By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

As she has for nearly 30 years, Jody Carlsen set out for a walk along a favorite trail Wednesday.

It was a warm sunny afternoon, and she was joined by her friend, Loey Stayden, and two energetic dogs, Paco and Ebi.

The outing would be abruptly upset.

Three white pickup trucks, lights flashing, were parked at the trailhead, one bearing the license plate "AXXXX". A cacaphone of clanging metal and crunching trees erupted from a utility path.

The group skirted construction on Girdwood School's trail system then stopped on the Middle Iditarod Trail where a red excavator clawed at tree roots.

"I thought they were going to start Monday," Carlsen said.

Two Hydro-ax mulchers, the excavator, and a worker with a chainsaw, Caden Bevegni, had cleared a wide swath of vegetation and ancient hemlock trees past the trailhead. The Iditarod Trail's informational post stood naked amid a field of wood chips.

"It hurts my heart," Carlsen said. "It feels like this (project) was punched down our throats."

Read the entire story ad more pictures at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/brushing-gets-underway-at-holtan-hills-site

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

With development of a controversial "Holtan Hills" subdivision project less than a week away, government agencies have so far given few answers on environmental, traffic, safety and other questions.

The Municipality of Anchorage has failed to assign a liaison for the project. No one responded to its first bid for the position and a subsequent bid had only one prospect, who was denied the job.

Since then, the city's Heritage Land Bank, the municipality's partner in the sprawling 60-acre venture, has directed questions to developer CY Investments and the company's website.

The site's contact email, however, led to a broken link. 

In an email last week, company owner Connie Yoshimura directed questions to George Passantino, but provided no contact or other information.

Passantino works as a consultant for a national lobbying and media relations firm and has represented such companies as Walmart, Lowes, and GE Energy on development projects. 

For its part, the Anchorage School District, which owns land adjacent to the development, has been unable "to connect with" people managing the project and the District is closed this week, according to M.J. Thim, ASD's public relations officer.j

“We haven’t been able to get answers," Thim wrote in an email.

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/confusion-and-few-answers-mark-july-7-holtan-hills-construction

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

On July 7, SHOW UP

A fundamental purpose of a free press is to serve as a watchdog on power. It's right there in the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law ... prohibiting ... the freedom ... of the press..."

Even our nation's founders knew they—and their projects—needed to be watched.

"Bearing witness" is also a form of nonviolent resistance. It often takes courage to not look away from injustice. 

Witness is one of the quietest, yet most powerful forms of nonviolent resistance. To witness is to stand present—to injustice, to suffering, to oppression—and refuse to look away. It is an act of moral courage that declares: “I see, I will not be silent, and I will not allow harm to happen unnoticed.” In a world where denial and distraction often shield systems of power from accountability, the simple act of being present becomes radical, writes Kate Laverty of a Belfast, Ireland intercommunity fellowship.

On Monday, July 7, clearcutting, digging and filling of a beloved Girdwood rainforest will commence. 

Monday brings development of a subdivision no one in town went on record to support. 

Everyone locally, that is to say, dislikes "Holtan HIlls".

What is insidious about the "Holtan Hills" affair is the way it was approved:  Anchorage Assembly members slipped it through on a winter day after first postponing it indefinitely and after ignoring countless community comments, testimony, letters, local votes and even resolutions from sympathetic councils in town

Read the entire editorial at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/editorial-action-is-the-antidote-to-despair

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

For many years, between the late 90s and early aughts, a music scene percolated alongside  Holmgren Place in downtown Girdwood.

In a slumping one-room cabin called Studio B, the legendary Photon Band(later just "Photonz") rehearsed original jams, bluegrass staples and, occasionally, funky disco hits. 

As the space fell into disrepair and the Photonz drifted into different orbits, the crumpled shed and adjacent yard became an itinerant open mic—sans mic, que fire—for guitar pickers, jam sessions and sing-alongs. 

A winter evening might bear a footpath leading to stumps and rickety lawn chairs with dark, hunched figures and Old Crow Medicine Show renditions in gravelly voices.

Bordering the smoke-drifted yard stood a ramshackle second-hand store, "Thriftwood", and farther in back the building housed the offices of building contractor Ralph Brodin.

Some of those musical magicians have passed onto the cosmos like sparks from their fires: Sean, Jonas, Dusty, Dion, Dennis and Vesna. Everyone local heard them, were helped by them.

