Join us and learn more about refuges and wildlife at our meetings held from 5-6 pm AKT, the 3rd Tuesday of the month. from fall to spring. Every meeting can be attended live if you are in the same town as the speaker, at watch parties in Anchorage, Kenai and Homer or on zoom wherever you are. All meetings are also recorded and posted on this page. You do not need to be a member to attend.
Upcoming Schedule:
February 18 –It was Worse than We Thought: Half of Alaska’s Murres Killed in Heat Waveby Heather Renner, Supervisory Biologist at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. In person in Homer, watch parties and zoom
March 18 –Built Like a Bear; Mosey like a Moose: Your Health and Alaska’s Wildlife Refuges presented by Matt Connor, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Supervisory Park Ranger. In person at Kenai Refuge Visitor Center in Soldotna, watch parties in Anchorage and Homer and on zoom.
April 15 – TBD
Every meeting will feature an engaging speaker from one of Alaska’s 16 Refuges or a partner who is closely involved with our Refuges.
Presented by Heather Renner, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Supervisory Biologist
This presentation was recorded in Homer, AK on Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Homer – Heather Renner in person at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, 95 Sterliing Hwy. Reception follows talk. Soldotna – Watch Party at Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, Ski Hill Road Anchorage – Watch Party at BP Energy Center, Spruce/Willow Room 1014 Energy Ct. And Around the Country on Zoom
Sea cliffs and remote islands of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge provide ideal nesting sites, protected from terrestrial predators and close to the ocean food source. Aiktak Island in the Semidi Islands is one of the annual monitoring sites of the refuge. PC Ian Shive
As early as summer 2015, Refuge biologists could tell something was amiss at common murre breeding colonies in Alaska. Murres were not showing up to breed like they have year in and year out. And then, the bodies started washing up on the beaches. In winter 2015 – 2016, half of Alaska’s common murre population, 4 million birds, died in the largest single species die-off for any bird or mammal species in recorded history. And they haven’t recovered yet. Hear from Heather Renner, Supervisory Biologist of the Alaska Maritime Refuge, on the refuge’s work to document the scope of this unprecedented tragedy.
When birds die at sea, only a small percentage of the carcasses washes up on shore. What did it really mean in terms of total bird death that 62,000 carcasses were recovered up and down the coast from California to the Bering Sea? Breeding colony counts were needed to give a clearer picture. Unfortunately, for a few years after the die-off, murres didn’t breed successfully, so biologists couldn’t be sure how many had died and how many just weren’t returning to the colonies to breed. When breeding returned to “normal”, biologists learned the true scope of the die-off. Heather is one of six coauthors of a paper published in Science in December of 2024 that caused a considerable stir over the magnitude of the tragedy, the lack of recovery seven years later and the reason – a heat wave in the ocean.
The refuge where much of this drama played out, the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, is an unusual and unusually remote refuge of 2500 islands, headlands and rocks stretched across more than 1000 miles of Alaska’s coastline. It is one of the world’s premiere seabird refuges, with 40 million nesting seabirds. Heather’s team includes biologists working in groups of two to three in field camps on uninhabited islands scattered along the coast. This group of dedicated scientists has been documenting since the 1970’s the status of seabirds, their numbers and breeding success; it was these data that allowed firm conclusions as to the extent of this tragedy. Data used in this analysis spanned two huge marine ecosystems, the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. They also included seabird monitoring data collected on Togiak and Alaska Peninsula/Becharof national wildlife refuges, as well as data collected by Alaska Department of Fish and Game (Round Island) and Middleton Island. Long-term ecological datasets like this are incredibly rare and are urgently needed to understand which species are most vulnerable in our changing ocean. The before photo was taken in 2014 pre die-off and the post die-off photo was taken in 2021, six years after the event. South Island in the Semidi Islands.
