KUAC - Fairbanks

New rules for bringing dogs into the United States set to take effect next month will have some unique impacts in Alaska.

The stricter canine border requirements are being implemented by the Centers for Disease Control, beginning Aug. 1. Alaska state veterinarian Sarah Coburn says they’re aimed at keeping a canine variant of the rabies virus out of the United States.

“For the last few years, there’s been some issues with higher risk countries with some fraudulent rabies vaccine certificates, improper vaccines being given,” she said. “So there’s been some issues internationally with the import of dogs.”

Coburn says the new standardized border rules include a ban on bringing any dog under six months old into the US.

“We’ve had some people from Southeast Alaska where people may — Skagway or Haines, they may drive to Whitehorse for veterinary care,” she said. “And if it’s a dog under six months of age, they’re not going to be able to do that.”

Dr. Coburn says there’s also a new microchip requirement.

“An owner with a U.S. origin dog, that’s vaccinated in the U.S., that dog needs to be microchipped with an ISO-certified, internationally recognized microchip prior to being vaccinated,” she said.

Coburn says a minimum of 28 days is required from when the micro-chip and rabies vaccination are administered and when the dog can enter the US. Rabies vaccination certificates have long been mandatory, but Coburn says the new rules require the vaccine to have been administered by a USDA accredited veterinarian, or at a facility managed by one.

“So if it’s a lay vaccinator, that will not be accepted is my understanding,” she said. “So for rural Alaska with no veterinary services, those vaccines given by a lay vaccinator are appropriate in our state, and they’re a very important public health intervention. But they will not be accepted for international travel.”

According to the CDC, another rule change requires completing an online dog import form. An agency website says additional required documentation varies depending on where the dog has been in the six months before entering or returning to the United States.

Coburn says she has reached out to the CDC for clarification on the new canine border crossing rules, particularly on how they will affect Alaskans travelling to Canada or the Lower 48 and back.

“I can tell you we’ve had many, many questions and people calling with questions or concerns or trying to get more information,” she said.

Longtime North Pole veterinarian Jeanne Olson says even veterinarians are trying to figure out the new rules, and many people are unaware of the upcoming changes. She cites concern about those planning to head south with dogs this fall.

“Seasonal travelers up here that came up with a rabies vaccine certificate and that’s it,” she said. “They’ll get a little bit of a surprise when they go to the border this year, so we’re trying to get the word out.”

Olson also highlights the issue of sled dogs transported between Alaska locations through Canada.

“There’s hundreds of dogs that migrate down to the glaciers in Southeast, outside of Juneau, mostly for the Princess tours,” she said. “And most of them don’t have microchips, and certainly there are some that probably had pups, so there’s that little uniqueness to Alaska that is also something they hadn’t thought of.”

Olson says she understands the goal of keeping canine variant rabies out of the U.S., but that the new rules don’t make sense for travel between canine rabies-free countries like the U.S. and Canada.

Denali National Park will reopen Wednesday after a wildfire near its entrance forced the park’s closure for more than a week during the busy tourist season.

“The plan right now is for the park to resume normal operations as of 4:30 a.m. Wednesday,” said park spokesman Paul Ollig.

Cool, rainy weather over the weekend helped crews fight the Riley Fire, which started last Sunday and grew to roughly 430 acres.

Ollig said the popular Riley Creek Campground and Horseshoe Lake Trail will temporarily remain closed, as both are being used by fire crews.

Alaska Division of Forestry spokesman Al Nash said work has focused on the Riley Fire’s east-southeast perimeter, near Alaska Railroad tracks and the Parks Highway.

“Those are the parts of the fire that are closest to the railroad, the road, the river canyon and the developed areas inside the park,” Nash said.

Nash said as of late Sunday, the fire was more than 30% contained. He emphasized that work remains to be done, despite the rain.

“It does not mean that rain necessarily penetrates the dense canopy of a thick forest, so it doesn’t get down to the ground,” he said.

Under such conditions, Nash said, the roots of bushes and trees can continue to burn.

“That’s why firefighters really do go around the perimeter and seek out that heat several yards in from the edge of the fire, to make sure there isn’t something that’s still hot that could still rekindle,” he said.

Nash anticipates that firefighters have several more days of work on the Riley Fire.

Ollig said evacuation orders eased over the weekend, allowing employees relocated from park housing to the local school and area churches to return.

He said electricity was also restored to the fire zone, including the park entrance area, but the extended outage resulted in some lost food.

“So over the next couple of days, our park concessioner is going to be restocking those supplies, getting rid of all the food items that spoiled, and just going through and making sure that everything is up and running,” Ollig said.

