1. sports
2. dog sled

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Vol. 42, No. 53 | March 26, 2015
Wood bison head
for release in
Southwest
Dan Joling
Associated Press
Looking to the Past to Shape the Future
Meghan Cleveland and Sydney Cleveland work on a photography project at a “Looking to the Past to Shape
the Future: Yup’ik Archaeology, Art and Technology” workshop in Quinhagak.
Youth make new art from old
Quinhagak Heritage Inc.
Quinhagak youth are flexing their creativity during arts workshops in a pilot project. The youth are
drawing inspiration from 3D printed models and
images of human figures/dolls and other objects
recovered from the Nunalleq Archaeological site,
a project of the University of Aberdeen and Qanirtuuq Corp.
The four consequtive two-week themed workshops began in February. Each ends with a mini
art show in Quinhagak.
See New art from old, Page 5 >
On the Y-K Delta
Aniak man guilty of abuse
On Friday a Bethel jury found Golga Kelila III, 31 of Aniak, guilty
of multiple counts of sexual abuse of a minor. The violations against a
12-year-old girl happened in July 2013. Kelila was conviced of Sexual
Abuse of a Minor I, Sexual Abuse of a Minor II, and Harassment I at
the three and a half day trial. Sentencing is set for July 17 in Bethel
and Kelila will remain in custody until then. This is the defendant’s
first felony offense. He faces up to 40 years in prison.
Liquor store planned for Swanson’s
building
Plans for a liquor store in the old Swanson’s building are underway
by building owner, Bethel Native Corp., according to Alaska Dispatch
News. Bethel Spirits LLC, a subsidiary of BNC, is applying for a package store licence. Liquor sales in the city limits was banned in the
late 1970s. In 2009 voters rejected the ban and residents can possess
alcohol in their homes.
Constitutional convention fails to make
quorum
The Calista Corp.-hosted constitution convention to form a regional
government held last week in Bethel failed to meet a quorum of voting
participants, according to Alaska Dispatch News.
Representatives of 24 tribes attended and quorum is 29. Some tribes
committed to participation but lacked transportation funds and others
could not reach Bethel due to weather.
Those who attended did discuss the idea of regional government.
Leaders of the movement will send materials to each tribe and councils
will be asked if the effort should continue.
If the councils support a regional tribe, the question will be voted
on by tribal members.
Guard training on the Delta
Alaska National Guard troops are training on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta near Bethel this week according to KYUK Public Media
(kyuk.org/national-guard-sends-soldiers-to-train-in-yk-delta).
The 120 soldiers from the Alaska Army National Guard 297th
Battlefield Surveillance Brigade are honing their arctic skills.
PORTAGE, Alaska (AP) — The
first of 100 wood bison aimed at
re-establishing a species that went
extinct more than a century ago
in Alaska were flown Sunday to
a rural village.
Thirty 30 juveniles age 2 or
younger were loaded into specially designed “bison boxes,”
and trucked from the Alaska
Wildlife Conservation Center in
Portage to Anchorage. They made
a one-hour flight to Shageluk and
arrived at about 1 p.m.
In several weeks, after 70 more
wood bison reach Shageluk, and
after they’ve become acclimated,
they will be released as a group
into the Inoko Flats, one of the
areas of Alaska where wood bison
once roamed.
Mike Miller, director of the
conservation center, which has
housed animals imported from
54159 00003
Kaiser comes in 14th,
Diehl is 23rd
Mark Thiessen
Associated Press
NOME, Alaska (AP) — If ever there was uncertainty
about the outcome of the world’s most famous sled
dog race, it was this year.
Warm weather and a lack of snow in much of Alaska
forced organizers of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
to forge an untested route, utilizing the state’s extensive system of frozen rivers.
Many wondered: Would the new trail make the
race faster or easier? Would it benefit mushers more
accustomed to racing on ice? Or would warm temperatures create new hazards on the rivers?
Dallas Seavey proved the short answer to all of
those questions was no March 18 when he won the
race for the third time in four years.
The Alaska musher crossed the finish line in the
Bering Sea coastal town of Nome at 4:13 a.m., completing the route in eight days, 8 hours, 13 minutes
and 6 seconds. That’s about five hours longer than
the record he set in winning the 2014 race.
“Obviously going into this race, the big hubbub was
all about the new trail, right?” Seavey told a packed
convention hall. Concerns were about the “warm,
warm, warm winter” and conditions on the Yukon
River, he said.
In fact, a snowmobile sank on thin ice on part of
the route mushers were about to take. Some were
considering buying rain gear.
But then winter came back to Alaska, and the trails
became much more like one would expect for the
Iditarod.
“We saw a lot of 40-, 50-below zero, snow,” said
Seavey, of Willow. “This was a very tough race. It was
not the easy run that a lot of people had anticipated
See Iditarod, Page 4 >
Troopers take message of suicide
prevention in crusade across Alaska
Alaska Wildlife Troopers
Alaska Wildlife Troopers once
again hit the trail, this time snowmachining more than 1,000 miles
across Alaska in two weeks in an
effort to prevent suicides. This
year, troopers Darrell Hildebrand,
Thomas Akelkok and Jon Simeon,
accompanied by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Officer Brad Honerlaw,
plan an ambitious journey to reach
adults and school children in at least
10 villages in rural Alaska. Other
troopers and law enforcement will
join the expedition for sections of
the trek as they wind their way
across the Interior to the Northwest
Arctic region and back.
The trip launched from Bettles
on March 24 and expects to reach
Kotzebue on April 1. Allakaket
will be the first school on the visit
followed by schools in Hughes,
Kobuk, Shungnak, Ambler, Kiana,
Noorvik, Selawik and Buckland
before turning around after talking to school kids in Kotzebue. If
to [email protected]
5
See Wood bison, Page 8 >
Dallas Seavey wins Iditarod in
year marked by uncertainty
Send your announcements and news tips
8
Canada since 2008, said restoring
an animal to its native habitat is
an opportunity that doesn’t come
often.
“It’s such an opportunity to go
back in time and right a wrong.
We as people never get a chance to
do that, but in this case, they did.
And today’s the day we correct
that mistake,” he said.
Twenty bulls will be barged to
the area this summer.
Wood bison are native to Alaska and Canada. They’re North
America’s largest land mammal
and bigger than the plains bison
that roamed in Lower 48 states.
Wood bison bulls can weigh
more than 2,000 pounds. Cows
weigh 800 to 1,200 pounds and
the juveniles moved Sunday
weigh 280 to 490 pounds.
Staff from the Fish and Game
Department and the conservation
trail conditions and weather allow,
the group will head home via the
Kobuk River to Huslia and take
the trail back through Galena and
up the Yukon and Tanana rivers,
stopping in schools along the way
on their journey to Fairbanks. The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also
provided a sponsorship of $6,000 to
cover fuel costs.
Hildebrand, Simeon and Akelkok
are armed with personal stories of
how suicide touched their lives.
See Suicide prevention, Page 5 >
Page 2 • March 26, 2015 • The Tundra Drums
Opinion & Ideas
Medicaid: It’s the right thing to do
Last week, I introduced legislation to
provide health care to more Alaskans using
less state money. My bill calls for using all
available federal resources and reforming
the state’s Medicaid program to improve the
lives of Alaskans.
