Western

The eruption of a volcano this week on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula has prompted Alaska flight cancellations, including some flights in and out of Juneau.

Monday saw Shiveluch Volcano’s largest eruption in nearly 60 years with ash exploding at least 50,000 feet into the air. While the bulk of that cloud is to the southwest of Alaska around the western Aleutians, a ribbon of volcanic gas and a little ash reached the mainland on Wednesday.

Airline spokesperson Tim Thompson said that on Wednesday, the airline had canceled eight flights between Western Alaska airports and Anchorage. Those flights were to Adak, Bethel, Dillingham and King Salmon.

Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola was among those affected by the eruption overnight Wednesday, after her flight from Honolulu to Anchorage was turned back due to the ash plume. On Thursday morning she and other passengers were on the ground again in Honolulu, waiting for a chance to return home.

Juneau flights affected

Cancellations spread across the state on Thursday, and a Twitter post from the airline Thursday morning recommending passengers check their flight status.

As of 7 a.m. Alaska time Thursday, Alaska Airlines reported canceling 23 flights due to ash from the volcano.

So far, cancellations include Thursday morning flights from Anchorage to Juneau, Juneau to Sitka, and Juneau to Yakutat. Flight 64’s departure from Anchorage to Juneau has been delayed by at least 4 hours. Juneau airport manager Patty Wahto said other afternoon and evening flights were also listed as delayed.

Andy Kline, marketing manager for Alaska Seaplanes, said the company canceled flights from Klawock and Sitka to Juneau, and from Juneau to Haines and Skagway.

“We had one flight that was going to Hoonah when we got the call to cancel flights, so it landed in Hoonah and it’s there,” he said late Thursday morning.

The Alaska Seaplanes flight from Juneau to Petersburg was delayed but did depart in the early afternoon.

A massive cloud

Dave Schneider, a research geophysicist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage, says lava from the Shiveluch volcano forms a dome, parts of which periodically collapse and create ash clouds.

“What happened a couple days ago was much more significant,” he said. “It’s still too early to really know exactly what went on, but I surmise that a large part of the lava dome that’s been growing for years collapsed and unleashed a pretty good sized eruption.”

The massive cloud was initially moving west, blanketing villages in Russia with a thick layer of ash. But as another weather system came in, it started moving east, toward Alaska. And parts of the cloud are peeling off. As of Wednesday, the ash was still out in the western Aleutians.

“But bits and pieces of it are sort of getting pulled off, sort of like you’re making toffee, and you can pull a branch off, and it’ll sort of go off in its own direction,” Schneider said.

Check out satellite imagery of the cloud here

One cloud actually passed over Dillingham on Wednesday, though Schneider said it was mainly sulfur dioxide gas and contained very little ash.

“Both of those are part of the volcanic cloud that was produced,” he said. “And with satellites, we’re able to track those and that helps the weather service issue forecasts and sort of see where the cloud is and where it’s moving.”

The volcano’s emissions decreased on Wednesday, and Schneider said that while there’s no guaranteeing exactly when the cloud will disperse, that’s a fair sign that travel could soon be back to normal.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

KTOO’s Katie Anastas and KBBI’s Hope McKenney contributed to this story.

Zooplankton are small organisms — like sea snails, jellyfish, and krill — and they’e crucial to the Bering Sea’s ecosystem. But new data from NOAA Fisheries shows that one of the most common zooplankton isn’t as fatty or abundant as it used to be.

Large, high-fat copepods — distantly related to shrimp and crab — are dwindling with the lack of sea ice from global warming. Meanwhile, smaller zooplankton are increasing in both numbers and range.

David Kimmel is a research oceanographer and leader of the nearly two-decade study. He said Arctic fish, seabirds, and marine mammals are struggling to adjust to global warming while consuming less fatty foods.

“They can get skinny — which doesn’t necessarily lead to mortality, but can make them more susceptible,” said Kimmel. “For example, not surviving in the winter if they don’t have enough energy stores to make it through the winter.”

While less fat in the diet doesn’t necessarily lead to extinction, Kimmel said it could lead to smaller population sizes of common Bering Sea organisms, like king crab and harbor seals. It could also create an ecological shift in the sea.