The National Park Service is seeking the public’s assistance determining the cause of the fire, which began along railroad tracks on June 30 between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

“(We’re) soliciting information from people who may have been on that midday southbound train or may have been on some trails in the area,” Nash said.

Those trails include Horseshoe Lake, Mount Healy and Sugarloaf and Sourdough mountains, Nash said.

The closure has happened during what’s normally the busiest time of the year at Denali, causing a revenue hit for the park and area tourism businesses. Ollig said anyone who missed out on park reservations has been refunded, but there are very limited openings to re-book this summer.

Fire managers are reporting progress on the Riley Fire near the entrance to Denali National Park and Preserve, but operations will remain suspended again Tuesday.

“The park will remain closed to all private vehicles and day users,” said park spokesperson Paul Ollig. “We will not be allowing any campground or backcountry permit holders into the park that aren’t already in their campsites west of headquarters, and there will be no tour or transit buses operating either.”

The Alaska Railroad canceled passenger trains to Denali Monday, and power remained out in the fire area. The Riley Fire stayed west of the Nenana River Monday. Alaska Fire Service spokesperson Beth Ipsen says ground and aerial firefighting efforts were successful slowing the edge of the blaze closest to river and railroad tracks.

“Especially with the helicopters, because it’s a very narrow canyon, and they were able to do several rounds, dipping out of a nearby lake and dropping water on the fire,” Ipsen said.

Cooler weather aided suppression efforts on the Riley Fire Monday, and more firefighters were brought on board. Ipsen says two of four hotshot crews that arrived from the Lower 48 Monday were sent to the Riley Fire, while the other two were deployed to the Grapefruit Complex fires along the Elliott Highway, where there’s increased concern about spread.

“A lot of growth not only on the Globe Fire, but to the south, the Iver and Slate Fires, which have grown together, getting closer to the Elliot Highway from the south, so there’s a good chance the two could meet,” Ipsen said.

A Level 3 “Go” evacuation order for the Grapefruit Complex fires has been expanded to include Elliott Highway miles 30 to 50. Wildfires burning around the Interior are expected to be slowed by a change in the weather, but Ipsen cautions the transition could be trouble.

“We should have some cooler, wetter weather moving in but right before that weather moves in, that front moves in, we’ll get wind, so we could see substantial fire growth on a lot of the fires,” she said.

Over 300 wildfires have burned nearly 450,000 acres in Alaska so far this season. The state moved to the highest level of wildfire preparedness Sunday.

Denali National Park and Preserve has largely shut down operations because of a wildfire near the park entrance.

Park spokesperson Paul Ollig said the Riley Fire was reported early Sunday afternoon, directly across the Nenana River from the McKinley Chalet and Glitter Gulch.

“All of the public facilities in Denali’s front country are closed and will remain closed until further notice,” Ollig said.

Ollig said the fire burned quickly through black spruce.

“By about 6 in the evening we estimated it was about 350 to 400 acres,” he said.

The Riley Fire is being worked intensely by ground crews as well as helicopters and planes, according to Alaska Fire Service spokesperson Beth Ipsen.

“They were basically just doing runs, just going back and forth on this fire, dropping water, dropping retardant,” Ipsen said.

According to Ipsen, four hotshot crews arriving from the Lower 48 Monday will deploy on the Riley Fire. She said the goal is to herd the flames out of black spruce into higher terrain to the northwest — away from Alaska Railroad tracks, the Nenana River, the Parks Highway and the park entrance.

“There’s a lot of buildings, structures. There’s a lot of businesses,” Ipsen said.

The Park Service’s Ollig said the agency has taken precautions, including relocating approximately 150 employees from entrance-area housing, and evacuating the nearby Riley Creek Campground. No one is currently being allowed into the park, and the only transportation service is a shuttle to pick up hikers already in the backcountry.

“This is the busiest time of the year in the park, with the highest number of visitors, so the impacts are significant,” he said.

Ollig said visitors already at campgrounds west of the park entrance were allowed to stay Sunday, but that could change depending on fire activity. He said that the cause of the Riley Fire has not been determined, and noted that its timing falls on a major wildfire anniversary.

“We are almost at one hundred years to the day that the 1924 fire swept through this area,” Ollig said.

Ollig said there had not been another significant wildfire in the park entrance area until now.

About 140 active wildfires, many in the Eastern Interior, are burning up acreage and sending smoke across the region — with one burning across and closing the Elliott Highway north of Fairbanks.

