Tag Archives: history
Falling short of 90
Even though Alaska had a warm and very dry start to summer, the state has not seen 90F yet. although some recording stations have hit 89F. A few northern locations in the Yukon and Northwest Territories broke the 90 degree mark, but none in Alaska.
Flying Solo
Mack Rutherford, a 17 year old pilot, is attempting to become the youngest person to fly around the globe solo. Rutherford left Sophia, Bulgaria on March 23.
He recently flew his Shark ultralight plane down the Aleutian Chain, landing at Attu, Shemya Island, and Adak. Rutherford arrived at Unalaska on August 1. When I last checked his online tracker, Rutherford was in Ketchikan, following the coast down to Mexico. Although, by now, Mack has no doubt moved further on down the coast.
The young, Belgian-Brit Adventurer is expecting to complete his circumnavigation by the end of August.
To follow along with Mack’s global flight, his website is: http://www.macksolo.com
Salmonfest!
Ninilchik’s annual musical tribute to salmon starts on Friday the 5th and runs through the weekend. One of Alaska’s largest music festivals, Salmonfest is even worth the battle with the tourists down on The Kenai.
No poultry
The Tanana Valley State Fair starts up on Friday and runs through August 7th. It’s a Fairbanks favorite, and people seem to be raring to get out and go. I’ll be curious if attendance numbers get up to pre-Covid levels.
For the first time in decades, the fair will not feature any poultry in the 4H Barn, due to avian flu concerns. The fairgrounds are near the Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, which has documented cases of avian flu.
This year’s fair theme: Sheepherder in Paradise
This year’s featured flower: Sunflower
And the featured fruit/vegetable is a fan favorite: Pumpkin
Ten Years of Bearcam
This week is the anniversary of the Katmai Bearcam. It went online 10 years ago as a partnership between The National Park Service and explore.org.
This access to the Brooks Falls Bears has led to the worldwide celebration of Fat Bear Week, and has certainly brought awareness to the rather independent lives of these bears of Katmai.
15,393 people went through NPS orientation at Brooks Falls in 2021. That same year, 10.9 million people tuned into the bearcam online.
Salmon Tales
Alaska has two very different salmon stories being told in 2022. In one, the Bristol Bay Fishery is booming. Last year the salmon harvest set a sockeye record in Bristol Bay, and the region has already topped that record in 2022. Over 73.7 million sockeye salmon have returned to their spawning grounds in and around Bristol Bay, with over 56 million harvested.
The Yukon River basin, however, is headed for its worst run ever. The sonar station has never recorded such a low number of Chinook salmon, and the run for the entire drainage-wide system may only hit 50,000. Not one tributary is expected to make their escapement goals. Salmon fishing for the entire drainage, which includes the rivers in and around Fairbanks, has been closed for the entire season.
The chum salmon run, which starts in late summer, is also expected to be bad. The season will start out closed for fishing, with a hope that enough chum return to open for a fall season. No one is expecting it to open.
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