Politicians on both sides say we need to tap into the Permanent Fund in order to close the state’s multi-billion dollar budget gap. But how would that draw on the $66 billion dollar fund be structured? And how might it affect the longevity of the state’s largest investment account?
HOST: Anne Hillman
GUESTS:
Angela Rodell – Permanent Fund Corporation CEO
Joe Geldhof – Permanent Fund Defenders
Participate:
Call 550-8422 (Anchorage) or 1-800-478-8255 (statewide) during the live broadcast
Post your comment before, during or after the live broadcast (comments may be read on air).
Senate Bill 92 would expand title and registration requirements for the tens of thousands of boats in Alaska. Supporters say better vessel tracking is key to cracking down on derelicts.
Starting positions set for 2018 Iditarod; 67 mushers to depart from Willow on Sunday
Davis Hovey, KNOM – Nome
Cody Strathe of Fairbanks will be the first musher out on the trail for the start of the 2018 Iditarod sled dog race.
Jeff King on PETA and past Iditarod protests
Lori Townsend, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA plans to protest the start of the race in Anchorage tomorrow morning. Former Iditarod champion Jeff King sat down with Lori Townsend recently to talk about the race, his career and his feelings about the animal rights activists who are against racing sled dogs.
Roll reversal: Anchorage Iditarod prep means dumping snow on city streets
Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Set up for Saturday’s ceremonial Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race start in Anchorage means dumping thousands of pounds of snow on downtown streets.
State House to hear public testimony on budget in Anchorage– the same day as Iditarod start
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
The Alaska House Finance Committee will hear public testimony on the proposed budget for the fiscal year starting in July. The hearing will occur between 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Response crews reach Shuyak spill
Kayla Desroches, KMXT – Kodiak
After weather delays, response crews have made it out to an oil spill roughly 50 miles north of the City of Kodiak.
Body of snowboarder caught in avalanche recovered
Leila Kheiry, KRBD – Ketchikan
The body of Marvin Scott, 39, has been recovered. Scott of Ketchikan was caught Sunday in an avalanche on Dude Mountain. Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad teams concluded their recovery efforts Thursday.
Why don’t you see people-sized salmon anymore?
John Ryan, KUOW – Seattle
While the orcas of Puget Sound are sliding toward extinction, orcas farther north have been expanding their numbers. Their burgeoning hunger for big fish may be causing the killer whales’ main prey, chinook salmon, to shrink up and down the West Coast.
AK: How an Arkansas duck tagger became a champion musher
Zoe Rom – Fairbanks
The Iditarod is upon us, and those who follow the race know that dog mushing is home to many colorful characters. It might seem strange that one of Alaska’s top mushers has a southern accent – but, when one reporter from Arkansas heard Allen Moore’s southern drawl, she immediately recognized one of her own.
49 Voices: Bede Trantina of Anchorage
Dave Waldron, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
This week we’re hearing from KSKA’s long-time program director Bede Trantina. Bede is retiring today after 39 years of public radio service.
Sled dog teams set off in a festival-like atmosphere on the city’s streets and trails for an 11-mile run that does not count toward their official race time.
Downtown street closures started Friday in Anchorage. Road maintenance crews begin bringing in truckloads of snow this evening and will work overnight smoothing out the downtown portion of the course.
According to Street Maintenance Manager Paul VanLandingham, they need around 250 dumptruck loads of snow — about 5,000 cubic yards — to spread out over city streets.
Anchorage has gotten plenty of suitable snow in the last couple weeks. The crews’ main stash is at city airport Merrill Field, where there’s an abundance of gravel-free snow, VanLandingham said.
“I know a lot of people don’t understand the fact we get all this snow, we spend a couple days removing it, and then we bring in more snow on top of the streets,” VanLandingham said. “But for the dogs and for the event and everything, you really need to bring in good fresh snow for the track to set up right and give the dogs a quality track to run on and just make it a better event.”