“Organisms that are normally found to the south are moving northwards,” he said. “So communities that you might expect to exist at more southerly latitudes begin to become more prominent at more northerly latitudes.”

The Bering Sea is one of the most sensitive regions to global warming. Kimmel said knowing how the bottom of the food chain changes with warmer temperatures can help predict how ecosystems around the world will be affected by climate change later on.

“The people that live in Alaska at the frontline of this change are really the ones that are experiencing it,” Kimmel said. “And they’re quite removed from a lot of fellow citizens throughout the country that aren’t experiencing it — you know, right up close and personal. And that makes their stories and their experiences much more important to share and talk about.”

By 2050, ships traveling through the Arctic’s Northwest Passage may not need an icebreaker to escort them for the journey. In Nome, residents are wondering whether a new port will help or hinder efforts to address a myriad of chronic social problems. Some are also concerned that an onslaught of industrial marine traffic may impact Indigenous people, who have thrived along the coastline here for generations.

One warm summer day, Austin Ahmasuk stood on Nome’s sand spit. A light breeze blew against his face as he looked over the thin slice of land that lies at the mouth of the Snake River and stretches out in front of the city’s port.

“When you look up ‘sand spit, Nome’ and you look up historical photographs, you’re going to see Alaska Native people living here, celebrating here, harvesting here,” he said.

Ahmasuk grew up in Nome. He has a lot of memories of this place, both good and bad.

“My uncle was working in the tugboat industry and he drowned right over here,” he said. “But I also have really fond memories growing up here, before all these rocks were here.”

He pointed across the spit.

“Cigar fish used to come here and spawn and so myself and a childhood friend — one of us had a box of matches and we cooked cigar fish on a rock and we spent most of the day here,” he said.

A gold discovery here in the late 1890s brought 10,000 stampeders, all looking to get rich. Now, the melting ice caps have triggered another kind of stampede. Large industrial ships can travel through here faster — shaving days off transit times that would otherwise take them through the Panama Canal.

But, Ahmasuk said his memories and the legacy of the Iñupiat who have lived here for thousands of years, shouldn’t have to compete with the modern-day monetary gain some people hope to capitalize on as the Arctic becomes increasingly ice free.

“It’s like a highway going right past us now,” said Nome’s Harbormaster, Lucas Stotts.

Stotts sees Nome as the last pit stop before ships head through the Bering Strait and north into the Arctic.

As the climate warms and sea ice along the northernmost coast of North America dwindles, all kinds of marine traffic — from cruise ships, to hobby sail boats to large-scale industrial ships — is picking up in the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean. According to the Arctic Council, marine traffic increased by 44% through the Northwest Passage between 2013 and 2019.

“There is a lot of traffic that currently isn’t coming into Nome,” Stotts said. “That’s only because they’re too deep draft to come in.”

Anything that rides deeper than 20 feet under the surface of the water can’t dock. He said that’s why Nome needs to expand its port. A $250 million dollar infusion of cash from the Biden Administration’s 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act means the basin could be nearly twice that deep in coming years.

“We feel we’re already behind the times in terms of what is needed for the region and by the time this thing is built, I think we’ll be behind as we’re already at that point,” he said.

Nine cruise ships passed through Nome last summer, fewer than Stotts expected due to ongoing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“We were going to have 24,” he said. “That is massive growth by itself and that industry isn’t basing that growth on our facility. That was happening well before any expansion was ever slated.”

Roughly half a mile from the harbor, at Pingo Bakery and Seafood House, things are pretty quiet after lunch service ends. The restaurant is tiny, with seating for 12, run by Erica Pryzmont. She’s not sure an influx of shipping traffic will influence her business.

“It’s interesting because sometimes the cruise ship visitors just sort of come to the threshold and peer in like you’re some sort of a curiosity or almost like you’re on exhibit,” she said.

Right now, she’s more concerned with trying to find and keep reliable staff to serve the clientele she already has.

A bright red Help Wanted sign hangs on her front door. While she’s looking for employees, others are looking for work. At 4.5%, the unemployment rate in Nome is higher than both the national and state averages.

