Activity Report Explorer

Alaska Soles • Entered by Loren Karro on May 28, 2024

April 20 Alaska Soles Meeting

March 17, 2024 – April 21, 2024

Key Issue: Doesn’t apply
Activity Type: Broadband Meeting (prep, implementation & follow up)

Measurable Outcomes

Outcome 1: Event Attendees (13 people)

Short Description of Activity

Held a Get Acquainted meeting to introduce the Alaska Soles Broadband, Great Old Broads, and what we have been doing as well as some outcomes. Also to see what others are interested in working on

Reflection/Evaluation

Besides our leadership team of Kathy, Kirstie and Loren, we had 13 people attend!! We started the meeting by introducing ourselves (Kirstie was on Zoom) and what Broads stood for, had everyone introduce themselves, and then said we wanted to celebrate some recent wins. We poured sparkling cider and toasted to the recent good news that the Ambler Mining District Access Road SEIS had issued a recommendation of the No Action Alternative (we have been working on this for years!); that the Administration has recently issued rules to protect a significant portion of the NPR-A (another item we had commented on regarding the issuance of permits for the Willow Project); and that the Administration had promulgated new Public Lands Rulemaking that put recreation and conservation on an equal footing with development uses for all public lands (we had also commented on this when it was a proposal). We then opened the floor for the people to say what they were interested in. The use of the state highway for hauling of extremely heavy ore from the Kinross mine near Tetlin through Fairbanks to the mill site was discussed. The proposed West Susitna Access Road, to mining claims across Cook Inlet from Anchorage, as well as the proposed Alaska Long Trail were also brought up and discussed. The attendees seemed very engaged, enthusiastic and interested in meeting again and seeing what they could work on. There was also interest in some group hikes and other such activities. We also mentioned that possibility of future meetings including zooms so that we could include members from other areas of Alaska. It was noted that Palmer was a good place to meet, and the Anchorage person agreed that she didn’t mind driving up We mentioned that Kathy and Loren would be leaving almost immediatly for camp in Port Heiden, AK, and that summer was a busy season for Alaskans, so it would be awhile before we could meet again, but that we would get up an email and send out information on actions that could and should be taken in the meantime. I finally got this email out in May. After the meeting and clean up we Kathy and Loren had dinner out with Bierre, a meeting attendee who owns a guided hiking company. We discussed much about Broads and what advocacy actions we had been doing and also the possibility of a future group hike where a modest fee would be split between Bierre’s company and the Alaska Soles. We definitely have an energetic new member here!

Photos/Uploads

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Photo Captions

1. Alaska Soles Co-leaders Kathy O’Reilly-Doyle and Loren Karro pose by the sign for the first get acquainted meeting at the Matanuska Valley Center for Recycling Solutions.

2. Alaska Soles member Terry Koch poses by the sign she made for the get acquainted meeting of Alaska Soles with Co-Leader Loren Karro.