Shutdown! Cancelled! Closed!

Federal Shutdown Demonstrates the Importance of Refuge Staff

The federal government shutdown that has come down hard on Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuges is a forewarning of the consequences of another budget cut. Most staff were sent home two weeks ago and are not being paid. Those deemed “essential staff,” which usually means the refuge manager and possibly a maintenance worker, must keep working through a shutdown although they aren’t being paid either.

Visitor centers that would normally be open in the winter are shuttered – in Homer (Alaska Maritime Refuge), Soldotna (Kenai Refuge) and Kodiak. All public programs are canceled, including school programs, community programs, and special events like Migratory Bird Day. Field work is paused, except for that mandated by legislation such as what’s required to run the trapping season in the Kenai Refuge or the biological work necessary to support hunting seasons such as Izembek Refuge’s annual Pacific Black Brant population study. This is the only field work going on but the staff or contractors involved are at least being paid. Refuge land, trails, campgrounds, and public use cabins are still open to the public but there is no maintenance, so if you visit, please bring your own toilet paper, take out your own garbage and please treat facilities with care.

Shutdowns are hard on staff. All projects and forward momentum are lost. Inevitably federal dollars are wasted in a budget environment where there was so little to begin with. On top of what the refuge staffs have already been through this year, this is a tougher one than most. So far, it doesn’t seem like any staff have been terminated, which would be illegal, but is happening in other agencies. Any further reductions in the refuge budget for FY26 will be even harder on staff.

Please help so that Refuge staff can go back to work and keep doing what they love – caring for our refuges and sharing their wonders with school children and visitors.

What You Can Do:

1) Document the impacts of the shutdown. If the lack of Refuge staff impacts your use of refuges, visitor centers or educational programs or has an economic impact on you or your business, please send notes to Friends so we can elevate them in advocacy with policymakers.

2.) Call, email, or meet with your U.S. Senators and Representatives. Ask for their support to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its National Wildlife Refuge System, and to include language safeguarding federal fish and wildlife management in any budget negotiations. Share specific local impacts you or your community are seeing (e.g., closed Refuge offices, cancelled programs, vandalism, lack of maintenance, lack of information about hunting and fishing seasons, disrupted collection of necessary biological data). Encourage them to press for protections in any subsequent appropriations package. Yes, I think it’s important to make clear that the CR is not the end of it.

A Groundbreaking Partnership for People and Wildlife: Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge and Koniag, Recording online here

Presented by Amy Peterson, Community Affairs Liaison for Koniag and the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge.

This event was held on Tuesday, September 16, 5 – 6 pm Alaska Daylight Time

Kodiak – Amy Peterson in person at the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, 402 Center Ave. Reception follows.
Homer – Watch Party at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, 95 Sterling Hwy.
Soldotna – Watch Party at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Ski Hill Rd
- 3 pm Walk for the Wild on Centennial Trail. Meet at trailhead at Visitor Center
- 6 pm After talk; Wild Foods Potluck
Anchorage – Watch party at BP Energy Center, Fir Room, 1014 Energy Ct.
Via Zoom

Home of the great Kodiak bear, Kodiak Refuge is one of the nation’s most significant national wildlife refuges, yet people have lived there and depended on refuge resources for thousands of years. Searching for a creative way to increase cooperation among all partners on Kodiak Island, then Refuge Manager Mike Brady and Koniag Regional & Legislative Affairs Executive Tom Panamaroff came up with the idea of a Community Affairs Liaison position. It was to be the first in the nation and would be jointly funded by the refuge and the corporation and supervised by the corporation.

Join Amy Peterson as she describes her invaluable role as Community Affairs Liaison. Amy’s job is facilitating communication and education between the Refuge and Kodiak Island tribes, corporations, and stakeholders, with emphasis on stewardship, tribal consultation, community collaboration, and cultural and educational outreach. This collaboration is not just limited to the Refuge but occurs throughout the Kodiak Archipelago region to improve the cooperative management of resources within the Refuge, which has specific geographic, cultural, and historical significance.

Shelby Carlson said about being a Koniag Ranger, ” I’m passionate about sharing our cultural heritage, connecting with visitors, and helping others experience the beauty and history of our land.” Shelby was born in Larsen Bay.

