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The sun shines on the Kenai Mountains in Turnagain Arm on Saturday, July 9, 2022 near Anchorage, Alaska. (Ashlyn O'Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Out of the Office: Simple gifts

It’s always humbling to be reminded of what we take for granted in this life.

Fishermen young and old try their luck at the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon on June 4, 2020, on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Sports

Reeling ‘Em In: Heads up: Silvers are sneakin’ into the hole

‘Heads up’

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

Sports

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…

Nick Varney

Sports

Reeling ‘Em In: Check out cleaning tables for fishing action

The Spit was rockin’ last weekend

Thereճ a lot of buzz around fireweed. A diversity of pollinators visit the flowers. (Photo by Katrina Liebich/USFWS)

Sports

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…

Mount Marathon, seen July 4, 2022, in Seward, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Out of the Office: Keeping Mount Marathon Race local

How does the Mount Marathon Race stay local?

People in an inflatable kayak fish off the end of the Homer Spit on Thursday, June 23, 2022, in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Sports

Reeling ‘Em In: Fishing gets exciting with snagging opener

Southern Peninsula fishing reports and updates for the week of June 28

"Doing our part to be bear smart" keeps bears behaving naturally on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Photo taken with a 600mm zoom lens. (Photo by Colin Canterbury/FWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: It takes a village to keep bears wild on the Kenai

It has been a while since I have been up close and personal with a bear. It happened…

The Sterling Highway crosses the Kenai River near the Russian River Campground on March 15, 2020, near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

News

1-year Russian River Campground closure starts Aug. 15

The closure will allow extensive construction work to take place

Anna and I in Seward, Alaska, on June 9, 2022 after waiting in Cooper Landing for almost three hours.

Sports

Out of the Office: Time well spent

There really only seem to be two seasons in Alaska: winter season and construction season.

Nick Varney

Sports

Reeling ‘Em In: Kings acting ‘a bit schizoid’

It’s hard to tell what’s worse: thieving seals or *%$@#0# snaggers

A moose browsing on birch on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Colin Canterbury/FWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Moose and pizza: A matter of taste?

Special note from Kris Inman, refuge supervisory wildlife biologist: From time to time, we look back at previous…

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)

Sports

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…

A fisherman catches a salmon in the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon before the tide washed in on June 25, 2021, in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Sarah Knapp/Homer News)

News

Reeling ‘Em In: River closures means best fishing is by the sea

It’s time now to take and look at the fishing report for the week of June 14, 2022

Hikers walk along the Ptarmigan Lake trail on Sunday, May 22, 2022 near Seward, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Out of the Office: Coming back together

Maybe it’s the sunshine or maybe it’s the revival of activities that were shuttered during COVID, but the…

A brown bear. (Photo by Tim Bowman/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Drilling down into bear dentition — A (safe) look into the mouth of Alaska’s bears

What comes to mind when you think of bears? Smokey? Losing the playoffs? What about teeth?

Nick Varney

Sports

Reeling ‘Em In: ‘Skunked’ continues to be the operative word

Kings starting to dribble in at the fishin’ hole

Pollen collects on the beak of a female rufous hummingbird and is transferred from flower to flower. (Photo by T. Eskelin, USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Only warm-blooded pollinator on peninsula has wings, will travel

This past weekend I participated in the Summer Hummingbird Days event hosted by the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.…

Nick Varney

Sports

Reeling ‘Em In: Memorial Day weekend brought sunny weather, but not a lot of bites

Look to Ninilchik River for best hatchery chinooks

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.

Sports

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…