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This is me standing in front of the Denali National Park and Preserve sign on Saturday, March 20, 2021. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Out of the Office: The weekend

By the second week of March, I had pretty much forgotten about the dry cabin I’d booked for the next weekend. I’d made reservations from… Continue reading

This is me standing in front of the Denali National Park and Preserve sign on Saturday, March 20, 2021. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Looking east towards the sun rising over Caribou Island. (Photo provided by refuge)

Refuge Notebook: Paddling Tustumena

By JOHN MORTON Alaska Wildlife Alliance

Looking east towards the sun rising over Caribou Island. (Photo provided by refuge)
Photos courtesy John Schoen
Mary Beth Schoen admires a large-tree old-growth stand in Saook Bay on northeastern Baranof Island. Some individual trees were over 6 feet in diameter and many centuries old. This riparian area was adjacent to a salmon stream and was full of bear trails. Large-tree old growth stands are rare on the Tongass.

‘Tongass Odyssey’ explores decades of research, politics and change

‘What we learned is that old growth forest is very important’

Photos courtesy John Schoen
Mary Beth Schoen admires a large-tree old-growth stand in Saook Bay on northeastern Baranof Island. Some individual trees were over 6 feet in diameter and many centuries old. This riparian area was adjacent to a salmon stream and was full of bear trails. Large-tree old growth stands are rare on the Tongass.
Former Alaska representative Les Gara, left, and Amanda Metivier, associate director of the Child Welfare Academy. (courtesy)

Fostering more important than ever

We have fewer foster homes today than we did before COVID.

  • May 6, 2021
Former Alaska representative Les Gara, left, and Amanda Metivier, associate director of the Child Welfare Academy. (courtesy)
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Reports show value of UA workforce development programs

The economic value of training and education is abundantly clear

  • May 6, 2021
  • By Teri Cothren
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Essential ingredients for my family’s lemon cake recipe, photographed on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Great-grandma’s lemon cake

It’s not much, but it’s also everything.

Essential ingredients for my family’s lemon cake recipe, photographed on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
My favorite breakfast bagel sandwich from my favorite neighborhood coffee shack, on Jan. 5, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Looking for a few good bagels

Simple ingredients to make your own breakfast sandwich

My favorite breakfast bagel sandwich from my favorite neighborhood coffee shack, on Jan. 5, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Will Morrow (courtesy)

When did I get wise?

When did I turn into that old guy who feels like he has to give everyone else advice?

Will Morrow (courtesy)
The MV Matanuska awaits repairs at the Auke Bay Ferry Terminal on Thursday as lawmakers at the state Capitol debated whether the Alaska Marine Highway System was actually a highway. A bill that would shape long-term planning for the system passed out of committee. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Opinion: The feigning champions of the ferry system

Token improvements aren’t anything to brag about.

  • May 2, 2021
  • By Rich Moniak
The MV Matanuska awaits repairs at the Auke Bay Ferry Terminal on Thursday as lawmakers at the state Capitol debated whether the Alaska Marine Highway System was actually a highway. A bill that would shape long-term planning for the system passed out of committee. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
Local author Larry Johansen has written a book about the history of baseball in Alaska during the Gold Rush. The book, called "The Golden Days of Baseball, The Story of Baseball Played in Frontier Alaska and the Klondike” is the first about this previously unexplored topic. The book is available for purchase beginning May 5. (Courtesy image/Larry Johansen)

Baseball in the Land of the Midnight Sun

Alaska author shares untold story of frontier baseball in a new book

Local author Larry Johansen has written a book about the history of baseball in Alaska during the Gold Rush. The book, called "The Golden Days of Baseball, The Story of Baseball Played in Frontier Alaska and the Klondike” is the first about this previously unexplored topic. The book is available for purchase beginning May 5. (Courtesy image/Larry Johansen)
Large flocks of Pacific brant depend on a few key areas, especially Izembek Lagoon. (Photo by Heather Wilson/USFWS)