In the past few years, 148 Holmgren has experienced a revival mostly under the drive of longtime dancer, drummer and builder James Glover, 49, who worked with Brodin as a sub contractor and would go on to lease and eventually own two lots next to the Girdwood Laundramall.

When Thriftwood closed during COVID Glover went to work revitalizing the building, ripping out drywall from the ceiling, painting the walls black and replacing a deck with a paved path.

Last year, Glover opened the Raw Market, an upscale organic grocery store to "create a space for mindful living" where, says its brochure, "everything we do is guided by intention and a deep love for this place we call home." 

The market carries bulk ingredients, sells produce and fruit, juices and smoothies and now offers a kitchen menu.

"We're trying our best to have naturally-sourced food with the fewest ingredients possible," Glover said. "Everything in here you can be certain is as good as possible for your body, or as good as we can do on the planet right now."

Read the entire story and more pictures at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/new-outdoor-concert-series-brings-out-girdwoods-finestnbsp

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

A developer's news Monday that excavation for a major subdivision in Girdwood is imminent follows years of sweeping local opposition to the "Holtan Hills" project.

Speaking in multiple town hall, local board, and Anchorage Assembly meetings, in comments on social media, and through written testimony, hundreds of residents have expressed dismay at a plan conceived by developers and politicians outside community engagement.

On Wednesday, two local residents responded via text messages to news of impending construction. Both served on a board—Holtan Hills Housing Advisory Committee—formed years ago to investigate, evaluate, and make recommendations on the controversial proposal.

"As a 26-year resident, homeowner, small business owner, and parent, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Girdwoodians in a request to carve out some of the development proposal so that it could represent the greater desires of our community," said Emma Kramer, who served as the committee's co-chair.

"We offered a multitude of options to help keep its community character—from (short-term rental) restrictions, to deed restrictions, to requirements for a percentage of affordable housing, to zoning for both residential and commercial, to including affordable apartments. Time and time again, our committee was shut down. Ironically, the idea for the committee came from (the Heritage Land Bank, a municipal agency) and the Anchorage Assembly, and yet it offered no more power than a recommendation."

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/looming-holtan-hills-construction-falls-on-community-long-opposed

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

Prior to Girdwood's "No Kings" protest Saturday a group of birders called for a vote.

Should the group participate in a local event held in conjunction with national rallies and marches to oppose policies of the Trump Administration?

"We all knew (protests) were happening," said Jake Mohlman, a guide for the birding group Wings. "Without a unanimous decision we wouldn't have come out."

So, on Saturday, they bought some materials, made signs and stood together on the corner of Hightower and Alyeska to help spread messages of dissent. 

"We took a break from birding for one hour," Mohlman said. 

"Which is a real sacrifice," added Sheri Robison, a birder from Idaho. 

The birding group joined more than 70 mostly-local residents in the largest of four anti-Trump protests held in Girdwood, and one of among at least 17 protests held statewide. Demonstrations took place in more than 2,000 cities nationwide and in all 50 states.

 "I'm really concerned about (Trump's) lack of respect for research and science," Robison said. "We can go on... with medicine, too."

Birders are worried about climate change and habitat protection, said another guide, particularly in the Arctic where threatened species like the spectacled eider face impacts from the loss of sea ice and the effects of oil and gas development. Between 1970 and 1993, spectacled eider population had dropped by 96 percent, researchers found. 

Cuts to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, clean water and air regulations and research grants all have the effect of undermining protections for birds, said Mohlman. 

Others attending Saturday's protest in Girdwood said they were worried about threats and attacks on immigrants and protesters. 

Rocky Plotnick, a third-generation Alaska, was on her way south from Anchorage when she heard there was a protest and wanted to help increase participation in Girdwood. 

"Our numbers here in Girdwood are more important than in Anchorage," said Plotnick. "It's important to stand up to what's happening (to immigrants)."

Saturday's rally against policies of the Trump administration was the fourth held in Girdwood. 

Read the entire story and more pictures at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/no-kings-protest-residents-flock-to-local-no-kings-rally

By Nataniel Herz

Northern Journal

Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration is threatening to strip a company of oil and gas leases in Cook Inlet outside Anchorage, saying it’s sitting on deposits that could delay an impending shortage of gas needed for heating and power generation in urban Alaska.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources recently placed in “default” the Cosmopolitan Unit, a block leased by Texas-based BlueCrest Energy, saying it hasn’t met commitments to drill.

