Science of the seasons: Many factors affect lake ice formation, thickness

As air temperatures descended this fall, most lakes became covered with a layer of ice.

Shallow lakes, with lots of surface area compared to the volume, froze first, and some very shallow lakes or ponds freeze all the way to the bottom. At the other end of the size spectrum, those lakes with large volumes and great depths, like Kenai, Skilak, Hidden and Tustumena lakes, are the last to freeze.

The reason for slower ice formation is due to the huge amount of heat loss that must occur before ice is formed. A basic property of water is that it takes a lot of heat loss — one calorie per gram of water — to cause a reduction of 1 degree Celsius. Then it takes even more heat loss — 80 calories per gram of water — to get ice to form after the water has already reached zero degrees Celsius.

In order for a lake to freeze, the entire water body, top to bottom, needs to drop down to 40 C. Another pivotal property of water that comes into play here is that water is most dense at 40 C, and thus it sinks to the bottom when it reaches that temperature. Water that is colder (or warmer) will be less dense and will remain above the deeper, 40 C water. Eventually, the entire lake will be at 40 C.

As the cold winter air on the surface causes the top layer of lake water to get colder yet, it becomes less dense and stays on top. Once it has gotten cold enough to freeze, it is 10 percent less dense than liquid water and, as we all know, ice floats. At that point, all the water underneath the ice is going to be 4 C or colder.

Initially, the formation of ice insulates the underlying lake water from further heat loss. However, heat is continually being lost from the ice. As ice loses heat, the underlying water freezes and ice forms on the bottom of the ice layer. It is not uncommon for ice to grow to 30 inches or more in lakes on the peninsula.

Lakes that have continued inflow of water after an ice cover has formed may have thinner ice cover in areas where groundwater seeps in or where stream water enters. Inflowing water will probably not be as cold as the lake water, so it will rise and possibly melt some of the overlaying ice. Even if the incoming water is colder than 40 C, it will stay on the top of the lake and may still cause some thinning of the overlaying ice. As careful ice skaters have known for a very long time, it is good to avoid those areas where water is still entering a lake.

As water enters and leaves a lake through normal input or drainage patterns, it can have an impact on the ice surface. Imagine a situation where water continues to enter the lake but the shallow outflow is blocked off with ice. The water level will rise imperceptibly and will push up on the ice. Since all lake ice covers have cracks, the rising pressure of extra water underneath can push liquid water through the cracks.

Water leaking through the fissures in the ice is referred to as overflow. When overflow occurs, unfrozen water sits on top of the ice. At times, overflow can be many inches deep. If there is no snow cover, the air will rapidly cool and freeze the newly exposed water. However, a thick snow cover acts as an efficient insulator and keeps the water from contact with the much colder air. Because of this insulating ability of snow cover, lake overflow may remain liquid for weeks at a time.

Ice cover on a lake can decrease the exchange of oxygen from the air into the water. Snow cover can reduce the amount of light reaching the lake bottom to virtually nothing, and very little oxygen-producing photosynthesis can occur.

Bacterial breakdown of dead plant materials on the lake bottom uses up much of the limited oxygen. By the end of winter, there can be very little oxygen left in the water. In some cases, there is so much oxygen depletion that the fish die. Shallower lakes are most often the ones with winter fish kills. Generally, lakes that are more than 15 feet deep can retain enough oxygen in the water to prevent overwinter fish kills.

Because there are so many variables — such as lake size, snow cover, incoming waters and variable air temperatures — that impact how fast ice forms, always check ice thickness before venturing onto the surface. This fall when prospecting for a lake to do some early ice fishing, I found one lake with a mere 4 inches of ice, and a lake less than half a mile away had more than 9 inches.

Have fun on the ice, but be careful the ice is thick enough for your intended use.

David Wartinbee, Ph.D, J.D., is a biology professor at Kenai Peninsula College’s Kenai River Campus. He is writing a series of columns on the ecology of the Kenai River watershed.

Date mistakes — Check your checks when writing new year

By Jenny Neyman
Redoubt Reporter

Paperwork can take a time warp at the beginning of the year.

Anyone who’s accidentally written “2008” when they meant “2009,” raise your hand. Now smack your forehead with it and move on.

Other than some momentary confusion while brain cells that can count struggle to override hands that are accustomed to writing ’08, nothing bad is likely to happen from misdating things in January — as long as it’s an honest mistake.

Kathy Gensel, branch manager at Wells Fargo Bank in Soldotna, said misdating a check technically is a problem.

