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Category Archives: Alaska
Let the Summer Begin
Even here in the semi-frozen north there is a season–albeit a short one–known as summer. How do we know it’s summer? The snow is gone, except for a few shadowy, north-facing patches here at almost sea level. (The stuff still on the mountains doesn’t count.) The kids are out of school until August 20-something. And the tourists have begun to arrive.
Unlike our previous location, the town we are in isn’t easily accessible. You can’t just take a drive and end up here. But there is a small cruise ship that comes over every Wednesday, bringing a few folks to spend the day wandering the two main streets of town or to take an hour-long jaunt down the mostly gravel highway to Child’s Glacier and the Million Dollar Bridge (no, no, not the Bridge to Nowhere. That’s somewhere else.). Standing a quarter mile away across the river and feeling the cool breeze come off unmeasurable tons of ice while Volkswagon- to building-sized chunks calve is awe-inspiring and exhilarating. You just have to be ready to bolt inland in case one of those chunks creates a wave that will wash up and over the river bank on your side, flooding the picnic/viewing area. Yeah, it’s happened. Apparently there were salmon tossed into trees during one big calving-induced wave.
We’ll be taking my mother and nephew out there when they come up in July. I’ll remind them to wear their running shoes.
Other than relatives visiting, we do have a few things to keep the kids busy and me sane. Camps, both sleep-away and day, will fill some of my daughters’ days. Family fishing trips will dot the calendar. We’re planning to go Outside for a couple of weeks before school starts. But overall, the plan is to take things nice and slow.
What will you be up to?
Iditarod–The Last Great Race Run By Great 2- and 4-Legged Athletes
One of the biggest, if not THE biggest, events here in Alaska is the Iditarod sled dog race. The Last Great Race, it pits man and his best friends against the elements of the Last Frontier. While the rest of us are snuggling close to our wood stoves or sitting comfortably in our easy chairs as the central heating kicks on, these brave and hearty men, women and dogs are traveling over 1,000 miles across some of the roughest terrain around, during some of the harshest weather.
About ten days ago, a field of 65 mushers, each with a team of 16 or so dogs, set out from Anchorage (well, Willow is the official start. Anchorage was a ceremonial start.) to Nome. Both human and canine athletes were prepared for anything the Alaska wilderness could throw at them. They hoped. Checkpoints, GPS, and aerial monitoring, veterinarians and doctors, assure that the teams are as safe as possible. Still, some ran into difficulties, a couple suffered broken equipment, and sadly some dogs were lost. More than a few mushers scratched, for various reasons, but at this writing nine are in Nome and another 40 are still making their way there.
The winner this year, Lance Mackey, took his third Iditarod Championship in a row. He joins the three-peat ranks of mushing legends Susan Butcher and Doug Swingley.
Lance and his team were the first into Nome, but all the men and women and dogs who set out are to be commended and respected for their toughness and spirit. Read some of the stories about sleds turning over and mushers smacking into trees and rocks. Of dogs getting tangled, of one that ran off in fright and was thankfully returned to his musher. Of the dogs that died and how the mushers grieved for lost friends. BTW, this is not the place to complain that dog sled racing is inhumane or cruel. A good musher treats his team with the utmost respect and care. They are his friends and his lifeline. Man and dog are truly teammates, and if you’ve ever seen an interview with a musher as he or she raves about the greatness of their dogs, or grieves at the loss of one, you will understand the heartfelt connection there.
So congratulations to Lance and his team, but the entire field, even those who scratched, deserve major kudos just for taking that first step onto the trail.
Saturday Night is Sci Fi Channel Night
Last time, I posted about Friday night sci fi goodness. For the most part, Dollhouse has been okay. A little slow the first episode, but the second was action-packed. It gave us some interesting background on the facility and a nice hint of what’ll be going on with Echo. I’m not seeing a lot of the Joss Whedon snappy dialogue I’d expected, but it pops up here and there. For example: “We have a situation. The kind you need to shoot at.” BSG is, well, BSG. Great human drama in the depths of space. Anyone beside me want to smack Saul? Yeah, I get the whole thing about Ellen, but still. He was an ass. And while Terminator hasn’t been the best I’ve seen I can wait for the big POW I’m sure will occur. Besides, my girl crush on Lena Headey and my love/fear of Shirley Manson as Catherine Weaver compels me to watch.