One of the perks of my job as governor is
health insurance. For those of us who have
insurance, it’s easy to forget what it’s like for
the thousands of Alaskans who do not.
They are one mishap away from financial
ruin. Medical debt is now the top cause of
personal bankruptcy filings in the U.S. No
one should have to choose between lifesaving care and losing their home.
The federal government is extending Medicaid coverage to help those who don’t earn
enough to buy health insurance. Alaskans
who make $20,314 a year ($9.60 an hour) or
less, or married couples who earn a combined
$27,490 a year or less will qualify.
Medicaid coverage will enable Alaskans
to get the care they need to join or stay in
the workforce. It will help those coming out
of prison get substance abuse treatment and
stay out of trouble. It will reduce medical
costs for all of us by reducing the amount
of care hospitals provide that no one pays
the military, and we shouldn’t
for. And it will pump millions
turn it down for health care.
of federal dollars into Alaska’s
Alaskans pay into the fedeconomy at a time when we can
eral treasury and we ought to
surely use it.
claim every dollar we’re due.
Through 2016, the federal govSome say the federal government will pay 100 percent of
ernment might demand more
the costs of those newly eligible.
than the 10 percent match. My
After that, the federal share
bill makes Alaska’s participatransitions to 90 percent in 2020.
tion contingent on the federal
Some say the 10 percent state
Op-Ed
government maintaining its
match is too much. I disagree.
legal match. I’ve received
That’s the same match we pay
Bill Walker
written confirmation from
for federal highway and aviation
Alaska Governor
federal authorities that we are
dollars. If this were money for
free to withdraw if the federal
a transportation project, we’d
be doing backflips. Why should Alaskans’ government reduces its match.
My bill also calls for smart, Alaska-based
health and wellbeing be less important than
our roads and airports? Why are doctors and reforms to ensure we can afford Medicaid
over the long term. For example, we are apnurses less valuable than road crews?
The state will generate savings by using plying for three federal waivers. These waivfederal Medicaid dollars to pay for services ers will allow us to save money by tailoring
we now pay entirely with state money. With our program to Alaska’s particular needs and
these savings, we will be able to pay our 10 circumstances.
We’ve already started reforms. My budget
percent match and still save money.
Some say we shouldn’t accept this federal calls for $20 million in Medicaid reductions
money because it contributes to the national through efficiencies and tightening program
deficit. I disagree. We don’t turn down fed- rules.
Twenty-eight states have accepted aderal money for education, transportation and
ditional federal Medicaid money. They are
seeing results. Kentucky saved $9 million in
the first year. Arkansas saved $17.5 million.
In Arizona, uncompensated care fell by 30
percent in the first year.
I want Alaska to share in these benefits.
That’s why I included the federal Medicaid
money in my proposed budget. House
lawmakers removed that money from the
budget and asked that I introduce a standalone bill.
I’ve now done that, and now I need your
support. Alaskans who need health insurance
are counting on us to act. We already missed
the first year of 100 percent federal match,
and I don’t want to lose another year.
At my inauguration, my pastor reminded
Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott and me of our duty
to those who are less fortunate. I never want
to forget that responsibility.
As Alaskans, we have a long tradition of
caring for each other when times are tough.
I urge you to tell your legislators you care.
My administration’s Medicaid proposal
will save money and save lives. It’s the right
thing to do.
Gov. Bill Walker is a lifelong Alaskan. He
currently lives in Juneau with his wife, Donna.
Tribal sovereignty is Alaska’s unfinished business
Do Alaska Native tribes posses sovereignty?
A simple question. And, in Indian Country,
the answer is usually a quick “yes.” Of course.
But in Alaska just asking this question is an act
of defiance. The state and many of its citizens
have assumed, planned, and operated on the
premise that tribal powers no longer exist, so
the state is free to impose its will on Alaska
Natives.
A simple question that’s framed by dueling
narratives. One story says the Alaska Native
Claims Settlement Act – ANCSA – was a termination bill that should have extinguished
tribal sovereignty. The other counters saying
ANCSA was primarily a land settlement. A
land bill that did create Native corporations but
did not answer questions about governance.
A simple question with multiple answers.
Alaska, however, has stuck to a refusal to recognize tribal authority and has spent millions
of dollars on litigation. In one such case, a fed-
ment-to -government basis.”
eral court recognized tribal com(www.ruralgov.org/wordpress/
munities’ authority to put land
wp-content/uploads/2014/11/
into trust, removing lands from
RGC-Report2014.pdf)
state control and a recognition of
But on Feb. 9, the State of
Indian Country (a status similar
Alaska fell into its old patterns.
to reservations in other states).
It asked the appeals for a sixAlaska appealed that decision
month stay to rethink its policy
to the U.S. Court of Appeals in
followed by some sort of status
Washington, D.C.
report. The state said, “The cenThen in November a new govOp-Ed
tral issue in this appeal is purely
ernor was elected. Bill Walker, an
legal: whether the Alaska Native
independent, and he promised
Mark Trahant
Claims Settlement Act precludes
a new way of doing business.
Atwood Chair, University
the creation of new trust land in
A Walker transition team report
of Alaska Anchorage
Alaska. However the decision
said, “Where no tools exist,
whether to continue to pursue
they must be created, such as
establishing a mechanism (e.g., legislation, a judicial remedy, seek congressional action,
constitutional amendment, etc.) where Alaska or determine and implementing strategies for
tribes – as sovereign nations they are – negoti- integrating trust land into Alaska’s ownership
ate and partner with the state of Alaska on pattern – with the resulting impacts to state
an officially recognized, permanent govern- regulatory jurisdiction – are policy matters
entrusted to a state administration that was
inaugurated only a few weeks ago. As the
state’s chief executive, the governor has the
authority and obligation to frame state policy.”
I can think of a lot of governors who like the
notion of absolute state authority, especially
when it conflicts with tribal communities. But
the hashtag would read: #NeverGonnaHappen. Native Americans have a right, even an
obligation, to govern ourselves.
“Why now is the state choosing to continue
its hostile litigation stance against tribes in
Alaska instead of attempting to understand the
potential benefits that would come to the state
if it were to stop fighting and start working
with tribes and start working with tribes and
assisting those tribal communities in achieving the goals of public safety and issues that
have been recurring problems in the state for
years?” asks Heather R. Kendall-Miller, an atSee Sovereignty, Page 3 >
Letters to the Editor
Make liquor store a buying club
Like many I’m sure, when I first read of the
plans by the Bethel Native Corp. to open a liquor store I was deeply saddened and troubled.
If you’ve read the comments in Alaska Dispatch News, you know many both in and out
of the region feel the same way. However, that
is a policy and business decision that belongs to
the people of Bethel and the region, and is not
my business. But as I reflected further on this
major change in Bethel alcohol policy, it came to
me that perhaps the corporation might actually
be open to – maybe even eager to! – design their
alcohol business in a way that would make
them into a role model that can contribute to
effective rural and urban alcohol policy, rather
than just simply profiting from it.
For what it’s worth, here is my suggestion:
Couldn’t the corporation change its business
model from merely owning and opening a
liquor store to running a member-based buying club, with a paid membership, similar to
Costco? In a club, you can set up criteria and
rules for membership that go beyond state law.
