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A snowmachine at rest in front of the Snag Lake public use cabin. (Photo provided by USFWS)

Sports

Preparedness is key to staying safe in the backcountry

If you spend any time in the backcountry it’s bound to happen: an ankle sprain halfway into a…

Till Lauer

Sports

Tangled Up in Blue: Marathon Training

I want to brag for a second, although my self-deprecating side would argue this whole column is just…

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge staff groom Marsh Lake Trail for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. (Photo provided by USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: When life gives you lemons, make a trail

The cross-country ski trails adjacent to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters and Visitor Center at the top…

The author gets warm with a mask at Alaska’s Matanuska Glacier on Sunday, March 7, 20201. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Out of the Office: Warming up to masks

A March 3 lead paragraph in a news story in The New York Times asked, “When can I…

Blood stars (top left) and leather stars (top right) were less impacted by the disease and are more likely to be seen today. Sunflower sea stars (bottom left), mottled sea stars (lower center, this one showing symptoms of disease) and ochre sea stars (lower right) used to be common, but were most affected by the disease and have become more rare. (Photos courtesy of Mandy Lindeberg, NOAA, and Brenda Konar, University of Alaska Fairbanks)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: The fall of sea stars

Sea stars are a keystone species. As a top predator, they can restructure intertidal communities. For example, by…

Patrick Lewis and Kenzie Barnwell ski the trails in Anchorage, Alaska, on Feb. 7, 2021. (Photo by Kat Sorensen)

Sports

Tangled Up in Blue: Ski season

Nordic skiing has been a great equalizer for me this winter. I often spend my days doing laps…

A young beaver enjoys a willow branch snack on a pond in the Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area. (Photo by Colin Canterbury, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Leave it to beavers

I was skiing along a lake in the canoe system on a clear, cold winter day, enjoying the…

Howard Mamou shovels snow at the Glennwood in Hutto, Texas, Tuesday, Feb 16, 2021. The worst U.S. power outages were in Texas, affecting more than 2 million homes and businesses. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP) Howard Mamou shovels snow at the Glennwood in Hutto, Texas, Tuesday, Feb 16, 2021. The worst U.S. power outages were in Texas, affecting more than 2 million homes and businesses. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

Sports

Tangled Up in Blue: A lot of snow

There’s a lot of snow out there.

A day on Kachemak Bay (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Out of the Office: Water taxi talking

Reporters spend a lot of time talking to people: people they don’t know, people they do know, people…

Salt marshes are important food sources for brown bears. As we see an earlier start to the growing season or increased plant growth, bears will likely benefit from them even more. (Photo by Michael Hannam/NPS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Could bears benefit from changing coastal marshes?

Flying over the Cook Inlet coast, you can look down and see expansive salt marshes where mountain rivers…

There are plenty of ways to travel in the winter. The author is seen here Nordic skating on Trail Lake in Moose Pass, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Kat Sorensen)

Sports

Tangled Up in Blue: 29 years

For my 17th birthday I received a pair of figure skates that are probably collecting dust somewhere. My…

American poet Amanda Gorman reads a poem during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)

Sports

Tangled Up in Blue: Speckled purple

I woke up in the morning to NPR on Wednesday morning highlighting the importance of the color purple.

Predaceous flatworms hide under leaves by day in a spring near Soldotna Airport on Dec. 21, 2017. At night they hunt for other invertebrates. (Photo by Matt Bowser/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Life in Kenai Peninsula freshwater springs

I like winter. I really do. The cold and the dark don’t wear on me too much as…

Fletcher runs through the snow on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021, on Diamond Ridge near Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Sports

Out of the Office: How all the dogs in my life have kept me sane and happy

From Ginny to Fletcher and all the dogs in between, furry companions provide friendship, healing.

A fish friendly culvert in Alaska. (Photo by Katrina Liebich/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: What’s your number? Mine is 5

Have you ever considered how many salmon streams you cross on your daily drive to work, school or…

Lost Lake Trail, winter route. May 16, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Tangled Up in Blue: Clearing my head

I set out for a run in the afternoon to clear my head. It was this past Wednesday,…

Biological intern Annaleese Rasanen surveys severely burned alpine shrub tundra within the Swan Lake Fire burn July 27, 2020. (Photo by Matt Bowser/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: A refuge manager’s perspective on 2020

A friend and colleague recently sent me a list of “things to consider” as 2020 drew to a…

The author looks across Eklutna Lake on Monday, Dec. 28, 2020 near Eagle River, Alaska. (Photo by Tim Rockey)

Sports

Out of the Office: Good riddance

When I first saw my turn in the rotating schedule for writing this column would fall on New…

A tractor with the Anchor Point Tractor Launch pulls a fishing boat out of the water on Saturday, June 20, 2020, at the beach in Anchor Point, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

News

State seeks proposals for local campground management

State Parks extends deadline for bids to provide boat launch service at Deep Creek, Anchor River

Bottenintnin Lake, Nov. 24, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Out of the Office: More questions than answers

The only place life makes sense anymore is the outdoors.