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- [00:00]
Natasha von Imhoff
Support for Alaska Public Media On Demand comes from Siri, an Alaska Native corporation with operations and investments spanning five continents, 45 states and two US territories.
- [00:21]
Melinda Chase
What does Begich know about my land? What does Sullivan really know about it? They're not out there living like our people are on the land.
- [00:28]
Casey Grove
A federal attempt to repeal an Alaska Resource management plan draws criticism from Alaskans who worked on it. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Tuesday, September 2nd. Good evening, I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, Skagway clears a hurdle towards shipping ore for Canadian mining projects. It's going to be a massive operation.
- [00:50]
Dead Potter
And they want to ship out of Skagway.
- [00:53]
Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly.
- [01:01]
Desiree Hagan
Alaska Public Media is all about community. Wear your community on your sleeve with the purchase of branded clothes and collectibles from our online store.
- [01:10]
Casey Grove
Visit alaskapublic.org shop a non profit coordinating academic research on the Arctic says it's shutting down as its federal funding dries up. The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States says it plans to wind down operations at the end of this month. The group says the National Science Foundation's decision to scrap plans for a grant that provides the bulk of its funding left it no choice but to close its doors. The National Science foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Arctic Research Consortium brings together scientists working with universities, government agencies and non profits to collaborate and share their findings. And researcher Michael Walsh says the shutdown comes at a critical time. That's as the federal government is actively seeking input on a new five year plan for government funded Arctic research. That new national plan for Arctic research.
- [02:00]
Michael Walsh
Is going to have to answer some of these big questions. You know, what are the policy drivers? What are the priority areas? What should the US government focus on supporting in the context of Arctic research?
- [02:12]
Casey Grove
Walsh says the group connects thousands of Arctic researchers and provides grants that allow early career academics to travel to other institutions or conferences. He says eliminating those opportunities will leave scientists isolated from one another and stunt young researchers. Professional development President Donald Trump has said he would like to expand the US's presence in the Arctic by acquiring the self governing island of Greenland from Denmark. But Walsh says the administration has not matched that apparent interest with investment.
- [02:41]
Michael Walsh
One would expect that what would follow from that would be a proliferation of of Arctic study centers to be able to develop the capacities and the resources and the knowledge the United States needs in order to be able to advance our national interests in those areas. And we haven't seen that yet.
- [03:02]
Casey Grove
Walsh says there's no clear substitute for the organization once it shuts down at the end of the month. Alaska's congressional delegation wants to repeal a land use plan that covers 13 million acres of federal land in the interior northwest Alaska and along the Dalton Highway. But it's not going over well among people in the region who spent years working on it. Kotz's Desiree Hagan reports.
- [03:26]
Desiree Hagan
Congressman Nick Begich describes the Central Yukon Resource Management Plan as a product of the Biden administration.
- [03:34]
Michael Walsh
It locked up a lot of resources for the region. This is one of the most impoverished regions of the state, beggage says.
- [03:43]
Desiree Hagan
One of the goals is to remove a hurdle for the proposed Ambler Road, which would connect the Dalton highway to a possible mining.
- [03:51]
Michael Walsh
There's a lot of other potential out there. And we heard from regional stakeholders, including Alaska Native corporations who own significant lands and have significant interests because of course they represent villages in the region. And based on that stakeholder feedback that we received, there was a clearly identified need to repeal that rule.
- [04:14]
Desiree Hagan
Begg has sponsored a resolution to repeal the plan. He says House members expect to get to work on it when they return to the Capitol after the August recess. Alaska's U.S. senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski have sponsored the Senate version. Resource management plans are documents the Trump administration has targeted for review to stamp out vestiges of the Biden administration's conservation agenda. But residents and tribal members in and near the central Yukon region say it feels like their voices are being stamped out, too. Some spent more than a decade working on the plan to protect important watersheds, identify wildlife corridors and the like. Melinda Chase is an advisor to the Bering Sea Interior Tribal Commission and Anvik tribal member. She was incensed to hear Beg dismiss all that work, which she says 40 tribes in the region contributed to.
- [05:14]
Melinda Chase
What does baggage know about my land? You know, what does Sullivan really know about it? They're not out there living like our people are on the land.
- [05:24]
Desiree Hagan
Some of the stakeholders who helped create the plan say they worry that if it's nullified, the Ambler Road and other potential mining projects would damage key parts of the landscape, putting pressure on the caribou, moose and other species they depend on for subsistence.
