The director of the Tanana Chiefs Conference Village Public Safety officer program has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident and criminal mischief.

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Alaska State Troopers report that 41-year-old Jody Potts of Fairbanks used her truck to push a car blocking her from getting out of a parking spot at the Tanana Lakes Recreation Area on July 4th.

The car was pushed into the middle of a parking lot and sustained front end damage.

Potts drove off, but a witness followed her and contacted Troopers.

Potts is a rural public safety leader and has been a keynote speaker at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention.

Asked if Potts is still on the job, TCC spokeswoman Doreen Deaton says the organization does not comment on personnel matters.

A TCC statement describes Potts as an “effective advocate for public safety in Alaska for over a decade”, adding that her “tireless commitment to Interior Alaska has been instrumental to changes in policies and standards resulting in the improvement of rural public safety”.

You’ve probably heard about the blob, the pool of warmer-than-normal water that wreaked havoc on fish and wildlife in the North Pacific.

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But you might not have heard about what’s happening in the Bering Sea, at the Pacific’s northern limits.

After several years of blob-related warmth, water temperatures off much of Alaska’s coast have returned to normal. But not in the Bering Sea, where in some places they’re still as much as 9 degrees Fahrenheit higher.

“The blob faded away. The Alaska marine warmth did not,” John Walsh, chief scientist at the Fairbanks-based International Arctic Research Center, said.

Federal scientists are now trying to determine what the effects could be, since the Bering Sea is home to some of the world’s largest commercial fisheries. The $400 million-a-year annual pollock catch is processed into popular items like fish sticks, imitation crab and McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches.

In the winter, vast expanses of ice also help insulate coastal Bering Sea villages from storms. And the ice can be a platform for subsistence hunters searching for seals and walrus.

Except that last winter, there was far less ice in the Bering Sea than scientists have ever seen. It’s likely the ice’s extent was at its lowest in at least 150 years, based on historical records, according to Rick Thoman, a Fairbanks-based climate expert with the National Weather Service.

Part of the reason was abnormally warm water. Scientists think the blob spilled some of its heat into the Bering Sea, which was also warmed by natural variation: consistent warm winds from the south.

The heat has penetrated deep into the water, meaning that it will take longer for the Bering Sea to cool off. It’s also slowed the formation of ice, which means the water is absorbing even more heat – since ice, when it’s present, helps reflect sunlight.

Scientists aren’t sure exactly what the changes will mean for fish.

But they’re trying to figure it out, in part because the Bering Sea produces nearly half of the country’s annual catch of fish and shellfish.

“The Bering Sea is an extremely productive ecosystem that produces immense amounts of fish,” Phyllis Stabeno, a Seattle-based oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said. “And that’s part of NOAA’s mission, to manage these types of things.”

If the Bering Sea changes enough, there will be species that benefit and species that suffer, Stabeno said.

Scientists initially thought pollock would thrive in warmer water, she added. But Stabeno said it turns out the heat may not be so good for pollock’s food, a type of plankton.

As water temperatures change, researchers are also seeing shifts in which species are found where.

“The ecosystem is always more complicated than we think,” Stabeno said. “We do know that there will be winners and there will be losers if the system changes enough. But we can’t say who they are at this point.”

A paper published earlier this year, with Thoman and Walsh among the authors, said the warmer Bering Sea temperatures can’t be explained without human-caused climate change, just like the blob. But some of the warmth also appears to stem from natural fluctuations.

One other thing researchers have noticed is that the Bering Sea seems to be oscillating between warm and cold for periods of multiple years, when in the past, individual years could be more variable, Stabeno said. Scientists refer to the longer warm and cold periods as “stanzas.”

The current Bering Sea warmth doesn’t appear to be irreversible – it hasn’t reached a “tipping point,” Walsh said. But climate change is heating the Arctic twice as fast as the rest of the world, and the waters off Alaska’s coast are expected to steadily warm as part of that trend.

“I do see this march toward more frequent, unprecedented warm events,” Walsh said. But, he added, “it’s not going to be a straight line.”

Pollock fishermen are watching the Bering Sea temperatures, said Stephanie Madsen, who leads an industry group, the At-Sea Processors Association.

“But honestly, for our fishery, we haven’t seen any dramatic shifts or changed the way that we prosecute it,” Madsen said. Over the long term, she added, “we’re not extremely nervous.”

“We expect some changes. But we don’t believe there’s an imminent crash,” Madsen said.

Voting is underway in a special election to pick a new Assembly member to represent west Anchorage. The seat opened up when Assembly Member Tim Steele stepped down in June for health reasons.

The district includes neighborhoods like Spenard, Turnigan, Sand Lake and Valley of the Moon.

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While the election is certainly a local political affair, the Anchorage Assembly has a disproportionate influence on state politics, stemming in part from Anchorage’s role as the state’s main hub. Even Alaskans living in distant communities regularly deal with policies enacted by the body, be it in extra hotel and rental car charges, permits for businesses, even money spent buying gas or groceries whenever it weighs different tax policies.

Additionally, the Assembly is like a farm league for politicians who go on to become mayor, get into the Legislature and hold state-wide office. People like Tony Knowles, Mark Begich, Anna McKinnon, to name a few, all came up through the Anchorage Assembly.

This special election is on a compressed time-line, with just a few weeks between candidates filed to run, when ballots were sent out, and are due back by August 7th.

Technically there are seven candidates, but only three are being seriously watched, having launched organized campaigns that are garnering meaningful endorsements, getting literature or digital media in front of voters, or have attracted donations.

The candidate with a presumed lead in the race is Austin Quinn-Davidson.

“I’ve lived in Anchorage for seven years,” Quinn-Davidson said by phone in an interview earlier in the week.