On to the flip side of being a sci fi fan.
One of my family’s (okay, one of MY) favorite activities is to watch the Sci Fi Channel’s original movies. It’s not because they are nuggets of science fiction brilliance. In fact, it’s for the complete opposite reason. Now, before I get blasted for admitting I mock these movies, let me just say that I love them for what they are. I know they are lower budget films. I know that the special effects required to make the average movie-watcher go “oooh….ahhh….” aren’t there. Funky CGI? Check. Guy in bad makeup and hairy suit? Check. And I’m more than half sure the cast and crew making these films are doing so with their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks. How could they not be? They’ve read the script, right?
So let’s break down a bit of the typical Sci Fi Channel original movie formula.
Plot: Generally, there is some beastie out to eat the humans and the human must somehow stop it. Simple, and it allows for gobs of action, blood, and mayhem. Beasties range from genetically altered snakes (ex: Anaconda and its sequels. Yes, I said sequels.), to mythological beings (ex: Wyvern, Hydra, Yeti, Abominable {tho it was more Sasquatch-y, but maybe they were playing word games. Oooh, how clever!}), to aliens (ex: Alien v. Hunter, Alien Lockdown, Alien Siege). No matter the creature, they are never vegetarians and there will be a number of humans with weapons trying to survive long enough to kill it. There is often a secondary plot running through the movie, usually involving the angst of the main character in some way.
Characters: You almost always know from the get-go who will live and who will die in an sf movie. If there is only one female character, she will usually live. If there’s more than one, the younger, prettier one lives. Hey, I don’t like it either, being not so young and pretty myself, but this is how the formula works. The hero is usually the guy the heroine likes, if not at the beginning then by half way through the movie. And yay on the Sci Fi Channel, because much of the time the hero isn’t the guy with the broadest shoulders and largest guns. It’s the computer geek or the biology professor who figures out how to thwart the beast in question. And there are times when the hero/heroine roles are “reversed” and it’s the woman who does the saving. There seems to be more gender equality in sf than in most genres, so for that alone I commend them.
How do you know who will be killed in a sf movie? It’s the operative who announces this is their last mission before they retire to the family farm in Iowa or wherever. It’s the soldier who, in the quiet moments before battle, pulls out the worn, creased picture of his wife and/or child. It’s the overzealous jerk who is gung-ho and wanting to just shoot everything but ends up being the one to rush the beast, sacrificing themselves so the others can escape. Though sometimes, this one gets a pass.
Usually one or more of the characters does something completely stupid, jeopardizing themselves and/or the rest of the group. This ticks me off and they are the first ones I like to see eaten. If they aren’t eaten, they’d better damn well have some kind of “Oh, I’ve been such an ass my whole life” revelation by the end. Even then, more often than not, I’d rather see them being eaten.
I don’t expect spectacular acting (sometimes my 8 year old telling me her tummy hurts and she just can’t go to school on the day of a test is more believable). Most of the movies use a cast of unknowns, and often the writer is also in the film. He may even be director and coffee guy. It comes with the lower budget territory. Let’s just say I admire these actors for their efforts.
But here’s something that has stunned me: the number of well known actors who have starred in more than a few of these movies. And I’m not talking about movies made years ago when they were first getting their resumes filled out. Rise, about vampires, stars Lucy Liu (yes, that Lucy Liu) and Michael Chiklis (you know, from “The Shield” on FX, played The Thing on Fantastic Four). It was filmed in 2007. There are other Sci Fi Channel movies where I recognize actors from stints on TV or from smaller movie roles. They aren’t making millions per film like Brad or Angie, but seem to be in a fair number of productions. So what on earth possesses them to take roles in a film like Rise or Wyvern or Anaconda? Did the producer have incriminating photos? Were they just in it for the fun? Certainly not to be recognized during awards season.