In this alcohol buying club, I’d suggest you
could have rules of membership could ban
membership in or sales to: Anyone convicted
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I would also make two other recommendations. If you decided to follow the club route
(which I hope you would do!) Run monthly,
or no less than quarterly, arrest record checks
on all members, at no cost to members. Part of
the annual membership fee could be used to
pay for this simple data search. Impose strict
quotas on the monthly quantity of alcohol any
member is allowed to purchase.
Finally, as a person with a long history of
pursuing grant money, I feel strongly that
the feds may be very interested in funding a
research effort with you to design, do ongoing
monitoring, and to evaluate this club approach
with a several year-long federal grant. You
could very well create a model that with that
other places would love to emulate.
Anyway I hope the people of Bethel and the
Y-K Delta useful to you, as my hopes and caring
for the Y-K are deep and go back a long time.
—Clay McDowall, Eagle River
Copyright 2015
The Tundra Drums
All rights reserved
All Associated Press content is copyrighted
by the Associated Press, Copyright 2015.
All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
The Tundra Drums • March 26, 2015 • Page 3
Lawmakers discuss resolutions
to strengthen states’ rights
Molly Dischner
Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A state Senate
committee heard presentations March 17 on an
effort to amend the U.S. Constitution and enable states to overturn certain federal decisions.
Senate State Affairs held its first hearing
on resolutions sponsored by Sen. Bill Stoltze,
R-Chugiak, that would start the countermand
amendment process.
Through that process, states could hold
a constitutional convention to consider an
amendment enabling them to nullify and
repeal a federal law, executive order, judicial
decision or other federal action that adversely
affects the state’s interests. Amending the
constitution would require 38 states to vote in
favor of it at the convention.
Under the proposed amendment, repealing
a federal decision would require one state to
bring it forward, and a total of 30 states to agree
on the change.
Sen. John Coghill, R-North Pole, said the
resolutions would help provide states with
another tool with which to handle federal is-
sues, and that even if only 28 states supported
a given action, it might prompt the federal
government to listen to their concerns.
One resolution calls for the convention; the
other outlines the process for delegates.
Mike Coons, head of the group Citizens
Initiatives, which supports the resolutions in
Alaska and similar efforts in other states, said
the countermand amendment could allow
states to take back control of federal lands.
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, asked
if the resolution could also allow states to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that established the nationwide
right to abortion. Coons said it would.
Wielechowski also noted that the states
could possibly overturn a federal decision
allowing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if drilling were allowed under a
changed political climate.
Lawmakers in North Dakota and Louisiana
are also working on legislation that would
call for a countermand amendment convention, according to documents provided to the
committee.
‘The Winter Bear’ tours the Y-K Delta
The play, “The Winter Bear,” will tour the
Y-K Delta next month. “The Winter Bear” by
Anne Hanley tells the story of an Alaska Native teenager who rises above the traumas of
his past to become a leader with the help of
mentor Sidney Huntington and a Winter Bear.
Admission is free.
The Winter Bear Project works in partnership with communities to change the climate
of fear and hopelessness that breeds suicide,
especially in rural Alaska. The project uses
“The Winter Bear” play as a catalyst to open
up new dialogue. The project relies on Alaska
Native nonprofit partners to provide behavioral health support and outreach targeted
to each community’s specific needs. While
in a community, the group visits at a potluck
before the show. The cast sits down and talks
to the audience after each show. The next
day they offer performing and storytelling
workshops to empower kids to harness their
Op-Ed: Sovereignty
From Page 2
torney with the Native American Rights Fund,
representing villages and individuals who filed
the suit. “We believe the land into trust option
is one very strong tool that can and should be
used to enhance tribal autonomy.” (www.narf.
org/profiles/kendall.html)
Last year’s federal Law and Order Commission report was particularly blunt about the
state’s role in law enforcement. The “problems
in Alaska are so severe and the number of Alaska Native communities affected so large, that
continuing to exempt the state from national
policy change is wrong. It sets Alaska apart
from the progress that has become possible in
the rest of Indian Country. The public safety
issues in Alaska – and the law and policy at the
root of those problems – beg to be addressed.
own creativity.
Schedule
Hooper Bay, Wednesday, April 8, 6 p.m.
potluck, 7 p.m. play, Hooper Bay School.
Chevak, Friday, April 10, 6 p.m. potluck, 7
p.m. play, Chevak School
Scammon Bay, Monday, April13, 6 p.m.
potluck, 7 p.m. play, Scammon Bay School.
Bethel, Wednesday and Thursday, Apri1
15 and 16, 6 p.m. potluck, 7 p.m. play, Yuplit
Piciryarait Cultural Center.
Emmonak, Monday, April 20, 6 p.m. potluck, 7 p.m. play, Emmonak School.
Alakanuk, Wednesday, April 22, 6 p.m.
potluck, 7 p.m. play, Alakanuk School.
Mountain Village, Friday, April 24, 5:30
p.m. potluck, 7 p.m. play, Ignatius Beans
Memorial School.
Information about the project and play is
online at winterbearproject.com.
They are no longer just Alaska’s issues. They
are national issues.” (www.aisc.ucla.edu/iloc/
report/files/Chapter_2_Alaska.pdf)
ANCSA might have been the largest land
treaty ever. But the act clearly did not resolve
the issues of tribal authority (or a host of other
issues). And now the weight of history is coming down on the side of Alaska’s tribes. So
forget asking “do Alaska Native tribes posses
sovereignty?” Instead demand to know when
will the state figure out that a partnership with
tribes is better for everyone involved? As it’s
been said, the answer is not an Alaska issue.
It’s a national issue.
Mark Trahant holds the Atwood Chair at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is an independent
journalist and a member of The Shoshone-Bannock
Tribes. For up-to-the-minute posts, download the
freeTrahant Reports app for your smart phone or
tablet at tinyurl.com/TrahantDL.
House panel moves bill to allow veterans preference
Molly Dischner
Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A House committee on March 19 advanced legislation that would
allow private employers to institute a hiring preference for veterans.
The original bill would have allowed businesses to create a hiring preference for veterans and
spouses or domestic partners of veterans. But the version that advanced from the House Special Committee on Military and Veterans’ Affairs only allows a preference for hiring veterans.
The Legislature’s legal services division advised that a preference related to marriage could
violate the state Human Rights Law, said Kendra Kloster, an aide to bill sponsor Rep. Chris
Tuck, D-Anchorage.
The state has a hiring preference for veterans, but private employers cannot create one
unless the state specifically allows it.
The committee heard testimony supporting the bill from a U.S. Department of Defense
representative and an Anchorage business owner.
Meanwhile, the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee considered a companion bill on
March 19, but it did not move out of that committee. Chair Rep. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage,
said she would work with the sponsor, Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, on a new draft.
Wielechowski said he wanted to remove spouses and domestic partners in response to legal
advice.
Kuskokwim Calendar
To submit an event for the Kuskokwim
Calendar, email [email protected].
Cultural Center. Information is at www.
bethelculturalcenter.com.
Bethel Chamber of Commerce Luncheon
- Join the Bethel Chamber of Commerce
and a guest speaker at the Mud Hut.
Luncheons are open to the public. Noon1 p.m., every Thursday Mud Hut. Information is at www.bethelakchamber.org.
Fish Skin Sewing – Karen McIntyre will
teach fish skin sewing in a free workshop
March 30 through April 4. Sessions are 6
to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Call KuC
for information, 543-4515.