- [05:41]
Melinda Chase
It's pretty much our last hope at continuing our way of life.
- [05:44]
Desiree Hagan
Nalato tribal representative Michael Stickman says the plan noted which particular areas need protection, which he says is critical for communities like his. Along the Yukon river, we already have.
- [05:56]
Melinda Chase
No salmon for six years. We are already struggling with that. But the boost season has become more important than ever before because if you want to survive, you got to get a moose.
- [06:09]
Desiree Hagan
Two Alaska Native regional corporations in the area, Doyon and Nana, did not respond to emails seeking comment about the Central Yukon Regional Management Plan or its potential repeal. With help from Alaska Public Media's Liz Ruskin. I'm Desiree Hagan reporting from Kotzebue.
- [06:29]
Casey Grove
Skagway is inching toward building a dock that Canadian mining companies could use to once again export ore from the local port. The demand would likely come from future mining projects in the Yukon, the Alaska Desk's Avery Elfeldt reports.
- [06:42]
Dead Potter
The municipality of Skagway has been in talks with the Yukon government in Canada for several years about building a dock that would allow mining companies to ship bulk minerals to market, but doing so would require a handful of federal permits. Skagway's Borough assembly voted unanimously to begin that process, which can take up to two years. UConn Premier Range Pillay attended last week's assembly meeting.
- [07:04]
Casey Grove
Advancing the design into permitting is an important next step in that process, so that if an agreement if an agreement is reached and approved by Skagway and the Yukon, the project will be able to move quickly to tendering construction. I say yes.
- [07:18]
Dead Potter
Skagway will need to secure three permits for the project, one from the US Army Corps of Engineers and two others under the Marine Mammal Protection act and the Endangered Species Act. The permitting process will cost upwards of $120,000, all of which will be reimbursed by by the Yukon government. The job will be handled by contractors, including KPFF Consulting Engineers, a Washington based firm. Pillay emphasized during the meeting that moving forward on permitting does not mean the project itself is a done deal.
- [07:48]
Casey Grove
A positive decision on this item will not bind the municipality of Skagway to future decisions on this project, but will support our ability to meet potential demand in the near future.
- [08:00]
Dead Potter
Demand for the dock would stem from Yukon mining projects set to come online in the coming years, says Skagway assemblyman member Dead Potter in an interview. She said one example is a project known as the Casino project.
- [08:12]
Casey Grove
It's going to be a massive operation.
- [08:15]
Dead Potter
And they want to ship out of Skagway. It wouldn't be the first time Canadian mining companies have shipped ore out of Skagway. The municipality previously had an ore loader on one of its docks that was in use up until 2023, but it wasn't in great shape and was removed when Skagway replaced the dock last summer. Potter says the project could help diversify the local economy and provide a major financial boost to Skagway given that mining companies would pay fees to use the dock. That's different from how it worked before when the White Pass and Yukon Route railway held a 55 year lease on the Skagway port. We're just looking at bringing in a bunch more money.
- [08:52]
Casey Grove
That money goes to Skagway now, not to White Pass.
- [08:54]
Dead Potter
Negotiations are ongoing between Skagway and Yukon officials on a, quote, export cooperation agreement. Moving forward, Potter says Skagway will need to hammer out additional details, including ensuring future export activity would not lead to ore contamination in town as it has in the past. The assembly already passed a resolution that says the ore would need to come through the port in a container for that purpose. Reporting in Haines, I'm Avery Elphelt.
- [09:25]
Casey Grove
Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, research continues on the massive landslide and tsunami that hit southeast in August.
- [09:32]
Michael Walsh
Anything that was actually at the terminus of this glacier right at the base of this landslide would have been absolutely obliterated.
- [09:40]
Casey Grove
That's ahead. Stay with us.
- [09:42]
Desiree Hagan
Alaska Public media is all about community. Wear your community on your sleeve with the purchase of branded clothes and collectibles from our online store.