Films set in Alaska hold a special place for us. Most recently we watched Wyvern, about a dragon-like creature freed from a glacier, and another about South American killer ants that took up residence underground near an Alaska volcano. We enjoy them because of the way Alaska is depicted. They don’t insult the people here (though filmmakers, please keep in mind not ALL Alaskans wear fur all the time, decorate with moose antlers, and tote their 30-06’s to town to do grocery shopping) but we like spotting the mistakes they make. For example, in the one about the killer ants, it showed one of those green road signs telling you how far it is to the next town. They had the fictional town listed at 4 miles and Nome at 287, or some such. The problem: There is no road to Nome that is 287 miles long. But I guess Nome was recognizable and remote enough to give the viewer the sense of where they were and how far from “civilization” the action was set. Sure. Also, the surrounding area almost always looks suspiciously like the west coast of Canada, all green and full of trees, when it’s supposed to be set in the northern part of Alaska, which is tundra and not so green or tree-filled.
Once in a while I am pleasantly surprised by a film on this network. Last week, we watched Splinter. In the previews it promised to be scary and gruesome, like most Sci Fi Channel fare. I was ready to get all mocky but I enjoyed it for the most part. The beastie was determined to eat the humans it had cornered, and the hero and heroine were pretty much established from the opening, so it followed the formula. But the acting was decent and the characters behaved with some intelligence. OK, the disembodied hand reminded me of a demented Thing from “The Addams Family” but I said I was surprised at the quality, not stunned into calling the Academy Awards committee to demand it be nominated.
As goofy as I find most of the Sci Fi Channel’s movies, I’ll still watch them. And during commercial breaks they often put on Sci Fi Channel tips like “If you open the door to another dimension, be sure to know how to close it again.” Or, “If it walks quietly, it probably eats noisily.” Or, “If the thing living under your porch ate the dog, it’s probably not the cat.”
Those alone are worth the price of my cable bill.
Whale Tale–Why I Love Where I Live
This past Saturday evening, I received a phone call at about 9pm from a friend. In a nutshell, Suzanna said, “We’re going out on Dave’s boat to see some whales tomorrow. There’s room for one more.”
I balked, not at the idea of going on a boat–I love being on boats–or at the idea of seeing cool critters, but at the 6am sail time (on a Sunday!) and the 8pm return. That’s a long day, and with only room for one, I felt a bit guilty. DH was going to have to stay home with the kids, but he had to prepare for an early departure Monday morning anyway. Suzanna was a persistent saleswoman, and in the end I agreed to sacrifice sleep for a little adventure. I’m so glad I did. (Sorry, kids. Next time we’ll go as a family.)
Resetting my alarm to 5am (on a Sunday!), I hardly slept and was out of bed by 4:45 (on a Sunday!). My oldest stumbled out of her room just as I was fixing a cup of tea. “Go back to sleep,” I told her. “I’ll be back later. Dad will explain.” I kissed her sleepy bed-head and sent her to her room.
Dressed in layers, prepared for ever-changing Alaska weather, and toting my camera, binoculars and travel mug, I was the first passenger to arrive at the boat. Dave, the captain, runs tourist charters and provides transport for the local scientists/state agencies. He’s a great guy and knows just about everything there is to know about Prince William Sound. Milo and his wife Paula are a very nice couple I’ve met at several gatherings. He’s a biologist/photographer for the US Forest Service, I think, and she’s a librarian. Kristin is head of a local organization that monitors the massive watershed system here. Mary Ann is a biologist at the Science Center where my husband works. She had her 10 year old daughter with her for this trip. And Suzanna is the Public Health nurse in town. Good folks to spend a day with.
