20 years ago

A lifelong Alaskan, Charles Wohlforth saw something after years as a reporter and writer that much of the state seemed to miss. While many Alaskans’ eyes glazed over with the mention of global warming and its impacts on the environment — except maybe to slap an “Alaskans for Global Warming” bumper sticker on an SUV — Wohlforth noticed swarms of scientists moving through the state, heading northward. It piqued his interest and evolved into his recently released book, “The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change.” Wohlforth will present a slide presentation of pictures from the adventures of his research for the book while whaling near Barrow and discuss his experience Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Land’s End Resort.

— From the issue of July 15, 2004

30 years ago

State officials have withdrawn their approval of a proposal to fill a half-acre of wetlands near a colony of arctic and Aleutian terns by the Homer airport, effectively overruling the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of the project. The landowner, however, has appealed the decision to the commissioners of the state departments of Fish and Game, Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation. Meanwhile, directors of the state divisions of Habitat and Environmental Quality say they’ll help landowners nominate the Beluga wetlands for purchase by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. The Corps originally authorized the fill in 1984 — when it issued Sterling an after-the-fact permit for three adjoining acres that had been filled illegally.

— From the issue of July 14, 1994