It’s a bit of a role reversal. Crews that have been busy around the clock clearing snow off city streets are suddenly dumping it back onto the roadways. But the street maintenance workers enjoy being a part of the Iditarod, VanLandingham said.
“It’s something that breaks up the monotony for the guys and gals doing the work out there,” VanLandingham said. “I mean it’s a big event for the community, for the state, you know, Iditarod, world-famous sled dog race, so it’s exciting for all of us to be a part of the festivities.”
After leaving downtown, mushers head onto city trails groomed by Parks and Recreation Department workers and volunteers from the mushing community.
City streets closed for Iditarod are set to reopen at 7 p.m. Saturday.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA plans to protest the start of the race in Anchorage tomorrow morning. Former Iditarod champion Jeff King sat down with me recently to talk about the race, his career and his feelings about the animal rights activists who are against racing sled dogs.
The 2018 Iditarod kicks off with the ceremonial start in Anchorage and an 11-mile jaunt through downtown and the city’s trails, past race revelers that call themselves “trailgaters.” We introduce KNOM News Director and trail reporter Davis Hovey, and hear from DeeDee Jonrowe, Nicolas Petit and some of the folks along the trail.
Mushers in the 2018 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race are officially on course for the 1,000-mile trek to Nome after the restart in Willow. We take a rather, uh, unique question from a listener, and Alaska Public Media’s Zachariah Hughes does whatever it takes to get an interview.
In less than 24 hours, the Iditarod front-runners have made it to the Finger Lake checkpoint, 123 miles into the 1,000-mile race. But not before checking in at Yentna and Skwentna, the first two checkpoints after leaving Willow. And, even before that, KNOM’s Davis Hovey caught up with two top candidates for Rookie of the Year: Two Rivers’ Matt Hall and Nenana’s Jessie Holmes.
One-hundred-and-one people testified Thursday, Friday and Saturday from across the state to the House Finance Committee. Many testified from legislative information offices.
Ninety people focused on funding services. Most of the other 11 asked for spending cuts.
While visiting Juneau, Democratic former state Rep. Charles Degnan of Unalakleet said the state should have an income tax to fund services.
“One of the things that I know about our people that live in villages,” Degnan said. “We help people. We help all those that need help. And everyone takes turns needing help.”
The proposed $5.3 billion budget is $330 million more than the current budget. Most of the increase is from pension payments, Medicaid and permanent fund dividends.
Some of the areas that received the most support in public comments were addiction and mental health treatment; the University of Alaska; and the public defender agency.
Former U.S. Attorney Robert Bundy said the state should increase funding for public defenders.
Bundy said under-funding has caused delays that affect crime victims. He said that’s because public defenders don’t have the time to convince their clients to reach plea agreements.
“If the defendant does not trust his or her lawyer, they’re not going to agree to a deal, they’re going to drag it out forever,” Bundy said. “All of this delay is gong to inure to the detriment of every victim and every citizen in this state.”
The House Finance Committee is scheduled to discuss the budget Monday. It could send the budget to the full House later this week.
According to a statement from the Iditarod, DeNure decided to scratch for personal health reasons. She arrived at the Skwentna checkpoint just after 3 a.m. this morning with 15 dogs on the line. Despite covering roughly 80 miles of Iditarod trail along the 1,000-mile southern route, DeNure made the decision to scratch at 7:49 a.m. in Skwentna.
DeNure has finished two Iditarod sled dog races out of the eight she has started.
Moose weren’t always a staple in Western Alaska. The animals migrated to the region sometime after the turn of the century. But outside of Nome, the population has been continuing to decrease, following years of heavy snow.
Warren Hansen is counting down the days until he can fly over the tundra to look for moose. Although he’ll be searching the landscape with his eyes, his ears will be doing most of the work.
“Listening to static and beeps all day and trying not to get motion sick,” Hansen said.
Hansen is a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.