Refuge Notebook: The outlook for Pacific brant

After a multiweek weather delay, Biologist/Pilot Heather Wilson and I took off from Kenai just before noon, Jan. 31, in a Cessna 206 on amphibious… Continue reading

Large flocks of Pacific brant depend on a few key areas, especially Izembek Lagoon. (Photo by Heather Wilson/USFWS)
This photo taken in October 2017 shows author Kat Sorensen with the first fish she ever caught using a fly rod! (Photo courtesy of Kat Sorensen)

Tangled Up in Blue: Throwbacks

There’s still a box of fancy heels and short, summer dresses wasting away in my parents’ basement right where I dumped them over four years… Continue reading

This photo taken in October 2017 shows author Kat Sorensen with the first fish she ever caught using a fly rod! (Photo courtesy of Kat Sorensen)
Handmade ceramics are on display at the Kenai Potters Guild on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. Camille Botello / Peninsula Clarion

Back at the wheel

Potters Guild to host Mother’s Day sale

Handmade ceramics are on display at the Kenai Potters Guild on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. Camille Botello / Peninsula Clarion
Photo by McKibben Jackinsky 
A crankie provides settings for artist Emily Schubert’s puppetry, as seen on April 17 at Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer.

Visiting artist creates ‘multi-potentialities’ in art

Schubert’s work includes sculptural ‘rooms’ that tell stories

  • Apr 28, 2021
  • By McKibben Jackinsky For the Homer News
  • ArtsFeatures
Photo by McKibben Jackinsky 
A crankie provides settings for artist Emily Schubert’s puppetry, as seen on April 17 at Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer.
A glass of refreshing lemonade officially welcomes the summer season, photographed on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kalifornsky Kitchen: When life gives you lemons …

Among the chaos and uncertainty 2020 and 2021 brought me, this column was one of the only consistent things I had in my life.

  • Apr 27, 2021
  • By Victoria Petersen For the Peninsula Clarion
  • Food and Drink
A glass of refreshing lemonade officially welcomes the summer season, photographed on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Gov. Mike Dunleavy shakes hands with Rear Adm. Matthew T. Bell Jr. during a Change of Command and retirement ceremony Friday, April 23, 2021 at Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

Opinion: New Coast Guard cutters belong in Southeast Alaska

Let’s bring all hands on deck and get to work.

  • Apr 26, 2021
  • By Mike Dunleavy
Gov. Mike Dunleavy shakes hands with Rear Adm. Matthew T. Bell Jr. during a Change of Command and retirement ceremony Friday, April 23, 2021 at Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
Ron Gillham represents District 30 in the Alaska State House. (Courtesy photo)

Voices of the Peninsula: Alaska, resource development, and an eye for the future

When Alaskans set their minds toward a project, no matter the difficulty, we do what others say, “can’t be done.”

Ron Gillham represents District 30 in the Alaska State House. (Courtesy photo)
Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC) CEO Angela Rodell. (courtesy photo)

APFC’s vision for Alaska’s financial anchor

Properly protected and managed, the Alaska Permanent Fund can continue to support the state.

  • Apr 22, 2021
  • By Angela Rodell
Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC) CEO Angela Rodell. (courtesy photo)
The Alaska Highway on July 15, 2020. (Photo by Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Out of the Office: Up the Alcan

Five days and nearly 2,500 miles: That’s how long I traveled to get to Alaska. I grew up in rural Idaho, 5,000 feet up in… Continue reading

The Alaska Highway on July 15, 2020. (Photo by Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
The docile Pacific brant migrates thousands of miles between eelgrass beds in Alaska and Mexico. (Photo by Jeff Wasley/USGS)

Refuge Notebook: Meet our amazing Pacific brant

This is the first of a two-part series describing a charismatic but lesser known goose species, its past, present and future in the Pacific flyway,… Continue reading

The docile Pacific brant migrates thousands of miles between eelgrass beds in Alaska and Mexico. (Photo by Jeff Wasley/USGS)