In person: Homer (Alaska Maritime) or Soldotna (Kenai NWR)
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747#
Note Program Change: Too much fire to talk fire! The Kenai Fire Staff is on their way to the lower 48 where the fire season is still going hot in what Assistant Fire Manager Mike Hill calls “the new normal.” The Fire on the Kenai program will be rescheduled after the snow flies.
Agenda:
Introductions and Discussion (5 minutes)Introductions: Where do you live? (Poppy)
New People: Why did you join the call today?
Reminder to please mute yourselves when you aren’t talking
Board Activities/Decisions– Refuge Projects Approved (Betty)
Committee Reports (2-5 minutes each):
Volunteer Report – (Betty)
Summer projects wrap up – overview of funded volunteer projects
Call for board/ committee members
Membership/Outreach Events:
Upcoming events in Kenai and Homer (Tara)
Other Outreach (Poppy)
Details for all on our EVENTS tab – on website; we’ll send more updates via newsletter
Advocacy Updates (David Raskin)
Speaker/Presentation (30-40 minutes):
Special Guest: Matt Conner, Ranger/Kenai National Wildlife Refuge
Topic: “If You Teach a Kid to Fish“
Although just 3 hours down the road from Alaska’s largest city, the Kenai Refuge is unknown and inaccessible to many Anchorage kids. The Refuge partnered with Alaska Geographic and others to find those urban teens who have had no opportunity to experience the wild and bring them to the refuge. Kenai Ranger Matt Connor uses flyfishing and archery to entice urban teens into engaging with and feeling comfortable in the outdoors. No cell phone can offer the hands-on excitement of catching fish on a fly you have tied yourself.
Come hear about Matt’s successful program “Stick and String Naturalist” and find out how you can help. Stick and String campers learn stream ecology, aquatic invertebrates, and stream conservation and how to apply that knowledge to fishing skills such as knowing what fly to tie and how to read the riffles in the river. They journal about nature, learn outdoor cooking, camping skills, photography and reading the landscape. Ranger Matt is looking for flyfishing and archery knowledgeable Friends plus new ideas to help him expand this program to get more kids outside and connected to the refuges of Alaska!
Download Stick-and-String Presentation
Next Meeting: Tuesday October, 5-6pm/ Susanna Henry, “Togiak Refuge’s Cape Peirce – Scenery, Wildlife, and Management Challenges”
*SIX meetings yearly: January, February, March, April, September, October