In the aircraft, that beeping sound will be transmitted from Hansen’s moose to a radio receiver. Or rather, the 16 calves he collared last fall.
Right now, those calves are somewhere outside of Nome, wearing the chunky white collars Hansen gave them. Hopefully, they’re emitting a sound that indicates they’re alive. But a mortality signal could be closer to the truth.
In an area north of Nome, the moose population is decreasing by about 12 percent annually. Hansen says moose are an important subsistence food, so a shrinking population is concerning.
About a year ago, the department of fish and game received federal and state money to look into the issue.
But if this were a detective story, Hansen says it’s only the first chapter in figuring out what’s going on with moose.
Moose turned up near Nome around the 1930s, and scientists aren’t totally sure why. It’s possible they could have just naturally migrated into the area, much to the delight of local hunters.
“Well, [moose] may not have been barreling through,” Tony Gorn, a management biologist for the state Department of Fish and Game, said. “But it was probably an impressive sight to see this long-legged animal standing on a hillside.”
Gorn has lived in Nome for 20 years, and he’s spent most of that time working with the Department of Fish and Game.
Back in the 1980s the moose population was booming. So much so that biologists wondered if the landscape could even sustain it. And by the late 2000s, Gorn was on the job — capturing calves to weigh them and see how the animals were getting on.
At first, the young moose were a normal weight. But for the next two years, heavy snow fell in Nome, and their weight dropped. Management biologists wondered if there were too many moose, so they increased the hunting quota to ensure a sustainable population.
But since then the population started to decline more rapidly.
Gorn says it’s too early to tell exactly what’s going on. It’s complicated. But nutrition could be a factor.
“There’s definitely not one thing we could call the silver bullet,” Gorn said.
Still, one thing’s for certain: winters in Nome are not as cold as they used to be. At around 30 degrees, you get warm, wet conditions, which can lead to more snow and ice.
Measuring snowpack is challenging because it can blow across the tundra. But the National Weather Service has recorded more seasonal snowfall than what was typical just a few decades ago.
As for moose, Gorn says the animals are hardy. They’re built to handle heavy snow, but their environment, at least around Nome, appears to be changing.
Moose eat shrubby plants like willow.
“You know, we see our willows completely encased in ice,” Gorn said. “Those are things that we need to begin to understand. Particularly, if they’re going to be become long term events.”
But for now, Gorn says the emphasis is on what is happening to moose. Not necessarily why. Are they malnourished? Migrating farther north? Are the calves being eaten? Those are the big questions.
When this study is done in about three years, the Department of Fish & Game hopes to have a better understanding. This research could influence management decisions down the line to help stabilize the population.
Gorn says the goal is to achieve the best science possible within the confines of public support.
In the meantime Gorn plans to go back out into the tundra this spring with his colleague to check on the young moose.
“If the weather was beautiful tomorrow, we’re not flying,” Gorn said.
Gorn says right now the plane is solid block of ice. The mystery is when the weather will be clear enough to fly.
From Anchorage the mushers restarted in Willow on Sunday. Then, every two minutes, they took off headed east to the first two checkpoints: Yentna and Skwentna.
It was a festive atmosphere overnight as Iditarod mushers pulled into the Skwentna checkpoint, 83 miles into the trail. A bonfire blazed, while a musician belted out songs from a small heated tent. A few dozen fans and onlookers were gathered when the first musher’s blue-headlamp emerged out of the darkness and headed toward the race checkers under a welcome banner.
“Bib number?” “17” “And name?” “Ray Redington.” “Welcome Ray, you staying or going?” “Staying.” “Ok, you know the drill.”
After signing in, Ray Redington Jr. and all sixteen of his dogs pulled in for a rest at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday night. Just one minute behind him was Mats Pettersson, who led the full pack of mushers for a stretch of the evening before being overtaken not long before arriving.
Pettersson says so far, trail conditions are good.
“A little bit soft in the beginning, I think for everybody, but after Yentna it was really fine all the way here,” Pettersson said.
