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CLARION P E N I N S U L A
Sunday, September 16, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 48, Issue 299
Willow plane crash happened on pilot’s first night flight ANCHORAGE (AP) — A small plane crash north of Anchorage happened during the pilot’s first night flight training, according to a preliminary report by federal investigators. The pilot and a flight instructor were injured when the Cessna U206 crashed near the Willow Airport last week, the Anchorage Daily News reported Thursday. Robin Spaulding, 20, was on her first night flight after receiving her private pilot certification last month, according to the National Transportation Safety Board report. The certification process in Alaska allows pilots to complete the night flying requirement up to 12 months after getting certified. Spaulding and flight instructor John Cabaud departed from Talkeetna before sunset Saturday night, planning to perform stopand-go landings at multiple airports, according to the report. The plane landed at WilSee CRASH, page A2
In the news 4 unharmed after small plane crashes on way to Soldotna ANCHORAGE — Four people escaped injury when a small airplane crashed on its way to Soldotna. Alaska State Troopers say searchers Thursday afternoon found the overturned airplane in 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1.2 meters) of water, surrounded by swamp, about a mile southeast of 8 Mile Funny River Road. The four on board, including the pilot, 75-year-old Terry Moxey of Sterling, were found standing on the belly of plane. Anchorage Air Traffic Control told troopers the airplane had reported engine failure and could not land at Soldotna Airport. After the crash, Moxey used a cellphone to report no injuries. A trooper helicopter extracted the survivors, including 84-year-old David Savoie and 79-year-old Karen Savoie of Idaho and 81-year-old Jacqueline Moxey of Sterling. — Associated Press
Salmon forum discusses past, present and future of salmon habitat By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
A forum at the Soldotna Library brought together people who wanted to learn more and discuss salmon habitat. The forum, hosted by Cook Inletkeeper, held a four-person panel: Marcus Mueller, land manager at the Kenai Peninsula Borough; Sue Mauger, science director at Cook Inletkeeper; Patti Berkhahn, who worked for Alaska Department of Fish and Game; and Branden Bornemann, executive director at the Kenai Watershed Forum. About 50 people attended the forum, which covered issues such as river setbacks and the Stand for Salmon Ballot Initiative. The first question of the forum asked presenters how their chosen careers bring them close to the salmon habitat. Mueller discussed how spending a lot of his time looking at maps brings him close to salmon. “Let’s say we’re talking about the next landfill for the Kenai Peninsula Borough,” Mueller said. “Where does that go? To really tackle that question, you got to look at how wa-
Panelists Patti Berkhahn, Branden Bornemann, Sue Mauger and Marcus Mueller discuss all things salmon at a forum put on by Cook Inletkeeper on Thursday in Soldotna. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
ter moves across the landscape: the watersheds. One of the really important connections that I find, I find through maps. To see those spatial relationships and to see that wherever we’re at, we are in a watershed.”
Mauger said she intersects with salmon habitat at her job through working with scientists, working with decision makers and conservation groups. Bornemann told a story
about one of his first experiences mapping salmon habitat for the Watershed Forum. “I was in hip boots at the time, walking alone through the Beaver Creek watershed up See FORUM, page A2
Skepticism at Roadless Rule meeting By KEVIN GULLUFSEN Juneau Empire
It’ll take about two years for U.S. Forest Service managers to craft an Alaska-specific version of the national Roadless Rule, which prohibits the building of roads on 9.2 million acres — or about 55 percent — of the Tongass National Forest. That process started Thursday night with the first of a series of informational public meetings. What the final rule will look like, and if more public lands will be opened up to roads, will depend in part from what the public wants, according to Chris French, the acting deputy chief of the National Forest System. French led the meeting and spoke about how a new rule would be formed. Alaska’s rule will be shaped by three parts: public comment submitted to the Forest Service and consultation with the state of Alaska and tribes. Though Alaska has two national forests, the Chugach and Tongass, the new rule would apply to the
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Tongass only, a request the state made, French said. Though U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will have final say over a state-specific rule, written public comments (due Oct. 15) will be “huge” in determining how much more land will be opened to road construction and logging, French said. “our overall intent is ased on what we receive in those comments,” French said. About 75 people showed up to the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall for the evening meeting Thursday. Many wore green stickers which read “Keep Roadless in the Tongass.” Those were handed out by Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, a Juneau nonprofit environmental advocacy group. SEACC is working to keep the new rule as close to the national rule as possible, said Executive Director Meredith Trainor. She’s hopeful that the Forest Service will come up with a new rule nearly identical to the old one. “What’s striking is that I don’t think Southeast Alas-
kans really want this. We don’t want to spend our time on another process like this,” Trainor said. David Albert attended the meeting wearing one of SEACC’s stickers. Like several who attended the meeting, Albert was skeptical of the process. He said the crafting of a new rule “smacks of political opportunism.” Perdue has sided with the state of Alaska and Alaska’s Congressional
Delegation in their opposition to roadless protections on the Tongass. Albert is worried that a new rule might be rushed through by state officials who are sympathetic to logging industry interests. That industry, he said, would harm Southeast fishing and tourism. “Timber is important in this region, but it’s just one of the pieces. Fisheries are more important. Tourism is more See RULE, page A2
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A 10-year-old girl has been found dead Friday, authorities said, more than a week after she was reported missing in a remote Inupiat Eskimo town on Alaska’s northwestern coast. Ashley Johnson-Barr’s remains were found east of Kotzebue, Alaska State Troopers said. Late Friday night, FBI spokeswoman Staci FegerPellessier said that 41-year-old Peter Wilson of Kotzebue is facing charges of making false statements to a federal agent investigating the girl’s death. Wilson is being transferred to Anchorage, Feger-Pellessier said. The girl was last seen playing with friends at a local park Sept. 6. Her cellphone was later found a half mile from Rainbow Park, in the opposite direction of her home in the community of 3,100 people. The search included assistance from 17 FBI agents earlier this week. Troopers spokesman Jonathon Taylor says five of the agents left Kotzebue Thursday for other assignments. The Alaska State Troopers are the lead agency in the case. No other information about the discovery of her body was immediately released. Kotzebue, 26 miles north of the Arctic Circle and 550 miles northwest of Anchorage, is a regional hub for northwest Alaska villages. The town is built on a 3-mile-long spit, and many there live a subsistence lifestyle far off the state’s limited road system, with 26 miles of local gravel roads used by vehicles in warmer months and snowmobiles in winter. The community has a chronically high unemployment rate, with the school district, state and local hospital among its major employers. On Wednesday evening, dozens of locals gathered at Rainbow Park to pray and share hugs and tears over the missing girl, an honor student, Anchorage television station KTUU reported. The girl’s father, Walter “Scotty” Barr, told KTUU TV in Kotzebue on Wednesday that he didn’t know about the prayer gathering beforehand. “It goes to show the love of the community and everyone who has helped,” he said.
Officials apologize to 1907 cabin, imperiled by Alaska Natives for bird regs erosion, returns home
ANCHORAGE (AP) — State and federal wildlife offiMore weather on page A10 cials have apologized to Alaska Natives for the enforcement of migratory bird regulations that failed to consider the effects on subsistence practices. The Alaska Department of ‘I categorically and Fish and Game and the U.S. unequivocally deny Fish and Wildlife Service isthis allegation.’ sued the apology Thursday for ... See page A5 the consequences of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibited the spring and summer harvests of migratory birds and their eggs during its impleCheck us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com mentation in the 1960s and 1970s, KTVA-TV reported . To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Inside
National Forest System Acting Deputy Chief Chris French speaks at a public informational meeting on Thursday on development of an Alaska-specific version of the national Roadless Rule. (Kevin Gullufsen | Juneau Empire)
Troopers: Missing 10-year-old Alaska girl found dead
The prohibition caused Alaska Natives to lose an important food source, prompting many to hunt illegally to feed their families, the agencies said. “We recognize that the regulations were wrong, that they prohibited hunting of migratory birds when you needed it most during the springtime,” said Sam Cotten, the Alaska Fish and Game commissioner. “We got it wrong, we regret that we caused harm. We realize now that it was a wrong regulation to have in place, so See BIRD, page A2
BIG DELTA — The Tanana River now passes harmlessly by the 1907 telegraph cabin that was previously threatened by erosion here in Big Delta State Historical Park. The cabin was moved back to its original home this summer after a crowdfunding project last year helped pay riverbank reinforcement. “It seems to be holding up really well,” said Brooks Ludwig, northern region superintendent for Alaska State Parks. The telegraph cabin is one of 14 historical (some original and some replica) buildings in
this 10-acre park near where the Richardson Highway crosses the Tanana River north of Delta Junction. The early 20th century buildings, including the three-story Rika’s Roadhouse built in 1913, document the location as a Tanana River crossing ferry base on the Fairbanks-Valdez trail, the site of several failed wooden bridges, a roadhouse and a station for the Washington Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System. With mountain snowmelt over for the season, the river See CABIN, page A2