Bethel City Council - The Bethel City
Council discusses and votes on various
motions brought before them. Open to
the public. 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 14
at City Hall. Information is at www.
cityofbethel.org.
Qaspeq class – May Hoffman will teach a
qaspeq class March 27 through 29. The
fee for those taking the class for college
credit $181, and for those choosing to not
receive college credit the fee is $125. The
class is from 7 to 9 p.m. on March 27, 9
a.m. to 4 p.m. March 28 and 10 a.m. to 4
p.m. on March 29. Call KuC for information, 543-4515.
Saturday Market - Vendors from around
the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta gather to
sell Alaskan goods and services from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, April 4 at Bethel
Bering Sea
animal CliniC
Bob Sept, D.V.M. will be in Bethel
march 30 at 3 p.m. through
april 3 at 5 p.m.
Location: 841 6th Avenue, Bethel.
Call for an appointment: 543-2823
Submit your announcements
for publication
in The Tundra Drums
[email protected]
Where do you want to be?
Travel
Tuesday
Club 49
members
explore more
with weekly
fare sales.
AlaskaAir.com/Club49
Page 4 • March 26, 2015 • The Tundra Drums
Personal use priority mulled by Senate
Seven times is the charm for building some
momentum on a measure that aims to give
personal use fisheries a priority over commercial and sport users. As it stands now, the
three fisheries all are on equal footing in the
eyes and actions of state managers.
The priority shift has been introduced during each of the last seven legislative sessions
by (now) Sen. Bill Stoltze (R-Chugiak), but has
never made it past a first hearing – until now.
“It only took Sen. Stoltze, the bill sponsor,
chairing the hearing committee himself,”
quipped Dave Theriault in his Juneau Resources Weekly.
The measure (SB 42) is dubiously dubbed
“The Alaskans-First Fishing Act” and it
concerns salmon, without saying so directly.
It “directs the Board of Fisheries to place restrictions on sport and commercial fisheries
before putting restrictions on personal use
fisheries when the harvest of a stock or species is limited to achieve an escapement goal.”
The issue is driven primarily by the salmon
demands of users at the Kenai and Kasilof
Rivers, and the popular Chitina dipnet fishery
at Copper River.
Lawmakers said PU fisheries “need more
protections from commercial fishermen.”
“I’m more sympathetic to those in streams
who see commercial fishermen taking tonnage where we’re restricted to poundage,”
said Sen. John Coghill (R-North Pole).
The PU priority got a friendly reception
by lawmakers in a first Senate hearing two
weeks ago. Stoltz said that the Board of
Fisheries would still hold the authority to set
fish allocations; he called a PU preference “an
additional tool for managers.”
Most messages sent to lawmakers last week
were in favor of the shift in fishing priorities
and non-residents by up to 50
– of nearly 70 posted to the
percent.
legislative website, only four
ComFish is coming! Kowere opposed.
diak is rolling out the red
United Fishermen of Alascarpet for special visitors
ka’s position on the PU issue
who are coming to ComFish
has remained the same for
in early April. Lt. Governor
seven years: the legislature
Byron Mallott, ADF&G Comshould leave prioritization
missioner Sam Cotten and
of fishery allocations to the
Commercial Fisheries DirecBoard of Fish and managetor Jeff Regnart will hold an
ment to the Department of
open meeting the afternoon
Fish and Game.
Fish
of April 2.
The PU bill is now on its
Factor
way to the Senate Resources
Another highlight on SatCommittee. A duplicate law
urday, April 4: watch those
Laine Welch
has been filed in the House
fillet knives fly in a “fish off”
www.alaskafishradio.com
by Rep. Mark Neuman (Ramong Kodiak’s fastest fish
Big Lake).
cutters, organized by Ocean
Fishy bills to watch – A
Beauty Seafoods. Each of
bill to limit all Alaska salmon seiners to a Kodiak’s seven processing companies will
maximum 58 feet in length has been offered field a professional who will cut into piles
by Rep. Dan Ortiz of Ketchikan.
of halibut, flounders and other species. Each
A new law filed by freshman Rep. Dave event is timed and then judged based on
Talerico (R-Healy), would pull the plug on the trimming quality of the fillets. The top
the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, and exempt winner receives round trip airline tickets to
Alaska from the agency’s ability to regulate Anchorage.
and limit carbon emissions. Talerico filed the
It’s the 36th year for the ComFish trade
bill two months after retiring from Usibelli, show and policy forum, hosted by the Kothe state’s only active coal mine, where he diak Chamber of Commerce. Dates are April
worked since 1974.
2-4, and many of the events will be video
The EPA is set to finalize new rules limiting streamed as they happen. See the complete
carbon emissions in June, and will draft a plan lineup of events and participants at www.
for Alaska if the state fails to do so. Fifteen comfishalaska.com.
other states have filed similar laws to slow or
Names named – Governor Walker has
fight the EPA’s plan to reduce carbon limits. made his selections for two upcoming vacanThe measure breezed through Alaska’s Sen- cies on the North Pacific Fishery Management
ate Energy and Resources Committees and is Council. The NPFMC oversees fisheries
on its way to Finance.
in federal waters (3-200 miles from shore),
Rep. Talerico also has proposed increases to which each year produce nearly 85 percent
fishing and hunting licenses for both residents of Alaska’s seafood harvests. Walker’s recom-
mends reappointment of fisherman Dan Hull
of Cordova, who has been a council member
since 2009. He also named sport fish charter
operator Andrew Mezirow of Seward.
Other names on the list include commercial
fishermen Buck Laukitis of Homer and Paul
Gronholdt of Sand Point, sport fish reps Richard Yamada of Juneau and Art Nelson, director of the Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association.
The final decision is made by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, who usually accepts the
governor’s top recommendations.
Fish Watch – By the time you read this,
Alaska’s first roe herring fishery at Sitka
Sound could be just about over. The 8,712ton quota is down by half from last year and
the lowest Sitka catch since 2003. That, combined with historically low herring prices,
has fewer boats fishing and they are doing
so as a co-op.
Blustery weather kept most of Alaska’s
halibut boats off the water for the March 14
start of that fishery. Only 52 landings were
made by March 20, totaling about 395,000
pounds. No reliable word on prices until
more poundage crosses the docks, and the
first fresh landings always fetch inflated
prices. However, reports from the West Coast
and Canada listed initial wholesale prices
coming in higher than the past three March
openers. Seafood.com reported $8.05 for 1020s; $8.25-$8.50 for 20-40s, and $8.50-$8.75
for 40 ups.
Anyone interested in weathervane scallops
must register with Fish and Game by April
1. The scallop fishery, which was limited to
about four boats until 2013, is now an open
access fishery in waters near Yakutat, Kodiak
and Dutch Harbor. Prince William Sound is
closed to scallops this year.
Iditarod
9:47 a.m., followed by Jessie Royer in fourth
place at 11:51 a.m.
Before the race, some wondered if musher
Pete Kaiser would have an advantage because of his experience racing on ice. Kaiser
won this year’s Kuskokwim 300, which is
run entirely on a river. Pete Kaiser of Bethel
took the 14 position with a time of 9 days, 15
hours, 44 minutes and 35 seconds.
Richie Diehl of Aniak took the 23 position
with a time of 9 days, 23 hours, 26 minutes
and 59 seconds.