Pettersson, too, came in with a full string of dogs.
The third musher into the checkpoint was Mitch Seavey. He made the run in about the same amount of time, but did so with just 12 dogs on the line when he pulled in. Even still, Seavey says he was working to keep them at a slower, more controlled pace.
“But ya know I got four dogs in the sled, that helps slow things down.”
Seavey and his son Dallas have dominated the Iditarod in recent years while refining a strategy that involves rotating dogs in and out of their sleds for rest along the way.
The next few checkpoints after Skwentna pass through the Alaska Range, one of the most technically difficult sections of the trail.
Governor Bill Walker said today he’s heard from legislative staff that committee hearings are moving appropriately on budget discussions. He says he’s pleased with that and optimistic that the budget will be done within 90 days or at least within the constitutional framework to avoid the risk of a government shutdown, but the Governor says he’s disappointed that the House and Senate are still struggling to find consensus.
WALKER: I think it’s gonna take compromise. And I think everyone knows that the worst plan is no plan. And that’s what we have right now. We have no fiscal plan at this point. And waiting and hoping is not a plan, and that’s what we see happening with some in the Senate, is hoping that the price of oil goes back up. We have to figure out what size government we want, and how we wanna pay for it. It’s pretty basic.
TOWNSEND: What’s your level of concern about another year of there’s not a compromise, and how that may affect investment in the state’s economy?
WALKER: Well, it will continue the cloud of uncertainty that we have. And, you know, companies wondering, “Do we invest? Do we not? How are they going to fix their deficit?” And so, that creates a fog of uncertainty that we don’t need. That’s the other piece of this. That’s why several years ago, we introduced nine different pieces — a little bit here, a little bit there — not any one particular sector of our economy or our population. And they just have not engaged on that.
TOWNSEND: Senator Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat, has proposed a constitutional amendment that would make the Permanent Fund Dividend guaranteed by the Constitution. What do you think about that? Do you support this? Do you like this idea?
WALKER: Well, what we’re doing, all we are to protect the Permanent Fund. Protect the Fund itself, so it does not get drawn down. So it’s there for generations and whatnot. So, I’d have to look and see what it would look like. Is it a formula? Is it a specific dollar amount? How is it structured? You know, I’m willing to go to areas that I’m not comfortable with to reach… to bring this to a close. And so, I tend to not draw firm lines and say, “I absolutely won’t this, won’t that.” And that’s part of the problem in Juneau. There’s a lot of folks that have told us all the things they won’t do, but what will they do is, I guess, my question to them.
TOWNSEND: Governor, you’ve suggested a payroll tax. There’s been calls for an income tax by others. The Anchorage Assembly approved municipal gas tax. Do you think lawmakers who have resisted new taxes in the past, may be coming around, or considering them now as some have sort of come around to using the Permanent Fund when, at one time, many lawmakers said no way, that’s not happening? That’s changed now. What do you think about taxes?
WALKER: Well, I think they’re seeing that our differed maintenance, what we had, the stimulus package that we put it, the Alaska Economic Stimulus Act, we put that into the recovery act to be able to do some deferred maintenance, which would be done in over 60 different communities across the state. Put people to work. We have the highest unemployment in the nation. The differed maintenance is a debt unpaid, and it continues to grow. So we thought it made a lot of sense to tie the revenue to not specifically growing the government, just fixing the infrastructure that we have. So we thought that made a lot of sense. We still think it makes sense. I’ve heard some discussion of other ways of funding that, and I’m certainly open to that. But let’s get on with putting Alaskans to work, bringing the economy out of the recession that we’re in and fix the… we’re gonna have to do that at some point.
TOWNSEND: There’s been several announcements over the last few months about new potential on the North Slope, NPR-A, now ANWR is, for the first time, a possibility. But these potentials are at least, probably, a decade away. Do you worry that there’s too much focus on more oil in TAPS in the future and not enough present focus on the budget right now?
