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Winter is the time for fuel break projects. (Photo by Jeff Bouschor/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: What do wildland firefighters do in the winter?

Most people do not think about wildfires during the winter months, but the fire management program at the…

Me working in the Alaska House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 in Juneau, Alaska. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)

Sports

Out of the Office: Juneau

It was kind of happenstance that I spent the last month living and working in Juneau.

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

Russian River Campground closed for construction

The campground is expected to reopen on June 2

Example of a culvert blocked by natural materials on Port Graham Road. (Photo by Sarah Apsens/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Connecting fish and community to resources in Port Graham

Streams that baby salmon live in provide shelter from predators, food and conditions for optimal growth

Jake Dye's pair of second-hand snowshoes rest in a snowberm near Soldotna, Alaska, on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Out of the Office: Frozen by indecision

In video games, there’s often a defined pathway for progression — a direct, prescribed set of challenges meant…

Clouds cover the beach at Lowell Point State Recreation Site on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, near Seward, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Alaska State Parks recruiting for local citizen advisory boards

Applications are due March 4

Ralph Mills clears the finish line in first place during the Men’s Main Event race as part of Kenai Peninsula Ice Racing at the Decanter Inn in Kasilof, Alaska, on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Engines on ice

Peninsula ice racers continue winter tradition

Orion Willis, a student of Soldotna Montessori, holds up a rainbow trout he caught during Salmon in the Classroom ice fishing at Sport Lake in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

News

‘Fish on!’

Students try ice fishing during Fish and Game’s ‘Salmon in the Classroom’ event

The setting sun casts the sky in gold over Kachemak Bay on Friday, Dec. 8, 2023 in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)

Sports

Out of the Office: Early sunsets over Homer

It’s not much of a secret, I think, that winter is not my favorite season. Ironic, perhaps, considering…

Around two dozen people gathered to snowshoe at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge stand for a photo near Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Refuge hosts guided snowshoe walks

Along trails near the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge’s Visitor Center, a procession of around two dozen snowshoers followed…

A snowmachine at rest in front of the Snag Lake public use cabin. (Photo by credit Scott Slavick/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: 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…

Clouds cover the beach at Lowell Point State Recreation Site on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023 near Seward, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Fee increases for State Park usage rescinded days before going into effect

The existing fees will continue to be apply “as if they were never replaced”

A snowmachine rider takes advantage of two feet of fresh snow on a field down Murwood Avenue in Soldotna, Alaska on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Snowmachine use closed in parts of Chugach National Forest, opened in refuge

On the refuge, all areas “traditionally open to snowmachine use” are now open

The bronze statue depicting a "giant Kenai Moose" of the early "19s" stands to welcome present-day guests to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Marking 82 years in the great flow of past, present and future on the Kenai

Whether they were pulling my leg or not, a couple of years ago, my kids started asking me…

tease

Sports

Years of Homer ‘Nutcracker’ magic

I am in the back row of “Nutcracker 2023” warmups on the high school stage. My head is…

The sun shines over Tern Lake on Sunday, May 22, 2022 near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Ashlyn O'Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Life

Tales of trails

‘Trail Mix Journal’ collects stories and experiences from local wilderness

Young samplings are better than a muffin to this moose on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Colin Canterbury/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: We stand on the shoulders of giant moose

This story starts 2,500 miles southeast as the raven flies from Kenai National Wildlife Refuge to the heart…

Cook Inlet is seen from Clam Gulch State Recreation Area on Feb. 7, 2020, in Clam Gulch, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion file)

News

Free parking at Alaska State Parks the day after Thanksgiving

Parking fees are usually $5

Spruce trees are dusted with snow on Dec. 22, 2020, in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge near Soldotna, Alaska. Some areas of the refuge are open to harvest of holiday trees for non-commercial uses beginning Thanksgiving. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Christmas tree cutting on refuge opens Thanksgiving

Tree cutting will be open until Christmas Day

An icy driveway in Kenai, Alaska, on Nov. 16, 2023. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Out of the Office: No column this week

I couldn’t write my Out of the Office column this week.