Local Food Presents: Pressure Canner Gauge Testing, and more...

Greetings! The Local Food group would like to invite you to some events with Alaska Coop Extension agents Kristy and Linda, visiting here from the mainland. Local Food has been talking with them about getting Coop Extension speakers, classes, and printed materials for Kodiak residents here in Kodiak.

Monday evening the 31st at 7:30,  Kodiak College BB RM 106
SUSTAINABLE KODIAK GENERAL MEETING -Kristy and Linda will be
attending to see what we are doing.

Tuesday, April 1st,noon - 2:00 pm, BB RM 110
Training for pressure cooker gauge testers.
Learn how to do it yourself! 

Tuesday, April 1st 7:00 - 9PM, BB RM 111  
Training for pressure cooker gauge testers.

The public can bring gauges or canner lids
with gauges to Kodiak College
during workshops for calibration.

Wednesday, April 2nd 7:00 - 9PM, BB RM 112
Next Local Food meeting, and testing for those who bring
gauges and tops with them.

See you there!

Got Wood?

GOT WOOD?

Sustainable Kodiak’s Local Food Group is developing new community garden space at the Kodiak Baptist Mission. The Mission has generously offered to mill logs in their sawmill and construct raised beds for a community garden on their property--for free!

But we need wood! Please help us find some logs that can be transported to the Mission for this purpose. The finished lumber size is 8 x 12 inches. (The raised beds measure 10' 8" long by 5' wide.)

If you have access to any free logs, please contact Marion Owen at mygarden@alaska.net or call her at 486-5079.

Thank you for helping us get this project off--and in--the ground!

Stop Pebble Mine - at Comfish

The Renewable Resources Coalition, the Stop Pebble Mine organization, will have a booth at ComFish. We are hoping that some Kodiak folks will help with manning the display.

The booth will be open :

Thursday, (March 20) from 10 am – 6 pm

Friday from 10 – 6,

Saturday from 10 – 4.

If you have any questions or would like to help out in the booth for an hour or two, please give Claudia Anderson a call at 486-3673. Thanks!

Invitation to an Urban Trails meeting

Dear Sustainable Kodiak

We’d like to invite you to provide your input on urban trails inside Kodiak city limits. Island Trails Network will hold a meeting solely for this purpose this Thursday, March 13^th at the Chamber of Commerce conference room from 12:00-1:30. Stop by before or after lunch (or bring a lunch) to discuss proposals and improvements for trails in the Kodiak urban area. If you are unable to make it, we will accept comments via phone and email through Friday, March 14^th.

We will use your comments to help create a prioritized list of trail improvements to propose to the city council at the end of March. Along with this proposal ITN may offer assistance with trail designation, planning, and construction.

Some trails and proposed trails subject to discussion are:

• A proposed trail linking Rezanof to Mission near the Zharoff memorial bridge.
• Designation and improvements of the trail linking East Elementary to Chichenof St.
• A continuation of the Chichenof trail to Baranof Park.
• A proposed trail linking Rezanof to Mission near Potatopatch Lake.
• A proposed trail along the channel linking North End park to proposed developments on Near Island.
• Designation and improvement of Russian Ridge trails (city-owned portions).
• A proposed trail along the St. Paul harbor breakwater. Along with these, we welcome other ideas for trails resources in the Kodiak urban area.

As part of our five-year strategic plan, Island Trails Network hopes to incorporate trails as transportation infrastructure into city and borough community planning, and this is a first step in that direction. We also understand that the need for pedestrian infrastructure must be balanced with the need for wildlife habitat, green space, the protection of property rights. We welcome all comments in support or opposition of these and other urban trails. Email andy@islandtrails.org or call 539-1979 with comments.

We hope to see you at the meeting.

Andy Schroeder

Executive Director, ITN

Meetings and Presentations

Friday, February 29
Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival
7-9:30 pm Kodiak College, room 130, BBB (Free)
Children's film festival and activities, room 106, BBB (Free)

Sponsored by Alaska Marine Conservation Council and Kodiak College Community Engagement Committee.
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Saturday, March 1^st –A Garden Party with Jeff Lowenfels,
Anchorage Daily News garden writer and co-author of Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web. Jeff will be at the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge Visitors’ Center from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and will discuss lawn care, perennials, vegetables, trees, flowers, composting and more.

There is no better or funnier garden speaker!

Sponsored by Kodiak Garden Club and Sustainable Kodiak

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Next Sustainable Kodiak Meeting: Monday, March 3, 7:30 pm at Kodiak College, BBB, room 106. See you there!

Ocean Acidification: The other CO2 Problem

with Dr. Richard Feely

Thursday, February 14, 5:30 - 7:00 pm

Kodiak Refuge Visitor Center (402 Center Street)

Not only is carbon dioxide (CO2) a major contributor to global climate change, but increased concentrations of CO2 in the oceans is causing significant changes in marine ecosystems. Dr. Feely will discuss the implications of increased CO2 levels on the health of our ocean ecosystems and ocean-based economies.

Dr. Richard A. Feely is an Oceanographer at the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. His major research areas are carbon cycling in the oceans and ocean acidification. He was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Award in 2006 for his pioneering research on ocean acidification. Dr. Feely is a science advisor for the Alaska Marine Conservation Council.

Sponsored by the Alaska Marine Conservation Council with funding from National

Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs and ARCUS.

For more information:

Please contact Theresa Peterson

486-2991; theresa@akmarine.org

Municipal Composting: Public Meeting

Important Public SWAB meeting

Tuesday, February 19 at 5:15 pm.

Downtown-new Bear Refuge Museum

Municipal Composting, with Fred Warren, Environmental Specialist with RCAC in Tucson, Arizona, and Roland Shanks, Environmental Specialist with RCAC in Anchorage.

This note from Rick Pillans of Threshold Recycling, and a SWAB member:

“We are facing some very serious problems with the way we handle municipal solid waste here in Kodiak. The Borough has hired a consulting firm to study OUR problem, and give us some solutions as to ways of dealing with it. My thoughts are that if we don’t consider long term solutions along with making them environmentally sound we are just being naive. If we combine a major recycling/reducing program with a co-composting program we could realistically reduce our solid waste going into the landfill up to 80%. Expanding the landfill is a very expensive project, and not one that is really addressing the source of the problem, but only the issue, and only short term. What I am trying to do is look at what Kodiak needs for up to 40 or 50 years down the road. These are real issues that the public needs to be involved with because it does affect them directly.

Fred Warren an Environmental Specialist with RCAC in Tucson Arizona, and Roland Shanks also an Environmental Specialist with RCAC in Anchorage are doing a workshop on Friday the 15^th at the 10^th Annual Alaska Forum on the Environment in Anchorage. I am taking advantage of their services to bring them to Kodiak and do their presentation as part of our Solid Waste Advisory Board Work session. They will be presenting on Tuesday February 19^th, in the new wildlife building downtown where we hold our Sustainable Kodiak meetings. All are welcome, and encouraged to attend. It is a SWAB work session, and is open to the public.”