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)