The nearly two million acre Kodiak Refuge makes up almost two-thirds of Kodiak Island. Six villages are on or adjacent to the refuge and the refuge borders lands owned by Alaska Native village and regional corporations. In addition, lodges, commercial fishing sites, visitors, Kodiak City and Kodiak Coast Guard Base create a diverse human environment. The refuge needed someone who could navigate those worlds and bring people and organizations together and that is Amy. Come hear from upbeat Amy all about this hopeful project that is improving things for people and wildlife and creatively helping the refuge in a time of staff and budget crunch. And there will be a quiz! With prizes! And you can play online.

This program which started in 2021 has since been copied by Yukon Delta Refuge with a Community Affairs Liaison in Mountain Village. Other refuges across the country have made inquiries to Kodiak about how to do something similar.

Koniag Refuge Ranger, Veronica Johnson has worked two summers in the refuge visitor center. This is one of the youth programs we will hear about. The photo was taken in front of a mural in the Alutiiq Museum, which is a refuge partner.

Background

Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge is famous for its brown bears — largest of the brown (grizzly) bears — salmon, rugged coastline and emerald green scenery. The refuge was created in 1941 to protect Kodiak bears and their habitat. Today, the refuge has a broader purpose striving to protect interdependent species of fish, wildlife and plants within the largest intact, pristine island ecosystem in North America; and to ensure compatible management of wildlife, subsistence, recreation, and economic uses of refuge resources.

Koniag is an Alaska Native regional corporation formed pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Headquartered in Kodiak, Alaska, Koniag is owned by nearly 4,600 Alaska Native Shareholders of Sugpiaq and Alutiiq ancestry who have called the Kodiak Archipelago region — including the lands within the Refuge — their traditional homeland for more than 7,500 years. Koniag Shareholders and their Descendants continue to live on or near Refuge lands and rely on the harvest of wild foods and natural resources from within the Refuge for cultural, economic, nutritional, and spiritual sustenance.

We at Friends have contributed in a small way to the partnership by securing a grant from the Sam and Mary Lawrence Foundation which was matched five times over by Koniag to fund a student program, YETI, in the summer of 2024. These are the 2025 YETI (Youth Environmental Education Internship) students.

Biography

Amy Peterson’s background prepared her well for this unique role as the Community Affairs Liaison for Koniag and the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. Although raised outside the state, she is the daughter of two schoolteachers who taught in Old Harbor and Port Lions. When Amy came to Alaska, she settled in Old Harbor, working 17 years for the school district which gave her a solid background in youth programs. In addition, she worked for the Old Harbor Native Corporation and in the Village Clinic as her original training was as a certified medical assistant. She has five children and nine grandchildren and divides her time between Old Harbor and Kodiak City. Amy cherishes family life and engaging in traditional activities such as berry picking, fishing, and preparing comfort foods.

Franklin D. Rooseveldt created the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge in 1941 “for the purpose of protecting the natural feeding and breeding range of the brown bears and other wildlife on Uganik and Kodiak Islands.”

What Really Matters: Reflections on our Combined 80 Years with Refuges

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.”

Andy and 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!”

Pioneering Alaska Pilot/Biologist Jim King Takes his Last Flight.

by Patricia Heglund, Homer Friend and retired USFWS Biologist

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.- Margaret Mead

Jim King was one of those people who changed the world. Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuges lost a staunch advocate and conservation leader with his death in March at home in Juneau at the age of 97. Jim was such a gift to me when I was starting my graduate work and throughout the remainder of my life. Jim’s remarkable life and many awards and achievements are documented in a touching memorial from his family and a Fish and Wildlife tribute . I’d like to focus on one place and a couple of stories to help Friends better understand the significance of Jim’s work.