Seabirds, the Alaska Maritime Refuge and Alaska are part of who Heather Renner is. She is a life- long Alaskan who has worked for the Refuge for 25 years. She began her career at just 15 working in the Fish and Wildlife Service Regional office fisheries program. From there she worked her way up in other Alaskan Refuges – Alaska Peninsula/Becharof, YukonDelta, Togiak and Kenai – from a seasonal bio tech working in field camps to now supervisor of one of the most respected biological programs in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Heather even met her husband while he was completing his doctoral research in a field camp on Buldir Island. It has been her love for wild and remote places that drew her to Alaska’s refuges and inspired her to stay for so long.
Common murres nest in huge colonies laying their eggs right on the bare rock.
Heather said seabirds interested her because “they thrive in places that might seem miserable to people.” She also said she was excited about the science that could be done with seabirds and the questions that could be answered with 50 years of data. Much of Heather’s focus has been coordinating long-term monitoring datasets of seabirds and using those data to address scientific questions about both seabird conservation and ecosystem change. She is also interested in methods development for monitoring techniques. Heather has a BA in Biology from Colorado College, and a MS in Wildlife Management from Cornell University. She lives in Homer with her family and in her spare time, she enjoys outdoor activities like hiking, trail running and cross-country skiing.
Presented by Steve Delehanty, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Manager Andy Loranger, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Manager
Tuesday, January 21, 5 – 6 pm Alaska Time This program was recorded live and can be seen below:
Homer – Steve Delehanty in person at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, 95 Sterling Hwy. Reception follows talk
Soldotna – Andy Loranger in person at the Kenai Refuge Visitor Center, Ski Hill Road. Reception follows talk.
Anchorage– Watch party at BP Energy Center, Spruce/Willow Room,1014 Energy Ct.
Zoom
The Kenai River is the heart of the Kenai Refuge. With the salmon rich rivers, highway access to Anchorage, canoe country and mountain trails, campgrounds, refuge cabins and a fine visitor center, this is the most visited refuge in Alaska. That visitor use creates love for the refuge but also management challenges unique in Alaska. PC Lisa Hupp/USFWS
Andy Loranger and Steve Delehanty have spent decades as refuge managers of two of Alaska’s most iconic and significant national wildlife refuges – the Kenai and the Alaska Maritime refuges. They are retiring this month leaving a big hole in refuge management in Alaska. In one of their last acts, they will share with us what their years in the refuge system have taught them and what it might mean for us and the future of refuges. They have seen the best from our crown jewels in Alaska – the Kenai with its salmon highways, abundant moose and bear and lovely landscapes from lake country to alpine; the Alaska Maritime – largest seabird refuge in the world with tens of millions of birds, volcanoes, thousands of islands and otters – to other significant wildlife landscapes in Minnesota, Texas, Wisconsin and elsewhere. This is a trying time for refuges. We all will benefit from their enthusiasm for refuges, their wisdom and a sense of the long view. Please join us for this significant event.
Alaska Maritime’s Steve Delehanty Kenai’s Andy Loranger
Biographies
Steve Delehanty has said that being a refuge manager is the best job in the world, except when it isn’t. While the incredible wildlife and wild places bring inspiration and solace, the real professional challenges as refuge manager generally involve people. “I love wildlife”, says Steve, “But I love people even more. Good thing, because I spend a lot more time at work dealing with people than I do with wildlife.” Fifteen years as manager of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge has topped Steve’s 39 year career with the Fish and Wildlife Service that began with an internship on Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota. Over his career, he has worked in Illinois, Montana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Alaska. Except for a brief internship in Illinois, Steve’s entire career has been in states near Canada.
Steve and his wife, Wendy, live in Homer. They have two adult children, one living in Alaska and one in Alabama. He likes hockey more than basketball, tundra more than forest, oceans more than mountains, and national wildlife refuges more than anything else.
Marine mammals, 40 million seabirds, and over 3000 islands characterize the Alaska Maritime Refuge. Most islands are only accessible by ship so the refuge has the largest ship in the Fish & Wildlife Service, the 120 foot R/V Tiglax. Very remote field camps, supervision of the Tiglax in the rough waters of coastal Alaska, and the dependence of the refuge’s abundant wildlife on off refuge food sources in the ocean create unique management challenges on this refuge.
