environment

A sign warns of the presence of endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales at the Kenai Beach in Kenai, Alaska, on Monday, July 10, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Opinion: Could an unnecessary gold mine drive Cook Inlet belugas extinct?

An industrial port for the proposed Johnson Tract gold mine could decimate the bay

 

A spruce bark beetle is seen on the underside of a piece of bark taken from logs stacked near Central Peninsula Landfill on Thursday, July 1, 2021, near Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Prescribed burns will produce visible smoke near highways

Burns are part of ongoing spruce beetle mitigation efforts

 

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Girl Scout Troop 210, which includes Caitlyn Eskelin, Emma Hindman, Kadie Newkirk and Lyberty Stockman, present their “Bucket Trees” to a panel of judges in the 34th Annual Caring for the Kenai Competition at Kenai Central High School on Thursday, April 18.

Caring for the Kenai winners receive EPA award

Winning team of the 34th annual Caring for the Kenai was selected for the President’s Environmental Youth Award

 

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Students of Soldotna Montessori Charter School comb for trash along the banks of the Kenai River at Centennial Park in Soldotna on Thursday.

‘This is their playground’

KPBSD students join fishing groups to pick up trash along Kenai River

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Students of Soldotna Montessori Charter School comb for trash along the banks of the Kenai River at Centennial Park in Soldotna on Thursday.
Soldotna City Council member Jordan Chilson attends a council meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Soldotna to further limit plastic shopping bags

The ordinance expands the definition of the kind of bags prohibited in city limits to include any bag designed to carry goods from a vendor’s premises

Soldotna City Council member Jordan Chilson attends a council meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Girl Scout Troop 210, which includes Caitlyn Eskelin, Emma Hindman, Kadie Newkirk and Lyberty Stockman, present their “Bucket Trees” to a panel of judges in the 34th Annual Caring for the Kenai Competition at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Bucket trees take top award at 34th Caring for the Kenai

A solution to help campers safely and successfully extinguish their fires won top honors at the 34th Annual Caring for the Kenai Competition on Thursday… Continue reading

Girl Scout Troop 210, which includes Caitlyn Eskelin, Emma Hindman, Kadie Newkirk and Lyberty Stockman, present their “Bucket Trees” to a panel of judges in the 34th Annual Caring for the Kenai Competition at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
A spruce tree seeps sap outside of the Kenai Post Office on Friday, July 2, 2021, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai to fell more beetle-killed trees

The trees are especially vulnerable to wildfires and are prone to falling over during high wind events

A spruce tree seeps sap outside of the Kenai Post Office on Friday, July 2, 2021, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Cook Inletkeeper Energy Policy Analyst Ben Boettger presents information about retrofitting homes to be more energy efficient at the Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Inletkeeper turns focus to energy for next community climate solution

The meeting marked the official kickoff of Cook Inletkeeper’s fourth installment in its local solution series

Cook Inletkeeper Energy Policy Analyst Ben Boettger presents information about retrofitting homes to be more energy efficient at the Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
The Sterling Highway cuts through areas of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge where burns from the Swan Lake can be seen, Sunday, May 22, 2022. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Prescribed burns will produce visible smoke near highways

The burns are part of ongoing spruce beetle mitigation efforts

The Sterling Highway cuts through areas of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge where burns from the Swan Lake can be seen, Sunday, May 22, 2022. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Senior Advisor for Conservation Boyd Bilhovde, Bureau of Land Management Alaska Director Steve Cohn, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang and Alaska State Parks Director Ricky Gease participate in a panel discussion at the Kenai River Sportfishing Association’s Kenai Classic Roundtable at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Officials talk fish in Soldotna

Kenai Classic Roundtable topics include chinook, wind turbines, collaboration

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Senior Advisor for Conservation Boyd Bilhovde, Bureau of Land Management Alaska Director Steve Cohn, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang and Alaska State Parks Director Ricky Gease participate in a panel discussion at the Kenai River Sportfishing Association’s Kenai Classic Roundtable at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Contestants race down the Kenai River during the 16th Annual Cooper Landing Drift Boat Regata near the Eagle Landing Resort in Cooper Landing, Alaska on Saturday, May 20, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

