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W of 1 inner Awa0* 201 Exc rds fo 8 e r Rep llence i o n rt * Ala ska P i n g ! res
CLARION P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 50, Issue 46
Snow lurks
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Tuesday, November 26, 2019 • Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
Board to interview applicants for vacant seat By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
A special school board meeting will be held today to interview candidates for the vacant Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education seat. The meeting will be held at 10
In the news
Potential for heavy snow Wednesday Parts of the Kenai Peninsula may see heavy snow Wednesday, according to a Special Weather Statement from the National Weather Service. A frontal system moving over Southcentral may bring moderate to heavy accumulating snow to the eastern Kenai Peninsula from Seward to Whittier, including Turnagain Pass. Snow is possible beginning late Tuesday night and lasting through Wednesday. Residents driving to the eastern peninsula and north to Anchorage for the Thanksgiving holiday should check local forecasts and driving conditions at 511.alaska.gov.
a.m. Tuesday, in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Betty J. Glick Assembly Chambers. The four applicants for the District 6 vacancy — which covers the eastern peninsula — are Shawn Butler, Katie Hamilton, Heather Lindquist and Virginia Morgan. Butler has lived in Hope since
2002, according to her school board candidate application. Her top three priorities as a school board member would be to achieve the highest quality education possible for all students in the borough within the budget constraints imposed on the school district, increase opportunities with trade
schools and improve outreach to small and/or more remote schools. She has a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from Pennsylvania State University, a Master of Business Administration degree from Case Western University and a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University, her
An unwelcome warming Failing ice cellars signal changes in whaling towns
ANCHORAGE — A woman driving a pickup died in a weekend crash in Anchorage along the Glenn Highway. The woman’s name was not immediately released. Anchorage police say See news, Page A3
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Attorney weighs in on denial of PFD Associated Press
JUNEAU — An attorney for a woman suing over initial denial of an Alaska oil-wealth fund check because of her same-sex marriage said a state employee indicated there have been other similar cases. Attorney Caitlin Shortell, in a court filing Monday, did not identify the employee who works for the agency that determines eligibility for Alaska Permanent Fund Dividends, citing fears of retaliation, but said the person told her they would provide information to assist in Denali Nicole Smith’s lawsuit and testify under subpoena. The person said after Smith sued last week, management asked employees to identify cases from this year denied based on absence of an accompanying same-sex spouse Marnie Isaacs / Kaktovik Community Foundation
Woman killed when SUV, 2 pickups collide
See board, Page A3
By Becky Bohrer
Troopers release name of man killed in Craig house fire ANCHORAGE — Alaska State Troopers have released the name of a man killed in a Southeast Alaska house fire. Troopers say 69-year-old Michael Head died Nov. 16 in his home in Craig on Prince of Wales Island. Troopers that morning were notified of a fire at Mile 2.1 Port St. Nicholas Road east of Craig. The Craig Volunteer Fire Department responded with troopers and found the home engulfed by fire. Head’s body was found inside. The cause of the fire is under investigation by state fire marshals.
application said. Hamilton lives in Seward, and has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, her application says. Her top three priorities as a school board member would be fiscal sustainability, improving
This undated photo in Kaktovik shows installation of a shelter covering the entrance to a new community ice cellar, a type of underground food cache dug into the permafrost to provide natural refrigeration used for generations in far-north communities. Naturally cooled underground ice cellars, used in Alaska Native communities for generations, are becoming increasingly unreliable as a warming climate and other factors touch multiple facets of life in the far north.
By Rachel D’Oro Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — For generations, people in Alaska’s far-north villages have relied on hand-built ice cellars dug deep into the permafrost to age their whale and walrus meat to perfection and keep it cold throughout the year. Scores of the naturally refrigerated food caches lie beneath these largely Inupiat communities, where many rely on hunting and fishing to feed their families. The ice cellars range from small arctic root cellars to spacious, wood-lined chambers, some topped with sheds. Now, a growing number of these underground cellars are being rendered unreliable as global warming and other modern factors force changes to an ancient way of life. Some whaling villages are working to adapt as more cellars — some stocked with tons of subsistence food — turn up with pooling water and mold. “I’m worried,” said Gordon
Brower, a whaling captain who lives in Utqiagvik, the nation’s northernmost community, which logged its warmest May through September on record this year. His family has two ice cellars: One is more than 100 years old and used to store at least 2 tons of frozen bowhead whale meat set aside for community feasts; the other was built in 1955, and is used as the family’s private subsistence-food cache. Brower recently asked his son to retrieve some whale meat from one of the cellars, and discovered liquids had collected in both. “He came back and said, ‘Dad, there’s a pool of blood and water at the bottom,’ ” recalled Brower, the North Slope Borough’s planning and development director. He pulled the community meat outside and has kept it under a tarp because the weather is cold enough now to keep it from spoiling. “It seems like slight temporary variations in the permafrost — that active layer — is affecting the temperature of our cellar,” Brower said.
Residents and researchers say the problem has been building for decades as a warming climate touches multiple facets of life in the far north — thawing permafrost, disruptions in hunting patterns and shorter periods of coastal ice that historically protected coastal communities from powerful storms. Other factors include development and soil conditions. The changes have increased vulnerability to foodborne illnesses and raised concerns about food security, according to studies by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. The group and state health officials say they have so far not heard of anyone getting sick. There were once at least 50 ice cellars in Point Hope, an Inupiat whaling village built on a triangular spit surrounded by a large inlet and the Chukchi and Arctic oceans. Now, fewer than 20 remain, according to village services supervisor Russell Lane, a whaling captain who See warm, Page A2
Agency agrees to designate habitat for threatened ice seals By Dan Joling Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — A federal agency will decide by September how much ocean and coast in northern Alaska will be designated as critical habitat for two ice seal species. The Center for Biological Diversity announced Monday it had reached an agreement with the Commerce Department for the Trump administration to issue a critical habitat rule
for ringed and bearded seals. Ringed and bearded seals use sea ice in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Both seals are listed as threatened. Designation of critical habitat for threatened species is required by the Endangered Species Act a year after a listing. Federal agencies that authorize activities such as oil drilling within critical habitat must consult with wildlife managers to determine if threatened species will be affected.
The Center for Biological Diversity sued in June because no critical habitat has been designated. Ice seal habitat is rapidly melting, said Emily Jeffers, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, and it should not have taken a lawsuit for officials to follow the law. “Ringed and bearded seals need our help to survive an Arctic that’s heating up at twice the global rate,” See seals, Page A2
See PFD, Page A3
Kenaitze to receive grant for bus service By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
The Kenaitze Indian Tribe will receive federal funds for its transit system. The tribe was one of three Alaska Native groups awarded a total of $1.8 million from the Federal Transit Administration’s Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program, according to a Monday U.S. Department of Transportation press release. The $1.6 million grant to the tribe will be used to rehabilitate a facility for transit vehicle maintenance that is needed to extend useful bus life and maintain a state of good repair. The transit administration is awarding $423 million in transit infrastructure grants nationwide to improve the safety and reliability of America’s bus systems and enhance mobility for transit riders, according to the DOT release. The funding will go toward replacing, rehabilitating and purchasing buses and related equipment, as well as to projects that purchase, rehabilitate or construct bus-related facilities. Elsewhere in Alaska, the Chickaloon Native Village will receive $53,966 for a replacement accessible minivan for their area transit system. Nulato Village will receive $179,885 to purchase a bus providing tribal residents and members of the public safe and reliable transit to and from the airport, the release said.