- [09:51]
Casey Grove
Visit alaskapublic.org shop Anchorage police say two men died in separate road incidents over the Labor Day weekend, including a hit and run collision and a police chase that partially closed the Glenn highway. Police say 63 year old Arthur Stepiton Jr. Was struck on East Northern Lights Boulevard at about 8pm Friday. Medics took him to a local hospital where he later died. Steppeton was not in a crosswalk when he was struck, but police say the Jeep Cherokee that hit him did not stop at the scene. Police have found the vehicle but have not shared any information on the suspect. Steppeton is the 10th person struck and killed by drivers in Anchorage roads this year. Police ask anyone with information about the hit and run to call them. At 311 on Saturday night, police and firefighters responded to a reported arson near East Tudor Road and Boniface Parkway. Police say a man suspected in the fire was spotted in a pickup truck which officers unsuccessfully tried to pull over. The pickup was eventually stopped northbound on the Glenn highway near its Fort Richardson exit. Police say the man pulled out a firearm and shot himself, dying at the scene. Despite attempts to provide cpr, police have not yet named the man. As police spokesperson said no officers fired their guns during the chase and no other collisions or injuries were reported as a result. Search and rescue responders have located the body of a Juneau hiker who was reported missing after he did not return from a hike this weekend Responders located the body of a 69 year old Arizona resident, Thomas Casey, near the Mendenhall Glacier on Monday morning. According to Alaska State Troopers. He is believed to have died from injuries suffered during a fall. Casey was originally reported missing on Saturday. The Juneau Police Department says he was in Juneau for the summer. According to troopers, Casey did not share the time or place he was hiking with others, but his cell phone was pinged in a remote spot between Thunder Mountain Trail and Nugget Creek Trail. Juno Mountain Rescue and sea dogs searched the area and discovered his body On Monday evening. Casey's body was recovered and sent to the state medical examiner's office in Anchorage. His family has been notified. Researchers continue to investigate a massive landslide and tsunami that hit a fjord popular among sightseeing cruises in southeast Alaska. Last month, a veritable mountainside of rock crashed into the water at the end of Tracy Arm near the terminus of South Sawyer Glacier, generating a tsunami wave that scoured the shoreline of vegetation in the surrounding area and even disrupted tides in Juneau, about 75 miles away. It was early in the morning and Alaska State seismologist Michael west says luckily no cruise ships or tour boats were in the fjord at the time.
- [12:45]
Michael Walsh
I feel pretty comfortable saying that anything that was actually at the terminus of this glacier, right at the base of this landslide, would have been absolutely obliterated. I cannot see any way around that. Unfortunately, we do not have reports of folks who were really close to the slide, say, you know, within a mile or something. But I can only imagine that would have been an extremely violent affair.
- [13:15]
Casey Grove
Yeah. And how big was it? How would you describe the size of the landslide itself?
- [13:20]
Michael Walsh
I don't have an intuitive conceptual understanding of those, so I tend to go to pretty simple analogies. The one that I think of is a giant cube of rock that is something on the order of three to four football fields on all three sides. Well, that's huge. What is that? Something like a quarter mile in each dimension.
- [13:48]
Casey Grove
There's been some time, I guess now to go directly look at the aftermath. And there was this huge wave that was created. I mean, do we have any sense of really how big that wave was and what did it actually do there?
- [14:04]
Michael Walsh
So this slide occurred on one side of the fjord, and when it struck the water, that water think of it as sloshing up onto the other side of the fjord. You know, it's sloshed, you know, well over a thousand feet. Something probably on the order of 1400ft up the mountainside, which again, is a tremendous just A tremendous height. When you've got water moving at speeds like this, it strips out and absolutely everything in its way, it doesn't matter how big the trees were, they're gone when water like that hits. So the mountainside where there was forest is just stripped down to bare rock.
- [14:50]
Casey Grove
Wow. So, I mean, talking about, you know, the risk to, to people and infrastructure, does climate play a role in these landslides and in the subsequent tsunamis?
- [15:04]
Michael Walsh
The climate piece of this story is a very active research area right now. We know that we have retreating glaciers. Well, most glaciers in Alaska, not all, but most are retreating. And we have a surprising number of data points where these landslides have occurred. Not kind of near the end of the glacier, but right there, right above the terminus of the glacier. This one last fall, Surprise Glacier in Prince William Sound, we have a host of other examples. And so I think that it is not a coincidence that there's a significant number of these slides that are happening right at the end of glaciers. Now the exact mechanisms of that, the exact explanations, that's a, let's just say a very energetic area of research right now.
- [16:07]
Casey Grove
And I mean, speaking of which, there are areas like the Barry Arm close to Whittier that scientists are keeping a pretty close eye on. How could you possibly spot something like this happening before it falls? And you know, I guess this glacier, the Sawyer Glacier, it's visited often by cruise excursions, you know, so that, I mean, that seems like a pertinent question, you know, whether or not you could, you know, be able to predict something like that happening in a place where people are active.