WALKER: Well, I am concerned about that. Yes, we have seen in the last leases we had where the… probably the most we’ve seen in two decades as far as the amount of interest on the North Slope. But you’re right. It’s many years out before that oil gets into the TAPS. Now, there’s some oil that can get in sooner, and we’re trying to accelerate that if possible. Oil that’s already been discovered that just needs processing in order to get that into TAPS, but that’s a bit of a long game. It’s the short game, the immediate game, that we’re trying to play out before we run completely out of savings.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski is supporting a school safety bill, one of the first to emerge in the Senate after the Valentine’s Day shooting at a Florida high school. The STOP School Violence bill, co-sponsored by Republicans and Democrats, does not impose gun control. It would allow the Justice Department to give grants to schools to make them more secure and for training to identify threats.
It’s one of the changes Murkowski told the Alaska Legislature last month that Congress needs to make to help prevent school shootings.
“We know that there’s no simple, one easy answer to these acts of violence,” Murkowski said in her annual address in Juneau.
The STOP School Violence bill authorizes $75 million this year and $100 million annually after that. Not all of that will be new spending. Some will be offset by cuts to an existing program, the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative. That Justice Department program was created in response to the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut. It has provided as much as $75 million a year for research into school safety and pilot programs. The Trump administration called for its demise last month, two days before the school shooting in Florida.
Murkowski does not support proposals to ban assault-style rifles or to raise the age for buying guns to 21. Neither does Sen. Dan Sullivan or Congressman Don Young. Both Sullivan and Young have identified violent video games as a possible factor in the incidence of school shootings.
The Solutions Desk looks beyond Alaska’s problems and reports on its solutions – the people and programs working to make Alaska communities stronger. Listen to more solutions journalism stories and conversations, and share your own ideas here.
There’s a traditional foods movement happening in Alaska. Dieticians, administrators, and others are trying to get more wild foods like moose, berries, and beach greens into health care facilities and schools.
In Kotzebue, the long-term care facility is leading the way with their state-certified meat processing building, the Siġḷauq. Things like caribou and trout are regularly on the menu.
But there’s one food that elders really, really want, and they aren’t allowed to have: seal oil.
“Seal oil has been implicated in a lot of botulism outbreaks in Alaska,” explained Chris Dankmeyer, the environmental health manager at Maniilaq Association in Kotzebue. “There’s a long record. In fact, some of the earliest records of botulism were from our region back in the ’70s.”
Botulism is bacteria that causes nausea, vomiting, blurry vision, even muscle weakness and death. “I mean, this is a very potent toxin,” he said.
Cyrus has been making seal oil his entire life. He cuts the blubber from the skin, chops it into small pieces, and puts it into a container to let it render into oil. Sometimes he stirs it. Sometimes he adds older seal oil to speed up the rendering. But now, when he does it inside the Siġḷauq, instead of at hunting camp, every part of the process has to be documented. That’s where Chris, the food safety expert comes in.
Chris points out the new scientific tools in his tiny lab. “The most important piece of equipment that we got right now is the pH meter,” he said.
In order to serve seal oil at the long-term care center or at hospitals around the state, Chris and Cyrus have to develop a food safety plan. It’s never been done before for seal oil.
“No one’s ever really documented scientifically what’s going on from the transition of seal blubber into oil,” Chris said.
They’re working with scientists from the University of Wisconsin and the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center to figure out what makes seal oil potentially dangerous. They’re measuring temperatures, water content, and pH. They’re sending samples to labs out of state to document the microbiology. Chris will even film the weeks-long rendering process with a time-lapse camera. They think that as long as the seal oil gets down to a pH of 5 or less and doesn’t have any water in it, then it’s safe to eat, but they have to prove it first.
“You know it’s the hot-button item that’s prohibited, but everybody eats,” he said, referring to people in the northwest arctic and other coastal communities. “So there’s a safe way of doing it, and that’s what we’re just trying to prove.”