The 38-year-old Quinn-Davidson has amassed the largest war-chest in the brief race; as of July 9th when the first round of campaign disclosures came out she had raised more than $34,000, much of it from individuals as well as a handful of political action groups representing unions. She’s wracked up endorsements from six of the 10 sitting Assembly members, along with multiple progressive organizations and prominent democratic politicians. But Quinn-Davidson says she isn’t interested in bringing partisanship to the Assembly.

“In my profession, what I do is bridge the gap and bring different groups together. And I think that’s what we want on the Assembly, we want some one who’s a bridge-builder,” Quinn-Davidson said.

Quinn-Davidson is a lawyer for the Great Land Trust, an environmental conservation organization. She currently serves on the city’s budget advisory board. In door-knocking throughout the district she says crime is the number one issue for residents. She wants to address it by continuing enforcement policies undertaken by the Berkowitz Administration like growing the size of the police force, as well as putting more resources put toward what she calls “root causes” like substance abuse.

“The percentage of these calls (APD is) responding to that are related to drugs has spiked in the last few years,” Quinn-Davidson said. “So I think that there’s an opportunity there to take a hard look at what are we doing and where are we filling the gaps if there isn’t state money to pay to address some of the opioid addiction that we’re facing.”

Quinn-Davidson shies away from offering specific proposals she would advance on the Assembly, tending instead to emphasize process. For example, she likes the recently approved ordinance on accessory dwelling units because it received lots of input from community councils. Likewise, if elected, she wants to solicit advice from small business on how to revise and improve the local permitting process.

Quinn-Davidson is one of only two candidates to have gotten donations from APDEA, the union representing police employees.

The other is Nikki Rose, who as of her last financial disclosure had raised just under $1,800. But, several prominent conservative figures have thrown support behind the 35-year-old, who grew up in West Anchorage and is now raising her family there. Rose leads her local community council, and explained that if elected, she wants to encourage neighborhood groups to organize citizen patrols to confront crime.

“One of the things I really enjoy doing is the community patrols,” Rose said. “I think that frees up a lot of the officers to do what they really need to do, and that is: get a handle on the bigger issues with crime.”

When it comes to measures that are within the Assembly’s control, Rose does not offer many concrete policy proposals. She identifies homelessness in the municipality as a major issue, and has broad criticism of the state and current administration for Anchorage’s public safety situation. But doesn’t offer many specifics.

“When I look at what government is best at, government is best at getting public safety, and is best at delivering safe roads, safe utilities, all those kind of parts of government are really important,” Rose said. “I want to focus on those types of issues (that) the current administration isn’t focusing on and refocus it on those issues.”

Rose is running the furthest to the right in the race, garnering praise and endorsements from prominent conservative and Republican figures like Assembly Member Amy Demboski, former governor Sean Parnell, and several former Anchorage mayors.

The third candidate people are watching is Sam Moore, who works as a contract accountant.

“Pretty exciting stuff,” Moore joked.

The 33-year-old is originally from Missouri, he’s lived in Anchorage for a little more than five years, always in the same district. He’s very active in his local community council, and he has a firm grasp of what kinds of policies are in the purview of a municipal body like the Assembly. For example, public safety is one of the issues he thinks is most important in his district, but he’s candid about how much influence he’d have on that if elected.

“Frankly there’s not a lot some one on the Assembly can do for public safety except for complain to the administration,” Moore said matter-of-factly. “It comes down to the budget, it comes down to holding the chief accountable, it comes down to holding the mayor accountable on these issues. And if the Assembly doesn’t feel that adequate things are being done, then the budget’s going to get adjustments of one kind or another.”

Assembly races are technically non-partisan, but candidates tend try courting members of the two political parties. Moore describes himself as a “progressive Republican.” He has a wonk’s appreciation for down-in-the-weeds details, eager for example, to discuss why he thinks the financial valuation of the pending utility sale of ML&P is important, or how come zoning is a critical issue.

“Zoning and land use, frankly, is one of the biggest things that I think impacts our daily lives,” Moore said solemnly. “It drives the type of housing we have, it drives the type of commercial establishments we have, it drives where our breweries are, it drives where your weed dispensary is. Any number of things, it all comes down to zoning.”

Moore is visually impaired, and has been a consistent advocate for better public transit options and bringing in transportation companies like Uber and Lyft to Anchorage. He’s only raised around $3,500, and doesn’t have many endorsements from unions or public officials.

Ballots have been mailed out to qualified voters in West Anchorage. Votes can be cast by sending ballots back through the mail, putting them in drop boxes, or the election center down by Ship Creek by August 7th.

More information can be found here.

Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn

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VPSO director charged with leaving scene of vehicle accident, criminal mischief

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

The director of the Tanana Chiefs Conference Village Public Safety officer program has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident and criminal mischief.

Study: Economic recession to end in Anchorage by next year

Associated Press

A study paints an optimistic economic portrait of Anchorage in the next three years, projecting the city will exit its economic recession by 2019.

Did ‘the blob’ heat the Bering Sea enough to threaten your fish sticks?

Nathaniel Herz, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage

The blob is gone now, but warm water remains to the north in the Bering Sea. Scientists are pondering potential effects on fish like pollock, which are processed into things like fish sticks and McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches.

Nushagak fishing district closed as officials attempt to contain a fuel leak

Avery Lill, KDLG – Dillingham

A capsized vessel near Clark’s Point in Bristol Bay is leaking fuel. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has closed the entire Nushagak commercial fishing district due to concerns that diesel in the water could contaminate fish and fishing gear.

Three main candidates vie for open West Anchorage seat 

Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

While the election is certainly a local political affair, the Anchorage Assembly has a disproportionate influence on state politics.

State allows 90-hour dip net opening at Chitina following strong sockeye return

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

Late-run Copper River sockeye continue to come in strong, and the state has scheduled a 90-hour dip net opening at Chitina beginning Thursday. A weaker than expected early run shut down fishing last month, but the return has been improving in recent weeks.