Andy Loranger has been refuge manager at Kenai National Wildlife Refuge for 15 years. This was his second tenure on “the Kenai”. His first was as a wildlife biologist under Dr. Ted Bailey from 1988 to 1992. Andy said, “When I left Alaska to try refuge management in 1992, my only definitive career plan was to return someday. Being given the opportunity to come home to Alaska, and amazingly to the Kenai Refuge, has been an immense privilege.”
Accompanied from the very beginning by his wife Linda, a registered nurse,Andy‘s career journey started as a seasonal biological technician on the Benson Wetlands Management District in Minnesota, and continued in Alaska in the early 1980s with more seasonal employment on field crews conducting Arctic nesting goose research on Yukon Delta and Izembek refuges. This experience led to a permanent appointment as Nowitna Refuge’s first wildlife biologist, and later a similar role at Kenai. Upon leaving Alaska, he managed refuges in Arizona and Texas and served as Chief of the Refuge System’s Division of Natural Resources in the Fish and Wildlife Service’s national headquarters in Washington, DC. Andy received national recognition for his work in 2018, when he was selected as Refuge Manager of the Year by the National Wildlife Refuge Association. Andy said, “The refuges I served on, and my time in DC, helped me realize what true treasures we have in each and every one of our national wildlife refuges, and to appreciate the depth of dedication of our staff, Friends and volunteers.”
Andyand Linda reside in Soldotna and have 2 adult children, John and Emily, who also chose careers in public service. “We were so fortunate to share the wonders of the natural world on national wildlife refuges as a family, and more recently with our childrens’ families, and best yet, with our grandson Ira. In many ways these experience define who we are, and they have truly been the gift of a lifetime for all of us. Our retirement plans are for more of the same!”
This event was recorded live on November 19, 2024 in Anchorage, with other participants at watch parties and on Zoom.
“I think of the Cessna 206 as a Swiss army knife. It can do so many things well…and that makes it a very useful plane for aerial survey work” Heather Wilson as quoted in Vogue magazine. Heather flying the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Cessna 206 over the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. PC Erinn Springer, Vogue.
Heather Wilson has said that if she could have one animal adaptation it would be flight! She’s been featured in Vogue,Outside, andSmithsonianmagazines and now she will be here with us on the 19th to share her unique dual-function position of both pilot and wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Division of Migratory Bird Management. Learn how aerial bird surveys are conducted, the logistics of flying and surveying in some of the most remote parts of Alaska, and the research and management implications of the survey data she collects. Heather’s work takes her to ALL of Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuges and her surveys determine hunting regulations and management actions for an array of common and threatened species.
Heather is currently the project lead/pilot-observer for:
Population surveys for winter and fall brant at Izembek & Maritime National Wildlife Refuges
Breeding pair surveys across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Coastal Zone, Arctic Coastal Plain, Copper River Delta, Kenai and Kanuti National Wildlife Refuges
Molting goose surveys and captures in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Use Area and Innoko Refuge.
She touched on these, as well as other waterbird surveys and field work past and present across the state.
Counting Cackling Canada Geese by eye on the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge flying only 125 feet AGL (above ground level). PC Tim Bowman/USFWS
Biography
Heather Wilson’s interest in conservation (and aviation) developed from growing up and working in the mountains, rivers, and forests of northern California. She holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and a B.A. in Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. After several years of working as a field biologist in North, Central, and South America (focused on neo-tropical migratory birds and bats), Heather moved to Alaska in 2001. Within a year, she became a private airplane pilot, adding commercial, instrument, and float ratings in 2008.
Heather has said what she likes most about her work is the autonomy and challenge of aerial surveys in Alaska and getting to blend biology and piloting. She also enjoys visiting the vast lands that Fish and Wildlife Service manages across Alaska, seeing all the animals from above (100 ft), and working with a great group of people, “biologists and pilots are salt of the earth”. Although Heather is Anchorage based, she flies bird surveys throughout the state on National Wildlife Refuges, and beyond. Most of her aerial surveys serve as the primary population indices for setting hunting regulations through the Pacific Flyway and Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council, as well as assisting in conservation of Threatened species. When not in the work plane, Heather is busy compiling data and preparing for more surveys.