- [16:35]
Michael Walsh
Yeah, this is, this is the million dollar question. How do we, how do we live coexist with this kind of hazard? There's a handful of different tools that can be used to identify problematic slopes. I'm going to call them in advance. A lot of the best tools come from satellite remote sensing. So there are places where we see mountainsides that have begun to inch down, you know, each year or in little bursts. And that we can get from satellites. And what that allows us to do is to identify kind of hot spots or hazard areas. You know, Here are the 50 locations across coastal Alaska where we see something that suggests signs of movement that works as long as the landslide actually shows motion before it. Lets go. To my knowledge, so far, we have not found for Tracy Arm evidence that this had been creeping or sliding over the past several years. This happened, geologically speaking, quite suddenly. One of the things that has us really intrigued by the Tracy Arm slide is that it is now in just a handful of large landslides worldwide that showed seismic signals. Think of this as pops and creeks, if you will, in the hours and probably days before failure. These seismic precursors are a big deal. The seismic records from that morning are burned in my memory, and next time if I stumble across a record like that from somewhere in the state, you can bet your butt it's got my attention.
- [18:33]
Casey Grove
That was Alaska state seismologist Michael west Talking about the August 10 landslide and tsunami in Tracey, Army. The Kodiak Island Burrow landfill has seen an uptick in bear activity, which has drawn in more human traffic as well. The issue is creating a safety hazard for tourists, burrow employees and even the bears themselves. But as KMXT's Davis Hovey reports, the solutions are not straightforward.
- [18:58]
Davis Hovey
Nate Svoboda is a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Kodiak. During a borough assembly meeting earlier this month, Svoboda told the assembly about what has become an evening ritual Kodiak brown bears and onlookers gathering at the landfill.
- [19:13]
Casey Grove
As some of you may know, the landfill has recently became the go to place on Kodiak island to watch and photograph bears.
- [19:20]
Davis Hovey
Roughly eight to 13 different bears are believed to be accessing trash at the dump north of the city. At any given time, bears have been getting through gaps in landfills fence, which has sections that are electric, and it's been an issue for years.
- [19:34]
Casey Grove
Unfortunately, these bears and their young are now conditioned to non natural foods. I use that loosely for trash and it's unlikely they will change their foraging habits after having access to non natural.
- [19:45]
Davis Hovey
Foods for so long, savboda says. When bears become reliant on eating trash instead of their natural diets, then that can lead to intestinal blockages or other health complications and even result in death. But the Kodiak Island Bureau has more concerns beyond just the bear's health. Engineering and facilities director Cody Allen says they also have to protect their employees.
- [20:06]
Melinda Chase
Because if they're coming up and not moving for a machine that's operating right beside them or they're waiting outside of your car when you pull in at 7 in the morning, the staff aren't really having a safe work environment, he says.
- [20:20]
Davis Hovey
If the bears don't leave, they may have to get the troopers involved. Two miles of chain link fence circles the perimeter of the borough landfill. As of late last week, that perimeter included an intact electric fence, rock piles and metal bracing reinforcing the fencing in various places. Allen says they've been making repairs where the bears have gotten through added electric wires and cleared brush around the fence line to deter bears, all since November of last year. But none of it has stopped the powerful, roughly 1,000 pound animals from frequently entering the landfill.
- [20:53]
Melinda Chase
I've seen the bears come through the fence. They're just, they walk or run and they'll just go right through a fence. They've pushed down the chain link fence, they've pushed open gates. It is quite the challenge to get them to stay out.
- [21:08]
Davis Hovey
Allen is not sure how much the borough has spent on bear protection so far, but he guesses it's easily thousands of dollars. He says there will continue to be regular maintenance costs because there's really no way to make the landfill 100% bear proof.
- [21:23]
Melinda Chase
I don't foresee it being a one and done kind of thing. This is definitely an ongoing. It's something that we're going to have to budget for.
- [21:33]
Davis Hovey
So Alan says the best solution other than killing the bears would be for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to remove the bears from the landfill before they go into hibernation. Then burrow staff can reinforce the landfill fence and electrify the perimeter with a higher voltage to prevent bear access in the future. In the meantime, people and bears will likely continue to descend on the landfill in the last of the summer nights around sundown. Reporting in Kodiak, David, I'm Davis Avi.
- [22:01]
Casey Grove
Layer by layer, a new home in Nome is taking shape. Once complete, it'll become the first occupied 3D printed house in Alaska. The revolutionary building method is drawing international attention. And as KN's Ben Townsend reports from Nome's locals too.