King, red and chum salmon meeting ADF&G escapement goals in Kuskokwim tributaries

Anna Rose MacArthur, KYUK – Bethel

Healthy numbers of salmon are reaching their Kuskokwim spawning grounds this season, according to state standards. Across salmon species, state-issued escapement goals are being met.

Company considers Kodiak for site of second launch pad

Kayla Desroches, KMXT – Kodiak

A company that launches small satellites into orbit is considering Kodiak as the site of its second launch pad.

Klukwan Community Library carries out initiative to preserve stories of tribal members

Henry Leasia, KHNS – Haines

The Klukwan Community Library is carrying out an initiative to preserve the stories of tribal members. Chilkat Stories: Our Village, Our Lives aims to capture the experiences of Klukwan residents of all ages by creating audio recordings of their stories.

When the F/V Pacific Knight sank Wednesday, it reportedly had 800 gallons of diesel fuel and 300 gallons of hydraulic fuel on board.

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The Alaska Department of Fish and Game flew a survey of the area Thursday morning after hearing from a pilot and a processor that fuel was spilling from the wreckage.

“We saw quite a bit of fuel in the water,” area management biologist Tim Sands said. “What I would call kind of large patches of rainbow sheen heading southwest from where the vessel was. We flew for three miles… My concern is that I don’t know where that’s going to go and how fast it’s going to break up.”

At 1 p.m., the entire Nushagak District closed to commercial fishing, and ADF&G cautioned subsistence users on Dillingham beaches that their nets and fish are at risk of contamination.

“We do want to get people back in the water, but we just can’t afford to have contaminated fish in the product stream,” Sands said, noting that he has not recieved any reports of contaminated salmon harvested.

Sands noted that the scene looked “better” during an afternoon fly over. It is unclear when fishing in the district will reopen. Sands said that the diesel will dissipate eventually, but much depends on weather and how quickly salvage efforts are able to stop the vessel from leaking.

“I’m hopeful that we can do some partial openings as soon as tomorrow for Igushik beach and whatnot, but I just want to be sure,” Sands said.

According to Alaska State Troopers, the cause of the accident is still under investigation.

The 58-foot long line and seining vessel was based out of Petersburg and on contract with Icicle Seafoods as a tender in Bristol Bay this summer.

Three people were on board when the 58-foot vessel capsized. Two were rescued from the water. Alaska State Troopers are continuing their search for 59-year-old John Phillips of Juneau. However, the United States Coast Guard suspended its search Wednesday night.

“Ending a search is never easy, especially when working alongside so many people dedicated to finding the missing person,” Lt. Stephan Nolan, the District 17 command duty officer, said in a written statement. “Our condolences go out to this man’s family and friends during this time of hardship.”

The last time a tender capsized in Bristol Bay was 2013, when the F/V Lone Star sank in the mouth of the Igushik River.

Around one in eight Alaskans have wondered at some point in the last year where their next meal will come from, according to the USDA. In some parts of rural Alaska, rates of food insecurity are as high as 27 percent. Senator Lisa Murkowski added a grant program to the Senate farm bill that aims, in its own small way, to help.

The Micro-grants for Food Security program would give individuals up to 5,000 dollars and organizations up to 10,000 dollars to address food insecurity in their communities. Organizations like the Food Bank of Alaska could benefit from the program. CEO Jim Baldwin said the money could be used to fund training and education, invest in new technologies or build a community garden or smokehouse.

“And if there’s an entrepreneur out there that has an idea on how to grow produce or do hydroponics or start some kind of a canning operation, this could really be a seed money to get something up and going that’s sustainable,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin said the program could also help the Food Bank of Alaska start a canning program of its own to preserve excess food and help partner organizations purchase refrigeration equipment. The Food Bank serves as a hub for food distribution to community organizations across the state.

“Often times some of the agencies that we contribute food to don’t have adequate refrigeration to take as much as we can provide for them,” Baldwin said.

Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and several islands in the Pacific would be eligible. Alaska is slated to receive a total of $4 million in grants a year. Baldwin said Alaska’s rural nature and geographic isolation make community efforts to produce and process food locally that much more important for food security.

Cara Durr is the director of public engagement for the Food Bank of Alaska and a board member for the Alaska Food Policy Council. The House version of the farm bill cuts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as food stamps. But Durr said she’s hopeful this program will make it into the final version.

“We want to make sure that a final farm bill is strong for Alaska, it’s strong and supports the nutrition titles, including SNAP, so no additional cuts to that program, or onerous requirements that make people fall off the program, um supports local ag,” Durr said. “And I see this provision as being a really nice complement.”

The House and the Senate have passed different versions of the farm bill and will try to hash out a compromise in the coming months. The law covers everything from food assistance to rural development to crop insurance.

Healthy numbers of salmon are reaching their Kuskokwim spawning grounds this season, according to state standards. Across salmon species, state-issued escapement goals are being met. These goals are set to help ensure sustainable runs and future subsistence harvests.

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The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is operating six weirs on Kuskokwim tributaries to monitor king salmon escapement. Each weir continues to track between the five- and 10-year average for kings. Nick Smith is a researcher with the department and points out that the numbers show consistency with recent runs.

“The five- and 10-year averages have included those years of low productivity,” Smith said. “So to be tracking the five- to 10-year average is telling us that we’re following the same general pattern that we’ve seen over the past five to 10 years.”

High water prevented four of the six weirs from gaining accurate counts earlier in the summer. The water level has slowly dropped, and this week the water level along the upper river main stem lowered to its historical average for the first time this season.

The two weirs able to make accurate counts for the entire season indicate a familiar set of numbers. The George River weir is tracking right under the 20-year average for king escapement and has now reached the upper end of its escapement goal. The Salmon River Pitka’s Fork weir is tracking with the 2017 king salmon run.