The company has held leases at Cosmopolitan for more than a decade. It conducted initial drilling several years ago but has not drilled any new wells since 2019, according to state records.

Company executives say that BlueCrest experienced a cash crunch when, amid a budget crisis beginning in 2014, the state of Alaska chose not to pay tax credits to oil firms that had spent money on drilling. BlueCrest has also had to ask Alaska’s economic development agency to approve delays in paying back a $30 million state loan.

The state’s new notice to BlueCrest, signed in May by Commissioner John Boyle, gives the company until Aug. 21 to show proof that it’s secured investment to drill a $55 million new oil well, as well as to advance development of a new offshore platform that would target natural gas.

That platform could cost $350 million or more, according to BlueCrest officials.

“We want to see aggressive, defined momentum towards putting our resources into active production,” Boyle said in an interview Thursday. “We need to see some drilling. We need to see some action.”

BlueCrest is negotiating with multiple companies about potential investment, Benjy Johnson, its chief executive, said in a phone interview.

“We’re hopeful that we’ll get it done,” he said. “I think we will.”

Johnson said he understands the state’s perspective, but added that defaulting BlueCrest’s leases is “not the solution to the problem.”

“The solution to the problem is helping us get funding to drill these wells, and to get the gas development going,” he said.

Read the entire article at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/k6bmrqyvmh8x4c8m5afzz59ff6rprs-lts2p

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

A federal magistrate judge has ruled that the state of Alaska did not violate the U.S. Constitution when it acted to limit intoxicating hemp products in 2023.

In an order published May 23, Magistrate Judge Kyle Reardon granted summary judgment in favor of the state and against the Alaska Industrial Hemp Association, which sued two years ago in an attempt to overturn regulations imposed by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

The court order means intoxicating hemp products, common in many other states, will remain illegal in Alaska unless sold through a licensed marijuana retailer. 

“It was rewarding to be part of the process developing the regulations, and I was happy when we successfully defended against the motion for a preliminary injunction in 2023,” said Assistant Attorney General Kevin Higgins, by email. Higgins represented the state in the case. 

“I’m not patting myself on the back too hard though,” he said. “The Division of Agriculture was motivated by public safety concerns when it took measured action to regulate an emerging industry. This was an easy case to make, which is probably why the plaintiffs didn’t file an opposition to the motion for summary judgment.”

An attorney representing the plaintiff did not answer a request for comment on Wednesday.

Alaska legalized the sale and use of marijuana for recreational purposes in 2014. The state subsequently created a tightly regulated market in which only licensed businesses may grow, process and sell marijuana.

Read the entires story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/judge-alaska-limits-on-intoxicating-hemp-products-do-not-violate-the-us-constitution

By Yereth Rosen

Alaska Beacon

Superior Court Judge Christina Rankin, in an order issued late Monday, said the department’s decision to shoot bears earlier this month in violation of a previous court ruling justified her decision to keep the temporary restraining order in place beyond the 10 days that is standard in Alaska law.

The department will be prohibited from conducting its planned bear cull in the Mulchatna caribou herd range until it corrects the legal flaws identified in a March 14 ruling issued by a different judge, Rankin said.

She rejected the state’s request to lift the restraining order and its argument that the prohibition was no longer needed.

“Despite the State’s stated intention of discontinuing its bear predator control measures this season, due to its prior position that it would continue bear abatement unless specifically enjoined, this Court thinks it is prudent to specifically state that the TRO will not expire after ten days and extends the TRO until further order of the Court or until the State obtains proper legal authority, consistent with the March 14 Order, and the May 7, 2025 Order,” she said in her order.

It is the latest development in a lawsuit filed in 2023 by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance that challenged the predator control program.

State officials say the program is needed to boost Mulchatna caribou herd numbers, and it must be conducted in spring and early summer, when newborn caribou calves are vulnerable to bear predation. But the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and other critics say the program lacks scientific validity and was put into place without proper public input.

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/restraining-order-on-alaska-bear-cull-to-be-in-place-until-state-fixes-identified-legal-flaws

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

Thirteen high school graduates and one UAA grad paraded from the Girdwood Post Office to the fire station Thursday night receiving cheers, honks, bubbles and roses.

