Homer Fire, Problem Trees with Bugs and Cleaning up themselves in Tanana

Rain in Anchorage and outlying parts is a great thing. We are in dire need of it considering how high the fire danger is right now for south central. Unfortunately, Homer isn’t getting this much needed rain, in which they need more then us in Anchorage need at this moment in time.

But the spruce bark beetles are the reason why everything is shooting up in flames as you sit there, reading my article. These pesky little insects kill the tree from the inside out and you can see it dieing. I wrote a little bit about the fire danger a few days ago, but no one seems to have noticed.

I do not understand why we do not implement some type of State and City (no matter what city) group effort in cutting these trees down. They are a complete fire hazard, as after the tree dies its decomposing trunk with the old sap still clinging to it’s brittle dry branches is just tinder for the next lightening storms or flicked cigarette butt or someone not paying attention to their burning… which I think is the case in Homer. But either way there are these dead trees all over Alaska. Why not cut them down and give them to people for fire wood? It lets other baby trees grow and is better for the environment at time then just letting them rot or having a fire, which kills everything in its wake. Including animals, birds and people.

The Kuskokwim and Yukon have been taking up much of Palin’s time, which is good as it does show she does care about Alaska and the Residents. Even if you think she does not. A Tanana Elder said that they are just going to start and rebuild without waiting for help. Good! Why wait? I am in total agreement with her. If you do not do for yourself, you will never get anything done. Good for Tanana! I hope that the fuel is also cleaned up. But that may take some time.

Legislators and Energy Stimulus.. how about using it to help those on the Yukon!

Energy Stimulus and the legislators are getting on my freaking nerves.

Hey Lesil McGuire, why is it that since your husband has gone to JAIL due to bribes, why are you acting like a freaking Democrat? Hanging out with Jay Ramras, who is not a conservative and should switch parties all together isn’t going to help you or your image. Or maybe you are his next love? At least he didn’t have to go to New York!

So, what ARE you legislators going to do concerning energy in Alaska? Bill Wielechowski thinks that 28.6 million can be used all over the State. On what Bill? Solar Panels in Barrow, in the middle of winter? Please expound Bill, as you are starting to get on my nerves even more then usual.

How about we use the "Stimulus" on those whom have had damage on their homes, or have no homes now, due to the Yukon and Kuskokwim? What a thought there? It Stimulates growth and warm feelings! And it HELPS rebuild lives and can use less energy! Geez, what a concept!

Fire Season is high and the Yukon isn't helping.

I sat last night looking over my little park that I live by and thought to myself, this seems familiar. The weather is dry, not at all like the soggy and cold summer South Central got last year. Why does this seem familiar? Then it hit me, this is going to be a summer that is very dry and we may have a fire like the Big Lake/Miller Reach fire, but closer to Anchorage and further north such as Talkeetna and Trapper creek and possibly Denali area.

Now, if you aren’t from Alaska it was a very serious fire. Unlike California that has those scrub brush bushes; South Central Alaska has insect infected Spruce trees that explode if they are on fire. Willow and Alder doesn’t explode, but based on the time of year that a fire starts, the sap they produce make a great torching effect and burn hot. Also, there are homes that have heating oil for their energy needs to warm water or keep the houses warm. Heating fuel in their containers is a huge hazard when a fire breaks out.

Why does this bother me? For the last few years, Alaska has been in a wetter then usual spell and we haven’t had the fires that we would normally have. That is normal actually as South Central up to Denali, The Panhandle of Alaska and quite a few spots in between are actually rain forest. But the Spruce Bark Beetle goes in cycles just like the weather. I had noticed them more last year as they were migrating out to look for new food sources (trees) and they were all over. But I never really thought anything of them as they do not bite you. But they were very large, so I know their cycle is about to explode again.

There were very few fires last year. The Caribou Fire in Kenai wasn’t huge, just smoky at best. I was fishing at the Russian and you couldn’t escape the smoke, but at least it wasn’t raining that day. There was a small fire up towards Fairbanks, but closer to Delta Junction that I remember. But it wasn’t big enough to worry about as the Rail Road was dealing with Fairbanks and Nenana flooding and the bridges closing.

Why is it I am worried about Wildfires right now, when Eagle and Fort Yukon are pretty much destroyed and Tanana as well as other villages are about to flood or are flooding now. It is a hazard to rebuild to begin with, but under the danger of possible wild land forest fires, this might be bad. These people have gone through enough, I don’t want to see them have to rebuild due to a freak lightening storm or a careless cigarette thrown on brush.

It is a good idea to keep an eye on the weather, not just the water. This is the start of Fire Season in Alaska.

Sullivan, Redoubt and the Yukon villages.

Well Anchorage has Sullivan. Oh yay. I will wait and see what he does as I am not a fan of neither him nor Croft. One reason I know he is not a fiscal conservative is how he has repeatedly tried to come up with some type of sales tax, since sitting on the Assembly. So what does he also do, he has a smoking tax on all smoking items.. from cigarettes, to cigars to pipe tobacco. 500% in one year is a tad large, but it didn’t stop there and has steadily kept rising. The Federal Government has added a tax as well, but nothing like the City and now State tax on it. He will have to win me over and from what I see; I don’t think it will happen.

And on to other news, Mt Redoubt seems to be getting edgy. Well, anyone in Alaska knows this is prone to happen. We don’t freak out about it, unless you are IN a plane and coming in or leaving the airport when it blows. Other then that, it is just life but at least it fertilizes the plants. I wonder if it is God’s “Miracle Grow”?

And the Yukon River is now taking out some small towns or villages along its bank. I would say most know the normalcy of it. Break up comes, the river swells due to melt, and the ice breaks up. But occasionally you get more ice then water, as it has happened this year. So my thinking is, what are the people going to do, not what is the government going to do. Oh course this is my opinion, but if you build on the bank of a river, eventually you ARE going to have problems. Murphy’s Law, Rule of Thumb, Common Sense… whatever you want to call it, but it makes not sense to build a house on the side of a large river knowing it will come to take your house away.

Now, we all know that eventually the State will come in and “Help”. But maybe the villages and the people who live in them should stop and think and maybe move to higher ground? I understand it is peaceful to live next to the water, but who doesn’t think that one day your house may not be there? People think with a type of nostalgia concerning houses and where they move too. I bet they regret it sometimes. Eventually you will have something called an Oxbow lake, which forms from creeks and rivers that have connected in a different spot. But are people willing to have thier house wash away? This is almost like buying property in Nevada, and hoping Californai finally falls off so you have ocean front property!