In her off time Heather enjoys hiking, skiing, hunting/fishing, playing music with her family and flying in the family’s Piper Super Cub. Heather Wilson with her children in the Super Cub.
See some great footage of bird flocks and learn more about her work as a Wildlife Biologist/Airplane Pilot in these short videos.
Please join us on Tuesday, September 17, 2019, 5-6pm, for the Friends membership meeting.
In person meetings: Anchorage Loussac Library Anchorage Moose Room-reception begins at 4:30pm Homer Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, 95 Sterling Highway Soldotna Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, Ski Hill Road Fairbanks Watershed School 4975 Decathlon
For those outside these cities: you can download the presentation from this page the day of the meeting and call in a few minutes before 5pm (866) 556-2149, code 8169747#
Guest Speaker Presentation: Nicole Whittington-Evans, Defenders of Wildlife, Alaska Program Director and former Friends’ Board Member
Wildlife and Wildlands in These Trying Times
What are the prospects for our Alaska environment and wildlife given recent reports, administration actions, regulation changes and proposed projects? How will key species and wildlife areas be affected? How do we keep from being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of these changes and proposed projects competing for our attention and response? Nicole, one of Alaska’s most dedicated wildlife advocates, will give her perspective on where we are now and what we can do as individuals and groups to face these alarming proposals and predictions for our state and our planet.
Defenders’ Alaska Program Director, Nicole Whittington-Evans, started out her environmental career studying and working on wildlife issues. During the 1990’s, she received an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana, where she focused on Alaska’s predator control efforts, served for a time as the Executive Director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, and was elected or invited to participate in a number of wildlife stakeholder groups, including an appointment to Alaska’s Board of Game by Governor Tony Knowles in 1997. For the past twenty-one years she worked on public lands and wilderness issues at The Wilderness Society and served as the Alaska Director for the organization from 2009 to 2018. She also served for three years starting in 2007 on the board of the Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges as the Outreach Coordinator. Throughout her environmental career she has blended science and policy to advance the strongest protections possible for wildlife and public lands conservation. Nicole’s interest in environmental work began when she was an Instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School, and she has traveled throughout much of Alaska’s backcountry by foot, ski, raft and kayak. As a mountaineer she was part of two successful summit teams on Denali (20,320’), including participating in the first all-women’s traverse of the mountain in 1988, and on Argentina’s Aconcagua (23,000’). She lives with her husband and two daughters in the foothills of the Chugach Mountains, where she continues to recreate and enjoy wildlife with her family in Alaska’s unmatched wild country.
Please join us on Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 5-6pm, for the Friends membership meeting.
In person: Homer (Alaska Maritime), Fairbanks (Watershed School, 4975 Decathlon), or Soldotna (Kenai NWR)
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747#
Guest Speaker Presentation:
John Morton, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge –
Effects of a Rapidly Warming Climate on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge
The Kenai Peninsula is one of the best-studied parts of the state for climate change effects and John Morton, a supervisory biologist for the Kenai Refuge, has been a key part of that. Managing the effects of rapid climate change on the 2 million-acre Kenai National Wildlife Refuge will be a challenge to its primary purpose of conserving natural diversity. In 50 years, the treeline rose 50m in the Kenai Mountains, wetlands decreased 6-11% per decade, the Harding Icefield lost 5% in surface area and 21m in elevation, and available water declined 62%. Late summer canopy fires in spruce are being replaced by spring fires in bluejoint grasslands. Water temperatures in nonglacial streams already exceed physiological thresholds for salmon during July. Bird species are moving north and more than 130 exotic bird species have become established. Climate-envelope models portray a very different future landscape with alpine tundra replaced by forests and lower elevation forests replaced by hardwoods or possibly catastrophic deforestation. How can the Refuge or any of the refuges manage for biodiversity under this scenario?
Please join us on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, 5-6pm, for the Friends membership meeting.