Dallas Seavey said this year’s competition
came down to different mushing styles.
“I think going into this race, we all knew
the winner would be who could maximize
this new trail and take advantage of that,”
he said.
He used two different styles: He was more
aggressive than usual early on, running near
the front of the pack. Then he let loose what
he calls the “monster,” a team that can finish
strong, building speed at the end.
After his victory, Dallas Seavey petted and
hugged his dogs.
“I really do believe this is one of the best
teams there’s ever been,” he said at a news
conference. “That may just be overly proud
pet parent talking, but they did just win the
Iditarod, so that’s some credibility.”
He was presented with $70,000 – $19,600
more than last year – and the keys to a new
pickup truck.
Dallas Seavey became the race’s youngest
champion in 2012 at age 25. He also won
last year in a race he figures he should have
placed third in. A freak storm blew out the
leaders, and he came across the finish line
and didn’t realize he’d won until a cameraman told him.
His father, who lives in Sterling, is a twotime champion. Mitch Seavey won in 2004,
and a year after Dallas became the race’s
youngest winner, Mitch became its oldest
at 53.
A total of 78 mushers began this year’s
race March 9 in Fairbanks. Nine racers later
scratched, and one was disqualified.
Three dogs have died this year, including one that was hit by a car after getting
loose during the ceremonial start. The other
dogs were on four-time champion Lance
Mackey’s team.
From Page 1
for the Yukon River.”
Seavey’s father, Mitch, finished in second
place March 18. Veteran musher Aaron
Burmeister was third, arriving in Nome at
2015 ANNUAL
SHAREHOLDER
AWARDS
AWARD NOMINATIONS
CATEGORIES DUE FRIDAY, APRIL 17
Calista Culture Bearer
Axel C. Johnson
Distinguished Shareholder
Calista Elder of the Year
Raymond C. Christiansen
Community Service Award
Calista Youth/Educator of the Year
Calista Business of the Year
All honorees will be announced
at the Annual Shareholders
Meeting on July 11, 2015
in Kasigluk.
To receive and submit a
nomination packet please
visit calistacorp.com,
email [email protected]
or fax (907) 275-2920.
Forms can also be mailed to:
Calista Annual
Shareholder Awards
5015 Business Park Blvd,
Suite 3000
Anchorage, Alaska 99503
* Nominees must be living
Shareholders or their Descendants.
t: (907) 275-2800
★
f: (907) 275-2920
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[email protected]
➢Akiak
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➢Atmautluak
➢Bethel
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➢Eek
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➢Kalskag
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➢Napakiak
➢Napaskiak
➢Newtok
➢Nightmute
➢Nunapitchuk
➢Platinum
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➢Tuntutuliak
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Running
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and
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7 days a week
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The Tundra Drums • March 26, 2015 • Page 5
Youth artists and elders come together to discuss the youth art at the drawing art show
Photos by
Looking to the Past to Shape the Future
Youth at the “Looking to the Past to Shape the Future: Yup’ik Archaeology,
Art and Technology” drawing workshop take a moment for the camera.
New art from old
From Page 1
Aberdeen graduate student Jacqui Graham
is the project director for the “Looking to the
Past to Shape the Future: Yup’ik Archaeology,
Art and Technology” project. Other community partners for the project include Qanirtuuq Corporation, City of Quinhagak, and
the local school Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat.
Graham is living in Quinhagak to deliver
the workshops which include drawing, photography, video production and 3D digital
modelling. Twelve models of the real cultural
objects were printed by a specialist company in
the Netherlands, based on scans given to them.
The youth, 10 to 20 years old get to handle
the life-size printed objects and think about
Suicide prevention
From Page 1
Hildebrand’s father committed suicide when
he was 4-years old while Simeon’s friend took
his life while he was a young man living in
Aniak. The goal is to make sure people know
to reach out to someone and talk about their
problems – whether it’s a friend, a parent,
grandparent, teacher or even troopers. It’s
a message that the wildlife troopers have
carried with them during outreach trips for
the past five years, some of them in conjunction with the Iron Dog Suicide Prevention
Campaigns.
Three years ago, the three troopers started
braving subzero temperatures and blowing
winds to snowmachine to the different communities in rural Alaska to tell school children
and community members there is always
Jonelle Matthew works on her project at the photography workshop..
how the culture of Yupik life 500 years ago is
reflected in the ongoing traditions of Yupik
people today.
During the mini art shows, workshop
participants will have completed a piece of
work for display. Elders and other interested
community members are invited to come
and talk to Quinhagak youth about culture,
heritage, creativity and the arts.
Quinhagak art works are taken out to the
world when they are featured in the project
blog “Looking to the Past to Shape the Future” (archaeology4past2future.blogspot.
com) and a project Facebook page (www.
facebook.com/pages/Looking-to-the-Pastto-Shape-the-Future/392153314269974).
Youth participants are commenting about
their own work and answering questions
hope in the midst of despair and that suicide
is preventable. Along the way they’ll hand
out personalized Alaska Suicide Prevention
CARELINE cards and posters.
All three grew up in rural Alaska – Hildebrand in Nulato, Simeon in Aniak and Akelkok
in Ekwok – where suicide is an epidemic. The
rate in Alaska has one of the highest suicide
rates in nation at 23.4 suicides per 1000,000
people in 2013, according to the Statewide
Suicide Prevention Council. That year, 75.5
percent of suicides in Alaska were by men.
As representatives of not only law enforcement, but also Alaska Native men, they use
their personal stories as proof that despite all
that may go wrong in life, there’s still a way
to succeed.
The troopers’ progress can tracked online
via a SPOT locator, tinyurl.com/TrooperSuicideTrack.
Looking to
the Past
to Shape
the Future:
Yup’ik
Archaeology,
Art and
Technology
from online observers.
The project is funded by the Alaska State
Council on the Arts in partnership with
the Rasmuson Foundation under the Youth
Cultural Heritage Fund banner. Quinhagak
Heritage Inc. Interim Director Colleen Lazenby worked closely with ASCA staff to
develop the project. Pauline Matthew is the
Kari Hawk and Angela Jones practice drawing.
workshop co-facilitator and Yup’ik language
advisor for the project.
“We greatly value our partnership with
the Alaska State Council on the Arts. The
growth of community arts in Quinhagak is
a direct outcome of their support combined
with lots of enthusiasm in the community,”
said Lazenby.
SALMON & SIDING & CARS
2015 YK Delta
CAREER FAIR
April 14, 2015
Tuesday
9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Yupiit Piciryarait
Cultural Center, Bethel
Open to the public!
Job seekers should bring their
resumés and dress for an interview
9 a.m.
10 a.m.
10-10:55 a.m.
11-11:30 a.m.
11:30 a.m.-noon
1-1:30 p.m.
1:30-2 p.m.
2-2:30 p.m.
4 p.m.
Career Fair Starts
Discussion Panels
Construction Panel
Healthcare Panel
Public Safety Panel
Aviation Panel
Education and Training Panel
Background Checks Panel
Close of Career Fair
For more information call (907) 543-2210
Sponsored by: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Association of Village Council Presidents Regional Housing Authority,
Orutsarsarmuit Native Council, Association of Village Council Presidents, Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation and Tundra Drums.
We are an equal opportunity employer/program. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.
