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Southeast Alaska: Southeast Conference begins AMHS strategic planning effort - Southeast Conference issued a Request for Proposals on Friday that takes the first step toward a comprehensive operational and business plan for the Alaska Marine Highway System. Phase One will focus on the governance structure that is best suited to operate the AMHS in an economically optimal way that meets the user’s needs.

On May 19, Governor Bill Walker signed a memorandum of understanding with Southeast Conference, a regional economic development organization, to undertake a comprehensive planning process aimed at improving the long-term viability of the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS).

The purpose of this project is to develop a long-term strategic plan for the AMHS that includes a comprehensive operational and business plan for the AMHS that is financial sustainable and meets the needs of those it serves. The process will involve broad public engagement and should result in a financially sustainable Alaska Marine Highway System that meets the needs of those it serves for at least the next 25 years.

“For over 50 years, the Alaska Marine Highway System has served as a critical transportation link for Alaska’s coastal communities,” said Governor Walker during the May 19th signing of the MOU with Southeast Conference. “The ferries are a lifeline in many communities, and the economic benefits are felt throughout the state.”

Proposals are sought from qualified transportation and analysis firms to develop Phase One of a two-phase project that will culminate in a proposed strategic plan that includes a long-term, comprehensive operational and business plan for the Alaska Marine Highway System. - More...
Tuesday AM - June 14, 2016

Alaska: Change In Alaska VA Choice Program: VA Will Utilize Local Staff to Schedule Appointments - The Department of Veterans Affairs has informed Alaska’s congressional delegation that as of July 10, 2016, the scheduling for Choice Act medical appointments in Alaska will revert back to being handled by local VA integrated care personnel, instead of its current practice of outsourcing scheduling requests to contractor-operated call centers in the Lower 48.

Alaska’s congressional delegation has been demanding this change after hearing from numerous Alaska veterans who have been ill-served by the new VA system established after the Choice Act was passed in 2014.

“I am pleased that after numerous hearings in D.C. and in Alaska, the VA is finally working to tailor the ‘one-size-fits-none’ Veterans Choice Program, to fit the unique needs of Alaska’s veterans,” U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) said. “Importantly, that fix begins with giving Alaskans back more local control over their healthcare."

Sullivan said, "As a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I have been relentless in been pushing senior members of the VA to implement necessary changes to the Choice Act. However, there is still much work to be done and Alaska veterans should know that I will continue to hold the VA's feet to fire until for each and every Alaskan veteran gets the healthcare they were promised and deserve. Our nation owes it to them and I am committed to making sure the VA delivers on that debt.” - More...
Tuesday AM - June 14, 2016

FISH FACTOR: Pilot program encourages clean boating By LAINE WELCH - Boaters from Homer to the Mat-Su valley can help protect salmon and other aquatic creatures and get discounts from popular businesses by doing so.

A pilot program launched this spring is an offshoot of Cook Inletkeeper’s Clean Boating program that began in the Valley five years ago.

“It all started with oil and gas pollution in Big Lake,” said Heather Leba, director of the group’s Clean Boating Discount program.” The Department of Environmental Conservation was doing water quality testing in 2006 and they determined that Big Lake was an “impaired water body” due to oil and gas pollution, and it exceeded levels allowed under the Clean Water Act.”

“People were upset and shocked, so the community came together and developed an action plan, and within it was a stipulation for education and outreach. And that’s how Cook Inletkeeper got involved,” she added.

In times of high recreational boating, large amounts of oil and gas pollution, primarily from older, carbureted two stroke engines, concentrate mainly around boat launches. - More...
Tuesday AM - June 14, 2016

Alaska: Moose Likely Responsible for Injuries Received by Man in Anchorage Attack - Fish and Game biologists investigating a suspected wildlife attack in South Anchorage where a man was seriously injured Wednesday night have concluded his injuries were likely received in a confrontation with a moose.

The Anchorage Police Department received a report on June 8, at 9:11 p.m., of an injured man discovered on an extended private driveway in a wooded area near Selkirk Drive. Initially investigated as a stabbing, police and medical staff later reported the injuries more resembled those associated with a bear mauling. Police were unable to interview the survivor, who remained hospitalized with serious injuries.

Fish and Game biologists were notified of the attack by police on Thursday morning and responded to the scene, located adjacent to the Campbell Creek Estuary Natural Area, to begin their investigation. As biologists worked, a call was received from a resident nearby who had just encountered a black bear. The caller reported the bear did not immediately leave the area and had shown no fear of humans. A short time later, a black bear appeared from the woods about 100 yards from the attack scene.

Concerned for public safety based on information suggesting a bear mauling had likely occurred, and because the bear showed no natural fear of humans and had appeared within close proximity of the attack scene, biologists made the decision to kill the bear. - More...
Tuesday AM - June 14, 2016

Alaska: Old World metals traded on Alaska coast hundreds of years before contact with Europeans - Two leaded bronze artifacts found in northwestern Alaska are the first evidence that metal from Asia reached prehistoric North America prior to contact with Europeans, according to new Purdue University research.

"This is not a surprise based on oral history and other archaeological finds, and it was just a matter of time before we had a good example of Eurasian metal that had been traded," said H. Kory Cooper, an associate professor of anthropology, who led the artifacts' metallurgical analysis. "We believe these smelted alloys were made somewhere in Eurasia and traded to Siberia and then traded across the Bering Strait to ancestral Inuits people, also known as Thule culture, in Alaska. Locally available metal in parts of the Arctic, such as native metal, copper and meteoritic and telluric iron were used by ancient Inuit people for tools and to sometimes indicate status. Two of the Cape Espenberg items that were found - a bead and a buckle -- are heavily leaded bronze artifacts. Both are from a house at the site dating to the Late Prehistoric Period, around 1100-1300 AD, which is before sustained European contact in the late 18th century." - More...
Tuesday AM - June 14, 2016