In person: Homer (Alaska Maritime) or Soldotna (Kenai NWR)
Call in a few minutes before 5pm: (866) 556-2149, code :8169747#
Guest Speaker Presentation:
Ray Born– “Yukon Delta NWR – A Complex and Wonderful Place”
Birds fill the skies of the watery vast world of the Yukon Delta. The 19.3 million acre refuge is the country’s most important shorebird nesting area. Add in a million ducks and half a million geese plus 40,000 loons and 100,000 swans and you can see why it is considered one of the world’s largest aggregations of nesting waterbirds. But it isn’t just about birds. The refuge is famous for trophy rainbow and salmon fishing since the Yukon, the Kuskokwim and their tributaries such as the Kisaralik flow through the refuge. Even muskox are found on Nunivak Island. The Delta is also noted for its thriving Native villages where the Yupik language and subsistence culture flourish. Come discover the Delta and learn what Refuge projects we Friends may be able to help with.
DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION
Agenda:
Introductions and Discussion (5 minutes)
Introductions:Where do you live? (Poppy)
New People:Why did you join the call today?
Reminderto please mute yourselves when you aren’t talking
When: Saturday, September 1 Time: 6:30-7:30pm Where: Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center – Homer
The presentation will feature biological diversity of Cuba and its high degree of endemism. With a strategic location and many natural areas and vast rural landscapes, many migratory birds pass through or overwinter on the island. Ernesto will show some of his award-winning photos and overview how natural and cultural resources are managed within Cuba’s system of protected areas.
As a biologist with Cuba’s national system of conservation, Ernesto has participated in many expeditions ranging from surveys in the famed Zapata Swamp Biosphere Preserve to search for the Cuban Ivory Billed Woodpecker in Cuba’s Humboldt National Park. His presentations are the next best thing to visiting this remarkable living landscape.
Join us on December 20th, 12-1pm, at the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Theater in Fairbanks, Alaska. Come hear stories of Mike Spindler’s 40+ years working for USFWS.
This past May 4-7, the Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges co-sponsored the 25th Annual Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in Homer, Alaska at Alaska Maritime NWR’s Headquarters, Islands & Ocean Visitor Center.
Our Special Guests included Keynote Speaker, J. Drew Lanham and Featured Author, Paul Bannick.
Both Speakers presented a variety of workshops & lectures.
Raymond VanBuskirk (BRANT Tours), Neil Gilbert (2017 Schantz Scholar), and Keynote J. Drew Lanham enjoy a boat trip with Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
Festival Participants enjoy the “Birders Breakfast,” and learn more about the Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges.
Bird TLC of Anchorage presents an up close experience with some feathered friends.
Junior Birders Award Ceremony – check out all these fledgling ornithologists!
David Raskin (Friends President) with Keynote J. Drew Lanham and Marga Raskin (Friends Member)
USFWS Service, working hard throughout the weekend to make sure everyone had a wonderful time at the Festival.
Viewing Stations!
Raymond and BJ bird watching during the Viewing Stations.
Save the Date! May 10-13, 2018!
(Photos courtesy of Lisa Hupp/USFWS and Robbi Mixon/FANWR)
It’s movie night in Fairbanks! Come join the Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges for a free screening of the film The Million Dollar Duck.
When: Sat. June 3 Time: 7 – 9 pm Where: The Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center, Fairbanks, AK Cost: FREE
This fun and quirky documentary "focuses on the strange and wonderful world of the Federal Duck Stamp Contest, the only juried art competition run by the U.S. government. This film explores the eccentric nature of the contestants who enter each year for a chance at wildlife art stardom, while also reflecting upon the history and challenges facing the continued existence of this successful conservation program”
The movie will be introduced by Adam Grimm, a two time winner of the Federal Duck Stamp competition.
Family friendly event, Light refreshments, and signed duck stamp art available for purchase.
When birds die at sea, only a small percentage of the carcasses washes up on shore. What did it really mean in terms of total bird death that 62,000 carcasses were recovered up and down the coast from California to the Bering Sea? Breeding colony counts were needed to give a clearer picture. Unfortunately, for a few years after the die-off, murres didn’t breed successfully, so biologists couldn’t be sure how many had died and how many just weren’t returning to the colonies to breed. When breeding returned to “normal”, biologists learned the true scope of the die-off. Heather is one of six coauthors of a
Both Speakers presented a variety of workshops & lectures.