Escapement goals for king salmon aerial surveys have been met for the following tributaries: the Salmon River Pitka’s Fork, Cheeneetnuk River, Gagarayah River and Holitna River.

Other salmon species are logging more robust runs.

Chum salmon have surpassed their escapement goal at the Kogrukluk River weir, the only weir with an escapement goal for chum. Meanwhile, red salmon escapement is tracking above average at the three weirs that have escapement goals for this species: the Kwethluk, Salmon and Kogrukluk River weirs.

High school graduates from all over the state are taking the first steps into adulthood, whether that’s furthering their education, entering the workforce, or just exploring life. But one Petersburg graduate has had to overcome challenges to get to this point.

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Zack Christensen is helping his uncle Lars garden. The lanky 18-year-old lives with his uncle on Petersburg’s main highway.

They’ve pulled speakers out onto the concrete front steps to listen while they work. In the corner of the yard near the road, there’s a strawberry patch that’s overrun with weeds. Zack leans over and pulls out handfuls of green grass. He’s no stranger to manual labor. Staying active is actually the doctor’s orders for his cerebral palsy.

“[I] work hard so my body will build up a little bit there,” Christensen said. “Keep the muscles I need strengthened.”

Zack also goes to the gym to weight lift.

“Through my life I’ve learned that I just got to keep proving people wrong, that I can do all these things that I want to do and go places,” Christensen said.

Zack has big plans. He wants to start a life in Northeast Montana where his extended family lives. The town is Marion, with about 300 residents.

“I’m not a big fan of big crowds, big cities, or anything like that,” Zack said. “Just ask my mom. When I got to go through crowds, I just turn into a horrible person.”

Zack’s mom, Mali Christensen, agrees.

“He’s an outdoors boy, he doesn’t like the city,” Mali said.

When Zack was born, doctors told her he might not be able to do things like other children.

“He may not walk, he may not ever talk, he might be a vegetable,” Mali said. “And he ended up defying all the odds.”

But it hasn’t been an easy road. Zack had seizures for the first six months of his life before medication ended them. Fine motor skills remain difficult, like writing. He’s relied on typing, and in school, he had an aide that he could dictate notes to.

“Carrying a plate, having a drink in his hand, anything that requires dexterity has always been a huge challenge for him,” Mali said.

Growing up, Zack had all kinds of therapy — physical, occupational, speech. And in a town of 3,000, that therapy wasn’t always close to home. In the eighth grade, his mom flew him to Portland, Oregon every week for nearly a year. They’d fly down on Sunday, see doctors Monday, and return to Alaska on Tuesday.

“That was a really crazy year,” Mali said. “Zack got real burned out with flying.”

“It got pretty old,” Zack agreed.

Mali decided that traveling from Petersburg, where she had family support and Zack had friends, was better than moving for temporary medical care. And in the end, the therapy set him on a path to being more physically independent. He wrestled and played baseball as a teenager. He says the Petersburg school has been very supportive. And it showed at graduation, the day he got his diploma. The crowd cheered loudly when his name was called.

“I really appreciate it, I might not always show it, especially with Ms. Fry. She’s always on my back a lot about grades but I’m graduating high school, probably thanks to her,” Zack said.

Cindy Fry has worked with Zack in the high school for three years through the special education department. She says Zack has a tenacious determination, not letting his disability get in the way of being successful.

“Zack does not let anything really stop him,” Fry said. “He gets his mind on a goal and he’ll make it happen.”

Zack’s goal now is to move to Montana as a diesel mechanic. He’s enrolled in a 10-month vocational technical school– AVTEC – in Seward. Zack says he enjoyed tearing apart and rebuilding a lawnmower in his high school shop class.

“I’ve just always loved vehicles and working with my hands,” Zack said.

Fry has been in contact with the vo-tech school about Zack’s needs and says they have resources for him, like iPads for typing notes. He’ll also bring wrist weights for helping with stabilization.

Fry says the bigger challenge will be Zack advocating for himself.

“Part of the message as they get to seniors is, ‘Okay, so how are you going to advocate this as an adult? What are you going to do? What are you going to say? Who are you going to go to?’ and that’s one of the things that we work on,” Fry said.

Zack’s mom thinks he’ll do just fine.

“He started off life almost losing his,” Mali said. “When he got it back that gave him a determination to thrive and live.”

Back in the garden, Zack says after he finishes weeding he’s going to pack for a three-day camping trip with friends.

“You know, every kid needs to spread his wings, figure out where he’s going,” Zack said. “I’m excited, man. I’m ready to get out into the world, start the next chapter, see where life will take me.”

Zack will have some familiar company at AVTEC. Another Petersburg graduate is joining him there. This summer though, Zack will be making money at a cannery in Kasilof. With a laugh, he says he’s going to be the official tote washer there.

This week, we’re hearing from Janene Driscoll in Gustavus. Driscoll was one of the founders of the Gustavus Community Garden.

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DRISCOLL: Oh the years just pass by. I’m going to guess we started this garden somewhere in the ballpark of ten years ago. Maybe 15. Who know? A long time. (laughs)

We got inspired to start a community garden for two reasons. One is the moose in Gustavus started hammering everyone’s garden. They started eating the peas, the cabbages, the kale, and it was like “wow, we need a fence.” So we’ve got this fenced-in area where there’s about 21 plots inside the fence. The moose fence. And then there’s plots outside the moose fence, and those are particularly for potatoes. And we grow potatoes on one side one year, and then on the opposite side the following year, so we can rotate them a little bit to prevent scab.

What does the best here? Things that like it cool and wet. So basically, your kale and cabbages. Peas grow really well. But so do a lot of the flowers, and so we have a vast amount of little pots that have some of the perennials as well.