The Bering Straits region is also facing a serious housing shortage. The local emergency shelter is often full, especially in the winter. Chronic substance abuse is another social ill the community is fighting to manage. And, while there is federal funding for the port expansion, a local funding match is required. So, some residents believe the city should address the issues the community already faces, before assuming millions of dollars in debt the federal government requires in matching funds for the port expansion.

Nome’s Mayor John Handeland doesn’t see it that way.

“You know, if we build all these other resources first because we think we need it, it’s all on speculation,” he said. “And, I haven’t been successful going to my bank and, you know, getting a loan for something that’s purely speculative.”

Handeland said a port expansion will decrease the cost of living while simultaneously boosting long-term investment and available jobs in Nome.

Others in favor say it’s essential for national security. They say it will be crucial for environmental protection and emergency response as more ships traverse the Arctic Ocean in the future. But Austin Ahmasuk calls these “the three big lies.” He grew up in Nome and for years worked as a marine advocate and lobbied for improved food security for Alaska Natives through his Alaska Native Corporation Kawerak.

“It certainly makes sense to shippers that cutting a thousand or so miles or a couple of thousand miles off is cheaper. Right. But it doesn’t mean that it’s less risky. You’re still going to the Arctic. It’s still going to be cold,” he said.

Declining sea ice allows more ships to pass through the Arctic. They are coming in larger numbers through the Bering Strait. With them, they bring more greenhouse gas emissions. At least 10% of ships utilizing Arctic waters today are burning heavy fuel oil, which if spilled, can solidify or remain floating for weeks in cold water.

“The weather is so changeable up here, and it’s shallow,” said Vernon Adkison. A lifelong mariner, he says the Bering Sea is not to be underestimated. “So when the wind really picks up, the seas build quicker than out in the middle of the deep blue sea.”

Adkison stars in the Discovery Channel’s reality show Bering Sea Gold. He’s depicted as a gruff and wry business man, with old-school beliefs and a no-nonsense approach to making money off Norton Sound’s rich ocean floor sediments. But he also has some misgivings.

When ships pull into port at Nome, many use much smaller boats to deliver cargo and people to shore. The process is known as lightering. It’s necessary, because the current port can’t accommodate ships over a certain size. Even with a port expansion, lightering would still need to happen. For Adkison, that means more accidents waiting to happen.

“I know what can go wrong in conditions with no eyeballs on the scene,” he said. “They’re out there littering and doing various things. I used to be a lightering master in the Gulf of Mexico, and I saw what some of those guys will do if there’s nobody watching. And then not everybody is ethical. There are bilges, there are spills, there are all kinds of things that can happen if there’s nobody really keeping eyes on the situation.”

The largest Coast Guard base in Alaska is located hundreds of miles south in Kodiak. It could take days to respond to a shipping related accident or spill in the Bering Strait.

“If it was up to me, I’d like to leave it the same as it is right now. I don’t know if I want to have to deal with all the bigger boats and the bigger industry-type scenario just right there where we start our hunting journeys,” said Ben Payenna.

He fishes commercially for crab, salmon and halibut and when he’s not catching fish as his sole source of income, he’s out on his boat, hunting for his family’s main sources of food: seal and fish, many different bird species and walrus.

“I was able to harvest my first one when I was seven,” he said. “I wasn’t really quite big enough to hold a rifle to my shoulder yet. And so my dad actually sat me in his lap and he held the rifle on his shoulder.”

Payenna said that the whole crew of men he used to hunt walrus with is now gone. And he wonders what else he might lose as declining sea ice makes way for more shipping traffic.

This ongoing series is made possible through a grant from the Climate Justice Resilience Fund.

On a frosty morning in mid-January, Kyrstin Arellano worked in her kitchen on the outskirts of Dillingham. About three dozen perfectly round bright blue blobs rested patiently on a baking sheet.

“I’ve got some vegan macaron shells here,” she said. “They look good so far, and when I was mixing, they felt regular. So I’m really hopeful.”

The national egg shortage has forced everyone to use fewer eggs, and bakers like Arellano are rising to the challenge — just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Arellano is a home baker. That is, she bakes from her house for Bristol Bayking, a business she started last year. Along with signature and custom cakes, Arellano experiments with local ingredients like cranberries, salmonberries and fireweed.

