeff King is in first place, followed by reigning champ *Lance Mackey, Hugh Neff and *Mitch Seavey, all out of Galena.
One exciting bench mark in the race comes when the first musher reaches the Yukon River. A special treat is in store for whoever makes it ahead of the pack. This time it was veteran musher Jeff King who got to enjoy the Yukon prize – an eight course meal prepared on camp stoves by Jeff Leake of The Milennium Hotel in Anchorage. King dined on king crab, grilled halibut, bison stew, and blackberry jubilee among other delicacies. And for dessert, the first to the Ruby checkpoint got $3500 in crisp $1 bills. Fourteen checkpoints down, eleven to go.
The Leader Board is HERE.
The Race Map is HERE.
Race analysis from a former Iditarod musher HERE.
This letter to the editor in the Juneau Empire caught my eye. It’s a further discussion of resources that we all enjoy being put in corporate hands. I touched on this issue and the inherent conflict of interest of a legislator who not only serves the area affected by this bill, but who sits on the board of the corporation who stands to benefit from it. You can read that article HERE.
Sealaska should be held to the deal made in ‘72 Juneau Empire
The Sealaska Corp. lands bill would change the character of Southeast Alaska more than any other land use decision since the Long-Term Timber Sales of the 1950s. Those huge timber sales impacted vast areas of land, but at least most of the logging avoided sites that were heavily used by the public and the land remained in public ownership, hunting and all the other uses we enjoy.
The Sealaska lands bill is different. If the bill is passes, hundreds of the most important and beloved sites on the Tongass would be transferred from a public trust to the hands of a for-profit corporation. Many of the sites are immensely valuable, containing millions of dollars of public investment in roads, docks, second growth thinning, recreation cabins and trails. They are arrayed in a dense pattern across the region and they would have few permanent restrictions to ensure public access or responsible development.
The small businesses that rely on these sites would be displaced. Even more incredible, under the law, Sealaska would have the right to select 1,200 more acres at a future time, without the public’s approval. This could easily mean hundreds of more places in corporate hands.
I believe that Sealaska should be held to the deal they made in 1972 and select their lands from within the established selection boundaries. I do not trust Sealaska’s claim that they will be good stewards of the land because I have seen firsthand how Sealaska has managed their previous selections – clearcut right up to the property lines in all directions, with no concern for wildlife and only very minimal protection for fisheries.
Take a look at the map of the proposed selections and contact Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich if you have concerns. This is a land allocation issue of momentous importance to the future of Southeast Alaska.
Barth Hamberg, Sitka, Alaska
**********************************
Senator Mark Begich 202-224-3004
Senator Lisa Murkowski 202-224-6665
Shannyn Moore has come up with some more information on Al Barette, Alaska’s newest appointee to the Board of Game. It is not to late to strongly oppose this appointment, as he has not yet been confirmed by the Legislature. You’ll find a call to action at the end of the post. Tell your legislators that not only do you want people who make game management decisions based on science and not the Old Testament, but that you want people who do not stand to benefit financially at the expense of others, from the decisions that they make on the board. Please help send a strong message that we care who sits on these boards, and that the National Park “resources” that they manage matter to all of us.
****Please also heed the authors warning about the embedded video, which is graphic and disturbing. If you don’t watch it, I urge you to listen to the audio and look away.
Wolves have been in the news lately. In today’s Anchorage Daily News, there was speculation that a wolf might have killed a young school teacher in Chignik. Last week, the Alaska Board of Game voted 4-3 to eliminate the buffer zone around Denali National Park despite the wolf population plummeting to a 23-year low. Late biologist Gordon Haber fought to his early death to protect those wolves. Governor Sean Parnell appointed Al Barrette to replace Bob Bell on the Alaska Board of Game.
Who is Al Barrette? Mudflats wrote a great post that you can find here. Barrette, who has an obvious and unambiguous conflict of interest, cast the deciding vote to open up the northeast periphery of the Denali National Park to wolf trapping. Barrette owns both the Fairbanks Fur Tannery and Alaskan No. 9 Trap Company. The latter manufactures the Alaska Wolf Trap. Apparently, Mr. Barrette didn’t think he had a conflict of interest-despite casting a public vote to bolster his personal bottom line.
There is much we don’t know about Governor Sean Parnell’s ethically-challenged appointee to the Alaska Board of Game. I think Al Barrette best reveals Al Barrette in this short video shot by Backpacker Magazine a little over a year ago. At that time, Barrette was on the Fairbanks Advisory Council to the Alaska Board of Game.
I’m Just a Girl from Homer, and I grew up trapping animals with my father. That said, this video disturbed me. If you feel like you can’t watch it, at least LISTEN to it. Listen to Al Barrette wax poetic about his philosophy on religion, science and wolves…
WARNING!THIS VIDEO IS GRAPHIC AND CONTAINS IMAGES MANY COULD SHOULD FIND OBJECTIONABLE!
For those of you who couldn’t watch or listen, I transcribed Mr. Barrette’s comments at the beginning of the film:
Al Barrette on the bible and man’s role in game management:
“…it specifically puts out in the first book of the bible, in Genesis, that we should, uh, subdue nature and control it. We should be the managers of the animals and through the…the sin of Adam and Eve is what brought it on, and, uh, in fact, the first, uh…the first clothes that were made for Adam and Eve were skins of animals…by God.”
VITAMIN DEMOCRACY!
Al Barrette still must be confirmed by the legislature. Find your legislators and tell them to reject Al Barrette for the Alaska Board of Game. Contact your state senator and representative.
Email Governor Sean Parnell or call him at 907.465.3500 tell him to withdraw his conflicted nominee from consideration.
Email the State of Alaska Boards and Commissions at boards@alaska.gov or call them 907.465.3934 and express yourself.
I was turning down my street after work today, deep in thought and I almost missed him. He was lurking behind a patch of alders and willows, but the large dark shape just managed to register in my brain as I turned in to the driveway. Brian!
It’s been a long time since my favorite moose has been spotted at Mudflats Central. I think that most of the reason for that is because of the long dark months of winter, and the fact that it’s difficult to spot a moose in the dark. I could tell he was out there at times because Buf the dog would start that special bark that she does whenever Brian is around. And I pictured him reacting as he always does. By standing there and chewing on whatever he was chewing on, and looking at the barking ginger-colored dog with the raised hackles and thinking, “There’s that thing again.” And then he’d go back to chewing on the tips of bushes, and the little shoots that grow out of the trunks of birch trees. And then Buf, after doing her duty, would come back to the door and bark to be let in. They have an understanding.
But today, Brian was back in visual range. He even cooperated and waited for me as I drove up to the house, ran inside, got my camera and came back. I got a few nice shots, so I’ll spread them out and share over the span of a few open threads.
If you’re wondering how it’s possible to drive right past a 1500 pound mammal and never see it, here’s how. A shadowy Brian lurks among tasty branches.
It was about 5 degrees here today, and snowing diagonally due to a bit of a breeze.
And yes, Brian was buck naked. I’m not referring to a lack of clothing, but rather to a lack of accessories. You can see the little bald spots where his antlers fell off at the beginning of the winter, and where they will start to grow back soon.
He’ll have a bigger rack than he did last year, and soon his mundane diet of bark and twigs will be supplemented by all sorts of green, tasty treats. OK, maybe not ’soon’ but it sounds nice to say it. His favorite treat is fireweed, and I seldom have any left around here by the time he gets finished with it. I don’t mind, though. I’d rather have him eat fireweed than my broccoli, although he usually ends up getting both.
Here’s a close-up of the antler site. No sign of new growth yet.
Recent Comments