Alaska

I never thought anything like this would happen to someone I know. I am from Texas, and I noticed when I moved here that people don’t make fences to delineate their property lines. I have always thought good boundaries make good relationships — personal boundaries as well as property boundaries.

“Good fences make good neighbors.”

Rindi White

PALMER -- After months of debate, the Mat-Su Assembly on Tuesday adopted a resolution limiting the Government Peak portion of popular Valley recreation area Hatcher Pass to only non-motorized use.
Before passing that measure, the Assembly voted down a plan to have borough staffers work with state employees and local user groups to establish a winter-only snowmachine corridor through that area.

The issue is whether to open a new area of Hatcher Pass -- an area now used by skiers -- to snowmachines and four-wheelers.

DENALI PARK -- Healy resident Annette M. Keith pleaded guilty in Fairbanks Federal District Court last week to three charges stemming from an illegal moose hunt in Denali National Park and Preserve three years ago.
Magistrate Judge Scott Oravec accepted a plea agreement under which Keith was fined $7,000 -- $2,000 for illegal hunting in the park, $2,000 for off-road vehicle travel and $3,000 for operating a business within the park without a permit.

She was placed on probation for three years, lost her guiding privileges for three years and lost her hunting privileges for two years.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reminds all off-road vehicle enthusiasts that operating a motor vehicle in certain Beluga Lake area wetlands is prohibited. This restriction does not apply to Beluga Lake, but pertains to the wetlands east of the lake.

The Homer Airport Critical Habitat Area encompasses much of the wetland area surrounding Beluga Lake and the Homer Airport (but does not include the lake surface). These wetlands provide important habitat for many species of migratory birds, serve to store and purify runoff from surrounding uplands, and provide a place of refuge for Homer area moose.

Mary Catharine Martin

The decision on whether to allow motorized all-terrain vehicle tours on the emergency access road in the Eaglecrest Ski Area has been postponed until the ski area's board of directors updates a 25-year-old master plan for the area, Eaglecrest General Manager Kirk Duncan said Tuesday.

At a meeting last week, 20 people commented on Haines business owner Adam Patterson's proposal for ATV tours on the road; most were against it. Dozens more submitted written comments to the board.

Mary Catharine Martin

Twenty Juneau hikers, skiers, berry-pickers and outdoor lovers commenting Thursday on a proposal for all-terrain vehicle summer tours in the Eaglecrest Ski Area spoke overwhelmingly against motorized tours.

Many, however, said they weren't against other kinds of tours in the area.

Rindi White

WASILLA -- City leaders are weighing whether they can maintain Wasilla's image of offering trail access from city doorsteps while the town, and traffic through it, continue to grow.

The debate is over riding all-terrain vehicles in the city.

Zaz Hollander

WASILLA -- Look out Juneau.

Wasilla could become Alaska's third-largest city under the most sweeping of several annexation proposals before city officials.

Under the broadest, the city would more than double to 16,000-plus residents, and expand from a little more than 13 square miles to 31, according to city estimates.

The "new" city would encompass a diverse area from Seward-Meridian Parkway -- including dense subdivisions around Bogard Road -- to about five miles up booming Knik-Goose Bay Road, north to Seldon Road and south to the rural farmlands of Fairview Loop Road.

Joseph Robertia

A homemade device for snuffing out the sounds of a engine led to the wildland fire that burned 10.9 acres near the Kenai Municipal Airport on Monday evening.

"Basically, the situation involved a gentleman doing wildlife photography who made a silencer for his four-wheeler," said Eric Wilcox, fire marshal at the Kenai Fire Department.