State water monitoring project says Kenai River is safe for aquatic life

The project was developed in response to concerns about high concentrations of dissolved metals, specifically copper and zinc

Contestants race down the Kenai River during the 16th Annual Cooper Landing Drift Boat Regata near the Eagle Landing Resort in Cooper Landing, Alaska on Saturday, May 20, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Baby white spruce trees sit newly potted near the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Tree-for-all: Inletkeeper tree-planting campaign underway

From a white truck parked at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Tuesday, David Knight hauled a large bag full of sawed-off plastic containers. Dropping… Continue reading

Baby white spruce trees sit newly potted near the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
First Place Winner Paxton McKnight, of Cook Inlet Academy, is introduced by Merrill Sikorski at the Caring for the Kenai Awards Celebration held during a Joint Chamber Luncheon on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Chambers honor Caring for the Kenai finalists

The contest challenges peninsula students to devise ways to improve the environment or prepare for a natural disaster

First Place Winner Paxton McKnight, of Cook Inlet Academy, is introduced by Merrill Sikorski at the Caring for the Kenai Awards Celebration held during a Joint Chamber Luncheon on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, left, addresses constituents during a town hall event on Saturday, April 15, 2023 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Bjorkman lumber bill heads to governor’s desk

Senate Bill 87 aims to make locally milled lumber more widely available for the construction of housing in Alaska

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, left, addresses constituents during a town hall event on Saturday, April 15, 2023 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Fire Chief Tony Prior presents updates on the city’s spruce bark beetle mitigation efforts to Kenai City Council members during a council meeting on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai to mitigate hazard trees through mid-May

The city last year adopted the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan

Kenai Fire Chief Tony Prior presents updates on the city’s spruce bark beetle mitigation efforts to Kenai City Council members during a council meeting on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner-designee John Boyle presents information about carbon capture, utilization and storage during a Soldotna Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Friday, April 14, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

State officials tout carbon capture initiatives at chamber chat

Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner-designee John Boyle attended Friday’s Soldotna Chamber of Commerce luncheon

Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner-designee John Boyle presents information about carbon capture, utilization and storage during a Soldotna Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Friday, April 14, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
The Kasilof River is seen from the Kasilof River Recreation Area, July 30, 2019, in Kasilof, Alaska. A section of the Kasilof River estuary called “the Dinosaur Parcel,” sized at 309 acres, has been added to the Alaska State Parks system for conservation. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

Kasilof River parcel added to Alaska State Parks

The Dinosaur Parcel, named for its unique shape, has long been prioritized for conservation

The Kasilof River is seen from the Kasilof River Recreation Area, July 30, 2019, in Kasilof, Alaska. A section of the Kasilof River estuary called “the Dinosaur Parcel,” sized at 309 acres, has been added to the Alaska State Parks system for conservation. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Snow coats an eroding bluff near the mouth of the Kenai River on Friday, March 3, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Bluff project moves ahead

Kenai to buy last land parcels needed for stabilization effort

Snow coats an eroding bluff near the mouth of the Kenai River on Friday, March 3, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Architect Nancy Casey speaks in front of a small gathering at this year’s final Fireside Chat presented by the Kenai Watershed Forum on Nov. 30, 2022, at Kenai River Brewing in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Building with the environment in mind

Kenai Watershed Forum’s Fireside Chats conclude

Architect Nancy Casey speaks in front of a small gathering at this year’s final Fireside Chat presented by the Kenai Watershed Forum on Nov. 30, 2022, at Kenai River Brewing in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
The sign in front of the Homer Electric Association building in Kenai, Alaska as seen on April 1, 2020. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
The sign in front of the Homer Electric Association building in Kenai, Alaska as seen on April 1, 2020. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)