About 100 well-wishers lined the route, including family members, former teachers, and yellow-clad Lion's Club members.

Graduates paused before emcee Salita Rios who told memories over a bullhorn of each gowned teenager before they moved to the Lion's table for more gifts. Then, the group took a moment for photos and to toss their square hats aloft.

Later, outside Jack Sprat Restaurant, Jared Moore said he enjoyed being a part of the local tradition. Standing next to him, Asher Cubit smiled in agreement.

Read the story and more pictures at the below link:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/annual-parade-honors-14-graduates

By James Brooks (Story and Photo)

Alaska Beacon

Alaska’s wildfire season is shaping up to be especially dangerous this year, and the Alaska House of Representatives is asking local, state and federal officials to prepare ahead of time.

On April 25, the House voted 37-0 to approve a resolution calling for readiness.

House Joint Resolution 15, by Rep. Ky Holland, I-Anchorage, is slated for a hearing on Friday in the Senate Resources Committee.

“House Joint Resolution 15 came about from an early awareness this winter about the very dry conditions that we were witnessing in Southcentral Alaska,” said Holland, speaking to the House.

“A really key part of this resolution is a recognition of how important it is that we do the outreach and we encourage the preparation by residents to be able to be more aware of what they can do to protect their own homes through the Firewise program,” he said.

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/alaska-house-urges-local-and-state-agencies-to-prepare-for-a-bad-wildfire-season

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

Girdwood ski racer Katie Rowekamp was finishing a day of slalom training with her team in Kitzbuhel, Austria when, instead of riding a gondola down the mountain, she and a friend decided to ski back.

A side trail led to a CAT track, which led to a snow path, then a long traverse, shallower and shallower, to patches of concrete and a field and nothing. 

"We look across the field to the other side of the canyon and see the gondola we were supposed to take down," she said during an interview in a Girdwood coffeehouse last week.

Rowekamp and her teammate took off their skis and began walking, worried. They were always told to stay on the tracks because ski resorts in Europe don't flag off out-of-bounds perimeters. The mountains are yours.

"All of sudden we found this little tiny cabin out in the middle of nowhere and we were crossing our fingers hoping somebody lived there and not some crazy Euro serial killer. And I walk around and there is this big golden retriever basking in the sunlight on their deck, and this cute old Austrian lady and her husband were there and were, like, AH!"

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/local-skiing-sensation-sees-her-line-and-gets-it

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

 Girdwood residents joined with protestors in Anchorage and across 50 states in a local rally under a warm sun Saturday. It's the second demonstration, on the corner of Alyeska Highway and Hightower Road this month. 

 The protest was in keeping with a "50-50-1" movement—50 States, 50 Protests, One Day—against policies of the Trump Administration.

 "We need to use what voice we have," said Susan Carse, a 32-year-resident and retired attorney, who held a sign reading, "No Kings. Save Democracy." 

 She said she had concerns about a weakened role of the jucidiciary branch of government under the Trump Administration.

 "We have three branchs and he's taken over the judicial. He seems to do what he wants," Carse said. She also said Trump seems to be getting away insider trading, an accusation levelled at the Administration following a sudden reversal in stocks and bonds prices. 

 "He's not honest. He doesn't follow the laws and, the big thing, he blatant ignored a unanimous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. You just don't do that. It scares the shit out me.

 "I think we've crossed over the line," Carse said. "What can we do? We can do this (protesting)."

Andrew Gates, 14, stood with his dog, Cozy, and held a sign, "Hands Off Canada," he'd just made beneath a small canopy.

"There's been an erosion of checks and balances and, if we do nothing, that'll be our undoing," Gates said as cars drove by on Alyeska Highway and honked. 

 Girdwood demonstrators were joined by a cutout of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders recent swing through western states, on a "Fighting Oligarchy Tour", brought crowds in the tens of thousands.

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/locals-gather-for-second-weekend-in-conjunction-with-nationwide-protest

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

More than two dozen rain-gear clad Girdwoodians poked signs into a stormy afternoon sky Saturday in a local demonstation against policies of Donald Trump's administration.

Residents turned out after being notified via a local Facebook post only the night before.

Organizer Emma Kramer said protesters received many waves and honks from passing cars along with one middle finger and a person who shoved a red MAGA hat from a crack in the window.