Page 6 • March 26, 2015 • The Tundra Drums
Life on ice at the top of the world
Ned Rozell
Alaska Science Forum
On a February day long ago, a
family living in a sod hut near the
Arctic Ocean saw blocks of sea ice
bulldozing their way onto shore.
Winds shoved more ice until the
mass towered above them and
started dripping water through a
ventilation hole. The father urged
his family outside just before a slab
fell on the hut and crushed him.
An ivu – the Inupiat word for
mounds of ice that sometimes plow
onto land, powered by winds and
currents – is not often fatal, nor is it
common these days. But stories of a
few like this one from 1890 are now
preserved on audio and some video
in a recently completed project.
Over the years, researchers with
the University of Alaska have traveled to Barrow for interviews and
gathered existing recordings of
the few Americans who live with
sea ice.
The Natives interviewed talk of
how sea ice used to form on the
ocean in September and persist
until June, while now they see open
water in November or December.
And how less ice survives summer ’s heat to form “multiyear”
ice, which can better support the
weight of a harvested whale.
“The stories reflect that the ice
used to be thicker,” said Karen
Brewster of the UAF Oral History
program, who compiled the interviews at www.jukebox.uaf.edu/
seaice. “Pile-up events of thick
chunks of ice were common. Now
the ice just breaks up because it’s
too thin to pile up in the same way.”
Brewster and others interviewed
26 residents of the North Slope
from 1978 to 2013. Sea-ice scientist Lew Shapiro started talking
with elders in the late 1970s when
oil company executives became
interested in the damage sea ice
might inflict upon their structures.
Shapiro’s colleagues Ron Metzner
and Kenneth Toovak interviewed
more than a dozen people, including Otis Ahkivgak, who in 1979
told the story of the ivu that killed
a man in 1890.
Twenty years after Shapiro’s
work, Matt Druckenmiller earned
his PhD from UAF in part by interviewing Native hunters about their
whaling trails and ice conditions.
His request to Brewster to preserve
the audio and photos inspired her
to complete the project after adding
a few of her own interviews.
The recordings are not edited,
making the listener feel as if he
or she is in a Barrow living room.
Though this style makes the listener
work for the gems within, they are
there, like when Harry Brower talks
about 1975, the year the ice never
went out.
Scientists appreciate a longterm view. Sea-ice specialist Andy
Mahoney, who learned much from
Lew Shapiro and like Shapiro
works at UAF’s Geophysical Institute, offered a current example as
he flew over the ice of Camden Bay
in late February 2015 by helicopter.
“As we approached the coast, we
spotted a narrow lead at the shore,
indicating the landfast ice was
in the process of detaching from
the coast,” he said via email from
Deadhorse. “I was surprised to see
this at this time of year and was
tempted to think I was witnessing
a rare and perhaps unique event.”
After pondering the open water
all day, Mahoney pulled up satellite images after dinner and saw
a similar event in a previous year.
“At a time when the Arctic is
undergoing rapid change, it’s more
important than ever to understand
what is truly unprecedented and
what is simply a repeat of earlier
events,” he said. “This is why interviews with those who have a longer
view of changes than the rest of us
are particularly valuable.”
NASA launches 4 spacecraft to solve mystery
Information sought
on what drives
space weather
Marcia Dunn
AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)
— NASA launched four identical
spacecraft March 12 on a billiondollar mission to study the explosive give-and-take of the Earth and
sun’s magnetic fields.
The unmanned Atlas rocket – and
NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale
spacecraft – soared into a clear latenight sky, right on time. Within two
hours, all four observatories were
flying free.
“Just picture-perfect,” launch
manager Omar Baez said early
Friday. “Everybody’s cheering. ...
Can’t ask for any more.”
The quartet of observatories is
being placed into an oblong orbit
stretching tens of thousands of
miles into the magnetosphere –
nearly halfway to the moon at one
point.
They will fly in pyramid formation, between 6 miles and 250 miles
apart, to provide 3-D views of magnetic reconnection on the smallest
of scales.
Magnetic reconnection is what
happens when magnetic fields like
those around Earth and the sun
come together, break apart, then
come together again, releasing vast
energy. This repeated process drives
the aurora, as well as solar storms
that can disrupt communications
and power on Earth. Data from this
two-year mission should help scientists better understand so-called
space weather.
Each observatory resembles a
giant octagonal wheel, stretching
more than 11 feet across and 4 feet
high, and weighing 3,000 pounds
apiece.
Numbered and stacked like tires
Bearly
ACROSS
1. Libra symbol
6. Weep convulsively
9. Under-dress garment
13. Knucklehead
14. *Some Watergate
burglars had worked
for it
15. On the rocks
16. *”Fear of Flying”
author, given name
17. *”___ My Children”
18. Gossipmonger’s
information
19. *iPod predecessor,
debuted in Japan in
‘79
21. *Its fall ushered the
end of Vietnam War
23. Snakelike reef dweller
24. You can’t have this and
eat it too?
25. Business school
reward
28. Tibetan teacher
30. #20 Down, to
Shakespeare
35. Miner’s bounty, pl.
37. Measles symptom
39. Dictation taker
40. Signal receiver
41. *Punk rock, e.g.
43. “I’m ____ you!”
44. Kindle content
46. ____ lamp
47. *Travolta and NewtonJohn, e.g.
48. Historically, they were
sent to colonies
50. Sacred Hindu writings
52. *Martial artist
53. Ambience
55. Genetic initials
57. Like a bikini?
60. *Type of men’s suit
64. The present
65. Calendar square
67. Forty-niner, e.g.
68. Arabian chieftain
69. “But I heard him
exclaim, ___ he drove
out of sight...”
70. Plug-in
71. Something necessary
but lacking
72. Hi-___
73. Film director Sergio
See Space mystery, Page 7 >
Tundra
Puzzles
The 1970s
on top of the rocket for launch, No.
4 popped free first more than an
hour after liftoff, followed every
five minutes by another.
“They’re all healthy and turned
on. Essentially, we’re all green
and headed into our mission,”
said NASA project manager Craig
Tooley.
Once the long, sensor-laden
booms are extended in a few days,
each spacecraft could span a base-
DOWN
1. Old World duck
2. Countess of Grantham,
“Downton Abbey”
3. Seed coat
4. English philosopher
John
5. Canine’s coat
6. *First clinical CT- or Cat____ in ‘71
7. *Subject of 1970s crisis
8. Model-building wood
9. Like a bug in a rug
10. Stretched ride
11. Clickable picture
12. For every
15. Bay windows
20. Eye opener
22. *Arthur Herbert
Fonzarelli, ___ “The
Fonz”
24. Source of tapioca and
a staple in the tropics
25. *Cheryl Tiegs or
Beverly Johnson, e.g.
26. Palm grease
27. Famous fabulist
29. Sledgehammer
31. At the summit of
32. Of the kidneys
33. Undo laces
34. *She had a hit TV
sitcom
36. Old Woman’s home
38. Bee home
42. Military group
45. *Kramer’s opponent
49. Small amount of liquid
food
51. *”______ House”
54. Actress Winona
56. Out of the way
57. Not all
58. Capped joint
59. Like a decorated cake
60. Cleaning cabinet
supplies
61. Backward arrow
command
62. Seabiscuit control
63. European sea eagle
64. A Bobbsey twin
66. Present plural of “be”
Solutions to previous puzzles
The Tundra Drums • March 26, 2015 • Page 7
Space mystery
From Page 6
ball field.
