Commentary: Girdwood Giants Majors Baseball have Strong Start to the Season at 5-1!
By Kyle Kelley
Coach, Girdwood Giants
The Girdwood Giants Majors Little League baseball team has kicked off the 2025 season with a bang, boasting an impressive 5-1 record! They won the home opener last Friday with a 17-10 victory over the Angels. The Girdwood Giants play against teams from Anchorage. As the team takes to the diamond at Sladen Mohl Memorial Field, their hard work and dedication are evident, and fans are eager to rally behind their local heroes.
Exciting Enhancements at Sladen Mohl Field
This year, the excitement extends beyond the impressive performance of the players. Thanks to the generous support and fundraising efforts of the Sladen Mohl Memorial Field Fund, combined with the skilled craftsmanship of Schubert Construction, Sladen Mohl Field has undergone significant upgrades. The newly constructed dugouts provide the athletes with a sheltered area to prepare for their games, allowing them to stay focused and regroup between innings. These improvements create a more professional and enjoyable experience for the players, visiting teams, and the community.
Moreover, the newly replaced snack shack is a favorite spot for fans and families. With a variety of delicious snacks and beverages available, it’s the perfect place to grab a bite while enjoying the game. The snack shack not only helps fuel our enthusiastic supporters but also fosters a sense of community as families come together to enjoy the vibrant atmosphere at the field. All proceeds from the snack shack support Girdwood Giants baseball now and in the future.
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Commentary: Windows are the No. 1 human threat to birds – an ecologist shares simple steps to reduce collisions
By Jason Hoeksema
Professor, University of Mississippi
When wood thrushes arrive in northern Mississippi on their spring migration and begin to serenade my neighborhood with their ethereal, harmonized song, it’s one of the great joys of the season. It’s also a minor miracle. These small creatures have just flown more than 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers), all the way from Central America.
Other birds undertake even longer journeys — the Swainson’s thrush, for example, nests as far north as the boreal forests of Alaska and spends the nonbreeding season in northern South America, traveling up to 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) each way.
These stunning feats of travel are awe-inspiring, making it that much more tragic when they are cut short by a deadly collision with a glass window.
This happens with alarming regularity. Two recent scientific studies estimate that more than 1 billion birds – and as many as 5.19 billion – die from collisions with sheet glass each year in the United States alone, sometimes immediately but often from their injuries.
In fact, window collisions are now considered the top human cause of bird deaths. Due to window collisions and other causes, bird populations across North America have declined more than 29% from their 1970 levels, likely with major consequences for the world’s ecosystems.
These collisions occur on every type of building, from homes to skyscrapers. At the University of Mississippi campus, where I teach and conduct research as an ecologist, my colleagues and I have been testing some creative solutions.
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Commentary: The Alaskans who keep our national parks running are needed
By Fran Ulmer
Like many other Alaskans, I love our national parks. Their beauty, wildlife and opportunities for adventures are a great gift to current and future Alaskans, as well as our many visitors. From Denali to Katmai to Glacier Bay, these special places help drive a thriving tourism economy and support reliable, made-in-Alaska jobs. Unfortunately, Alaska’s national parks and the economic benefits they bring are threatened by drastic staffing and budget cuts to the National Park Service. It was recently reported that the National Park Service Alaska Regional Office in Anchorage has lost an estimated one-third of its staff — more than 60 knowledgeable Alaskans — a result of downsizing the Department of Interior through pressured buyout tactics. And the federal administration has threatened additional cuts through mass firings.
Roughly 2 million people visited Alaska national parks in 2023, and more are expected this year. They spent $1.5 billion dollars and supported 23,000 jobs, according to the National Park Service. In Anchorage alone, 1 in 9 jobs is in tourism, Visit Anchorage has found. Across the country, one tax dollar invested in the Park Service returns $10 to the economy.
But national parks don’t run themselves. People are needed to keep parks running, from park rangers to contracting experts, from educators who design the visitor center exhibits to biologists who make sure that park wildlife survive and thrive.
The Alaska Regional Office provides oversight and expertise to 24 national park sites across Alaska, covering more than 50 million acres of federal land. The scale and landscape of Alaska makes the Alaska Regional Office essential. Most Alaska national park sites only have one or two resource staff and limited capacity. It doesn’t make financial sense for every park to have its own pilot and plane, geologist, or subsistence expert. The Regional Office provides support and expertise that serve all our parks.
At the Alaska Regional Office, cuts and consolidation programs have eliminated crucial positions, including the regional chief ranger overseeing law enforcement. Now there is only one staff member leading archaeology and cultural resource protection for all of Alaska’s national park sites, and just a handful of staff remain to work with Alaska Native tribes, whose culture, food security, and traditional ways of life should be respected by those parks.
