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Vol. 49, Issue 252
In the news
3 found dead in glacer lake identified VALDEZ — Authorities have released the identities of three people found dead in the icy waters of a glacier-fed lake. The City of Valdez says among the dead were a German couple, Dr. Albercht Paul Thomas Schroder-Schroer and Maria Elisabeth Schroer, and a recreational guide, Austrian Manfred Brida. The three were found Tuesday in the water near the toe of the Valdez Glacier, about 100 miles east of Anchorage. One body has significant head trauma. City spokeswoman Sheri Pierce says the glacier is calving, or shedding ice. She says if the glacier released, it could cause significant trauma. The bodies have been transported to the state medical examiner’s office to determine the cause of death. Foul play isn’t suspected.
Hiking
High temps cause massive Greeland ice loss
Taking time for Tutka Backdoor Trail
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68/54 More weather, Page A2
W of 1 inner Awa0* 201 Exc rds fo 8 e r Rep llence i o n rt * Ala ska P i n g ! res
CLARION P E N I N S U L A
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Friday-Saturday, August 2-3, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Uncertainty reigns on campus Budget cuts have Kenai Peninsula College and the UAF Cooperative Extension Service considering their options. By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
Students at the Kenai Peninsula College will resume classes Aug. 26, despite uncertainty with the state budget. Director of the college, Gary Turner, said there is a lot up in the air right now involving the budget, and where the central peninsula’s community campus stands. “We’re waiting to see action from the Board of Regents,” Turner said. “We really want answers, but we’re being patient with the processes.”
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension, which has a large presence on the Kenai Peninsula, also faces uncertainty amid state budget reductions. “(Budget reductions) will undoubtedly diminish services,” Milan Shipka, director of the UAF Cooperative Extension Service, said. “You can’t take a cut like that without services being reduced.” At this time, Shipka said it’s impossible to say what the effects of the budget cuts will be. He said the extension
service receives some money from the United States Department of Agriculture, but that money normally requires a match of state appropriation. “We can’t accept USDA money without the match,” Shipka said. “We may wind up with a larger reduction than others. It’s going to be noticeable.” The cooperative extension supports agricultural resources on the Kenai Peninsula, including 4-H groups, public agricultural material resources for local growers and farmers and resources for peony farmers, among other services. “With a few people, we cover a very broad swath of information needs on the
John Davies, chairman of the University of Alaska Board of Regents, speaks at a regents meeting, Tuesday, in Anchorage. (AP Photo/Dan Joling)
Kenai Peninsula,” Shipka said. “From what I hear, people are grateful for it.” Shipka said whatever resources the cooperative extension receives will go to
Peninsula Clarion
Brian Mazurek / Peninsula Clarion
The Nikiski Fire Department’s dive team poses for a photo at the Nikiski Fire Station #1 in Nikiski on Monday. From left: Angie Smith, TJ Cox, Kassidy Stock, Bryan Crisp, Stephen Robertson, Tyler Smith and Matt Quiner. Not present: Kole McCaughey.
Always ready, proud to dive
SITKA — A health care business group is preparing for the completion of a merger with an Alaska hospital system, officials said. Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium was expected to finalize its merger with Sitka Community Hospital Thursday, The Daily Sitka Sentinel reported Wednesday. “It’s ending with a whimper, not a bang,” said Rob Allen, outgoing CEO of Sitka Community Hospital. — Associated Press
It’s been a busy month for the dive team of the Nikiski Fire Department. In July, the dive team was called out to assist in two major operations: the recovery of a woman who drowned while swimming in the Moose River, and the retrieval of a potential murder weapon in the Kenai River. The Clarion sat down with members of the dive team on Monday to talk about those operations and to learn more about the training it takes to become a public safety diver. Eight of Nikiski’s firefighters and engineers make
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See campus, Page A3
By Brian Mazurek
Nikiski Fire Department’s dive team talks training and recent operations
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offer the best service the organization can. On Tuesday, the University of Alaska Board of Regents
Wildfire abates; trails, cabins reopen
Health care group completing hospital merger
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4-year-old finds gun, shoots self ANCHORAGE — A 4-year-old girl suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound from a handgun left out for bear protection at an Alaska home. Anchorage police said the girl on Wednesday morning was visiting a home in Eagle River. The loaded handgun had been left on a kitchen counter out of concern for bears. The child was shot in the upper body and taken to an Anchorage hospital. Police say she is expected to survive. An adult and several other children were in the home when the girl was shot. Police say the case is under investigation.
