Alaska Centers - Anchorage

11/09/2024

Mark Your Calendars!!

Next Tuesday begins the Alaska Wilderness Film Week with midday showings at the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center Tuesday - Thursday, November 12-14, from 12p-1p with an evening grand finale at Anchorage Museum on Friday, November 15, from 7p-10p.

Get pumped for these showings by listening to this podcast by Pete Twardock and guests James Edward Mills and Karlin Itchoak at https://alaskapublic.org/2024/11/07/60-years-of-the-wilderness-act-outdoor-explorer/

Over the past 60 years, Congress has designated millions of acres as Wilderness, including over 57 million acres in Alaska.

11/06/2024

We musk ox whether you will be joining us for Alaska Wilderness Film Week, starting next Tuesday!

Join us for FREE screenings that showcase the magic of Alaska’s wilderness and the many ways we connect with nature. Let’s celebrate together!
https://ow.ly/MGwm50TMf5A

Video Description:
Text: “Subtle foreshadowing”. Rapidly repeating clip of musk oxen ramming into each other in snowy field.

10/30/2024

The Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center is thrilled to be part of the Alaska Wilderness Film Week! November 12-14 the AAPLIC will be hosting films from 12-1pm and Friday is an evening showing from 7-10pm at the Anchorage Museum. All events are free; we look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks!

Alaska Wilderness Film Week: November 12 - 15. Celebrating 60 years of connecting with the most special places on Earth.

06/04/2024

Program Promo!

It’s that time of the year… Coffee With a Scientist is back! Starting this Friday, June 7th, we will have an Alaskan specialist speaking EVERY Friday at 2pm in the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center. And of course, like everything else we offer, these events are FREE!

These photos might provide hints on our June topics, but for more detailed event information, visit us at https://www.nps.gov/anch/planyourvisit/calendar.htm or stop by the center in downtown Anchorage!

Coffee and cookies are provided thanks to our partners at Alaska Geographic.



Image Credits: Image 1 = NPS Photo/K. Griffin; Image 2 = NPS Photo/C. & G. Coray; Image 3 = NPS Photo/J. W. Frank

05/10/2024

Get Reel with Abby – Close up with me!

Here in Anchorage, we will be welcoming our seasonal rangers, interns, and volunteers next Monday. We’re so excited to see all the new faces, and a couple of familiar ones, too!

This does also mean that the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center will be closed for the next two weeks for seasonal training, and our social media may be quiet. There’s a lot to learn about Alaska’s public lands, and we want to ensure that everyone is set up for success.

In the meantime, America the Beautiful passes can be obtained at the Bureau of Land Management’s Public Information Center on 7th Avenue as well as U.S. Forest Service Visitor Center on 1st Avenue.

See you Memorial Day weekend!



Video Credit: NPS Video/A. Cook

Video Description: View from inside a building of a uniformed person bringing in a large “OPEN” sign, a shot of the sign inside the building under a whiteboard with yesterday’s date and weather written on it, a shot of a TV with a video on it being paused, a shot of the same person turning off a light above an arctic fox exhibit, a shot of stamps being reorganized and ink closed, a shot of the same person turning an exhibit on fire to the first page of the book, a shot of the person unlocking a cabinet door to turn off a light in an exhibit with brown caribou pelts and skulls, a shot from the front desk of the overhead lights turning off in the Center, and a shot of someone writing 224 on a sheet of paper in a column titled “Daily Count”, this number is also shown on a metal clicker.

05/09/2024

Alaska Public Lands Spotlight

What happens to the land when a glacier retreats?

At Taashuyee (Mendenhall Wetlands) State Game Refuge, scientists are studying a phenomenon known as glacial rebound. The land is increasing in elevation every year because there is no longer a heavy glacier weighing it down! It is described by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as “like how a couch cushion that has been sat on regains its shape after a person stands up.”

Taashuyee (Mendenhall Wetlands), the ancestral lands of the Tlingit people, are also known as being an important pit stop for migrating birds in the spring and fall.

To read more about Mendenhall Wetlands and glacial rebound, check out this report done in partnership by USFWS, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, and the Southeast Alaska Land Trust: Glacial Rebound on Taashuyee (Mendenhall Wetlands) (arcgis.com)

📍 LOCATION: Juneau
🎣 RECREATION: hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, wildlife watching, boating, snowmachining, photography
✅ SAFETY: leave no trace, bear safety, water awareness



Image Credit: USFWS Photo/A. Pilley

05/04/2024

Get Reel with Abby – Permafrost Kit Unboxing!

Here at the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center, we have quite a number of education kits available for check out. Just look at that wall of suitcases!

To check out this kit or learn what else we have available, please reach out; Educational Adventures for Alaska's Parks & Public Lands - Alaska Public Lands (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov). Kits can be used in a variety of settings; traditional classroom, homeschool, scout troupe, etc. - check out yours today for learning more about your public lands!



