ASLC Charting a New Course

seal pups

By Heidi Zemach

They’re charting a new course at the Alaska SeaLife Center, swimming against the current to survive the economic downturn, and seeking new ways to deal with the reality that there just aren’t enough visitors coming in the doors to keep the center afloat. For the brief time that ASLC’s President and CEO [...]

Railroad to Begin Herbicide Spraying After Three Decades

By Heidi Zemach for Seward City News

The Alaska Railroad Corporation has received a permit from state regulators to spray the herbicide AquaMaster (key ingredient Glyphosate) and Agri-Dex, a substance to help spread it, along 30 miles of track between Seward and Indian. The railroad has not used chemical weed control for the past 26 [...]

Tiny Sea Otter Pup Rescued from Kodiak Beach

A couple taking a beach stroll on Kodiak Island played a key role in saving a small treasure they discovered on the shores of Mayflower Cove this week. A very young sea otter pup had lost its mother and was on the beach alone.
The couple contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Kodiak National Wildlife [...]

April 2010 Weather Summary

Temperature and precipitation in Seward were near the long-term average for the month of April. As measured at the Seward airport weather station, April’s average temperature in Kenai Fjords NP was 37.5 degrees F (1.1 degrees F below the 30-year average April temperature). Total rainfall (and melted snow) for April was 5.34 inches, 0.63 inches [...]

ASLC welcomes new Seal Pup and prepares for birth

(By Heidi Zemach)
A third young abandoned seal pup was rescued and brought in to the Alaska Sea Life Center Monday, to be cared for by their husbandry staff along with Mocha and Maxwell, who arrived in early April. ASLC staff named her Chai in keeping with the coffee-drink theme for this year’s rescued seal pups.
Chai [...]

Flood Board Meeting Civil But Emotional

By Heidi Zemach for Seward City News

(Photo: DNR’s Christina Nahorney, Scott Ogen, Mayor Carey, DNR’s Clark Cox)

Property owners from the Seward/Bear Creek Flood Service area sparred with Department of Natural Resources representatives and Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Dave Carey Monday April 19. The evening question-and-answer session highlighted the SBCFSA board meeting at SeaView Plaza. Although [...]

Orphaned Seal Brought to Alaska SeaLife Center after Early Delivery

Most orphaned seals in Alaska are found on beaches or haulouts with no explanation for their stranding. Maxwell, the first pup admitted to the Alaska SeaLife Center’s rehabilitation facility this year, is a rare exception. Staff members know exactly when this little harbor seal came into our world: at midday on Sunday, April 4th. [...]

Emerging Energy Technology Fund pilot program brings new energy tech to the Alaska SeaLife Center

Among the dozens of energy issues being debated in the Alaska State, the creation of an Emerging Energy Technology Fund stands out in its potential to promote innovation and diversification of Alaska’s resource development portfolio. As an early supporter of an EETF in Alaska, the Denali Commission carried out a [...]

Public Webinar

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION IN ALASKA (WEBINAR) will be held from 10 to 11 Alaska Local Time. JEREMY MATHIS, Professor, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, UAF will lead the discussion. To participate/log in to the Alaska Climate Teleconference, 1) With a regular telephone dial 1-800-893-8850 and 2) When prompted, enter the PIN code: 7531823. Please mute [...]

Flood Hazard District Continues but Flood Plain Task Force Ends

(Heidi Zemach for Seward City News)
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Flood Plain Task Force met for the very last time March 10 at Seward City Hall before being dissolved by the borough. They turned over future flood work to the Seward Bear Creek Flood Board. A divided task force voted 4-2 to keep Ordinance 2009-09 in [...]

Volunteer Citizen Scientists Needed!

Citizen’s Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP)
What is CEMP and what does it do?
CEMP is a citizen science water quality monitoring program, where trained volunteers conduct professional-level water testing. There are currently CEMPs in Homer, Anchorage, Wasilla, and throughout the Lower 48. Seward area volunteers monitor anadromous (salmon spawning) stream water to obtain quantitative physical and chemical [...]

Alaska SeaLife Center Mini Golf–March 27th!

Dear Golf Enthusiasts, Fun Lovers, and Wildlife Rescue Supporters:
It is time once again to hit the links in the 4th Annual Alaska SeaLife Center Indoor Miniature Golf Tournament! Our course designer is hard at work planning a new and exciting route, and the sea lions are looking forward to the entertainment.
This fundraiser for the Center’s [...]

KMTA NHA Meetings

Moose Pass and East Peninsula Neighbors,
I am inviting you to Moose Pass on April 7th, for the introduction of the “Kenai Mountain Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area”.
This Heritage Area is essentially the Seward Highway from Seward to Anchorage. The National Heritage program works to preserve the historical record of significant development in areas that helped [...]

Experts Plan to Fight Invasive Marine Species

(By Heidi Zemach, for Seward City News)
Marine invaders such as Chinese mitten crabs, European green crabs and the elusive, little understood tunicates, may not have arrived in Alaska yet in significant numbers yet-but they’re on the move. That was the main message of a vast variety of experts on invasive species who gathered at the [...]

Great Expectations: Sea Lion Pregnancy Confirmed at Alaska SeaLife Center

Alaska SeaLife Center scientists recently announced that they have reached a major milestone in their efforts to learn more about Steller sea lion reproduction:
Kiska is pregnant!
Last summer, breeding was made possible by housing Kiska and Sugar, the Center’s two female sea lions, in the same habitat with the iconic, 2,000-pound male, Woody. The three sea [...]

Seward Bear Creek Flood Board Hears From Borough Mayor

By Heidi Zemach for SCN
The Seward//Bear Creek Flood Service Area Board voted Monday Feb. 16 to spend $84,000 of its FY2011 budget on a new project at the flood-prone Salmon Creek Road/Nash Road intersection, pending approval by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly. The board already has been promised a matching grant of $60,000 from the [...]

Alaska Tsunami Bowl a learning experience

By Heidi Zemach for Seward City News
heidizemach@yahoo.com
Seward High’s team of marine science geeks, Perusing Pycnopodia, competed with 21 other teams from across the state at the Alaska Tsunami Bowl February 5-7th in Seward. Team members included Nathan Feemster, Eileen Audette, Maddy Campbell and team captain, Maggie Herbert. They were coached by Adrienne Moretti, an educator [...]

City Council Addresses Coal Issues

(Heidi Zemach for Seward City News)

Coal dominated the Seward City Council meeting Monday, Jan 25th, as nearby, coal-filled trains pulled up to the Seward waterfront coal transfer facility, steadily growing a 90,000 ton-plus coal pile as it was loaded onto a waiting ship. The council unanimously agreed to undertake a community-wide ambient air [...]

Second Installment: KWF’s Seward Connection

The Kenai Watershed Forum (KWF) is a local 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to maintaining the health of the watersheds on the Kenai Peninsula. KWF is recognized as the regional watershed organization of the Kenai Peninsula. KWF is building strong Seward relationships and is working on several projects in the local Seward area. KWF’s mission is working [...]

Kenai Watershed Forum – First Installment: Who We Are & What We Do

The Kenai Watershed Forum (KWF) is a local 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to maintaining the health of the watersheds on the Kenai Peninsula. KWF is recognized as the regional watershed organization of the Kenai Peninsula, successfully identifying and addressing the needs of the region by providing high quality education, restoration, and research programs. KWF’s mission is [...]

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