Borough Mayor speaks to attendees at the Kodiak Archipelago Rural Regional Leadership Forum. Kayla Desroches/KMXT Kayla Desroches/KMXT Kodiak’s rural leaders and the Kodiak Island Borough are striving to improve communication on land issues that impact the island’s communities. The borough has jurisdiction over land use matters around the island and all the action happens in the city of Kodiak. That …

Bobbi Anne Barnowsky. Courtesy of Barnowsky Kayla Desroches/KMXT Old Harbor tribal administrator Bobbi Anne Barnowsky recently won state recognition and a place on the 2017 First Lady’s Volunteer of the Year Awards. The awards began with Alaska First Lady Bella Hammond in 1975 and continue today under First Lady Donna Walker. Out of 70 nominations, four individuals were selected for …

Kayla Desroches/KMXT The U.S. Navy has pinned down what the naval exercises in the Gulf of Alaska will look like for the next few years, and the new plan reflects input from Gulf of Alaska communities and tribal entities. The Navy conducts a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement every five years, and after consultation with the public, tribes, and state governmental …

Plastic shopping bag. Photo by Andrew Davidson / Flickr Kayla Desroches/KMXT Kodiak is looking into banning single-use plastic bags. If it does, it’ll follow communities like Bethel, Cordova, and Hooper Bay that have all enforced city-wide bans, none of which include a per-bag fee. Fairbanks tried and failed in 2009 to charge a 5 cent fee. Some communities in the …

Kayla Desroches/KMXT The results are in for the new additions to the Kodiak Electric Association’s Board of Directors. Ron Acarregui, Cliff Ford, Terry Haines, Tyler Kornelis, and Ben Millstein ran for the three open seats of three years each. KEA members turned in their votes and, in a press release, KEA announced Ron Acarregui won with 764 votes, Cliff Ford …

Rock painted by DeAnn Medina. Photo by DeAnn Medina Kayla Desroches/KMXT The sale of acrylic paints has peaked in Kodiak, and it’s because of a new art craze in town. Painted rocks have been popping up on the local trails, café tables, and even in the meat section of Safeway. The activity, which found success in the Lower 48, has …

Kayla Desroches/KMXT A science symposium today through Friday brings with it talks on a number of coastal research topics, including how community members can keep such studies going strong through participation in the research itself. The Kodiak Area Marine Science Symposium covers regional projects and collects the lectures under thematic sessions: Changing Ecosystems, Habitat and Process, Dynamic Methods, Community and …

Kayla Desroches/KMXT They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky. They’re altogether ooky. It’s the Addams Family – the musical. Kodiak High School Theater Arts is tackling the Broadway production, which is based on the world of the morbid, yet endearing, Addams family. Fans of the TV show from the 1960s, the movies from the 1990s, or the comic strips …

On today’s Talk of the Rock, host Kayla Desroches leads a science-themed show with Sea Grant’s Julie Matweyou talking about the multi-day Kodiak Area Marine Science Symposium. Also joining are ecologist Julia Parrish, Alaska Sea Grant Director Paula Cullenberg, and Robyn Cassidy, who’s organizing the Science March on Saturday.

Kayla Desroches/KMXT Warming ocean conditions may be killing off seabirds and affecting fish populations, and it’s unlikely to change without intervention. That’s part of what University of Alaska Fairbanks Professor Russ Hopcroft will talk about for his lecture at the upcoming Kodiak Area Marine Science Symposium. Hopcroft and his project partners study the northern Gulf of Alaska. He says in …