I met Jim King in 1984 when I was a graduate student planning to conduct research on the new, Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Jim had a special knowledge of and affection for the Yukon Flats. He and his wife Mary Lou honeymooned at Fort Yukon while Jim flew aerial surveys and banded waterfowl. The work was for an environmental study of the potential effects of building a hydroelectric dam on the Yukon River at Rampart Canyon. As proposed, the dam would have flooded nine Alaska Native villages and tens of thousands of wetlands that were breeding grounds for 1 – 2 million ducks, geese and swans. The dam would have created a lake about the size of Lake Erie. Waterfowl that Jim and others banded at big lakes on the Yukon Flats, like Ohtig and Canvasback, were harvested in 46 states and over half of the Canadian Provinces. Based in part on Jim’s work, the US Fish and Wildlife Service strongly opposed dam construction and in 1967, Morris Udall, Secretary of the Interior, voiced his opposition to the dam. The project was canceled in 1971 eliminating the immediate threat to the people and waterfowl of the Flats and allowing for a different future for the land as a National Wildlife Refuge.

Jim King piloting N754 on a waterfowl survey. I was so inspired by flying with Jim that I got my pilot’s license.

Jim once told me a story of how he, and maybe others, photographed several areas of Alaska from his plane using a simple point and shoot camera. He created a picture book of recommended refuges, adding descriptions of the locations and details on the use of the area by breeding waterfowl. Jim took his book to Washington DC to the Secretary of the Interior. In 1980, several of the areas he documented were added to the National Wildlife Refuge System by President Jimmy Carter. I remember being amazed at how accessible someone like the Secretary of the Interior was to a flyway biologist back in the 1970’s.

Jim King (right) and Bruce Conant taking a lunch break on the wing of N754, a deHavilland Beaver modified specifically for low level (less than 500 feet) wildlife surveys by the Fish & Wildlife Service. This legendary plane, well-known all-over bush Alaska for over 35 years, now hangs in the Anchorage airport.

Jim’s and my friendship continued over the years. Jim hosted me at his house on Sunny Point and introduced me to his dear wife, Mary Lou, and their menagerie of waterfowl. In more recent years, Jim and I sat on a panel reviewing the biological program at Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Jim always sent me copies of his latest publications, including his last book, Attending Alaska’s Birds, fascinating reading for anyone who appreciates the history of Alaska. I last saw him at his home in 2019 when on his urging I finally brought my family to meet him. Jim was developing dementia and I don’t think he really knew who I was. But nevertheless, Jim and Mary Lou welcomed us graciously. It’s hard to think of Jim as gone. When I think of him, I see him in a western-style shirt, scrimshawed bolo tie around his neck, smiling, relentless in his pursuit of conservation. I am grateful to have known him.

Secretary Haaland visits the Kenai Refuge

Sara Boario, USFWS Alaska Regional Director (left), and Andy Loranger, Kenai Refuge Manager, hosted the Secretary during her visit to the Kenai. “It means so much that the Secretary takes time to meet with us when she visits Alaska,” Boario said. “On each of her three trips she has prioritized time to listen and learn from our employees and share her support and encouragement for our work.” pc Lisa Hupp/USFWS

Church friends who are drummers and spouses bringing in their famous salmon dip created a warm and homey welcome for Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland’s October visit to the Kenai Refuge. She didn’t want a formal presentation so the refuge enlisted their friends the Heartbeat of Mother Earth drummers and called on their partners in the Kenaitze tribe including Tribal President Bernadine Atchison to help welcome the Secretary to the Refuge Visitor Center. She was particularly moved by the drummers. Staff reported she took the time to meet everyone and hugged elders and engaged children.

Earlier in the day she visited an upcoming fish passage project on Ninilchik Native Association lands that will allow salmon to return to a tributary of Deep Creek that flows from the refuge. Financed by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the project is a partnership between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the Ninilchik Native Association Inc., and the Ninilchik Traditional Council. Ninilchik Tribal leaders, President Greg Encelewski and Executive Director Ivan Encelewski, spoke with the Secretary about vital cultural traditions and the importance of salmon to Indigenous people. USFWS biologist Kyle Graham shared about the priority and need to increase habitat connectivity. Borough Mayor Peter Micciche also added his support.

Later in the day, she visited the refuge’s newly improved access to Kenai River at Jim’s Landing, partially funded by the Great American Outdoors Act. The Secretary walked the edge of the river, took photos as a pair of bald eagles flew overhead, and witnessed the final salmon lifecycle stages typical of late fall in Alaska.