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Alaska senators vote to end daylight saving time in America’s farthest-north state
By James Brooks
Alaska would be on the same time zone as Seattle for four months of the year, if a bill passed Monday by the Alaska Senate becomes law.
The Senate voted 18-2 to pass Senate Bill 26, which would eliminate daylight saving time in Alaska and ask the federal government to put Alaska on Pacific Standard Time.
(Photo by James Brooks, Alaska Beacon. Kelly Merrick, R-Eagle River, speaks in favor of a bill that would eliminate daylight saving time, on Monday, May 12, 2025, in Juneau. Story reprinted courtesy Alaska Beacon under Creative Commons)
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Federal employment and budget turmoil affects monitoring of Alaska’s Barry Arm landslide
By Yereth Rosen
The Trump administration’s mass firings of federal workers and funding restrictions has affected the monitoring of a landslide-prone slope that could create a dangerous tsunami in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
The Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, in a recent update, alerted the public about the problems affecting the multiagency team monitoring Barry Arm. The site is a fjord where an unstable rocky slope could collapse into the water, potentially creating a tsunami affecting the community of Whittier and a variety of Prince William Sound mariners and visitors.
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Girdwood Food Pantry delivers in Uncertain Times
By Allison Sayer
TNews Staffwriter
The Girdwood Food Pantry’s volunteers provide meals for area residents facing food insecurity, working to find every corner where someone might be doing without. Food distribution days occur three days per month: the first Sunday and second and fourth Wednesday.
Read the entire store at the below link:
ttps://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/girdwood-food-pantry-delivers-in-uncertain-times
Ski to Sea: Mountain Magic in Clay
By Allison Sayer
TNews Staffwriter
The Girdwood Center for Visual Arts (GCVA) is currently featuring “Ski to Sea,” an installation by ceramic artist and Girdwood local Barbara Lydon.
Large ceramic serving platters decorated with ocean and mountain scenes are interspersed with freeform sea stars and other animals. Lydon explained it was her intention to have the repeated shapes and symmetry of the platters bring “cohesiveness” to the viewer, but also have the creatures bring an element of “chaos.”
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/ski-to-sea-montain-magic-in-clay
Timberline Road and Drainage Improvement, Bond Proposition on Ballot
Commentary from Girdwood Board of Supervisors Briana Sullivan and Mike Edgington
Voters in Girdwood and across Anchorage will be receiving a Municipal ballot in the mail this week. This is an opportunity to elect members to the Assembly, School Board and Girdwood Board of Supervisors, but it also contains several propositions including approval to issue bonds for capital projects. One of these, Proposition 8, is for a bond to fund safety improvements to Timberline Road here in Girdwood.
What exactly is the Timberline Road Safety Project?
The Timberline Road project aims to enhance both the safety and accessibility for all road users in Girdwood, including pedestrians and cyclists. The initial section of Timberline Road to the junction with Vail Drive is one of the busiest sections of gravel road in South Central Alaska, and has to be frequently maintained due to traffic volume and road conditions.
The project will narrow and mark the vehicle lanes and broaden the shoulders, better accommodating pedestrians, cyclists, and other users, while still providing critical space for snow storage. Wider shoulders and clearer separation from vehicles will encourage alternative transportation and help promote a healthier community. Paving the vehicle lanes will control water runoff, improve drainage, and decrease potholes. This will reduce maintenance costs in the future by providing a stable foundation, making the road more durable.
The speed limit of 20mph will remain, but the project will examine enhancements to keep vehicles to safe speeds through this residential area such as additional signage, speed bumps, or other traffic calming measures.
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(Girdwood Town Manager for the Municipality of Anchorage Kyle Kelley contributed information for this commentary)
Assembly again punts decision on Comp Plan
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Following nearly two hours of testimony Tuesday night, the Anchorage Assembly chose to once again postpone a decision on adopting Girdwood's comprehensive plan.
Some members said they didn't know enough about changes Anchorage's planning department wants to make on the plan.
"The information is just too much to consume tonight," Assembly Chair Chris Constant said.
Twenty or so people spoke against changes recommended by the planning department, particularly its desire to include housing designations in areas set aside as "open space" in the plan.
The two biggest points of contention are amendments for a strip of housing near Virgin Creek and a change of public land north of the airport from open space to "mixed use" housing that would allow Alyeska Resort owner Pomeroy to build 365 housing units.
Many said that area, called "the mitten" by planners, is essential to the recreational character of the community. The area is home to undisturbed wetlands, primitive and groomed trails, and a stand of ancient trees known as the Enchanted Forest.
"Developing that fragile ecosystem is something you can't reverse over time," said Liam Coyle, who lives in a tiny home in Girdwood.
The planning department sent a memo to Imagine!Girdwood, a local group overseeing the update of the 30-year-old plan, recommending five changes. Two—housing along Virgin Creek and developing the mitten—were unequivocally dismissed by the group.
