Search Results for: swan lake fire

Gail and Bill smile from their summer volunteer position at the Refuge Visitor Center front desk. (Photo provided by refuge)

Refuge Notebook: A salmon in the freezer and a moose on the porch

There’s a moose on our patio and a bear near our RV steps. Life can be an adventure as a volunteer host. As we write… Continue reading

Gail and Bill smile from their summer volunteer position at the Refuge Visitor Center front desk. (Photo provided by refuge)
The Alaska State Department of Natural Resources is rescinding the emergency burn suspension for these areas on Thursday, July 14, 2022, citing a decrease in fire danger from recent rain showers. (Image via DNR)

Burn closure to be lifted Thursday

The Alaska State Department of Natural Resources is rescinding the emergency burn closure for campfires on Thursday, citing a decrease in fire danger from recent… Continue reading

The Alaska State Department of Natural Resources is rescinding the emergency burn suspension for these areas on Thursday, July 14, 2022, citing a decrease in fire danger from recent rain showers. (Image via DNR)
Thereճ a lot of buzz around fireweed. A diversity of pollinators visit the flowers. (Photo by Katrina Liebich/USFWS)

Refuge Notebook: Fireweed shows Alaska’s summer clock is ticking

Alaska’s short, sweet summer is usually in full swing by the time you really notice it. “Better hurry and enjoy it,” the fireweed says as… Continue reading

Thereճ a lot of buzz around fireweed. A diversity of pollinators visit the flowers. (Photo by Katrina Liebich/USFWS)
The sun is seen shining above the Kenai River in Soldotna, Alaska, on July 14, 2020. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clario file)

When the temperature hits 70, Alaskans feel the heat — and start suffering health ills

Acclimatization, the angle of the sun at high latitudes and other factors make summer heat more intense in Alaska

  • Jul 1, 2022
  • By Yereth Rosen Alaska Beacon
  • State News
The sun is seen shining above the Kenai River in Soldotna, Alaska, on July 14, 2020. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clario file)
Hannah Lafleur of Seward defends her title in the women’s Mount Marathon Race in Seward, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 7, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Full Mount Marathon party is back on in Seward

The Mount Marathon Race in Seward is back and better than ever for its 94th running Monday. Sounds more like advertising copy than a lead… Continue reading

Hannah Lafleur of Seward defends her title in the women’s Mount Marathon Race in Seward, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 7, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
The scenery on the drive from Homer to Anchorage ranges from beautiful to awe inspiring, like Turnagain Pass on the Kenai Peninsula, as seen here on Sunday, May 22, 2022. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Out of the Office: Road trippin’

You know how you’ve done something so long and so often it becomes routine, and yet it still can amaze you? Traveling to Anchorage and… Continue reading

The scenery on the drive from Homer to Anchorage ranges from beautiful to awe inspiring, like Turnagain Pass on the Kenai Peninsula, as seen here on Sunday, May 22, 2022. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
There are two photos of Mystery Creek plots burned by Swan Lake. This plot was only burned by the Swan Lake Fire and has blackened duff with variable depth of burn, low shrubs resprouting from surviving roots, and other plants seeded in since the fire. Photos were taken in 2021.

Refuge Notebook: Swan Lake Fire — A burn severity story

If you live in Southcentral Alaska, there’s a good chance you’ve driven or hiked through the 2019 Swan Lake Fire. If you’re like me, maybe… Continue reading

There are two photos of Mystery Creek plots burned by Swan Lake. This plot was only burned by the Swan Lake Fire and has blackened duff with variable depth of burn, low shrubs resprouting from surviving roots, and other plants seeded in since the fire. Photos were taken in 2021.
A spruce bark beetle is seen on the underside of a piece of bark taken from logs stacked near Central Peninsula Landfill on Thursday, July 1, 2021, near Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Emergency harvest of beetle-killed spruce trees approved

The move comes amid an infestation that has spread across Southcentral Alaska

A spruce bark beetle is seen on the underside of a piece of bark taken from logs stacked near Central Peninsula Landfill on Thursday, July 1, 2021, near Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Central High School graduates throw caps at the end of their commencement ceremony on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

‘Make a great life’

Kenai Central High School graduates more than 75 students

Kenai Central High School graduates throw caps at the end of their commencement ceremony on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
A hiker takes in the view of Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Joseph Suarez/USFWS)

Refuge Notebook: Let’s go! Camping, fishing, hiking, hunting, EVERYTHING!

