Trip Report: Tetlin Discovery Trip, July 2019

2019 Tetlin NWR – Refuge Discovery Trip Report

Refuge Discovery Trip Report – by Pauline Strong, Friends Member

At the beginning of July, a group of Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges met at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge to assist with two projects requested by the refuge staff and to explore a small part of the refuge. Although the trip was originally intended to have 12 participants, only 7 were able to come because of concerns about traveling through smoke from wildfires on the way to the refuge. Fortunately, we only experienced a small amount of wildfire smoke at the end of the trip.

The first day’s work was assisting with blocking the Alaska Highway for the Tok 4^th of July parade, setting up and manning an information booth about Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges, and doing face painting for the 4^th of July celebration. There was intense rivalry between the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife for the best float in the parade, and the refuge float won out.

The two face painting volunteers, Moira O’Malley and Georgiana Smith, have extensive experience working with youth and boundless enthusiasm. There was a long line of kids waiting to have their faces painted the entire 4 hours of the festival and the fair grounds were full of fantastically painted children. We were all surprised at how tremendously popular the face painting turned out to be. Steve Ebbert was able to share his knowledge of the Alaska Wildlife Refuge system with people who came by the information booth, and we all explained what it means to belong to the Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges while enjoying the wonderful music of Juno Smile who played the whole afternoon. This two-person band had been unknown to us, but they were fantastic musicians, able to play and sing clearly on pitch and with a toe-tapping beat.

The next morning, we loaded up the canoes and gear and set off the canoe portion of the trip. We went to Scotty Creek to launch, but found the creek far too low to get our canoes and gear on the water with a reasonable amount of effort, so we went back to Desper Creek and paddled downstream to a campsite 3 miles down that was used by the Friends last year. The weather was wonderful. We saw several sets of ducks with ducklings on the creek, a red-tailed hawk and its nest, and the air was full of dragonflies.

The next day we put up a bird nest box not far downstream from the campsite and then paddled down to the first (unnamed) lake. After Dave Schroyer installed the bird nest box, he let Meg Parsons and Pauline Strong stand next to it while he took a photo. After a lunch stop there, we started the water trail marker part of the project. The creek is so slow moving that it could be hard to tell upstream from downstream coming out of the lake. We had time to put signs on one side of the creek from the unnamed lake to Desper Lake this year. Clearing the brush for visibility may have been the hardest part of installing the water trail markers.

Alaska On Fire! (July 2019)

by Poppy Benson, Outreach Coordinator

Alaska is burning and so are Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuges. Over one million acres in 400 separate fires are burning across the state. Forty-five of these fires are on refuges with 200,000 acres aflame. Almost every one of Alaska’s 16 refuges has had a fire with the majority of the fire activity on Kenai, Yukon Flats, and Arctic Refuges. The largest refuge fire is the 100,000 acre Swan Lake Fire on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. This fire was started by lightning in early June in a limited fire management area. Firefighting efforts are concentrated on protecting the towns of Sterling and Cooper Landing, the highway, and HEAs power line while allowing the fire to burn in the wild part of the refuge. Backfires lit along the Sterling Highway and on the western edge of the fire have been very successful in boxing in the fire and preventing it from spreading in the direction of Sterling.

A real benefit of this fire is that it is burning up heavy fuels which will make the towns and the refuge much safer for decades from the risk of a more catastrophic fire. Kenai Refuge biologists learned in earlier studies that black spruce burns about every 80 years, and it has been 80 years since this area last burned. In the higher elevations, the fire is burning up spruce bark beetle-killed white spruce. It is a fire-dependent landscape and will adapt. Positive impacts on wildlife will come as the fire will alter the habitat to an earlier successional stage where “moose food” such as aspen and birch will sprout in the burned areas. The fire has exhibited some extreme fire behavior burning in the tundra and riparian areas. The negative impacts of that on wildlife are yet to be determined. The biggest human impact from the fire has been the smoke which has been particularly hard on communities east of the refuge. Numerous refuge trails, campgrounds, and public use cabins have been closed due to smoke and fire crews working in the area but none have been damaged so far. The famed Swan Lake Canoe Route, just west of the fire, has also not been impacted.

Fire conditions have been extreme because a series of high-pressure domes parked on top of the Kenai Peninsula for weeks preventing rain, creating record temperatures, drying fuels and preventing smoke from rising into the high atmosphere. According to USFWS Regional Fire Management Coordinator Doug Alexander, “I’ve been up here 10 years and I can’t believe how hot it is. It is nearly 90 degrees every day on that fire.” Record high temperatures have been recorded throughout the state with Anchorage hitting 90 degrees for the first time ever. Fortunately, in just the last few days, the normal marine airflow has begun to return, giving firefighters a break by moderating fire behavior. You can follow the progress of the Swan Lake fire h ere .