It took almost 3 hours to reach the bay where the humpback whales hung out. There wasn’t much to see during transit–I’m sure the scenery would have been great, but it was dark until 8:45–so we chatted and drank coffee or tea. The boat was clean, comfortable and warm, the seas flat calm. Upon arrival, we donned our coats and hats and gathered our cameras and binoculars to go on deck. For South Central Alaska in December, it was an amazing day. No wind and only a bit of rain. The bay is long, very deep (500 feet for the most part, which accommodated the whales nicely) and somewhat narrow, surrounded by snow-covered mountains. Clouds kept the sun from reflecting too brightly off the water, but that would be to our advantage when we began taking pictures.
Almost immediately, whale spouts were seen and heard in singles and in groups of two or three or four. Some as close as fifty yards or so. All around us were massive humpback whales, slipping along the surface or gliding below the boat. Mothers and calves, pairs, groups and singles. Stubby dorsal fins and knobby heads and backs broke the calm waters. An occasional pectoral fin, with its telltale white underside flashed in the grey light. As the sun rose higher, the whales appeared bronze in color against the black-green water. We didn’t know where to look at any one time. Just once, we saw one breach, rising almost a full body length out of the water before splashing back down. No one got a picture of it, but we’ll remember it for a long, long time.
No matter which direction you chose, you were sure to receive the gift of observing one of the most majestic creatures on earth. We were also fortunate to see a variety of birds, harbor seals “basking” on an ice sheet, and curious sea lions (who wandered up to the boat AFTER my camera battery died). My descriptions here don’t do the trip justice, nor do the pics. Trust me, it was amazing.
We spent hours puttering up into the bay, idling and enjoying the scenery or watching the whales and other animals. Time after time, I was struck by the unbelievable beauty around us. There are still some wild places in this world, and I was never so grateful as then to be able to experience it. Thank you, Dave, for an amazing tour. Thank you, Suzanna for not taking “no” for an answer. Thank you, Milo, Paula, Kristin, Mary Ann and Nancy for such fun company.
Note: Milo was trying to photograph the flukes for identification, hence most of my pics are of the flukes too. He wasn’t doing it as a paid job, but to help one of the organizations involved in humpback whale studies. And because it’s fun and cool. The whales would surface, blow out their breath (very stinky, btw) and give us a glimpse of dorsal a few times before they made a characteristic maneuver that told us they were about to dive.
Here’s a teaser pic while I figure out how to resize the larger files and manhandle blogger.
Going Postal
(Phone rings)
Me: Hello?
HP: Hi, this is HP customer service. We recently received an order for a laptop and want to confirm shipping information.
Me (snickering to self): Yes?
HP: We have here a delivery address of (reads off our post office box), and a physical address of (reads our house addy).
Me: Yes, that’s correct. The laptop needs to be shipped to the post office or it won’t get to us.
HP (after a few moments of silence): It won’t?
Me: No. We don’t have home delivery here.
HP (after another few moments of silence): You don’t? At all?
Me: No. If it’s coming via UPS or FedEx, it will go from Anchorage to here through the post office anyway. Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll get it.
HP: Um, okay. If you’re sure. Thank you. (hangs up)
I’m sure. Really.
Let me explain a little something about small town living. At least living in THIS small town. We have a very nice post office, with very kind and helpful postal employees. Everyone in town has a PO box. Everyone. Want to look in the phone book to find the physical location of a resident or business? Not gonna happen. All you’ll see is a PO box listing. You’ll have to call the place to get instructions. Granted, most businesses are within a four block area and not hard to find, but some are tucked into buildings and have no obvious signs. Locals just “know” where to go. It’s very quaint. And a tad frustrating when you’re new in town. It’s like you have to be told the secret handshake or something. Luckily, we’ve been here long enough that we’ve become privy to the majority of hot locales. If you consider the lumber yard and laundromat “hot.”
A number of years ago there was a community-wide vote regarding the US Postal Service and home delivery. An overwhelming majority voted down home delivery. (The postman doesn’t ring at all here, let alone twice.) Why? Because like in most small towns, certain public places become the local equivalent of nature’s watering holes. Grocery stores, gas stations, post offices, eventually most everyone hits these places because they have to. And want to. It gives people an excuse to get out and about on an almost daily basis. Or at least weekly.