Secretary Haaland (center) on her visit to the FWS booth at AFN in Anchorage
The Secretary also visited the Fish and Wildlife Service booth at the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) convention in Anchorage, where she met Refuge Information Technicians and Tribal Liaisons from across the state. Crystal Leonetti, Fish and Wildlife Service’s Alaska Native Affairs Specialist, reflected, “the Secretary so graciously shook each of our hands, asked us our names and where we work, and spent a few minutes with a youngster at one of the booth’s highlights – a kid’s coloring activity. It was a dream to spend just a few moments with her.

Even K9 Officer Togo turned out with all the Kenai Refuge staff to be photographed with the Secretary in front of the Kenai Refuge’s Moose. pc Lisa Hupp/USFWS

Meet the New Refuge Managers!

By:Poppy Benson, Friends Board Vice President

One holds dual citizenship and moved to Fairbanks from Amsterdam; one came to Alaska after googling “Duck Jobs”; the third’s passion is herpetology but his refuge only has one amphibian – the wood frog – and no reptiles. Arctic, Selawik and the Koyukuk/Nowitna/Innoko complex all have new refuge managers, and their stories are fascinating.

Merben Cebrian has taken what has to be the most unusual and worldly path to Refuge Manager of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Not only does he hold dual US/Dutch citizenship and have a Dutch wife, but he grew up in the Philippines where he spent much of his childhood in nature. The US Army took him to Africa, the Middle East and Fairbanks where he ended his military career and enrolled in the University of Alaska Fairbanks earning a wildlife biology degree. Merben spent 20 years in Alaska as a wildlife biologist on the Tetlin Refuge and with the Bureau of Land Management in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Glenallen.

Merben Cebrian, Arctic Refuge Manager with a tufted puffin chick on the Alaska Maritime Refuge where he took a seasonal job last summer as a “trial run” for a return to Alaska.

He left Alaska to become the Bureau of Indian Affairs Midwest regional biologist and program manager working with 36 federally recognized tribes. This was challenging with intensive human-nature interactions in a highly political landscape. The past few years he has lived with his family in the Netherlands working as a free-lance biologist. But Alaska was on his mind. So last summer Merben took a seasonal job on the Alaska Maritime Refuge as an opportunity to experience a new ecosystem, check out job possibilities and see how his family would do with him away. Arthur Kettle, his supervisor on that job, called him a “big thinker” and very diplomatic. That is what Friends noted as well when we met with him in Fairbanks last month. Merben says he hopes his broad background will serve him well in dealing with the challenges and opportunities of the Arctic Refuge.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Yes, googling “Duck Jobs” and a passion for waterfowl hunting got Wil Wiese to Alaska even though neither Alaska or the Fish and Wildlife Service was on his radar. His background of growing up hunting and fishing in Wisconsin, a biology degree and, most of all, lifelong experience running skiffs and fixing motors won him a volunteer waterfowl survey job in the Arctic. He was smitten by the Arctic coastal plain, working in remote field camps and the village of Kaktovik and never left. Wil was hired permanently by the Arctic Refuge before becomingSelawik Refuge’s Deputy Refuge Manager and now Manager. Wil switched from biology into management because, “I do like wildlife a lot but I actually like people a lot better. Working with people and helping them come up with solutions to conflict is what really gets me excited.”

Wil Wiese, Selawik Refuge Manager, said “I love living as a guest of the Kikiktagrukmuit and being surrounded by Iñupiat Ilitqusiat (values). I’m welcomed by the respect, humility, generosity, and humor that abound, and admire the hard work and adaptability required of folks.”

Wil writes that Selawik Refuge in northwest Alaska is a place often overlooked by those seeking scenic vistas but he finds stunning beauty in the snow-covered, seemingly endless tundra, spruce blanketed Waring Mountains, and meandering bends of river and stream. The best part of the refuge to him is in what it provides for the people who live in it and from it. You can’t eat scenery, but you can eat from Selawik Refuge because its waters teem with sheefish, whitefish, pike, and salmon; the wetlands are thick with waterfowl, expanses of tundra are blanketed in berries, and caribou migrations flow across the landscape. You can hear more about Wil’s personal journey in a podcast My Life Wildlife .

