Alaska is one of only a handful of states that celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day on the federal Columbus Day holiday. The state holiday was first created by annual proclamations in 2015 and 2016 by then Governor Bill Walker. In 2017, the Alaska legislature made the holiday permanent, and Walker signed the law while attending Utqiaġvik’s annual Nalukataq whaling festival.
The making of an avalanche rescue dog. Above: Raven and Hutch riding the chair lift together last winter at Alyeska Resort. Photo courtesy Ryan Hutchins Raven, a one-year-old black lab, lies on the floor of the ski patrol office at Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood, 35 miles southeast of Anchorage along Turnagain Arm. She gnaws on a chew toy shaped like a head of broccoli, which she keeps pinned beneath her oversized paws. While she may look like any other dog at play, Raven is already a year into intensive training as Alyeska’s newest avalanche rescue dog. Her owner, assistant ski patrol director Ryan Hutchins, says she might be certified by the end of this ski season. Hutchins, who goes by Hutch on Alyeska’s close-knit ski patrol crew, selected Raven because labs, originally bred for duck hunting, are high-energy retrievers with strong scenting abilities and great people skills—all necessary for…
September brings the end of blueberry season across much of Alaska. As you put away the last of your annual supply, consider this small sampling of Indigenous names that have long been used for this nutritious Alaskan superfood:
Above: Clarks Point students Adrianna Wassily-Wood and Mary Wassily-Wood with mini Yup’ik drums they made to celebrate their culture and Orange Shirt Day. Photo by Deanna Baier On September 30, Orange Shirt Day events across Alaska will once again promote healing from the legacy of Alaska Native boarding schools. The annual commemoration began in Canada in 2013 and has steadily grown in Alaska, with new resources now available for teaching. Between the 1800s and 1970s, Alaska Native children were separated from their families to attend church and government run boarding schools, where abuse was common. Acknowledging boarding school history has gained importance as families and communities across the U.S. and Canada have recognized its intergenerational impact, which includes abuse, incarceration, and more. In Anchorage, the Alaska Native Heritage Center now hosts the nation’s first totem pole dedicated to boarding school survivors and their families. It was carved by Haida master…
Above: Barry Arm in Prince William Sound. The slope that could slide is pictured left of the Barry Glacier (middle glacier). Photo by William Rome Public lands, the theme of this month’s issue, have many meanings. They are valued for recreation, heritage, tourism, preservation, and of course as longtime homelands for Alaska Native people. But they also hold scientific value, as shown by recent research of new landslide risks in Prince William Sound. In 2020, scientists discovered a potentially large landslide that could trigger a tsunami in Barry Arm in western Prince William Sound. It followed retreat of the Barry Glacier, part of the Chugach National Forest. The glacier withdrew from beneath a massive wall of rubble that now hangs above the narrow ocean channel. If the “debuttressed” wall comes down, models show it could send up a tsunami of over 1,500 feet in the popular Harriman Fjord area. A…
Public lands come in many shapes, including the giant oval dome that is Great Sitkin Mountain in the central Aleutian Islands 26 miles east of Adak. Rising to 5,709 feet, Great Sitkin (Sitх̑naх̑ in Aleutian) is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is also within the federally designated Aleutian Islands Wilderness.
The Molly Hootch case, which ultimately dismantled a discriminatory education system for rural Alaska Native students, was first filed in Anchorage on August 1, 1972.
Want to see the flight paths of migrating swans as they come and go from Alaska? Or the seasonal meanderings of Pacific walruses in the Chukchi Sea? Now you can via USGS’ new Tagged Animal Movement Explorer (TAME). The online tool animates the migratory routes of hundreds of marine mammals, seabirds, and others that are carrying satellite transmitters.
The Alaska Baseball League is celebrating its 50th year. The league’s five teams, all from the Anchorage and Kenai Peninsula areas, play an annual season that begins in June and wraps up with a post-season “Top of the World” tournament in early August. The collegiate league uses equipment that meets Minor League specifications, and its players are unpaid so they can maintain NCAA eligibility.
Happenings Around Alaska in July and August