Photo: A protester in downtown Anchorage displays her sentiments on the actions of the Trump Administration. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/girdwood-residents-join-nationwide-hands-off-protest

By Allison Sayer

Copper River Record

Most of us are familiar with the role of artillery in avalanche risk mitigation. Artillery is fired into avalanche start zones when the runout area is closed to the public, preventing future avalanches that could cause harm. According to Statewide Avalanche and Artillery Program Manager Timothy Glassett, these methods are set to change dramatically over the next two years.

(The story reprinted from the Copper River Record with permission)

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/avalanche-mitigation-enters-the-future

By Brooks Chandler

TNews Contributor

Brett Wilbanks and Kellie Okenek are both offering to serve Girdwood as members of the Girdwood Board of Supervisors.  TNews chatted with both in separate interviews recently.  Their comments below have been edited for length and clarity.  

How did you come to live in Girdwood?

BW-   Out of college I ended up with the State of Alaska as an engineer working hydroelectric projects.  I found myself wanting more out of skiing and I got interested in ski patrol.  I started with National Ski patrol as a volunteer and I ended up doing 27 years here at Alyeska as an early volunteer and then as a part time pro patroller.

KO-  I always knew I wanted to live in Alaska and live in a ski town.  So I took a job in Prudhoe in 2005 and moved to Girdwood.

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/gbos-candidates-offer-to-serve-community

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

When Camilla and Dave Seifert moved into their newly built Girdwood home in 1981, there was only one hangar alongside an airstrip, they could hear chum salmon spashing in the creek and there were no trees behind her house.

"Between 1980 and 1983 everything seemed to be built at the same time," Camilla said recently, referring to the neighborhood by her log home on Lake Tahoe Street.

Seifert pointed to a photo in a gallery of pictures lining a stair case.

"This one shows my daughter and  Rosie Fletcher (who would become an Olympic snowboarder). They were best friends."

Two parka-clad children stand on an  unfinished top floor of the Seifert cabin. 

Beyond lies nothing but snowy mountains, Glacier Creek and a shed.

"The cottonwoods weren't even there," she said, looking out a back toward a stand of trees up to 70 feet high.

And the airport has since expanded. 

Helicopter chatter is so loud, "when we're talking on the back deck, we need to stop talking," Seifert said.

Now, the Sieferts have learned the state transportation has leased a parcel behind her and her neighbor's houses Silverton Mountain Guides for its heliski operation.

The 55-year lease could mean "helicopter operations will be quite literally ten feet from our back doors," Seifert told the Girdwood Board of Superviors at its recent meeting.

According to the Seiferts and others, Parcel H was never meant to be developed. 

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/neighbors-fear-helicopters-in-backyards

By Yereth Rosen

Alaska Beacon

Responding to the lack of snow across Southcentral Alaska and other regions, state officials on Thursday ordered an early start to the official fire season.

Instead of the usual start date of April 1, the fire season will be in effect as of March 17 in Southcentral Alaska, Southeast Alaska and much of Western Alaska, the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection announced. That means that permits will be required for any burns conducted on state, municipal or private lands in the designated areas, which stretch from the Southeast Panhandle to the eastern Aleutians.

The state forester “has determined that weather conditions including warm temperatures and low snowpack across specific areas of Alaska raise the risk of wildland fire ahead of the statutorily designated fire season,” the order said.

The order follows a forecast issued on Monday by the National Interagency Fire Center that warned of “the potential for a busy start to the fire season across much of southern Alaska.”

Alaska’s official fire season start date of April 1 was set in 2006, after the record-high fire season of 2004 and a near-record season the following year. Up to then, the start date was May 1.

As Alaska has warmed over the past four decades, the state’s annual wildfire season has been stretched over a longer period, according to scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Big fire seasons have also become more frequent over the past decades.

The early start to the official fire season does not affect Interior and northern Alaska, which have plenty of snowpack for now. The very large wildfires that are common in places like Interior Alaska generally start with lightning strikes that start around midsummer.

Read the entire story here:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/lack-of-snow-prompts-early-start-to-official-fire-season-in-alaskas-southern-regions

Above Photo: The ground at Anchorage’s Earthquake Park, at the edge of Cook Inlet, is almost entirely snow-free on March 6, 2025. Downtown Anchorage is in the background. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

(Article courtesy of Alaska Beacon by Creative Commons)