“I mostly make macarons,” she said. Macarons are small French desserts made of two delicate meringue shells that sandwich a filling of jam, curd, ganache or cream. “They’re for sure my most popular, and my favorite thing to make. I also make cakes and cupcakes to order, for birthdays and stuff. But I really enjoy making the macarons.”

Egg-based desserts in an egg shortage

Macaron shells are normally made by whipping together egg whites, almond flour, and powdered and granulated sugar and piping the batter in rounds onto a tray. But how do you make an egg-based dessert without using eggs?

Arellano uses aquafaba — chickpea water she gets from a can of grocery-store chickpeas, whipping it up into soft peaks just like egg whites.

“Macaron shells don’t actually have a lot in them,” she said.

Arellano is no stranger to staples being out of stock.

“We go through this all the time,” she said. “Last year, powdered sugar and butter were hard to find. Sometimes milk is hard to find.”

Baking in the bush 

Like many others, Arellano began baking after the COVID-19 pandemic started three years ago. In rural Alaska, that takes a certain innovative flair. Arellano has honed her ability to find substitute ingredients, like using vinegar and baking soda as a raising agent. And when she can’t find buttermilk at the store, she makes it herself, combining a cup of milk with a tablespoon of vinegar.

“You mix it together and let it curdle a bit, ‘cause that’s all buttermilk is: acidic milk,” she said.

Arellano has three fridges at home, so she’s been able to stock up some eggs. But she’s had to cut back, which means trying new recipes and better understanding why eggs are used in baking. They can provide structure, leavening and flavor.

“Depending on your recipe, the egg might provide moisture, in which case you can substitute with something like yogurt or applesauce to get that moisture,” she said. “You get to be a little more resourceful baking in the bush, because what can you do?”

When Arellano first started her business, she shipped most of her cakes out to villages like Togiak, New Stuyahok and Manokotak.

“I really appreciate them,” she said of customers in other communities. “I’m also getting a feel for the big birthday months in Dillingham.”

Arellano has also sent birthday cakes out on fishing boats in the summer. She said her client base is loyal; she does monthly pre-sales, and her flash sale batches regularly sell out.

Rest, then bake

The first batch of macarons went into the oven for a total of 18 minutes while the second batch rested on the baking sheet. They need anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour before baking to develop a skin, which protects them from the heat.

“If I put them in before they’ve developed the skin, they’re going to – it’s called ‘volcano’ – they literally pop up like a volcano in the middle and crater and are just horrible,” she said. “So, really important to let them sit and develop that skin.”

Arellano opened the oven door and turned the tray around, ensuring that the shells are evenly baked.

“When they first come out of the oven, before they have any filling, they’re hollow,” she said, tapping on a finished shell, which emits a delicate, hollow sound. “And so when you fill them, the moisture allows the shell to expand inside and get soft.”

When the shells came out, they had swelled slightly and developed small ruffled edges, called “feet.” But none erupted — each was still perfectly round, like rows of blueberry emojis.

Toksook Bay, on Nelson Island in Western Alaska, is home to Yupik language, hunting, boating — and social media sensation “Noah Loves Kristy”, a couple married for almost 20 years.

Noah and Kristy Lincoln have six kids, plus a brand-new granddaughter. In their spare time, they reenact scenes from movies and TV shows with a twist of Alaska Native humor.

So far, they have over 40,000 followers on Facebook and 20,000 on TikTok. And it all began while they were out hunting for geese.

“We had our son take the camera and start recording,” Noah said. “It was all natural.”

Once the video rolled, Noah asked Kristy to do different bird calls. First, she made raven and goose calls. Then there was a request to mimic a mating swan.

“Be a sexy swan,” said Noah to Kristy in the video. Kristy broke out in laughter, as she made lots of silly sounds.

They posted the video to their Facebook page, where it was shared and reshared hundreds of times. It was then that Noah and Kristy knew they were on to something big.

“I thought, ‘Man, we can get so many people to laugh,’” Noah said. “Just me and my wife make the videos.”

Since the release of the popular show “Reservation Dogs” on Hulu, Indigenous humor has been trending on social media. But Native humor is a little different, and often draws upon subsistence hunting.