- [22:16]
Natasha von Imhoff
As cars slowly creep by, drivers cock their heads to get a peek at GNOME's newest project. One facetiously yells out, will that be a Starbucks? It's a strange looking scene. A giant orange robot arm flexes and reaches side to side, slowly pumping out a stream of special concrete mix. A 20 foot segment of wall as wide as a window frame but mostly void of space takes shape. Today, the team behind the project is giving a tour to the Rasmussen Foundation. The nonprofit donated funds for the first of its kind home in Nome.
- [22:48]
Melinda Chase
Ideally, we can build 70 to 100 homes here.
- [22:51]
Michael Walsh
In nomenclature, to take advantage of the.
- [22:53]
Melinda Chase
Growth of the port.
- [22:54]
Natasha von Imhoff
That's Natasha von Imhoff, vice chair of Rasmussen's board. She's referring to Nome's massive port expansion project. The US Army Corps of Engineers awarded a construction contract worth $400 million just days before her visit with the port.
- [23:09]
Melinda Chase
The tourism, the military, the transportation Northwest Passage. Nome is going to be the hotbed.
- [23:15]
Natasha von Imhoff
Rasmussen, the Denali Commission and other federal and state partners put together more than $2 million for the three bedroom house. Over time, the team behind the project plans to get that cost closer to Nome's market rate of about half a million. It'll be 1500 square feet, slightly larger than average for the Nome census area, and have a kitchen, laundry and utility room. The concrete floors also have built in radiant heating. The concrete isn't too different from what you can buy at the store, but it can't be as chunky. The slurry has to smoothly pass through a 2 inch wide hose as it prints. The big picture goal is for the system to be adaptable to whatever environment it's printing in, including using locally sourced materials. Concrete for this project comes from Anchorage, but rock from Sound Quarry east of Nome has already been shipped out for testing for future prints. The second layer of adaptability lies in the machine itself, rather under it. The entire platform is mounted on two tank treads. The design allows it to crawl over bumpy terrain.
- [24:17]
Melinda Chase
It's mobile, so basically it's a printer on tracks like a tank.
- [24:21]
Natasha von Imhoff
That's Jose Pinto Duarte, a Penn State professor who focuses on cutting edge construction methods. He's one of the researchers behind the project. With the push of a button, four giant hydraulic arms extend out to lift the entire machine off the ground. The 12,000 pound machine self levels making a sturdy base for the robot arm to operate from. The nonprofit Extreme Habitats Institute is the research arm of the project. The org's executive director, Keith Comstock says getting the weight of the machine right was a balancing act.
- [24:52]
Michael Walsh
And it's really heavy because we need to be precise. And when you have the leverage of that arm being fully extended, you know it can get really wobbly and unstable.
- [25:04]
Davis Hovey
And so we need millimeter precision.
- [25:06]
Natasha von Imhoff
Despite its weight, the whole system is designed to fit in a shipping container. It it's the final layer of adaptability. The for profit component of the project Xhab3D is banking on to grow the company. Eventually, Xhab hopes to print buildings on Mars. But before taking their plans off planet, they're sweating the details in Gnome. The project's designer, Jeff Berlin, says the concrete will extend from the walls down to the floor.
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Melinda Chase
It's beautiful.
- [25:31]
Michael Walsh
It has all kinds of different colors in it and it'll look gorgeous. There's browns, there's reds, there's blacks.
- [25:37]
Natasha von Imhoff
And as an ode to the former gold rush town, the project has been in the works for years. Last summer, the team ran a test project in Fairbanks with the hopes of pushing onto Nome later in the year. They bumped back the Nome house to make tweaks to the special concrete formula used in the machine. The team plans to finish printing and put a metal roof on the structure before winter, then begin interior work. When complete next year, the city of Nome will take over the property. It plans to test it out as housing for short term visitors working with the city. Whether it'll be the first and last 3D printed concrete house in Alaska is yet to be seen in Nome. I'm Ben Townsend.
- [26:30]
Casey Grove
And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. We had reports tonight from Eric Stone and Clarice Larson in Juneau, Desiree Hagan and Kotzebue, Avery Elfeld in Haynes, Chris Clinton, Anchorage, Davis Hovey in Kodiak and Ben Townsend in Gnome. Our audio engineer is Chris Hyde. Madeline Rose is our producer. And I'm Casey Grove. Good night.
- [26:55]
Melinda Chase
Sam.