Video Credit: NPS Video/A. Cook

Video Description Indoors: a uniformed person picks up a dark blue, hard-sided, roller suitcase and puts it on a white plastic folding table; the camera pans over the contents of the suitcase; the person pulls colorful plastic models out of bubble wraps; a close-up of the earthen models; a model shows a sinking house and road; the camera shows a check-out form and then pans across two walls worth of shelved of suitcases.

05/02/2024

Alaska Public Lands Spotlight

Is that Crater Lake? Not quite... it’s Mount Katmai!

Katmai National Park & Preserve, better known for their Fat Bear Week and Fat Bear Tuesday, is also home to Alaska’s own Crater Lake. Known as calderas, these mountaintop craters are caused by massive volcanic eruptions.

What’s so intriguing about Mount Katmai is that it collapsed due to the eruption of a mountain six miles away! Novarupta erupted for nearly three days in 1912 and stole magma from right under Mount Katmai to do so, causing the caldera.

Interested in learning more about the Bears and Volcanoes of Katmai? Their park film, plus Bear Cam livestreams and highlights, are available to view at the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center.

Oh, and swipe for a picture of Fat Bear 2023 – Grazer! We couldn’t leave her out.

📍 LOCATION: Southeast Alaska, northwest of Kodiak Island and southwest of Homer. Headquarters are in King Salmon.
🎣 RECREATION: hiking, camping, 🐻 bear watching 🐻, boating, fishing, hunting, ranger-led programs, historic site
✅ SAFETY: Wildlife/bear safety is SUPER important here! Check in with rangers at a visitor center before going out to the park – this is REQUIRED if visiting Brooks Camp.



Image Credits: Image 1 = NPS Photo; Image 2 = NPS Photo/F. Jimenez

04/26/2024

Get Reel With Abby!

In the winter months, the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center is open Monday thru Thursday form 10am AKST to 5pm AKST. Why aren’t we open Fridays?

This is because on Fridays our staff is either hosting educational field trips at the center itself or going to community locations for outreach. For example, last Friday we were at Mountain View Library!



Video Description: Starts outdoors; outside of a building with two signs that say MT. View Public and Library; pan to a shot of hand opening; inside shot of public building heading towards another doorway showing a sign of “Chat With a Park Ranger” on door; door opens into large sunny room with two table with tablecloths on them; closeup of had flipping a sign that says “Whose Fur is This?” and furs below sign.

04/24/2024

Alaska Public Lands Spotlight – Big Delta State Historical Park

What can you buy for $10? Maybe a hot meal if you’re lucky? But an entire restaurant – no way!

In 1923, Rika Wallen bought a roadhouse – a business that provided shelter, food, and supplies for travelers and locals – along the Richardson highway for just $10.

Big Delta State Historical Park is home to much more than Rika’s Roadhouse, however. The site originally consisted of Athabascan winter homes after being drawn by the salmon run in the fall. The park also historically hosted a telegraph office, radio station, and then a soldier encampment during World War II.

📍 LOCATION: Mile 274.5 of the Richardson Highway
🎣 RECREATION: camping, public use cabin, picnic sites, museum, walking tour
✅ SAFETY: Leave No Trace, wildlife/bear safety

Find out more about Big Delta State Historical Park from Alaska Department of Natural Resources or drop by any of our four Information Centers in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Ketchikan, and Tok!



Image Credit: AKDNR Photo

04/20/2024

Calling all youth! (Between the ages of 15 and 19)

Intern with the National Park Service this summer at the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center!

Length of internship is 10 weeks from June 3-August 9, 2024 at a rate of $14.34 per hour (full time, 40hr work week).

Apply by Thursday, April 25, by either following this linkhttps://www.nps.gov/.../DI-4014-YCC-Application-Form.pdf or having an interested youth scan the QR code in this post!

We would love to have you join our team for the summer!


Video Description: pan of interior of exhibit area; close up on taxidermy polar bear, cutout of an elderly man, and then a taxidermy sea otter being pulled by rope; final shot is of a young person standing in exhibit area waving at camera.

04/18/2024

Alaska Public Lands Spotlight

Between the ages of 15 and 19? Intern with the National Park Service this summer at the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center!

Length of internship is 10 weeks from June 3-August 9, 2024 at a rate of $14.34 per hour (full time, 40hr work week).

Apply by Thursday, April 25, by either following this linkhttps://www.nps.gov/subjects/youthprograms/upload/DI-4014-YCC-Application-Form.pdf or having an interested youth scan the QR code in this post!

We would love to have you join our team for the summer!



Image Credit: Image 1 = NPS Photo/ANCH; Image 2 = DOA/DOI Graphic; Image 3 = QR Code generator.