Among about 10 wildfires being fought statewide, the highest priority is the Globe Fire along the highway north of Fairbanks. The fire, which has grown to more than 5,000 acres, prompted an evacuation order between Mileposts 39 to 48, and a highway closure between Mileposts 28 and 48.

Alaska Fire Service spokesperson Beth Ipsen said the Globe Fire exhibited extreme behavior Thursday. It grew rapidly in erratic winds and hot, dry weather, burning through black spruce.

“The fire activity picked up and there was a large column of smoke that collapsed and really impacted the area with hampered visibility, hot air and ash,” Ipsen said.

Ipsen said the fire burned across the Elliott near the Globe Creek Campground. She said the focus is on protecting people and then property.

“There’s cabins, Native allotments, and primary homes in that area,” she said. “I’ve talked to quite a few people that are in Fairbanks, and are really worried about their property, and of course there are some people that decided to stay.”

Ipsen said smokejumpers spent the day checking on residents and structures, clearing surrounding brush and setting up sprinkler systems. Additional firefighters are being mobilized, including two hotshot crews from California that arrived Thursday night.

“And then we are trying to order more crews up there, so it’s going to be increasing, and then also we’re trying to get some heavy equipment,” she said.

Ipsen said the Elliott Highway closure is before the Dalton Highway intersection, so truckers headed to and from the North Slope were among vehicles backed up Thursday. The fire service is coordinating with the state Department of Transportation and Alaska State Troopers on the road closure, which will be lifted when it’s safe.

The wildfire situation is intensifying as lightning strikes combined with hot, dry weather continue to create red flag conditions across a wide swath of the state’s mid-section. Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection information officer Sam Harrel said existing fires and new starts have high growth potential.

“Winds like we had on Thursday are just really going to drive them and force them to grow,” Harrel said. “The fuels are very receptive.”

Harrel highlighted a fire that started Thursday night north of Nenana on the Totchaket Slough.

“It has the potential to grow and it’s in a full response area. There’s a lot of cabins and Native allotments along the Tanana River there,” he said.

Meanwhile, the hot, dry windy conditions have resulted in significant growth of the state’s two largest wildfires: the McDonald and Clear Fires which have burned together, charring over 100,000 acres on military training lands across the Tanana River from Fairbanks and Richardson Highway communities to the southeast.

A fast-moving wildfire near the Elliott Highway prompted officials to ask residents to evacuate Wednesday night between Mile 41 and Mile 43 of the highway.

Alaska Fire Service spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said a state Department of Transportation work camp and a few homes are in the path of the Globe Fire, which was initially reported to be about one acre Tuesday.

“And then on Wednesday afternoon, we got reports that fire activity had significantly picked up and was moving towards the highway,” Ipsen said.

An overflight confirmed the fire’s rapid growth.

“It was estimated at more than a thousand acres and about a mile from the closest structure, and since it’s moving through black spruce, its moving rather quickly,” Ipsen said.

Ipsen said communications are difficult in the area, and Alaska State Troopers are helping.

“(We’re) getting the word out that this fire could impact the road between mile markers 37 and 52, but the residents between miles 41 and 43 are what we’re most concerned about.”

Ipsen said smokejumpers, water and retardant drops have been deployed on the Globe Fire.

Meanwhile, work continues on two other Interior wildfires off the Steese Highway. The Deception Pup Fire near Central and the Flasco Fire near Circle were hit aggressively with water and retardant late Tuesday, and Ipsen said additional resources are being sent in to aid with further suppression.

“More crews, specifically hotshot crews, two hotshot crews out of California that will drive out and help with those fires,” she said. “We’re also getting a Type 3 incident management team from Idaho that’s going to be taking over the effort on a group of fires, including these two fires, in that general vicinity of the Steese Highway.”

Red Flag conditions are forecast for much of the Interior, and wildfire activity has spurred an increase in statewide preparedness to Level 4, just shy of the highest level: 5.

The state’s two largest wildfires, the lightning-caused McDonald and Clear Fires south of Fairbanks, continue to put up heavy smoke as they burn across military training grounds west of the Tanana River. Fire information officer Terry Solomon said the blazes remain in largely undeveloped areas.

“There’s some different military infrastructure, some survival cabins and things like that,” Solomon said.

A lot of work has gone into protecting private cabins on the southern edge of the McDonald Fire. Solomon said managers are keeping a close eye on the fire’s eastern perimeter along the Tanana River and Richardson Highway.

“We do have engines and some crews that are assigned to monitor the east side of the river, just in case something were to jump the river,” he said.

As of Wednesday, the McDonald Fire was sized at over 62,000 acres, and the Clear Fire was estimated to have burned more than 23,000 acres.