They’ve been working on the project for three years now — seeking collaborators and designing and running the controlled experiments. They’ve played with ideas like adding lactic acid to lower the pH or trying traditional methods, like jump-starting the rendering process with older oil as Cyrus suggests. But all of those options could affect the taste, so they’ll face another necessary hurdle.
“There’s going to be a taste test in the end for the elders over there to get their seal of approval on our seal oil,” Chris said.
Once the process is fully documented and a food safety plan is laid out, Chris will apply for approval from the state. Then their plan could be used as a model for other facilities that want to serve seal oil and as guidance for seal oil rendering at home.
Alaska exported more than $1.3 billion worth of goods to China in 2017. China is the top consumer of Alaska goods. During a press conference in Anchorage today, Walker said he wants to increase that trade.
Governor Walker pushes for fiscal solution: “The worst plan is no plan”
Lori Townsend, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Governor Bill Walker said today he’s heard from legislative staff that committee hearings are moving appropriately on budget discussions. but he says he’s disappointed that the House and Senate are still struggling to find consensus.
Public testimony backs stable or increased state budget
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
Ninety people focused on funding services. Most of the other 11 asked for spending cuts.
House majority down two members
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
However, the Alaska House likely won’t consider bills that would require a close vote this week. That’s because the House majority coalition will be two members short.
Murkowski backs bill to ID school threats
Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski is co-sponsoring a school safety bill, one of the first to emerge in the Senate after the Valentine’s Day shooting at a Florida high school. It does not impose gun control.
Iditarod ceremonial start kicks off in Anchorage
Davis Hovey, KNOM – Nome
The 46th annual Iditarod trail sled dog race has seen its first full day of mushing.
Fans participate in trailgate parties to celebrate Iditarod start
Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
The spectacle of the Iditarod ceremonial start in Anchorage sends sled dog teams through the city’s trails, past hundreds of race revelers.
Redington, Pettersson and Seavey first into Skwentna checkpoint
Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
From Anchorage the mushers restarted in Willow on Sunday. Then, every two minutes, they took off headed east to the first two checkpoints: Yentna and Skwentna.
Zoya DeNure scratches in Skwentna, first scratch of 2018 Iditarod
Davis Hovey, KNOM – Nome
The first musher to scratch in the 2018 Iditarod is Zoya DeNure of Delta Junction.
Kodiak oil response crew cleans up spill
Kayla Desroches, KMXT – Kodiak
Oil response crews continue to work on the scene of a spill north of the City of Kodiak.
Trying to solve a moose-sized mystery in the tundra near Nome
Elizabeth Jenkins, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Juneau
There’s been more snowfall than what was typical a few decades ago. Moose can handle heavy snow, but their environment appears to be changing.
The Alaska House likely won’t be considering any bills that would require a close vote this week. That’s because the House majority coalition will be two members short.
Anchorage Democratic Rep. Ivy Spohnholz experienced a pulmonary embolism last week. The condition results from a blood clot or other material becoming wedged in an artery in a lung. She returned from Juneau to Anchorage, where she received treatment. She wrote on Twitter Monday that she is home recuperating with her family.
Thanks to those who have reached out to me over these past several days. I am recovering from complications from pulmonary embolism. I am home recuperating with family. I plan to return to Juneau next Monday. I am monitoring #akleg this week, and my staff are hard at work.
She wrote that she plans to return to Juneau next Monday.
On Friday, Bethel Democratic Rep. Tiffany Zulkosky is scheduled to be sworn in. The seat has been vacant since Feb. 12, when former Rep. Zach Fansler’s resignation became effective.
Without the two members, the House majority caucus will have only 20 voting members in the 40-seat body.
Walker also detailed a new trade mission he called Opportunity Alaska: China Trade Mission. There are still some details to work out, he said, like who is going.
“We anticipate that this being predominantly private sector folks that will be paying their own way to participate in that,” Walker said.