Oh, and even if I were to tell you the name of my street, good luck finding it. There is no street sign and even locals have asked where, exactly, we live. If you come visit, I’ll give you the secret handshake 😉
Be Careful What You Wish For
A couple posts ago, I mentioned how I’d rather have it cold versus rainy here in the Alaska Banana Belt. While I didn’t lie about that, I also didn’t mean to have it so freakin’ cold RIGHT NOW!
For the past few days it’s been below freezing. And not just hovering at the 32/0 degree mark. It was in the mid teens this morning, as it was yesterday morning. Brrrr! Even the more adventurous of our cats decided she’d rather stay in and annoy a dog by cuddling up to it. Can’t blame you, kitty. A “three dog night” has real meaning here, but my dogs are not allowed on the bed. So we get a two kitty night. Not the same. Less heat, more clinging to the edge. (How is it that two cats of 8 and 11 pounds can take up more space than a full grown human adult?)
Also, my poor, hoary (as opposed to whor–nevermind) minivan is not happy about starting in such weather. Plug-in or no.
It will be a chilly Halloween here in the Frozen North–a term I used in a somewhat joking manner until now. I’ll have to remind the kids to let the Laffy Taffy get to room temperature before digging in. Or that crack we’ll hear as they bite down will be the sound of the dentist getting a new snow machine.
Oh, on a side note, this is my 100th post : ) Do I get a present or anything? No? Okay, just asking.
Termination Dust
No, it’s not a new, lethal drug. Here in the North, depending on which latitude you reside, seasons are measured by days (summer) or in six-eight month increments (guess which season that is), there is one thing we all agree upon: Termination dust.
We got ours two weeks ago. Though the day was reasonable (ie: not too rainy and in the mid 40’s) I noticed the mountain tops around us dusted with snow. The mountains being colder, of course, meant the snow was here to stay until late spring. The temperature dropped over the next week or so at my house, mid to upper 30’s in the evening and first thing in the morning. It would warm up as the day progressed, but there was the white specter of winter all around us. Each day, the snow line dropped. Lower. And lower.
As I drove to work yesterday, it started to rain. Thick rain. Rain that hit with a thud but quickly liquefied against the heater-warmed windshield. A teasing rain, reminding me that soon I would need to wear my warm boots and carry my indoor shoes to work. That the tires on the vehicles needed to be changed over to the studded versions. That I’ll be knee-deep in the white stuff sooner than I desire.
But I don’t mourn the loss of summer. You can’t mourn what you never had. I can hope the winter holds off for a bit longer, but that means more rain. I’d rather have cold weather, even if it means snow.
Snow is fun. You can make things, throw it about, ski, sled, snowshoe. You can send your kids out in it and they’ll stay outside enjoying themselves. Do that during a downpour and all you get is cold, wet, cranky kids. When they come inside after playing in the snow, they may be damp and chilled, but their little cheeks are rosy and they’re happy. We like happy.
Perhaps we should see termination dust as a positive thing. An end to the unreliable summer and fall weather. With the arrival of snow, we know what we’ll be getting for the next six to eight months. In these uncertain times, isn’t it nice to know you can count on something?
Seriously?
I’ve read a couple things in the past week that made me laugh out loud and shake my head simultaneously. Talk about whiplash!
Item #1: Do You Expect Me to Buy This?
While perusing a clothing/accessory/general items catalog sent from a certain organization where a girl may scout out interests in a number of activities, I came across a page where uniform items were being displayed. In a bright yellow box near the description it read that as of October, along with the uniform vest or sash, a girl is required (my emphasis) to wear a white shirt and khaki pants (or skirt, I think) when representing the organization in an official capacity. OK, that’s fine. On the very next page, the clothing offered was more casual tee-shirts and such. One of the shirts for sale proudly displayed this message: Defy Conformity. Unless they say so, I guess.