Principal investigator Jim Burch
from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio said measurements will be made down to the
electron scale, significantly smaller
than previous heliophysics missions.
In all, there are 100 science sensors. Primary science-gathering
will begin this summer, following
a five-month checkout.
The findings from the $1.1 billion
mission will be useful in understanding magnetic reconnection
throughout the universe. Closer
to home, space weather scientists
along with everyone on Earth hopefully will benefit.
“We’re not setting out here to
solve space weather,” Burch said.
“We’re setting out to learn the
fundamental features of magnetic
reconnection because that’s what
drives space weather.”
Information is online at NASA:
mms.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html and
Southwest Research Institute: www.
swri.org.
Trooper Report
The following is from the dispatches
of the Alaska State Troopers. Those
who have been arrested, cited or
summoned are presumed innocent
until found guilty in court.
March 6
Alaska State Troopers received a
report of an assault in Crooked Creek.
Subsequent investigation by the troopers found that a 17-year-old male
resident of Crooked Creek assaulted
his 18-year-old girlfriend at their Village
Road residence on March 1 and 6. The
male was arrested and remanded to the
Bethel Youth Facility.
March 15
Troopers in Bethel received a report
at about 8 a.m. that a neighbor had
been banging on the front door trying
for two hours trying to break into the
house. The residents barricaded the
front door to prevent the subject from
getting in. When troopers arrived at
the residence at about 9:47 a.m., Jack.
W. Lamont, 41 of Tuluksak, was found
inside the arctic entry way using a piece
of scrap metal to hammer the front door.
Lamont caused an estimated $2,500
worth of damage to the door, entry way
and several pieces of equipment in the
arctic entry way. Lamont was arrested
on charges of Criminal Mischief III and
Criminal Trespass I, and taken to Yukon
Kuskokwim Correctional Center.
March 11
AST in Emmonak was notified of an assault. AST contacted John Murphy, 52
of Emmonak, and Melbina Kilangak, 28
of Emmonak. Both were bleeding from
multiple wounds and saying the other
person attacked them. Both individuals were observed to be intoxicated.
Investigation was ongoing.
Classified Ads & Public Notices
Rates: 65 cents per word, minimum $6.50 per ad. • Deadline: Noon, Friday for Thursday publication • [email protected] • 907-224-4888
The Drums does not evaluate or endorse
the representations made by these advertisers. For possible information, contact BBB at 562-0704 or the Alaska Dept.
of Labor at 907-269-4900.
Work
Diesel Mechanic for Yukon River Towing: 3
– 4 months starting in mid-May in Emmonak
AK. Wage dependent on experience. Send
work experience and resume to yrtljobs@
gmail.com
(3/19-4/9)
Job Opportunity:
University of Alaska Fairbanks
The Center for Alaska Native Health Research
(CANHR) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
(UAF), is seeking applications for a part-time
Community Research Coordinator to work on
a Wood Stove Interventions study. This position is based at the Kuskokwim campus in
Bethel, Alaska
This position will coordinate CANHR research
activities in rural YK Delta communities and in
Bethel, including participant recruitment and
data collection. Duties will include (1) organization of field research in two or more YK villages, (2) collecting clinical and environmental
health data such as respiratory assessments,
administering questionnaires, conducting interviews, and environmental monitoring, (3)
leading daily activities of village-based field
research assistants during data collection,
and (4) participating in dissemination of research findings to participants, tribal governments, and communities.
A minimum of two years working with Yup’ik
people and able to speak and understand
Yup’ik is required. A BS, BA, or AA degree
and equivalent combination of training and
experience will be accepted. This is a parttime position, minimum of 20 hours per week,
but variable, based on funding and research
needs.
If you would like to apply for this position,
please go to https://www.uakjobs.com and
click on “Create Application” link to select a
Work
Public Notices
Public Notices
Public NoticeS
User Name and Password and to create your
application. If you need assistance, please
contact the UAF Human Resource Department
at 474-7700. All finalists may be subject to
a background check. If you have questions
regarding this specific vacancy announcement, please contact: Scarlett Hopkins, 907328-9500, or [email protected].
(3/26-4/16)
nance
Project Bid No.: 16-25A-1-006
Estimated Cost: Between $20,000 and
$30,000
Bid Opening: 1:00 PM on 3/31/2015
Telephone: (907) 269-0767
TTD: (907) 269-0473
TTY: (800) 770-8973
Copies of the Contract bid documents
may be obtained at the Sleetmute Post
Office or the M&O Aniak Station Airport
Manager’s Office.
Up to date and additional information is available on the web at (http://dot.alaska.gov).
Under the Section called Find it Fast!, select
DOT & PF Public Notices. Look through the
section called Procurement for the Invitation
for Quotes.
AO 15-60-046
Pub: March 19 & 26, 2015
section called Procurement for the Invitation
for Quotes.
AO 15-60-045
Pub: March 19 & 26, 2015
TTD: (907) 269-0473
TTY: (800) 770-8973
Copies of the Contract bid documents
may be obtained at the Chuathbaluk Post
Office or the M&O Aniak Station Airport
Manager’s Office.
Up to date and additional information is available on the web at (http://dot.alaska.gov).
Under the Section called Find it Fast!, select
DOT & PF Public Notices. Look through the
section called Procurement for the Invitation
for Quotes.
AO 15-60-043
Pub: March 19 & 26, 2015
Public Notices
STATE OF ALASKA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION &
PUBLIC FACILITIES (DOT/PF)
CENTRAL REGION
INVITATION FOR QUOTES
Project Bid Title: Tununak Airport Maintenance
Project Bid No.: 16-25A-1-008
Estimated Cost: Between $20,000 and
$30,000
Bid Opening: 1:00 PM on 3/31/2015
Telephone: (907) 269-0767
TTD: (907) 269-0473
TTY: (800) 770-8973
Copies of the Contract bid documents
may be obtained at the Tununak Post Office or the M&O Bethel Station Airport
Manager’s Office.
Up to date and additional information is available on the web at (http://dot.alaska.gov).
Under the Section called Find it Fast!, select
DOT & PF Public Notices. Look through the
section called Procurement for the Invitation
for Quotes.
AO 15-60-050
Pub: March 19 & 26, 2015
STATE OF ALASKA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION &
PUBLIC FACILITIES (DOT/PF)
CENTRAL REGION
INVITATION FOR QUOTES
Project Bid Title: Sleetmute Airport Mainte-
STATE OF ALASKA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION &
PUBLIC FACILITIES (DOT/PF)
CENTRAL REGION
INVITATION FOR QUOTES
Project Bid Title: Nunapitchuk Airport Maintenance
Project Bid No.: 16-25A-1-001
Estimated Cost: Between $15,000 and
$25,000
Bid Opening: 1:00 PM on 3/31/2015
Telephone: (907) 269-0767
TTD: (907) 269-0473
TTY: (800) 770-8973
Copies of the Contract bid documents
may be obtained at the Nunapitchuk Post
Office or the M&O Bethel Station Airport
Manager’s Office.
Up to date and additional information is available on the web at (http://dot.alaska.gov).
