NOME
Air Carriers Help Villages Recycle Waste
SHIPPING COSTS MAKE IT PRICEY to transport everything to alaska’s bush villages, and almost nothing gets shipped out, including toxic waste. Most village residents simply dump unused household chemicals, broken electronic devices and appliances, and used batteries in local landfills which then become potential sources of pollution for soil and water, according to the Alaska Journal of Commerce.
But beginning this past winter, 15 villages in northwestern alaska began shipping toxic waste to anchorage where it can be properly disposed of. Kawerak inc., a local company that provides services to many villages in the bering Strait region, now collects potentially toxic waste from these villages and ships it to nome with the help of bering air and ryan air, which offer discounted rates for the hauls. Everts air cargo ships the waste out of nome. The air carriers are not profiting from the work, but are charging enough to cover flight costs, and usually ship waste out on planes that deliver goods to the communities and might otherwise fly back empty, the Journal of Commerce reported.
Once in anchorage, electronics are handed over to total reclaim, a recycling firm, which processes the material at a discounted rate and ships it to Seattle for dismantling. Appliances are delivered to local steel recyclers.
Local native corporations and individual communities are footing the bill for the waste-removal project.
FAIRBANKS
MUSEUM GETS HANDMADE CAR
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CARS in Alaska history is being restored and will have a new home for the next fi ve years. Bobby Sheldon’s handmade 1905 car was moved from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the is now working on the vehicle, according to the Fairbanks Daily News Miner.
Sheldon, who had never seen a car, used drawings from a magazine to design his vehicle in Skagway. He used a two-cycle boat engine and other scavenged parts to construct the car, which has been on display at the University museum for more than 70 years.
Wily Vinton, a car expert who works at the Fountainhead museum, will restore The drive train and reinstall the car’s original engine, which was recently found in Skagway.
Once restored, the car will spend fi ve years among the auto museum’s collection of more than 60 automobiles produced in the United States prior to World War II.
ANCHORAGE
Potlach Hunt Rule Explained
ALASKA LAW PERMITS NATIVE PEOPLE to take game such as moose for religious ceremonies, including funerals, but there has been some confusion over whether the law applies across the state or only in subsistence hunting areas.
The state Board of Game has now clarifi ed the rules, making it clear the law applies throughout the state—with a few exceptions where moose counts are low—and has added new reporting requirements, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Beginning July 1, hunters must have the approval of an Alaska Native tribal chief, village council president, clan leader or other offi cial to make a kill for ceremonial use. The hunter must carry a ceremonial harvest report form in nonsubsistence areas and in the Nelchina Basin and the offi cial must report the permit to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Alaska Natives usually serve freshly killed moose at funerals and memorial services one year after the death of a member of a Native community.
Division of Wildlife Conservation biologists estimate the statewide potlatch kill—based on reported and estimated unreported kills—at fewer than 400 animals a year.
SOUTHEAST
STATE BANS FELT-SOLE WADERS
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| MICHAEL PENN/JUNEAU EMPIRE | |
IN AN EFFORT TO STOP the spread of disease and pests, anglers in Alaska will soon be banned from wearing felt-sole waders, the Juneau Empire reports.
Whirling disease—which causes deformities in fish—an algae called rock snot, mud snails and zebra mussels are just a few organisms that can spread between rivers and lakes, hitchhiking on the bottoms of a fi sherman’s shoes.
Felt-bottomed shoes, used by many anglers because they can grip slippery surfaces well—are of particular concern because they take several hours to dry, providing a moist habitat in which microorganisms and parasites can survive as they are moved from an infected stream to another body of water.
The ban on felt-sole wading shoes will take effect on Jan. 1, 2012.
JUNEAU
IDITAROD FINISHERS GET PLATE
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| COURTESY FRED AGREE |
ALASKA HAS A NEW LICENSE PLATE, available exclusively to people who have completed the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The state’s Division of Motor Vehicles is offering the Iditarod fi nisher plate for $50, for placement on vehicles registered in Alaska. Plates are custom-made, displaying the musher’s exclusive fi nishing number, assigned by the Iditarod Race committee.
NOME
Drug tests for Mushers
Beginning this year, every human competitor in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was tested for alcohol and drugs at the White Mountain checkpoint, where mushers take a mandatory eight-hour rest before the final push to Nome. A ban on alcohol and drug use has been in the Iditarod rule book since 1984, and dogs have been tested for performance enhancing substances since 1994, but this is the first time human testing has been carried out, The Associated Press reported.
This year’s champion, Lance Mackey, said before the race began in March that he believed the change in procedure was directed at him. Mackey has a medical marijuana card and uses the drug to cope with the effects of throat cancer. Doctors removed muscle, lymph nodes, a vein and several nerves from Mackey’s neck, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Subsequent radiation treatments deteriorated his jawbone, costing him 10 teeth. He also has limited mobility in his right arm and nerve damage in his hands and feet, and had a finger removed to resolve nerve pain that would not respond to medication.
Several mushers complained to the Iditarod Trail Committee about Mackey’s use of marijuana during the race, according to the AP. Race organizers said they decided to formalize the policy for testing mushers, which they have considered doing for years, at the request of the Iditarod Official Finishers Club, and did not deny Mackey’s contention that complaints about his acknowledged pot use were the genesis of the testing, the AP said.
Mackey said before the 2010 race he would not use marijuana on the trail and, just to be safe, will not use a replacement medicine he has been prescribed—which is not excluded by the Iditarod ban—but would rely on alternative prescription painkillers to ease his discomfort.
Any musher who tests positive for drugs or alcohol during the Iditarod could face disqualification, a period of ineligibility from future races or both, the AP reported.
When the race began, Mackey was facing a misdemeanor count of marijuana possession after being found with a small amount at the Anchorage airport in January, after his medical marijuana card had expired.