The department's idea for a 500-foot strip along Virgin Creek, which Imagine!Girdwood chair Mike Edgington said would result in up to 30 single-family homes—drew resounding opposition.
The area contains among the largest old-growth trees in Girdwood, said Brenden Raymond-Yakoubian. Developing housing along a corridor, he said, would "cut down the bulk of the forest."
Read the entire story at the link below:https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/assembly-again-punts-decision-on-comp-plan
Former Resort Owner gives $1 Million to Childcare Center
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
In an emotional speech during a fundraising gala Friday night, former Alyeska Resort owner John Byrne III announced he is donating $1 million to the Girdwood Workforce Childcare Project for the new childcare center building for Little Bears Playhouse.
In the tearful address, Byrne suggested the new child care center—to be built on Alyeska-owned land near its hotel—be named after legendary volunteer and Girdwood, Inc. founder Diana Stone Livingston who sat before him in the hushed crowd.
The Little Bears Playhouse daycare center is currently housed in a six-decade-old building near the fire station and has capacity for 27 children.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/former-resort-owner-gives-1-million-to-childcare-center
Federal firings hit U.S. Forest Service in Alaska, with at least 30 jobs cut on Thursday
By Corinne Smith
At least 30 federal workers with the U.S. Forest Service in Alaska have been terminated immediately, as of Thursday, according to the National Federation of Federal Employees union.
“We got word yesterday that there were going to be 3,400 terminations of probationary employees within the U.S. Forest Service nationwide, and those terminations started at midnight,” said Matt Brossard, a national business representative with NFFE, speaking Friday at 10 a.m.
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Community comes out to support Challenge at Annual Gala
By Allison Sayer
TNews Staffwriter
On February 1, Challenge Alaska welcomed about 680 guests and 40 volunteers to their annual fundraising gala at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage. The theme was “Wild West,” and attendees dressed in their best cowboy attire.
Challenge is well known in Girdwood for its adaptive ski and snowboard program. They also offer opportunities for intellectually or physically disabled Alaskans to master archery, cross country skiing, water sports, hockey, tennis, mountain biking, and many other sports.
Ski racer Anna Boltz, who has spina bifida, captivated the crowd with her keynote address. She described her journey from being strapped into a tiny sit-ski at the age of two to racing at the national level now at age 18.
Through her experiences at Challenge, Anna has found community, independence, and focus. “This is what I want to do with my life,” she said, “I want to train. I want to race. And I want to be around these people.”
“I don’t feel like I have a disability when I ski,” she said, “I feel free… I can be a teenager and go out and ski with my friends… I can go wherever I want on the mountain.”
Anna has formed lifelong relationships with her fellow racers and coaches. She credited Performance Director Jeremy “Jaha” Anderson with helping her push the limits of her comfort zone, even recounting a crash right underneath the chairlift that resulted in a bloody nose but no other injuries.
Executive Director J. Nathan “Nate” Boltz, who is Anna’s father, described Challenge’s vision during his words: “When the mission is complete, Alaskans of all abilities will have equal access to sports, recreation, and community.”
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/community-comes-out-to-support-challenge-at-annual-gala
Girdwood Art Institute offers Fine Arts Camps
By Tommy O’Malley
TNews Contributor
Through careful financial management and with support from the Girdwood community, the Girdwood Fine Arts Camp has been able to offer Art Technique Classes through the fall and winter for school children through adults.
Arts Camp has been offering these art classes tuition free.
The classes have included portrait drawing and painting; Finger painting for adults, Stained glass; and PLAYDOH, (not Plato) for adults; making ROBOTS using Artistic Intelligence; PLAYDOH and Hey Clay for children; and Ice sculpture for children and adults.
All together there have been nine classes offered with 148 students participating.
Coming up are Printmaking and Collage for school children and teens, Batik style Silk scarf making, Wire Jewelry, Encaustic landscape painting, Tye Dye and Watercolor painting with more to come.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/girdwood-art-institute-offers-fine-arts-camps
Look Up to the New Moon Night Sky to see the Old Wanderers
By John Gallup
TNews Contrbutor
Ancient civilizations spent a lot of their evenings looking up and telling stories about what they observed.
They noticed that almost all the bright things they saw in the night sky moved very slowly westward with each passing night and returned to the same place in the heavens at about the same season of every year.
However, five of the brightest objects didn’t follow this pattern. They behaved oddly, wandering back and forth against the slow-moving background.
The ancient Greeks called them “planets,” which is Greek for “wanderers.” They seemed to confine their wandering to a narrow strip in the sky, the same stripe that the Moon and Sun moved through.
Three of them moved east across the night sky against the background, but all three stopped moving east and moved back to the west for a period of time, stopped again, then resumed their easterly course.