Challenges gardening right here, and really just anywhere in Southeast, is that it’s really wet. Soil’s not very fertile. Temperatures stay so cold. And so the ground stays cold. And that’s why a lot of the people here have raised beds to try to warm the soil a little faster. And here at the garden, we have a fair amount of wind. So, you can look around, and it almost looks like there are conestoga wagons here, as we’re putting up the reemay underneath the hoops to prevent the damage from wind.

It’s a friend’s birthday tomorrow and so his wife asked that his friends write haiku to help him celebrate his birthday. I do have some garden haikus. So the first one goes:

The promise of hope,

A simple seed in the ground.

Brocolli for lunch.

The other one, you need to look at my trellis in order to understand, but:

Oh, the joy it is.

Strand of hypogymnia,

On my pea trellis.

Hypogymnia is a type of lichen. And I sometimes harvest harvest lichen to be able to use it to dye fibers. And so lichen plays a certain role in my life, shall we say.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough was hit hard with a computer virus this week that has disrupted some borough services.

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That includes outages for borough phones, email and computers, which network managers took offline as they try to isolate the virus and prevent their systems from being further compromised. The borough says several departments unable to use their computers have turned to more-manual systems like using typewriters or hand-writing receipts.

IT Director Eric Wyatt says the virus’s disruption is serious enough that it constitutes a cybercrime, and the FBI’s cybercrimes unit has been investigating.

Wyatt says it’s so far unclear if the virus is causing borough computers to send private information elsewhere.

“Well that’s always possible, and that’s part of our investigation… that is a common pattern of a lot of these viruses, so we are investigating that,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt says the borough does not store credit card information on servers that are connected to the internet. Resident information like property records are already available publicly anyway. But he says there is the possibility that personal information of borough employees could have been accessed.

Wyatt says it seems unlikely the virus specifically targeted the Mat-Su Borough. Instead, he thinks it was probably written to attack government computers in general, released onto the internet and happened to find a way in to the borough’s systems through a fraudulent email, known as a phishing attack.

“They attack indiscriminately, and so I really believe here at the Mat Su we are simply collateral damage,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt says his team has been able to slowly bring some systems online, but the disruptions could last as long as three weeks.

The Klukwan Community Library is carrying out an initiative to preserve the stories of tribal members. “Chilkat Stories: Our Village, Our Lives” aims to capture the experiences of Klukwan residents of all ages by creating audio recordings of their stories.

Chilkat Indian Village started the Chilkat Stories project in 2017 with the help of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

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Klukwan Library Co-Director Jamie Katzeek says a needs-based assessment of the community found that people wanted to know more about what life used to be like in Klukwan.

“That’s just what they want to know,” Katzeek said. “How did the elders grow up? What did they remember about how Klukwan used to be?”

The process is straightforward. Katzeek sits down with tribal members and creates audio recordings of their stories about life in Klukwan.

“We just want to increase knowledge about and the interest in our Tlingit heritage. So it’s just asking people to pass on information about their life experiences. It’s just explaining about things that happen in Klukwan just for people that don’t have an idea of what it’s like to live in a small village,” Katzeek said.

The purpose of the project is to document and preserve the experiences of elders and tribal members before those stories are lost.

Katzeek has focused on preserving Tlingit culture through much of her work.

Last year the Klukwan Library received the Guardians of Culture and Lifeways Outstanding Project Award for a film she produced about traditional food-gathering practices in the Chilkat Valley.

“The younger generations are not necessarily learning all of the subsistence activities that people used to do in the village, so we wanted to document the process. Some people didn’t know how to make dried fish, and some people don’t know how to butcher a moose, seal hunting and stuff like that. They are meant to be how to videos so that people could learn skills, so the traditional skill isn’t lost,” Katzeek said.

Fred Strong, one of the tribal members featured in the film, passed away unexpectedly shortly after sharing his expertise for the project. His knowledge of subsistence fishing is accessible to future generations through the films, which are available at the Klukwan and Haines libraries.

The Chilkat Stories recordings will be saved in the tribe’s archival collection. Participants will also receive a copy of their recordings on a disk.

Some of the recorded stories will be edited for broadcast on KHNS. However, this is entirely optional for participants.

Katzeek says she will continue to collect stories until next summer. She encourages people to share their experiences, no matter what kind of story it may be.

“Every story matters is what I have been telling people. You know, maybe it’s something that they would like their great-grandchildren to know about–what they did or what they experienced. It’s helping people preserve stuff because traditionally Tlingit knowledge was passed down orally, so we’re just helping that,” Katzeek said.

To participate in the project, tribal members can contact the Klukwan Library. Katzeek will help coordinate a time to meet up and record stories.

Vacations and books are wonderful companions. PBS is sponsoring the Great American Read this summer and people across the nation are voting on their favorite novels. But with the ease and portability of online reading, how important are books and the libraries that house them? What does the future look like for the places that care for literature, documents and other archives?

HOST: Lori Townsend

GUESTS:

• Mary Jo Torgerson – Loussac Library Director
• Chris Hieb – State Libraries, archives and museums.

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The first sign of oil development in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is likely to be a 3D seismic survey. A company has applied to do the work, and the government has deemed the application complete. Everything about the proposal to drill in ANWR is controversial. Still, officials from the Bureau of Land Management said this week they see no need to do a full environmental impact statement for the seismic work and expect to approve the request in time for work to begin this winter.

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Seismic work used to involve dynamite. Now it’s mostly done with vibrating trucks that send shock waves into the ground. Lines of sensors on the surface record the waves that bounce back to map underground formations.

A company called SAExploration wants to bring about a dozen vibrating vehicles to the refuge, each mounted on a rubber track. Several at a time would drive parallel lines across the frozen tundra. They’d stop frequently to lower their vibration plate for about 20 seconds and then move to the next spot. The trucks would drive about eight lines across a typical square mile, according to the company’s application. The plan is to shoot seismic across the entire coastal plain, or 2,600 square miles.