Under the Section called Find it Fast!, select
DOT & PF Public Notices. Look through the
STATE OF ALASKA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION &
PUBLIC FACILITIES (DOT/PF)
CENTRAL REGION
INVITATION FOR QUOTES
Project Bid Title: Kasigluk Airport Maintenance
Project Bid No.: 16-25A-1-003
Estimated Cost: Between $20,000 and
$30,000
Bid Opening: 1:00 PM on 3/31/2015
Telephone: (907) 269-0767
TTD: (907) 269-0473
TTY: (800) 770-8973
Copies of the Contract bid documents
may be obtained at the Kasigluk Post Office or the M&O Bethel Station Airport
Manager’s Office.
Up to date and additional information is available on the web at (http://dot.alaska.gov).
Under the Section called Find it Fast!, select
DOT & PF Public Notices. Look through the
section called Procurement for the Invitation
for Quotes.
AO 15-60-044
Pub: March 19 & 26, 2015
STATE OF ALASKA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION &
PUBLIC FACILITIES (DOT/PF)
CENTRAL REGION
INVITATION FOR QUOTES
Project Bid Title: Chuathbaluk Airport Maintenance
Project Bid No.: 16-25A-1-002
Estimated Cost: Between $15,000 and
$25,000
Bid Opening: 1:00 PM on 3/31/2015
Telephone: (907) 269-0767
STATE OF ALASKA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION &
PUBLIC FACILITIES (DOT/PF)
CENTRAL REGION
INVITATION FOR QUOTES
Project Bid Title: Kipnuk Airport Maintenance
Project Bid No.: 16-25A-1-004
Estimated Cost: Between $15,000 and
$25,000
Bid Opening: 1:00 PM on 3/31/2015
Telephone: (907) 269-0767
TTD: (907) 269-0473
TTY: (800) 770-8973
Copies of the Contract bid documents
may be obtained at the Kipnuk Post Office or the M&O Bethel Station Airport
Manager’s Office.
Up to date and additional information is available on the web at (http://dot.alaska.gov).
Under the Section called Find it Fast!, select
DOT & PF Public Notices. Look through the
section called Procurement for the Invitation
for Quotes.
AO 15-60-049
Pub: March 19 & 26, 2015
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Page 8 • March 26, 2015 • The Tundra Drums
Feds document seabird loss in North Pacific
Dan Joling
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The number of seabirds, including gulls, puffins and
auklets, has dropped significantly in the Gulf
of Alaska and northeast Bering Sea, a possible
consequence of warmer waters, according to a
preliminary federal analysis of nearly 40 years
of surveys.
U.S. Geological Survey experts found the
seabird population density declined 2 percent
annually from 1975 to 2012 in the northeast
North Pacific, said John Piatt, research wildlife
biologist at the USGS Alaska Science Center.
“Biologically speaking, that’s a pretty major
change,” he said.
Piatt and researcher Gary Drew suspect the
decline may be tied to less food availability, a
consequence of warmer ocean temperatures
that occur in cycles over decades.
Seabird populations could bounce back as
water cools, Piatt said, but decadal cycles could
ultimately be superseded by global warming.
“That’s what a lot of people are concerned
Wood bison
From Page 1
center spent much of last week practicing for
about,” he said. “We don’t know. We’re just
learning about the Pacific Decadal Oscillations
and that they’re important.”
The analysis of seabird surveys began in
earnest in 1989.
“We started pulling together some of these
data bases after the Exxon Valdez oil spill when
it was clear we needed to get a better handle
on densities of birds at sea to assess damages,”
Piatt said.
The result was the creation of the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database. It includes bird
counts from 350,000 ship transects, the plotted
paths to systematically make measurements.
To make sense of the numbers, researchers
looked for blocks of water where at least 10
surveys had been conducted in a given year
in all four decades.
“We pulled out places where there was repetition. It gave us 72 blocks of water for which
we had data spanning 40 years,” Piatt said.
Exxon Valdez oil killed a lot of birds, Piatt
said, but seabird numbers also declined outside
the spill area.
“It was much bigger than the oil spill,”
Piatt said.
Starting in the late 1970s, atmospheric circulation changed. Water temperatures that had
been colder than average for a decade shifted
to several degrees warmer than average for
more than 30 years.
The changes were tied to effects from Pacific
Decadal Oscillations. The term describing climate variability was coined by fisheries scientist Steven Hare, who researched connections
between Alaska salmon production cycles and
Pacific climate. NASA describes the oscillations
as long-term ocean fluctuations that wax and
wane every 20 to 30 years.
With warmer water, phytoplankton bloomed
earlier. Zooplankton fed on phytoplankton and
developed earlier, providing abundant food for
early spawning fish such as halibut, pollock
and cod and leaving less food for late spawners such as capelin, a type of smelt consumed
by seabirds.
“This was a magnitude-9 earthquake in the
ecosystem,” Piatt said. “Everything changed
afterward, including marine birds.”
Counts at bird colonies were not part of the
USGS review. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
seabird researcher David Irons said trends at
colonies are generally in sync with the at-sea
data. Seabird numbers fell at some colonies in
the mid-1980s and afterward but eventually
leveled off or increased.
“Basically the decline leveled off around
2000,” Irons said.
The USGS review goes through 2012. As water temperatures have cooled in recent years,
some bird numbers have ticked up, Piatt said.
The historical record indicates wildlife such
as salmon has booms and busts in population corresponding to natural cycles in the
environment.
“The animals are responsive to changes in
the environment,” he said.
The more worrisome issue is global warming
that could supersede decadal pulses.
“The background increase in global temperature is a happening fact,” he said. “It’s not
hypothetical.”
the big moving day. Bison are skittish around
people, and with horns and massive weight,
are dangerous to people and themselves.
From a pen, the animals were funneled a
few at a time into a plywood chute that did
not allow them to see humans they passed.
“A human face scares the animals,” said
biologist Cathie Harms said.
They moved from the wooden chute to an
enclosed metal chute, where biologists opened
doors for final blood samples and de-worming
shots. They were then herded into the bison
boxes in groups of five, crowded but separated
by doors.
The close conditions were by design. Takeoff from Anchorage, and landing on the short
village runway, could bounce the animals
around.
“They don’t have a lot of room to jostle,”
Harms said.
The bison in Shageluk will be kept in pens
several acres large before release in two or
three weeks. They’ve been eating hay since
arriving at the conservation center, but in the
wild will eat grasses, sedges and forbs. Bison
move to a foraging spot, stay a day or so and
move to a new one, Harms said.
“We will try to duplicate that with hay
piles leading to sedge fields that should come
shooting up about the time the hay runs out,”
Harms said.
Twenty-five of the 50 cows being moved
are pregnant. Wood bison tend to establish
a connection to places where they give birth,
she said.
The department plans to keep close tabs
on the herd for at least two years. All animals
released will either have a radio collar that can
be tracked from the air or a satellite collar that
can be tracked from a biologist’s office.
“We’re going to watch them very, very
closely for two years to find out what direction
they go,” she said.
When the herd reaches 300 to 400 animals,
hunting could begin, said David James, the
Fairbanks regional supervisor. The bison plan
calls for no hunting until at least 20 animals
can be harvested, with one each reserved for
each of four nearby villages.
Hunting also will be planned so as to not
stop herd growth, James said.
Laura Whitehouse, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Some wood bison survived in the Lower 48, protected and bred, and are being reintroduced to
Western Alaska this week. The huge animals once roamed areas of the state.
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