_______________________________________________________________________________When I asked David Zabriskie, “What is a snake guy doing in Alaska?” he responded “Making money to fund my snake hunting trips!” David has the most experience of the three with the National Wildlife Refuge System having begun his career as a student trainee at the Wheeler Refuge in Alabama, followed by refuges in Mississippi, on remote Pacific Islands, Tennessee, Alaska, and Arizona before returning to Alaska to work as the Deputy Manager and now Manager of the Koyukuk/Nowitna/Innoko Refuge Complex on the Yukon River.

David Zabriskie, Koyukuk/Nowitna/Innoko Refuge Manager on Johnston Atoll in the North Pacific where he was working at the time.

I also asked David what he liked most about his refuges and he replied, “These three refuges are in the heart of salmon country. These intact ecosystems support an amazing plant and wildlife diversity. The opportunity to work with the indigenous communities along the Yukon River on resource management is fulfilling.” Managing three refuges, two of which are bigger than any refuge found in the Lower 48, is a daunting task. Add to that David was the lead on the Alaska Region’s first plan for a Wild and Scenic River, the Comprehensive River Management Plan (CRMP) for the Nowitna River. I asked him what he saw as his biggest challenge and he said, “Besides limited staff and budgets, the biggest management challenges are climate change and food security for the subsistence users in this region.”

Congratulations to our new managers! Friends look forward to working with you.

Our Motto “Where we go, they go” Alaska’s Resource Protection K9 Teams

By Federal Wildlife Officers/Canine Handlers, Pete Harvey and Robert Barto

Alaska’s Resource Protection Teams: Patrol Captain/ Canine Handler Rob Barto with Eider and Senior Federal Wildlife Officer/ Canine Handler Pete Harvey with Togo. pc. Lisa Hupp

Imagine you are a Federal Wildlife Officer on a very busy National Wildlife Refuge. You just received a call from a concerned citizen stating they heard gunshots near a refuge lake while they were observing nesting migratory birds. The bird watcher stated they saw a huge flock of birds leave their nests as soon as the shots were fired. When the flock cleared, three birds lay motionless on the ground. It was not hunting season.

You respond to the area and try to locate the individuals responsible, but they are gone. So begins your investigation. The large lake is surrounded with high grasses. You follow a trail of flattened down grass to an area where it looks like someone had laid down. You search in vain through the grass to try and locate any shell casings or other evidence. Where do you go from here?

You know that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has nine Resource Protection Canine Teams throughout the country, and one of the teams is located in your area. You call up the team and ask for their assistance.

Eider ready to go to work,. pc: Lisa Hupp

This is where Federal Wildlife Canine Togo or Eider and their handlers Peter Harvey and Rob Barto come in. We are certified as Resource Protection Teams. This means Togo and Eider can detect illegally taken wildlife (currently certified in caribou, moose, brown bear and black bear detection), locate evidence of illegal activity (casings, knives, bullet fragments, etc.), track for missing persons, and help apprehend dangerous and violent offenders. Togo and Eider are one of the very few K-9s in the world that are trained for wildlife detection AND handler/public protection.

In this scenario, we would be able to use Togo and Eider’s unique ability to locate “articles” or “evidence” that has human odor. For instance, they would be able to locate any shotgun shells or rifle casings. Both canines are trained to perform a specific function that alerts us to when they have located evidence with human odor. Such evidence could be used in either our or other officer’s investigations.

Both teams are based on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge but work throughout the state. In addition to the Kenai, the K9s have worked on the Yukon Delta and Tetlin Refuges and assisted the BLM during caribou hunting season along the Steese and Taylor highways. They have participated in search and rescues and duck, moose and caribou hunter law enforcement. In one case with a happy ending, Pete got a call about a hunter harvesting a sub legal moose. Togo was sent out and quickly found the car but the harvested moose turned out to be legal! Both dogs live with their handlers in kennels but not as house pets.

Federal Wildlife Canine Togo was born in the Czech Republic and came to Alaska after training in Pennsylvania. Togo and Pete got to work in August of 2022. Togo got his name from the famous dog team that carried lifesaving medicine to the town of Nome, Alaska, during the 1925 Serum Run. He enjoys being active outdoors, hiking, swimming and eating milk-bones. Federal Wildlife Canine Eider is a four-year-old German Shepard and Belgian Malinois mix. He came from Belarus and was trained in Michigan in 2020. Eider was the first FWS K9 certified for both wildlife detection and handler protection.