Lesli Ellis-Wouters of the BLM said it’s the same technology that was used west of the refuge, in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

“We felt that there would be insignificant impact, so we’re planning on doing an environmental assessment and when that is available we’ll post that environmental assessment, with a draft finding of no significant impact,” Ellis-Wouters said.

An environmental assessment is kind of the junior cousin of a full “environmental impact statement.” It’s less rigorous and less detailed. Wouters said if the BLM learns something unexpected in the assessment, or in the public comment period that follows, it could order a more thorough  examination.

“At the end of the 30-day public comment period if we don’t receive substantial input to change our finding of no significant impact, we would issue a decision record, and then the activity could be authorized,” Ellis-Wouters said.

In addition to the vibration trucks, the work will require two mobile camps, each able to house 160 people, and a variety of support vehicles.

Attorney Jason Rylander at Defenders of Wildlife said the activity is far from harmless.

“Seismic has tremendous potential for serious environmental impacts, Rylander said. “In fact, you can still see the scarring from the last time that seismic was allowed, in only just a small portion of the refuge.”

In the 1980s, Congress allowed a 2D seismic survey on the coastal plain of the refuge, resulting in more than a thousand miles of trails. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says most of the trails recovered well in the first decade but a few miles were still visible from the air decades later. Data collection for a 3D seismic survey is more intensive, with far more sensors.

Rylander and other environmentalists say they’re especially worried about the impact seismic work could have on polar bears.

“During denning season it can cause mother polar bears to leave their den,” Rylander said. “It can expose polar bear cubs to disturbance. So we’re very very concerned, considering there’s only 900 or fewer polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea population.”

That figure, 900 polar bears, is an estimate, and like most everything in the Arctic Refuge, it’s disputed.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says noise disturbance and passing vehicles have prompted some mother polar bears to abandon their dens while others seem to adjust to industrial noise.

The Interior Department hopes to offer leases for drilling in ANWR next year. While it’s responding to the application to conduct seismic work, BLM is also preparing a separate environmental impact statement for the lease sale itself.

Congress last year mandated the lease sale, but Rylander said environmental groups aren’t giving up.

“Whether the Trump administration ultimately issues a lease or not, our aim is to ensure that this land is never drilled,” Rylander said.

BLM expects to hold another public comment period and at least seven public meetings on the lease sale proposal this fall or winter.

Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn

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BLM projects ‘insignificant’ impact from seismic work in ANWR

Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.

Officials from the Bureau of Land Management expect “no significant impact” from a 3d seismic survey in the Arctic Refuge. They expect to approve the request in time for work to begin this winter. Enviros say the work could disturb denning polar bears.

Capsized vessel near Clark’s Point being salvaged

Avery Lill, KDLG – Dillingham

Salvage efforts are underway for the tender that sank near Clark’s Point on Wednesday. What caused the 58-foot vessel to capsize is still under investigation.

Computer virus disrupts several Mat-Su services

Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough was hit hard with a computer virus this week that has disrupted some borough services.

Woman charged with 149 counts Alaska dividend fraud

Associated Press

A woman suspected of fraudulently applying for $70,000 in Alaska Permanent Fund dividends pleaded not guilty at arraignment.

Pebble review continues after Walker seeks delay

Associated Press

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proceeding with an environmental review of a proposed copper-and-gold mine in southwest Alaska, despite a request from the state’s governor that the review be halted.

Taixtsalda Hill fire has 113 firefighters trying to contain it

Dan Bross

The Taixtsalda Hill wildfire near Tok gained another thousand acres yesterday, and has now charred over 13,000 acres.

Two separate people pawed by separate Katmai bears in ‘minor’ incidents

Avery Lill, KDLG – Dillingham

Bears twice made contact with humans last week in Brooks Camp at Katmai National Park and Preserve. In a written statement, the park called both incidents “minor.

New farm bill program aims to help food insecurity in Alaska

Erin McKinstry, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Around one in eight Alaskans have wondered at some point in the last year where their next meal will come from, according to the USDA. In some parts of rural Alaska, rates of food insecurity are as high as 27 percent. Senator Lisa Murkowski added a grant program to the Senate farm bill that aims, in its own small way, to help.

AK: Petersburg High graduate with cerebral palsy ready for new challenges

Angela Denning, KFSK – Petersburg

High school graduates from all over the state are taking the first steps into adulthood, whether that’s furthering their education, entering the workforce, or just exploring life. But one Petersburg graduate has had to overcome challenges to get to this point.

49 Voices: Janene Driscoll of Gustavus

Scott Burton, KTOO – Juneau

This week, we’re hearing from Janene Driscoll in Gustavus. Driscoll was one of the founders of the Gustavus Community Garden.

Fuel from the wreckage of the F/V Pacific Knight has reached the Igushik Section of the Nushagak commercial fishing district. That’s according to reports the Alaska Department of Fish and Game received yesterday at 4 p.m. that people in the area smelled fuel and saw a sheen on the water.

After the entire Nushagak District was closed in response to the fuel spill on Thursday, the Igushik Section only was reopened Friday. The Igushik Section closed again at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

“We’ll fly a survey [on Monday] and see what we can see,” area management biologist Tim Sands said. “But I can’t imagine opening the fishery for a couple days because it will take a while for whatever fuel is out there to dissipate. And if it’s got all the way over to Igushik, I believe it could basically be anywhere in the bay — more likely on the west side of the bay because of the wind. But with the tide sucking and swirling around, who knows where it could end up.”

Fish and Game is advising subsistence users that there is potential for fuel to float to Dillingham beaches and to “be aware of that possibility.”

It is unclear how much fuel has spilled. When the 58-foot tender sank on Wednesday it was carrying 1,100 gallons of diesel and hydraulic fuel.

No injuries nor damage to boats have been reported after a building caught fire in the Dillingham boat harbor Friday.

The Dillingham Fire Department rushed to the scene around 9 p.m.

