KNBA Morning Newscast for Monday July 20, 2015
The White House Announced President Obama will visit Alaska
By Liz Ruskin, APRN
The White House announced Friday that President Obama is coming to Alaska at the end of next month. On Aug. 31 Obama will address a State Department climate-change conference in Anchorage. According to the White House, the "Glacier" conference will convene foreign ministers from Arctic and non-Arctic nations, along with scientists, policymakers and Arctic stakeholders. The aim is to discuss how the Arctic is changing, what it means for the rest of the world and how to address it
Mississippi Flag to Come Down in Juneau
By Lakeidra Chavis, KTOO
Nearly 200 people signed a letter asking for the removal of the Mississippi flag in downtown Juneau because it features an image of the Confederate flag.
Today their request was granted. Former Assemblyman Marc Wheeler received a permit to remove the flag over weekend. Wheeler says he's very happy about the decision.
“I just feel really grateful to the Friends of the Flags and really proud of my community. It's great to be standing with cities like Jackson, Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Grenada, Mississippi, the communities around the country that are refusing to fly this flag,” said Wheeler.
The Department of Transportation issued the permit as it has authority over the right of way along Egan Drive where the flags are posted.
Reindeer Arrive at Port Heiden, Herding Tradition Reestablished
By Hannah Colton, KDLG
29 reindeer have arrived in Port Heiden, where the village of 100 is re-establishing a long-dormant tradition of reindeer herding. In a few years they hope to begin harvesting the deer as a sustainable food source for the community.
Now, an expert herder and his two teenage apprentices are taking on the challenges of starting a herd from scratch.
Learning to herd reindeer is a full-time job for teenagers Jake Carlson and Lillionna Kosbruk.
“Yeah, every day, eight hours, besides weekends,” said Carlson.
“Sometimes we have to herd them in a certain area of the pen, I dunno – it’s a lot of running,” said Kosbruk.
They’re learning their new trade from Fred Goodhope Jr., a traditional herder who was hired by the village of Port Heiden to help them get started.
“Yeah this is Fred, I’m the reindeer herder. I’m from Shishmaref, Alaska. I been reindeer herding since I was ten years old, and I’m a third-generation reindeer herder,” said Goodhope.
The Port Heiden reindeer came as air cargo from Stebbins/St. Michaels. At the end of that 480-mile journey, they were delivered into Goodhope’s practiced hands.
His first challenge was to nurse them back to health.
“Some of ‘em came in kinda lame, kinda hurt… lot of them were dehydrated, you could tell they’d been without nourishing food because they were in a holding pen,” said Goodhope.
The reindeer have plenty of room to graze in their new pen. But Goodhope says it won’t be long until they outgrow
“It’s gonna be a problem later on, with overgrazing… by then we’re gonna have them going in and out of the gate,” said Goodhope.
Then there’s the danger of bears and wolves getting into the pen. But more than predators or overgrazing, what worries Goodhope the most is caribou.
“Actually, the worst enemy to a reindeer is a caribou,” said Goodhope.
Goodhope says if the reindeer meet a herd of their wilder cousins while grazing outside the pen, they’ll mingle and even interbreed. And then when the caribou move on, the reindeer will up and follow them. He lost one of his own herds that way years ago up on the Seward Peninsula.
“Last time I seen my reindeer was 1997. It was a sad thing, to learn that they walked away,” said Goodhope.
Goodhope and his apprentices are hoping to avoid that fate in Port Heiden. They plan to keep their reindeer under control with the help of herder dogs.
“They have a little litter of dogs that they’re gonna train as pups… and then once you train the pups, they’ll be able to acclimate them with the reindeer,” said Goodhope.
Goodhope only has a few months to pass on his herding knowledge before he heads back north for fall hunting. Kosbruk and Carlson should be able to handle things by then. And they’ll start teaching the age-old practice of husbandry to others in the village.
“Yes, I was gonna be involved in teaching the kids about the reindeer and involving them as much as we can,” said Carlson.
“I’ve always wanted to work with animals… and I can say that I’ve worked with reindeer. I dunno, it just seems like a cool thing,” said Kosbruk.
In another month, school will start back up. The two teenagers will have to take reindeer duty on nights and weekends, perhaps like their great, great grandparents did years ago. They both say they’re in it for the long haul.
2015 WEIO Results
The World Indian-Eskimo Olympics wrapped up in Fairbanks over the weekend. Miss Arctic Circle, Elizabeth Ferguson, from Kotzebue was crowned the 2015 Miss WEIO.