CANCELLED-Get Involved: Kenai River Clean-up, September 6 – 8, 2019

ATTENTION: The Kenai River clean up event is cancelled due to the Swan Lake Fire.

Do good, have fun and see more of the Kenai Refuge. September 6-8. Sportsmen’s Landing, Cooper Landing.

Friends will join Alaska Fly Fishers in doing an end of season clean-up of Sportsmen Landing, and downstream beaches all of which are on the Kenai Refuge. This is our second year partnering with the Fly Fishers, the Kenai Watershed Forum, the Refuge and the Forest Service on this event. We had such a great time last year what with raft trips, free food, and live music, we are making it an annual event. See our trip report from last year here.

Arrive Friday evening and set up your trailer or tent in the Sportsman Landing campground reserved just for this event. Saturday morning, after a continental breakfast, teams will either float the river cleaning beaches or clean around the landing, campgrounds and parking areas. The Kenai Refuge will bring several boats to take Friends downriver to clean refuge beaches. That evening the Alaska Fly Fishers will put on a BBQ for all participants with prizes and live music! Sunday morning, breakfast is followed by a Friends sponsored hike on a yet to be determined trail in the Skilak Lake Road area

For more information and to sign up, contact Tim Shipman, trip coordinator, at tim.shipman@gmail.com or call (907) 252-8450.

This promises to be a very fun event that will continue to help build an alliance with the Fly Fishers, Kenai Watershed Forum, the refuge, and other partners.

2019 July Advocacy Report

Advocacy Update

by David Raskin, Friends Board President

The battles continue to save the Izembek and Arctic Refuges and Bristol Bay from destructive developments and limit the impact of the expected predator control regulations for the Kenai Refuge.

Izembek NWR
We have no news concerning the Department of Justice appeal of the decision by the Anchorage Federal District Court that granted the motion for summary judgment in our lawsuit that challenged the legality of the land exchange and road through the heart of the Izembek Wilderness. This decision had halted all activity related to the transfer of Refuge land and the construction of a road. Although the DOI instructed the USFWS to continue working on a contaminants analysis regarding the lands that they would exchange, there is no indication of any work that would violate the decision by the Court. We assume that the government is continue its efforts to figure out how to respond to the court order and explain their decision process to satisfy the court. Our conservation partners and legal team are closely monitoring any such actions and will mount all available legal and legislative challenges to counter any attempt by the Department of Interior (DOI) to revive the unacceptable land exchange and destructive road.

Arctic NWR
The DOI continues to press forward with plans to sell leases for oil and gas development in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge. BLM is in the process of preparing a final EIS, which is expected to be released in August and a decision soon after the close of the 30-day comment period. Since the DEIS was so hastily done and grossly inadequate, without a new DEIS process it is likely that a Final EIS will be insufficient to withstand legal challenges. Lease sales are planned this year.

The proposed seismic exploration is expected to begin next season and extend over two years. It requires a plan that would satisfy the Incidental Take Regulations (ITR) regarding denning polar bears and marine mammals. The recently-proposed low-altitude aerial survey appears to have been abandoned. The French company CGG stated that they no plans to conduct aerial surveys of the Coastal Plain. This means that prior to the planned lease sale, there may be no new information about the amount of oil under the area. This is another indication of industry’s waning interest in drilling the Arctic Refuge. The conservation community is closely monitoring these developments and will take whatever actions are necessary to prevent the undesirable impacts of seismic exploration and oil leases.

A positive development is the Restore Protections Bill (HR 1146) that would remove the tax bill provision that authorized the sale of leases in the Coastal Plain. The bill was introduced by Representative Jared Huffman and had a record 182 cosponsors. It was reported out of committee and a full House vote is expected in July. Although it is expected to pass the House, the Senate is unlikely to pass it.

Kenai NWR Predator Control Regulations
The proposed Kenai Refuge predator control regulations have not been released, but are expected very soon. The most serious threat to wildlife is the expected regulation that will allow hunting of brown bears over bait. At a minimum, we will urge the Kenai Refuge to develop a permit process to limit the areas of the Refuge and the number of bears to be taken consistent with mandated management practices and potential threats to the brown bear population. The conservation community is closely monitoring any developments and is prepared to provide the responses necessary to protect the integrity and biological diversity of the Kenai Refuge wildlife.

Pebble Mine
Friends joined 13 conservation organizations on the submission of a 433-page comment on the Corps of Engineers Pebble Mine DEIS. These comments were prepared and submitted by Trustees for Alaska and the Sierra Club Environmental Law Program. The breadth and contents of this extensive set of comments and its numerous attachments document the grossly inadequate DEIS prepared by the Corps. We hope that this horrible project with its potential impacts on Bristol Bay salmon fisheries and many national wildlife refuges will ultimately be stopped after a 15-year battle. We thank the staffs of Trustees and Sierra Club for this monumental effort.