“Initial report was a mattress that was on fire is what got paged out. After that I don’t know exactly what the second flame up was or where the extension happened from,” fire coordinator Braden Tinker said.

The wood and aluminum building used to be a fish plant and is now mostly filled with material from the old Queen Cannery. The city repossessed the property from its previous owner, who owed back taxes.

“Mostly just storage in here right now — old wood, boxes, mattress, on and on,” harbor master Jean Barrett explained. “There’s foam in there. There’s plywood. There’s some motors in there that really don’t have any oil or anything in them. No liquid combustibles anyhow. There’s still a lot of combustible material in the wood and such.”

Barrett added that the city hopes to bulldoze the what is left of the building when time and money allow.

Volunteers fought the flames. A handful of men stood on a shipping container and soaked the building and surrounding area from above. Others in fire safety gear and respirators entered the burning building to fight the flames from the inside.

At 10:30 p.m. Tinker said that the fire was under control, but that it was “far from being out,” and he estimated it would take the volunteer fire department at least three hours to extinguish the flames.

The exact cause of the fire is not yet known.

“There’s no electricity in here. There’s no fuel we know of. Somebody being in there that shouldn’t be in there probably started this fire,” Barrett said.

Two men who allegedly had 33 pounds of methamphetamine in a backpack after leaving a ferry in Whittier made their initial court appearances today in Anchorage.

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Whittier Police arrested Eric James Hansen and Marshal Parke on Thursday. Federal authorities say Hansen brought the meth — worth “$225,000” in wholesale quantities — from Bellingham, WA to Whittier on the state ferry Kennicott.

The ferry made stops in Southeast Alaska on its way to Whittier, the closest state ferry terminal to Anchorage, about 60 miles away.

According to the charges, Alaska Marine Highway employees notified Whittier Police about a “suspicious passenger.” That passenger later turned out to be Hansen, the charges say. The charging document does not say what made Hansen seem suspicious but notes he had been seen with the backpack in the Whittier ferry terminal.

The charges say Parke was driving a GMC Yukon with Alaska license plates when police stopped the SUV, and Hansen was in the passenger seat. An unnamed woman rode in back. The charging document says police brought in a drug-sniffing dog that indicated the odor of narcotics coming from the vehicle.

The charges say that after getting a search warrant, police found the backpack filled with meth, as well as $8,000 cash in a briefcase, a scale with drug residue on it, a glass pipe with burnt edges and a small baggie with white powder.

Both Parke and Hansen are charged with possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.

2018 has been a year for the Bristol Bay record books as total sockeye run surpassed 61 million on Thursday, putting it just a half-million fish behind the largest run of 61.7 million in 1980.

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Bert Lewis oversees commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay, Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He’s impressed at the strength of the Nushagak district’s run and even at Bristol Bay’s east-side districts, which came in “late but solidly.”

“That stands out really statewide where sockeye runs have not been strong. I know that westward Kodiak area is meeting their goals, but with very little fishing opportunity. Cook Inlet right now is under restrictions,” Lewis said. “King salmon statewide are of concern with low returns, but meeting goals solidly in Bristol Bay.”

King salmon escapement was strong enough that nearly 100 anglers filled the Nushagak River this June for a new king derby, even as poor returns canceled a handful of derbies in southeast Alaska.

Lewis said the prevailing theory for Bristol Bay’s bounty is “the blob” — an unusually warm water mass that filled the northern Gulf of Alaska as this year’s returning fish migrated out to sea a few years back. It disrupted food webs that support the forage base that juvenile salmon feed on in waters across southeast Alaska and the north Gulf.

“The warm blob, this warm-water anomaly, was not present in the Bering Sea where those (Bristol Bay) fish came out, so that’s one possible supporting piece of evidence that we’re looking to that it was the 2015 outmigration year that could be driving some of the patterns that we’re seeing and good returns in Bristol Bay and poorer, weak returns across much of the rest of the state,” Lewis said.

Anecdotally, fishermen have been telling KDLG all summer their red salmon seem smaller than in years past, but Lewis confirmed it. In fact, he said the issue cuts across species statewide, with some of the smallest sizes on record. He blamed the marine environment.

“That suggests marine productivity at some level is behind it and whether it’s global climate change or just natural alterations through time of how the Pacific Ocean currents are structured, we believe that’s what largely is driving this,” Lewis said.

Besides affecting fishermen’s wallets, those smaller fish returning to Alaska’s river systems directly impact processors’ bottom lines, Lewis said.

“A processing plant can handle so many fish per day, and once you reach that capacity you’re pretty much topped out. The heading and gutting machines and fillet machines were built on six-pound average fish, and now we’ve got five-pound average fish,” Lewis said. “Ecologically, each female that comes back is going to have less eggs so their overall reproductive potential could be declining, and what are the ecological implications of that is unknown.”

Lewis could say with certainty, though, that strong returns and increasing prices over the last five years have raised the value of Bristol Bay salmon. He said this year’s ex-vessel value is among the top five in Bristol Bay’s history since they began keeping records around the turn of the century.

Lewis busted out a calculator to punch in the bay’s fish harvest so far — 40 million — times the average sockeye weight of 5.5 pounds, times a base price of $1.25. That puts this season at $275 million, with the fish still trickling in.

In the end, Lewis attributed Bristol Bay’s success to strong collaboration among the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, organizations like the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation and Bristol Bay Science and Research Institute, and fishermen themselves.

“We’re all in lockstep together, and we receive tremendous support from the industry and the fishing fleet,” Lewis said.

If you live in Alaska, you live in bear country. While the risk of a bear encounter or attack is low, there’s always a chance the worst could happen.

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Since last summer, there have been three bear-related deaths, with the latest earlier this summer in Eagle River.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game set traps and killed three bears, but still haven’t found the bear responsible for the June 18 attack.