Item #2: Only in Alaska
One of our U.S. senators is being investigated for allegedly accepting gifts of great monetary value without reporting them. The big ticket is work/renovations on the senator’s house that comes to major bucks. But in today’s paper the investigators came up with a few more gifts the senator supposedly received, including a massage chair($2,600), a custom stained glass window($3,200), and a sled dog($1,000). Yes, a sled dog can be worth $1,000 or more, depending on the bloodline. Can you imagine any other state in the union where this could happen? Me neither.
I love this state.
Adventures in Shopping
Here in the semi-far north, we take our shopping seriously. Not because we have an array of New York-style boutiques or shops that offer a world of food items or the latest in fashion or design. No, we take it seriously because it’s such a pain in patootey. And usually a bigger pain in the wallet. I’m not talking specialty items here, folks. Just plain old groceries and other everyday products.
PRODUCT CHOICE
Limited, to put it mildly. There are two (count ’em! two!) grocery stores in my town, one locally owned and the other an Alaska fixture for the last century or so (the chain, not necessarily the actual building). Between the two, I can usually find the brand of coffee creamer or whatever I prefer, depending on who got their shipment in most recently. Generally, I settle for what they have on the shelves. I may have a choice of two or three brands. Maybe. And our town is lucky compared to small villages in the state. The produce has to travel so dang far, it’s a wonder the tomatoes arrive as whole fruit and not sauce. Oh, non-food items? Well, I can buy a package of underwear at the one store, but I haven’t found a place to purchase shoes other than at the local Salvation Army. Rubber boots, yes, but not regular everyday shoes. And forget anything that might be considered dressy.
PRICES
Oy. When you’re paying almost $7 for a gallon of milk, the thought of having a cow or goat in the yard sounds real good. Except for the potential draw of a local bear. We’d probably get fined for baiting wildlife. Gas? Closer to $5 a gallon than I like to see. (Which is ironic, considering the oil from which the gas is produced is pumped out in our proverbial backyard. Luckily, we have few roads and hubby tends to walk to work. But heating fuel and electricity prices get us.) An inexpensive loaf of “wheat” bread is $1.60. If you want something with a bit of fiber in it, expect to pay $4 or more. Shampoo that is $2 in most places is $4 or so here. A canister of ground coffee is also about twice the price. What’s funny is that a cup of designer coffee (ie: a latte or whatnot brewed and served at by a local barrista) is about the same price in other locations I’ve visited. Can someone explain that?
THERE ARE MANY OPTIONS…NOT!
How do we thwart the cost of living and increase our choices? Well, there’s the Internet. This option gives you unbelievable choices, but you’ll pay for shipping in the end. A friend once wanted to order a small piece of furniture but the shipping cost alone was twice the price of the item. Um, no thank you.
Though we will purchase things online, more often than not we go to the City. Anchorage, in this case. But to do so is not a spur of the moment activity. Not by a long shot. First off, you can’t drive there from here. Nor can you fly to Anchorage and do a lot of shopping because of airline baggage restrictions and costs. It’s doable, but not cost effective. No. To get to Anchorage for a BIG shopping trip, one must check out the Alaska Marine Highway ferry schedule and coordinate it with other aspects of life. If you’re lucky, you can get on the fast ferry, which only takes 3 hours one way to get to the road system. That schedule not so convenient or the fast ferry is full? Well, you can expect to travel for 6-12 hours one way before reaching the roads. There is limited space for vehicles, so reserve your spot early.
Our most recent trip on the fast ferry (which doesn’t run in the winter) had us leaving on a Saturday morning and returning on Tuesday afternoon. In between, we visited friends in our old town before trundling up to Anchorage to shop. An easy, relaxed trip for us. In January, we were limited to the 12 hour ferry. We left home after midnight on a Friday, arrived in Whittier (the town on the road system) Saturday afternoon, drove the hour to Anchorage, shopped our brains out, over-nighted at a hotel, then returned to Whittier to catch the Sunday 1pm ferry back. Whew! It got us home at 1am Monday morning. The kids didn’t go to school that day.
We typically drop $900 or so on groceries at one of the Anchorage warehouse stores, as well as a couple hundred more at a regular grocery store if we can’t find certain items. These trips keep us in canned goods and such for 4 months. We buy things that don’t travel well or we use quickly (bread, milk–though we buy it in Anchorage and freeze it–butter and cheese, for example) from the local outfits when we need to.