“Sixteen years I’ve been married. And my wife said she don’t love me anymore,” Noah pouts in one video. The door opens, and Kristy shouts back, “All I said is, ‘you’re not getting a new gun!’”

The videos have even popularized Kristy’s catchphrase “Gee, whiz,” delivered with a touch of sarcasm, which their social media followers tend to mimic in response to things Noah complains about in their videos.

Kristy enjoys acting in the videos with her husband but said it’s Noah who comes up with the ideas.

“It just comes out of the blue,” Kristy said, giggling.

But life wasn’t always full of laughter for Noah.

“I was heavily into alcohol, and I couldn’t keep a job,” Noah said.

After realizing what his addiction was doing to his family, Noah swore off alcohol for good. When asked if he is still sober, Noah is always happy to respond.

“I am so happy to say, ‘Yes,’” he said.

It also makes Noah happy that their videos bring joy to people, especially those who have their own struggles.

“There’s this lady who lost her daughter. She was grieving for so long, she couldn’t be happy because she lost her daughter, and she came across our videos,” he said. “She started looking through the videos and she found herself laughing and laughing, like she forgot that she was grieving.”

Noah said he’s glad their videos give her hope and healing.

“And that really has opened my eyes and my heart,” he said, getting a little choked-up as he spoke. “Social media is really strong. And I believe laughter is medicine.”

Anthony Lekanof from St. George Island is a “Noah Loves Kristy” fan. He said the couple has paved the way for other Indigenous storytellers.

“If you look among the Indigenous creators and comedians, we don’t have a whole lot,” said Lekanof, who believes Noah and Kristy are an inspiration to up-and-coming artists, whether they pursue comedy or acting. “It really enriches the Indigenous spirit that we have within Alaska, based on how relatable Noah and Kristy are.”

Lekanof said some of the videos bring back memories of his own upbringing on the Pribilof Islands.

Noah and Kristy also make it a point to sprinkle in messages of inspiration and hope — showing that at the end of the day, family and faith are everything.

As Noah talked about the spiritual side of producing “Noah Loves Kristy,” he spoke first in Yugtun, the Yup’ik language, then translated what he said.

“I thank God for everything,” said Noah in English. “Everything happens for a reason for his purpose, thank you Lord.”

With all of the fame and notoriety that comes with their popular skits, Noah and Kristy Lincoln are proud to say they remain humble and happy in Toksook Bay, surrounded by their family and the wilderness.

The Western Alaska village of Newtok has lost power at its local school due to a Thursday fire, according to state officials.

The fire, in the community of about 200 people roughly 95 miles northwest of Bethel, was described in a Friday situation report from the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The Ayaprun School’s power plant was destroyed in the fire, which took place at about 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

“The school is not connected to the village power source and the community is working with the Lower Kuskokwim School District to provide a temporary generator to keep heat and water on in the school,” state officials wrote. “The Native Village of Newtok washeteria is not working and residents have been using Ayaprun School as their water source.”

Division spokesman Jeremy Zidek said that further information on the fire and its aftermath was pending Friday morning.

“We’re working with the community and trying to see what the solution to the problem is,” Zidek said.

A call to district staff wasn’t immediately returned Friday morning.

Thursday’s power loss was the second reported in the region this week, Zidek said, after an outage in Hooper Bay about 65 miles northwest of Newtok.

Bill Stamm, the president of the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, said that outage started Sunday when the local generator ran out of fuel.

“The day tank was run dry – plant operators did not respond to fill the day tank, so the engines went down,” Stamm said.

As work continued to restore power, a feeder circuit breaker serving much of the community of about 1,300 people couldn’t readily be closed. Workers discovered that was due to a power line coming off one of its insulators.

AVEC flew a lineman to Hooper Bay, who was able to restore power by Tuesday afternoon. Some follow-up work was in progress to balance electrical loads on the local system.

“That effort continues today, but right now all power is restored,” Stamm said. “Nobody’s running on generators or anything like that.”

Zidek said power outages in the region are common during the winter months, due to factors including long distances, sparse population and infrastructure recently strained by the remnants of Typhoon Merbok.

“Every year during this time, we have power and water issues in western Alaska,” Zidek said. “They’re just kind of far-flung systems and they don’t have full-time linemen in a lot of these communities.”