The other two were stranger yet. They would bob up in the morning or evening sky, rise to a point, then fall back down to disappear from where they rose, only to reappear in the morning sky, rise to about the same angle from the horizon, then turn around and head back down.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/look-up-to-the-new-moon-night-sky-to-see-the-old-wanderers
PSAC Seat D vacant
Public Safety Advisory Committee Seat D is currently vacant. Qualified individuals must be registered to vote in the Girdwood Valley Service Area. Term for this seat is through Spring 2026. GBOS will make appointment at their next regular meeting.
To apply, send an email with your resume and/or letter of interest to:
GPSAC
PO Box 390
Girdwood, AK 99587
or email it to GBOS@muni.org
Grocery shoppers willing to pay more for Alaska Grown produce, study finds
By Yereth Rosen
How much are Alaskans willing to pay for produce that is homegrown? A newly published study has some answers: a significant premium, especially when they have information about the benefits of locally grown food.
Alaska grocery shoppers on average were willing to pay $1.90 extra for a head of lettuce if it was labeled as “Alaska Grown,” the study found. When given information about locally grown products’ benefits to health, the environment and the state economy provided by products with the “Alaska Grown” label, that premium jumped to $3.31 on average, the study found.
The study is based on surveys and interviews of shoppers at Anchorage grocery stores and farmers markets. The surveys and interviews were conducted by University of Alaska Anchorage students; the study was led by Qiujie Zheng, an associate professor of business analytics at the University of Maine. Zheng was previously at UAA.
While the surveys and interviews were conducted several years ago, in 2018, Zheng said she believes the results still stand.
The COVID-19 pandemic that came later may have changed food consumption patterns worldwide, she said by email. “However, due to Alaska’s unique geographical location, I believe that the state’s agricultural supply and consumers’ fresh produce options have remained relatively stable over the past few years,” she said.
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Commentary: Savoring the Darkness in Alaska
By Tim Lydon
In my part of Alaska, not far from Anchorage, winter solstice is always a dark day, but not because of the lack of light. Instead, I lament the impending loss of winter’s long nights, with all their calm and beauty.
This makes me a contrarian amid all the hoopla over returning light. Yet, as we freefall into a climate-changed world, it seems more people are giving darkness and its benefits a fresh look.
Read the entire opinion at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/opinion-savoring-the-darkness-in-alaska
Alaska DOT&PF Awarded $1.13M for Avalanche Mitigation Technology along the Seward Highway Corridor
By David Nyman
TNews Contributor
With the weather visiting southcentral this week, new funding to support southcentral avalanche mitigation efforts is timely. Alaskans traveling the Seward Highway between Anchorage and Seward will get a safer highway with the Avalanche Mitigation Alert Detection (AMAD) project that was recently awarded $1.13 million award as part of a Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grant program. This grant program is a component of the bi-partisan infrastructure law and from US Department of Transportation.
The AMAD project being led by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (AK DOT&PF) will utilize cutting-edge remote avalanche control systems and forecasting technology to mitigate significant avalanche risks along the Seward Highway corridor. The Seward Highway is a National Highway System (NHS) route and one of Alaska's busiest roadways, serving as a vital connection between the Kenai Peninsula, Seward and Anchorage, for commerce, residents, and visitors alike.
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Opinion: ‘Girdwood’ missing in Assembly’s view of our Comprehensive Plan
By Brian Burnett
Girdwood Resident
“It is so unfortunate that where once we spent hours agonizing over what trees needed to remain to protect Stumpy’s Trail or Enchanted Forest, we will now be agonizing over whether the road there should be paved or gravel.” – Girdwood Wanderer
Being a part of Anchorage has never been smooth; from 1977 when over 80% of Girdwood did NOT vote in favor to join the Municipality to when Anchorage voters declined to bond a local cemetery that over 80% of Girdwood voters approved to self-fund. However, we have carved out a great place to live and we are in the process of mapping out the future of Girdwood for all of us living here and all of Anchorage that comes here to recreate. Regardless of set backs, we continue to move forward and drive events and actions to be the community we all want to live in. We are now putting forward a new comprehensive plan for our community. We have rolled up our collective sleeves to engage the community in the multi-yearprocess of achieving a vision for G’wood. This effort is no different than Forest Fair, the community playground, GVFD and the fire station, or the Scott & Wesley Gerrish Library. Girdwood works together to build solutions regardless of support from Anchorage.
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Task force report identifies ways to make child care more available and affordable in Alaska
By Yereth Rosen
Child care shortages could be addressed by a combination of actions to help families with subsidies and help providers work through what is currently a daunting bureaucratic process, according to a new task force report released by the Alaska Department of Health.
Recommendations to expand child care options came in the second and final report of a task forceestablished last year by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The Governor’s Task Force on Child Care report, released on Dec. 27, follows an earlier report released last year.
Altogether, they contain 56 recommendations for action.
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