The governor’s office is taking applications until early April from Alaska companies that want to travel with the state’s delegation. In addition to the cost of airfare, hotels and meals, there is a $3,000 fee to take part in the mission, according to a media release from Walker’s office.
Alaska’s Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) is also seeking to partner with China. The state is working to develop a massive liquefied natural gas export project and hopes to partner with an investment bank, sovereign wealth fund and a China-owned oil company. Walker and AGDC head Keith Meyer said they don’t expect looming steel and aluminum import tariffs will derail the pipeline, even though the 800-mile pipeline project is expected to use thousands of tons of steel.
Meyer said he does not expect the tariffs to add much cost to the $45 billion project.
“The heart of the issue is trade and that is where I think, really, Alaska stands tall as being really an export powerhouse to the United States. And, if we get this Alaska trade rolling then I don’t think there’s need for that kind of tough trade talk,” Meyer said.
During the conference, state officials also highlighted a new scholarship program for Alaska students to study abroad in China. And they spoke of increasing tourism and the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport seeking to add more flights to China.
Things get pretty technical for Iditarod mushers heading out of the Rainy Pass checkpoint and into the Dalzell Gorge before Rohn and Nikolai. Plus, we hear from animal-rights activist and documentary filmmaker Fern Levitt, and we get four-time Iditarod Jeff King’s take on criticism of dog mushing.
It’s one of the snowiest years in recent memory along a notoriously bare stretch of the Iditarod trail. In recent years, low-snow and a bald, icy trail conditions have made for a perilous run down the Dalzell Gorge through Rohn and across the Farwell Burn on the way to the village of Nikolai. But this year, checker Damian Dennis says that hasn’t been a problem.
“We just got dumped on within the last week. Got about six, seven inches of fresh snow,” Dennis said.
The conditions made for a less eventful run for many of the first mushers into Nikolai Tuesday morning. Mitch Seavey said it was the most snow he’d ever seen in the area during an Iditarod. Wade Marrs had to stand on the seat of his sled to keep his boots dry going through some overflow, but was otherwise unperturbed. Ryan Redington was the first musher into Nikolai, and says the hardest part for his team was punching through a trail that was just barely there.
“A little soft, breaking trail, windblown,” Redington said.
After the Rohn checkpoint, the trail narrows through the Buffalo Tunnels, so called because a local bison herd has been known to travel through the area. Then the land opens up along the Farewell Burn, speckled with spindly black spruce before eventually meeting the top of the Kuskokwim River.
Joar Ulsom says the roughly 70-mile stretch into Nikolai had some unpleasant soft patches and overflow that dampened dog booties, but overall he’s grateful for the snow cover.
“I mean the whole gorge, the burn, I’ve never ever seen snow in the burns before, but this year we had snow,” Ulsom said. “So that was pretty nice!”
Ulsom had all 16 of his dogs still on the line when he pulled in, looking energized and alert. All the other mushers who arrived early into Nikolai had big teams, as well. That power will be important for the slog ahead.
With deeper, windswept snow, dog teams have to work more than they would on a hard-packed, faster trail. Weather over the area, and up on toward checkpoints like McGrath, Takotna, and Ophir is expected to stay precipitous, potentially making for slower, more draining runs in the stretch ahead.
The fan favorite with her pink clothes, sled bag and dog booties was running her 36th Iditarod and had said this one would be her last.
Jonrowe pulled out at the Rainy Pass checkpoint a little after 11 a.m. today. According to a statement from the Iditarod, Jonrowe made the decision to scratch for, “personal health reasons and concern for taking care of her dog team, which is her number one priority.”
Jonrowe competed in the 2003 Iditarod not long after chemotherapy for breast cancer, and she and her husband Mike lost their home in the 2015 Sockeye Fire.
In the Iditarod, Jonrowe’s record includes 16 top 10 showings, including a string of them from 1988 to 1998 and two second-place finishes.