Do you feel it? A hum of anticipation has been getting stronger and stronger as the snow piles melted down smaller and smaller into muddy… Continue reading

A hiker takes in the view of Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Joseph Suarez/USFWS)
Installation of culverts in Kelly Lake Road. (Photo provided by FWS)

Refuge Notebook: More than fins, feathers and fur

In the fall of 2010, I found a job opening listed through USAJobs, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at a location in Soldotna,… Continue reading

Installation of culverts in Kelly Lake Road. (Photo provided by FWS)
The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge trails in Soldotna, Alaska, are still covered with snow on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Refuge trails emerge from winter

It’s officially the end of the groomed winter trail season

The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge trails in Soldotna, Alaska, are still covered with snow on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
Alaska State Troopers logo.
Alaska State Troopers logo.
A beautiful Arctic char caught while ice fishing on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Nate Perrine)

Refuge Notebook: Winter camping and ice fishing on the refuge

When people think of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, chances are the first thing that comes to mind is salmon fishing or some other activity… Continue reading

A beautiful Arctic char caught while ice fishing on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Nate Perrine)
Kenai Peninsula Borough Land Management Agent Dakota Truitt presents the borough’s new timber harvesting program to the Kenai Peninsula Borough assembly on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Borough proposes timber sale, forest plans as part of spruce bark beetle mitigation

The program was presented to the Kenai Peninsula Borough assembly Tuesday

Kenai Peninsula Borough Land Management Agent Dakota Truitt presents the borough’s new timber harvesting program to the Kenai Peninsula Borough assembly on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Moose, the impetus, for David Spencerճ start on the Kenai National Moose Range. (Photo by C. Canterbury/FWS)

Refuge Notebook: Introduction to David Spencer, 1st manager of Kenai National Moose Range

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Kenai National Moose Range. Today this nearly 2-million-acre tract of public land is known as the Kenai… Continue reading

Moose, the impetus, for David Spencerճ start on the Kenai National Moose Range. (Photo by C. Canterbury/FWS)
This 1940s-era image is one of few early photographs of Cliff House, which once stood near the head of Tustumena Lake. (Photo courtesy of the Secora Collection)

Twists and turns in the history of Cliff House — Part 1

Here, then, is the story of Cliff House, as least as I know it now.

This 1940s-era image is one of few early photographs of Cliff House, which once stood near the head of Tustumena Lake. (Photo courtesy of the Secora Collection)
A flowering roundleaf orchid (Galearis rotundifolia). A splash of bright color on a green ground cover. (Photo by Samuel Artaiz/USFWS)

Refuge Notebook: A needle in a peatland haystack

Touching down, we could feel the widened skids sink, yet securely, on what was a soggy layer of peat. With a nod from the pilot,… Continue reading

A flowering roundleaf orchid (Galearis rotundifolia). A splash of bright color on a green ground cover. (Photo by Samuel Artaiz/USFWS)
Student Conservation Association trail crews work on adding trail to Burneyճ Trail in the Skilak Lake Recreation Area. (Photo by Lee Dudak/SCA)

Refuge Notebook: Getting a boost from SCA trail crews

This past summer, the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge saw the benefit from four additional trail crews provided by the Student Conservation Association. The SCA crews… Continue reading

Student Conservation Association trail crews work on adding trail to Burneyճ Trail in the Skilak Lake Recreation Area. (Photo by Lee Dudak/SCA)
A visual picture of profound change in the alpine plant community post-2019 Swan Lake Fire. This picture is from 2021, two years after the fire. (Photo by Matt Bowser/USFWS)

Refuge Notebook: Swan Lake Fire update: How are plant communities doing?

By HEIDI HELLING Kenai National Wildlife Refuge What can we learn from the Swan Lake Fire that burned over 167,000 acres in 2019? Large areas… Continue reading

A visual picture of profound change in the alpine plant community post-2019 Swan Lake Fire. This picture is from 2021, two years after the fire. (Photo by Matt Bowser/USFWS)