On the plus side, there is no other place I know of that while making the journey to your shopping destination you can take in gorgeous scenery and watch humpback whales breaching as you kick back and let someone else drive. In the end, I’ll take THAT over access to a pair of kicky shoes any day.
Global Warming, the ESA and Polar Bears, Oh My!
(NOTE: THE FOLLOWING IS AN ACCOUNT OF MY THOUGHTS ON A SUBJECT. THERE IS SOME SOLID FACT TO BACK UP MY STATEMENTS, BUT NOT SO MUCH THAT I’M ASSUMING I KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. TAKE THIS POST FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH. AND FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG.)
The Department of the Interior has decided to list polar bears, those wacky denizens of the frozen north (or not so frozen north as the case seems to be), as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) due to global warming. The sea ice bears rely upon to access their hunting grounds is, undeniably, smaller than in previous years. However, from what little I’ve read, overall the population of polar bears is not considered dangerously low or even close to worrisome. (Bear–ha!–in mind that I haven’t read all the scientific studies of polar bear population counts. Heck, I haven’t read a single one. I’m just going by what I’ve gleaned from the news.) But be that as it may, the polar bear is now listed as threatened.
Okaaaay. Without going into allegations of speculative science and premature decisions being made, let’s think about this for a moment. They’re listed. Great. Now what?
Polar bears are already protected to a certain degree by the Marine Mammals Protection Act. Granted, that is more along the lines of direct interaction between bears and humans, ie: unless you are an Alaska Native, you can’t hunt polar bears or sell their pelts, among other limitations. So on that level, nothing really changes for the bears. As for the ESA, it requires the federal government to plan for the protection of critical habitat, write a recovery plan and consult about protection before approving federal permits that could impact listed species.
Hmmm. Alaska’s polar bears live smack in the middle of where petroleum exploration and development is being sought. They live near enough to the area where a natural gas pipeline is being proposed that there is the possibility of delays and lawsuits regarding the construction of the pipeline. Which would be ironic since the use of cleaner natural gas is a way to reduce our carbon emissions and lower greenhouse gases, the cause of global warming and the loss of the sea ice the bears require.
Resource development in Alaska is generally done with a huge eye toward keeping our environment as healthy as possible. Many people depend upon the land and its wildlife as their source of income and food. Not to mention the travel and tourism benefits. Do you really think it would be allowed for someone, no matter what they say they’ll be putting into the state coffers, to waltz in and build oil platforms and pipelines willy-nilly if there were so great a potential for hurting the environment? Short answer: No. Sure, there are mishaps and folks who will cut corners, but we love our state as much as anyone in the Lower 48. We’re not going to poo in our own nests.
So what does the listing mean to you and me? Well, expect higher prices at the pumps, folks. If there are going to be issues about developing more petroleum sources in the Arctic then we’ll be importing more oil from overseas. (Um, anyone know what the impact THOSE wells are having on THOSE environments? Anyone care? No, because it’s not OUR nests being fouled.)
But maybe, just maybe, the listing of the polar bear will spur investigation and development of renewable and affordable resources. Wouldn’t that be nice.
In the meantime, maybe we need to spend a few tax dollars on helping the polar bears get to their hunting grounds this summer. I think there are some plans for a bridge laying around the state…perhaps we should use that?
5/16 ETA: Reading through this, you may think I’m pro-development and anti-polar bear. I’m not. I should have made clear that, IMO, the decision to list the polar bear as threatened, while probably a good idea, was made on more of a political level than anything else. So the bear is now considered threatened. What are we going to do about it? Anyone have an answer that will significanly reduce green house gases by 2050, the year that it’s predicted the polar bear will be in dire straits? Please feel free to share. I’m not being snarky, I swear. What I do predict is that there will be lawsuits and counter suits up the wazoo, getting no one anywhere, particularly the polar bear. Again, my opinion. Your mileage may vary.