Meet the Dogs

Do you want to see these dogs in action? Come to our indoor/outdoor presentation at the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival in Homer, Saturday May 6, 2 pm for adults and 4:30 pm for Junior and Teen Birders. You must register because space is limited, but you can do that online here.

Chasing Eiders: My Summers in the High Arctic

Please join us on Tuesday, October 15, 2019, 5-6pm (AKDT), for our Friends October membership meeting with featured guest speaker, Elyssa Watford.

Want to hear an eider’s heartbeat? Be taken along through ice and fog to the off-shore world of the barrier islands of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? Wonder what it would be like to live and work in a remote field camp on the edge of the Beaufort Sea? Then join us, the Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges, to hear Elyssa Watford share stories and stunning photos and videos of her three years of eider research on the barrier islands. Elyssa, a PhD candidate at UAF, has been working with Common Eiders, North America’s largest duck, for three years. The focus of her work has been the potential impacts of climate change on these special birds and their habitats. Come learn about these birds and this important work and find out about volunteering and advocacy opportunities.

Elyssa will be at the Fairbanks meeting; our other gatherings will join via Zoom Meetings.

Fairbanks: Noel Wein Library, 1215 Cowles, reception at 4:30; meet at 5
Anchorage: Fish & Wildlife Service Regional Office, 1011 E. Tudor, gathering and snacks at 4:30, meet at 5 p.m.
Homer: Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, 95 Sterling Highway, meet at 5
Soldotna: Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, Ski Hill Road, meet at 5

If you can’t make it in person, join us by phone or by computer:
By phone:
Dial-in number: 720-707-2699
Meeting ID: 619 207 040
(Press ‘#’ if you are asked for a participant ID)
By computer:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/619207040
(We are only using audio in this meeting; please join this meeting without video.)

If you are joining us by phone or computer, please download Elyssa’s presentation and follow along:
Download Presentation (PowerPoint .pptx)

Agenda:

Introductions and Discussion (5 minutes)

Introductions: Where do you live?
New People: Why did you join the call today?
Reminder to please mute yourselves when you aren’t talking

Board Activities/Decisions–

Refuge Projects and Reports

Committee Reports (2-5 minutes each): Volunteer Report – (Betty) Membership/Outreach Events: Upcoming events (Tara) Advocacy Updates (David, Dave)

Speaker/Presentation (30-40 minutes) –
Elyssa Watford
Topic: Chasing Eiders

Next Meeting: Tuesday, January 21, 5-6pm Guest Speaker TBA
Six meetings yearly: January, February, March, April, September, October

2019 September Membership Meeting

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.

Download Presentation:
PowerPoint version: 1909-friends-of-alaska-nwrs-presentation

PDF version:

Agenda:

Introductions and Discussion (5 minutes)

Introductions: Where do you live?
New People: Why did you join the call today?
Reminder to please mute yourselves when you aren’t talking

Board Activities/Decisions–

Refuge Projects and Reports

Committee Reports (2-5 minutes each): Volunteer Report – (Betty) Membership/Outreach Events: Upcoming events (Tara) Advocacy Updates (David, Dave)

Speaker/Presentation (30-40 minutes) –
Nicole Whittinton-Evans
Topic: Wildlife and Wildlands in these Trying Times

Next Meeting: Tuesday, October 15, 5-6pm Guest Speaker TBA
Six meetings yearly: January, February, March, April, September, October

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 .

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Presented by Amy Peterson, Community Affairs Liaison for Koniag and the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge.

This event was held on Tuesday, September 16, 5 – 6 pm Alaska Daylight Time

By Federal Wildlife Officers/Canine Handlers, Pete Harvey and Robert Barto

If you are joining us by phone or computer, please download Elyssa’s presentation and follow along:Download Presentation (PowerPoint .pptx)Agenda:

Board Activities/Decisions–

Agenda:

Board Activities/Decisions–

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If you are joining us by phone or computer, please download Elyssa’s presentation and follow along:
Download Presentation (PowerPoint .pptx)

Agenda: