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Vol. 49, Issue 195
Murkowski gets federal funds for fight against spruce bark beetle By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Alaska Division of Forestry will receive federal money to help combat spruce bark beetle infestations. Sen. Lisa Murkowski addressed spruce bark beetle infestations during a subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., where she questioned U.S. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen on the beetle epidemic in Southcentral Alaska, a press release from Murkowski said. “The spruce bark beetle is back in Alaska and on steroids this time,” Murkowski said. “About 15 years ago, they decimated the Kenai Peninsula and are now moving into the Mat-Su Valley. One of the problems with the beetle is it destroys the health of the tree and makes them more vulnerable to fire. Yet, the [Fiscal Year 2020] budget proposes a 25% cut to the Forest Service Bark Beetle Initiative. There are private lands right next to your lands; the bugs don’t care.” The Forest Service’s Bark Beetle Initiative assists with insect outbreak monitoring and mitigation. At the hearing, Christiansen announced the U.S. Forest Service would be transferring $2 million in carryover funds from the agency’s State and Private Forestry accounts over to the Alaska Division of Forestry to help curtail the beetle spread accelerating in Alaska over the last three years. During the 1990s, the spruce beetle epidemic affected more than 1.3 million acres statewide. Since 2010, that area has grown to 6 million acres, according to the Alaska Division of Forestry. Since the mid-1970s, beetles have destroyed mature spruce trees on 1.2 million acres of the Kenai Peninsula — about 50% of the peninsula’s forested land, according to the Alaska Division of Forestry. The beetles are active in the summer months, when they emerge from infested trees to new host trees, where they feed and breed. The $2 million will be used to remove hazard trees and build fuel breaks in Alaska, the press release said.
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‘It’s a slam dunk’ Peninsula lawmakers weigh in on crime bill By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
The Alaska Legislature may have finally come to a consensus on one of their top priorities this session, although it has come long after the eleventh hour. After several weeks of debate, a final version of HB 49 — seen as a sweeping repeal-andreplace of the controversial SB 91 crime bill enacted several years ago — is being drafted by a conference committee that sought to reconcile the differences between the House and the Senate’s version of the legislation. The Senate’s version of the bill, which passed the Senate unanimously, was seen as tougher on crime than the House’s version, but was rejected by the House 18-22 on Tuesday. Wednesday was the last day of regular session for legislators, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared a special
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Strike on table for school district staff By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Matt Claman, D-Anchorage, and Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage, and three senators, Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, Mike
School district employees are considering a strike after contract negotiations were left unresolved Thursday afternoon. Since May 8, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District and two employee associations, Kenai Peninsula Education Association and Kenai Peninsula Education Support Association, have been negotiating a contract in several collective bargaining meetings. Thursday’s session ended with no contract, and no plans for further meetings. “Negotiations between teachers and classified school employees, including classroom paraeducators, custodians, secretaries, nurses and food service staff working for the Kenai Peninsula Borough
See BILL page A2
See STRIKE, page A3
Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, listens to testimony in Juneau in this undated photo. (Photo courtesy of Peter Micciche)
session Wednesday evening to give legislators more time to deal with the crime bill, as well as issues surrounding the budget and the Alaska
Permanent Fund dividend. The conference committee for HB 49 consisted of three House members, Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage,
Artist, community to collaborate on crane sculpture By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
This Saturday, peninsula residents will have the opportunity to make their mark on the history of Kenai — literally. A 6-foot-tall sandhill crane statue is currently being sculpted by local artist Christina Demetro, and she will be bringing the statue to the Kenai and Soldotna libraries on Saturday so that anyone who is interested can collaborate on the sculpture by adding clay to the wings and head of the bird. People will also have the opportunity to write haikus, some of which will be included on the finished product. That Peace Crane statue will eventually be cast in bronze and placed in the Shimai Toshi Garden Trails, a Japanese Garden that will be the first of its kind in Alaska. The Shimai Toshi Garden Trails is a proposed Japanese garden that sprung from a story of resiliency. Sarah Pyhala, the president of the Shimai Toshi Garden group, said that the idea first came to her
Artist Christina Demetro, left, and Shimai Toshi Garden Trails President Sarah Pyhala show off a rough model of Demetro’s 6-foot crane statue at Coffee Roasters in Soldotna on Wednesday. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
and her husband Matthew in February of 2018. While attending a Rotary conference on environmental sustain-
ability, Pyhala learned of an organization that harvests seeds collected from plants that survived the 1945 atom-
ic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. Pyhala was able to obtain ginkgo and hackberry seeds, and as of now she has
managed to get one of the ginkgo trees and three hackberry trees to sprout. The trees where the seeds came from were less than 1,200 meters from ground zero of the atomic bomb, but have managed to survive to this day. After acquiring the seeds, Pyhala began looking at possible locations for a Japanese garden in Kenai. While not officially part of the Sister City Program that connects Kenai with Akita, Japan, Pyhala wanted to formally recognize the relationship with a public garden — Shimai Toshi is Japanese for “sister city” — while also providing a therapeutic space for people on the peninsula. The ginkgo, hackberry and newly acquired persimmon plants that are currently under grow lights at Pyhala’s house will be planted in the garden along with other native Alaskan plants. Pyhala hasn’t found the perfect spot yet, but she is hopeful that by September her group will have the locaSee CRANE, page A3
Special session comes with hefty price tag By Alex McCarthy Juneau Empire
The Alaska Legislature launched into a special session Thursday, giving lawmakers 30 more days to get their jobs done. The special session could end up costing just over a million dollars, according to
estimates from the Legislative Affairs Agency. The number is unlikely to rise quite that high, though, because the Legislature has yet to pass a budget — meaning that lawmakers’ per diems are cut off. If the Legislature goes the full 30-day session without passing a budget (and without legislators collecting their
$302 per day per diem), the special session would cost $532,000, according to LAA’s estimate. LAA Executive Director Jessica Geary explained in a phone interview Thursday that special sessions usually cost about $30,000 per day. Contingency funds for a special session are already
in the Legislature’s budget, Geary said, and there’s about $700,000 set aside. Geary said that funding a special session will not take away from other state services. If the Legislature needs more than that, it will come out of the Legislature’s operating budget, Geary said. If a
second special session pushes past June 30 (the end of the fiscal year), then the Legislature would have to pull from the 2020 legislative operating budget. “I’m hopeful, as I’m sure everyone else is, that they’ll be able to get a budget passed fairly quickly,” Geary said. See PRICE, page A2
Central peninsula to get spring cleaning By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
Spring is in full swing, with cleanups taking place across the central peninsula. Kenai Parks and Recreation is hosting a Kenai Community Clean Up on Saturday, May 18 starting at 10 a.m. The cleanup will start at the Kenai greenstrip, at 400 Main Street Loop. Parks and Rec will pro-
vide bags for the cleanup. Participants are asked to return their filled bags to the greenstrip by noon Saturday for a chance to win prizes. Drawings for prizes will take place at 12:15 p.m. for participants of all ages, but they must be present to win. Lunch and drinks will be provided at noon by Kenai Lions Club and Parks and Rec. In Nikiski, the Nikiski Community Council and
Nikiski Rec Center have teamed up with Alaska Waste for a weeklong cleanup that will be coming to an end on May 19. Alaska Waste will pick up the cleanup bags on May 20 from the highways along Nikiski. Volunteers can get their designated cleanup bags at the Nikiski Rec Center and enter for a drawing, which will be held at the annual Family Fun in the Midnight Sun event on June 15.
Kenai will also be hosting cleanups all summer long through the TRASHercise Lunches. “The city of Kenai is sponsoring a series of lunch time hikes with the purpose of cleaning up our city and getting some exercise at the same time,” according to the city. “Please join us as we enjoy our beautiful city and help keep our community clean at the same time.” The TRASHercise
events will be held from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. on different dates until October. The city will provide gloves and bags. The first TRASHercise will meet at 120 Main Streep Loop on May 23. On June 13, they’ll meet at Daubenspeck Family Park, June 27 at Kenai North Beach and July 11 in front of Paradisos. For a full calendar of TRASHercise events, call 907-283-8262 or 907-2828235.