That hasn’t stopped hikers from hitting the trails. On recent afternoon, Loni Quinn was out with her dad, Mike Quinn and friend, Dustin Miller.

“It’s beautiful, it’s sunny, it’s green,” Quinn said.

Quinn grew up in Eagle River and knows the trails. That’s why she didn’t second guess going out alone in late June.

“He was over there, I right here,” Quinn said, pointing just across the valley.

That’s where Michael Soltis went missing on Monday, June 18. Soltis’s body was found two days later and a member of the search party looking for him was mauled by the same bear.

Deadly bear attacks are considered rare in Alaska, happening once every three to four years. But just last year there were two– one outside Anchorage and the other in the Interior.

Rick Sinnott is a retired wildlife biologist. It’s possible the number of human-bear encounters are up, Sinnott said, but there are also just more humans here.

“Fifty years ago, who was jogging in the woods? Who was riding bikes in the woods? Basically nobody.” And today, Sinnott said, “we have two or three or four times more people in Anchorage — there’s way more people in the woods.”

And those people can leave scraps of food on the trails or unattended in campgrounds, which means bears get more habituated.

Just weeks after the last death here, these woods are packed with people.

And it’s no surprise why. The trail starts out in a forest of bright white birch and dark green spruce. It climbs along a clear, cold stream perfect for cooling off on a hot day.

Sarah Smith has a colorful sleeve of tattoos up her right arm and a can of bear spray strapped to her hips.

“It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when you’re going to have a [bear] encounter,” Smith said.

Smith is camping overnight with her friend Seth Ransom and their two dogs.

“Sarah’s got the bear spray, I’ve got a .44 [pistol],” Ransom explained.

The two have talked about what they’ll do if they see a bear.

“We’re going to get together, see if we can get the dogs with us,” Ransom said. “We’ll have the [bear] spray first, firearm second. Hopefully we never have to use it.”

Ransom actually trains people for a living on how to stay safe in the backcountry. He tells his clients that having too many bear deterrents can be a bad thing.

“If you have an air horn, you have a firearm, you have a whistle, you have bear spray — in the moment you’re not going to know which one to for,” Ransom said.

On the trail this day, some people had bells on their dogs’ collars, others had guns strapped to their chest or slung over their shoulders.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s guide to staying safe in bear country focuses on bear spray and firearms as the top deterrents.

Despite the hype of bear stories on social media and the recent death in this valley, hikers here said mostly they’re not afraid.

“I really just think you have to keep perspective,” Loni Quinn said. “Otherwise, I would just have fear and paranoia.”

Over the hundreds of hikes she’s gone on, Quinn said she’s only seen five or six bears.

“That’s the way I rationalize it,” Quinn explained, “Because I love being outside and I love hiking and I don’t want to give up what I love so much just because I’m afraid of running into something that probably doesn’t want anything to do with me anyway.”

There’s a cow and two moose calves up along the ridge, but no sign of bears on this day– an added relief on top of the hike’s grand finale.

Across a foot bridge and beyond a big field of boulders Eagle and Symphony Lakes open up. They glow a bright, tropical blue in the long, summer sunshine.

The ink is drying on a lease that could house Bethel’s first cannabis shop. The owner of an Anchorage marijuana store wants to expand his business to Bethel and bring Alaska’s booming cannabis industry to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

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For more than a year, ALASKAbuds owner Nick Miller has been getting the same question: “When are you coming to rural Alaska?”

Now, the Anchorage businessman has a tentative answer: January 2019. The location will be in Central Bethel, on 3rd Avenue in the brown building that houses Stan’s Barber Shop and the Bethel Family Dental Clinic. Miller says that customers can expect an experience similar to what they would find at ALASKAbuds’ Anchorage location.

“There will be normal sales top glass counters, and there will be pre-packaged marijuana in at least one of those counters,” Miller explained. “And there will be other things like pipes and vape pens and just different things that go with marijuana.”

Miller signed the Bethel lease last week. He sees a high demand in the region. Many of his customers already come from the Yukon-Kuksokwim Delta, and Miller has gotten to know the area well after working construction around the region for a decade.

“And I really like it here,” Miller said. “So I thought, if you’re going to go to rural Alaska, why not some place you’re familiar with?”

The lease comes after months of preparation. He’s talked extensively with Bethel community members, scouted a location that meets the state and municipal requirements, and found a landlord who’s comfortable with his business: John Nicholson of the neighboring Nicholson’s Auto.

Miller has gained a broad perspective on the cannabis industry in Alaska. In addition to his Anchorage shop, he runs a limited marijuana cultivation operation in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and serves on the Alaska Marijuana Control Board as the industry representative. The biggest lesson that he’s learned is that success in the state’s cannabis business largely depends on how you treat your neighbors and your community. Miller thinks that he’s helped improve both where he’s already opened shop.

“Number one, we cleaned up some buildings that may not have been in the best shape. We have video surveillance, and we have good outdoor lights,” Miller said. “My wife is now on the community council board, so we participate at any chance we can.”

Miller also encourages his employees to take part in community events like cleanups and heart runs. His shop buys the tickets and serves as a sponsor. Miller plans to continue this outreach in Bethel.

“Even though we don’t live here,” Miller said, “you can count on that we’ll be involved in the community at every opportunity.”

Miller is looking to hire six to eight employees in Bethel. A sales background is helpful, but other skills matter more.

“We’re looking for folks with, obviously, knowledge of marijuana, and they just have to be very outgoing and very helpful,” Miller explained. “You would be surprised at the amount of questions people have when they come in.”

Miller applied for his state license and plans to apply for a city conditional use permit. If he receives both, ALASKAbuds in Bethel will open in six months.

“We’re actually pretty excited,” Miller said, smiling. “It’ll be nice to tell folks when they come in and ask, ‘When are you coming?’ [And respond] ‘Well, we’re on our way.’”