Partly sunny
By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
up the dive team: Kassidy Stock, Matt Quiner, TJ Cox, Stephen Robertson, Tyler Smith, Angie Smith, Kole McCaughey and Bryan Crisp. Crisp is the department’s current fire chief, and said that even though the dive team has been a part of the department since the 1980s, it was only recently that the team became what it is today. In 2015, Crisp was tasked by former Chief James Baisden to revamp the dive program from top to bottom and bring it into compliance with state regulations. Crisp and Robertson went to work acquiring all new diving equipment, and at
the same time they decided to get Robertson certified as a trainer. Robertson said that they knew they would be training a number of people once the team was back in operation, so giving him the capacity to fully train and certify all the new recruits would save the department a lot of time and money in the long run. Under Robertson’s instruction, all of the Nikiski divers are fully certified public safety divers and have each completed about 50 dives over two years of training. Angie Smith said that she has always wanted to be a diver. Smith grew up
swimming in Alaska lakes and was pushing to be on the dive team as soon as she started volunteering at the department. Smith participated in some of the preliminary training while still a volunteer, and once she got hired on full time she was able to finish her certifications. “I still haven’t done any diving in warm water, which might ruin Alaska for me,” Smith said. Her husband, Tyler Smith, said that he joined the team as a way to challenge himself and learn a new skill. Smith admitted See dive, Page A3
As fire crews wrap up their containment efforts for the Swan Lake Fire, the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and the Chugach National Forest have reopened several trails, cabins and campgrounds for public use. On July 31, the Chugach National Forest lifted the emergency closure for Resurrection Trail, and all cabins along the trail except the Swan Lake cabin on West Swan Lake are available for rent. The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge has reopened the Skyline and Fuller Lakes Trails as of Aug. 1 after closing them for public safety and fire operations last month. Recreational visitors are encouraged to use caution when accessing these trails, especially in upper elevations where the Swan Lake Fire remains active. The Watson Lake, Peterson Lake, and Kelly Lake Campgrounds have reopened as of July 31. Mystery Creek Road and the Trapper Joe and Big Indian public use cabins remain closed to all public access. These closures will remain in effect until Aug. 31 unless rescinded earlier or extended for cause. For more information about the fire, call 208-391-3488.
Walruses appear early on shore as sea ice recedes By Dan Joling Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — Thousands of Pacific walruses have come to shore off the northwest coast of Alaska in their earliest appearance since sea ice has substantially receded. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage received a report that
several thousand walruses were gathered Tuesday on the barrier island off the coast of Point Lay, a Chukchi Sea village of 215 about 700 miles northwest of Anchorage, spokeswoman Andrea Medeiros said. “This is the earliest date that large numbers of walruses have been confirmed on shore at Point Lay,” she said in an email
response to questions, and the first time a herd has been seen as early as July. Sea ice along northern Alaska disappeared far earlier than normal this spring as a result of exceptionally warm ocean temperatures. Since 1981, an area more than double the size of Texas — 610,000 square miles — has become unavailable to Arctic marine mammals by
summer’s end, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Mature male walruses spent summers in the Bering Sea. Females and their young migrate north in spring, following the ice edge as it recedes into the Chukchi Sea. Sea ice allows immature walruses to rest as their mothers dive over the shallow continental shelf to eat
clams and snails. However, when ice recedes beyond the shelf over water more than 10,000 feet deep, walruses are forced to beaches to rest in Alaska and Russia. Federal biologists have documented herds as large as 40,000 animals in recent years. Young walruses are See walrus, Page A2