“As a general rule for all financial institutions, if a check has a date on it that’s more than six months old, it’s considered stale dated,” she said.

But in practice, as long as it’s just the year that’s off one digit, the check will likely still go through.

“It could be an issue, but a lot of times if somebody wrote you a check and put ‘January 8, 2008’ on there and you bring it in, if it’s for $50 we would probably cash it. Normally, it’s not an issue,” she said.

If the error is caught, correct the mistake and initial the change. Otherwise, don’t worry about it. Most documents requiring dates won’t become invalid simply because of an incorrect year.

At the Department of Motor Vehicles on Kalifornsky Beach Road, Mary (regulations prohibit her from giving her last name) said computers smooth out mistakes like an incorrect date, because information on forms is entered into the computer system.

“In the system, it’ll show that it was ’09,” she said. “On what we processed, it will have an ’09.”

Same thing at the Kenai Court House and the Kenai Peninsula Borough. In accounts payable at the borough, Julie Lahndt said it’s more challenging to promulgate a date mistake than it is to make one in the first place.

“The computers, you know how smart they are,” she said. “And there’s reports and reports and reports. It’s going to be caught sooner or later. And if not, it’s not like it’s something that can’t be fixed.”

At the Soldotna Post Office, an incorrect year isn’t a big deal, but an incorrect date could be a problem.

“At this time of year, it’s not really a big issue, unless it’s like meter mail,” said Postmaster Hector Rivera. “If the day is correct and it’s just the year (that’s wrong), it’s an obvious mistake. If we receive something dated, say, December 31 or whatever, then we will have an issue because we cannot process the mail with a meter strip that is not from the same day. But if it says January ’08 or January ’07, depending on the day, it’s an obvious mistake.”

In most cases, having the post office accept and process the mail or form, for a passport or whatever the case may be, overrides any date mistakes that may be written down.

“As long as it has our cancellation, that will supersede whatever date it has,” Rivera said.

Banks, courts, the post office, government offices and the DMV aren’t legendary for leniency when it comes to paperwork errors, but their reputation pales next to the sticklers at the Internal Revenue Service.

But even the IRS has better things to do than get bent out of shape over a simple ’08/’09 mistake. Just don’t misdate something on purpose for tax break reasons.

“The date errors aren’t as big a deal as much as it is the timing of when you do stuff,” said George Stein, a certified public accountant with Lambe, Tuter and Wagner. “If you receive a check in December yet deposit it in January, that’s really December income, not January income. They’ll go back and look and see what actually happened as far as when it cleared the bank and that kind of stuff.”

Tax preparers may not question those things, but the IRS might.

“Keep in mind that we don’t audit a tax return, so from a tax standpoint, we just go ahead and take the information the client gives us and assume it’s in the proper period,” Stein said. “If we’re doing audit work, that’s a different story. We’ll verify dates on invoices and that kind of stuff.”

To err is human, to monkey with dates on purpose is the makings of a fine.

Plugged In: Self configuring a good way to save on computers

This week and next, I’d like to discuss what’s cost-effective when purchasing a new Windows-based PC computer. A little care in choosing your new computer’s specifications can result in major savings without seriously compromising performance. Over the past 20 years, I have personally built a few hundred Windows-based computer systems and these articles are a distillation of that experience.

Name-brand systems are often advertised in print or Internet media with very low starting prices, but their ultimate purchase price can be just as high as locally purchased systems after fully “configuring” the system and paying freight. Aside from Costco and the now-defunct CompUSA, the retail electronics chains that I’ve shopped in Anchorage try to sell high-margin consumer electronics for full list price, which I consider ludicrous. If you do want to buy a name-brand system, then you’ll usually get the best with HP, sold by both Costco and Fred Meyer.

However, I believe that locally purchasing a “white box” computer custom-configured to your needs often makes the most sense, particularly in a less-populous area like Kenai-Soldotna where same-day manufacturer’s service is usually not available. Any prices that I mention in these articles were current in December 2008 at Soldotna’s Peninsula Technologies, where I usually buy my routine computer components, like hard disks and cases, although there are several reputable vendors in the Kenai-Soldotna area.

Don’t waste money “buying for the future.” In six months, today’s super expensive, top-end hardware will be ho-hum, and in a year it will be obsolete.
Any modern PC computer will contain the following basic components:

System case: Modern computers, especially powerful ones, generate a lot of heat, and excessive heat is the deadly enemy of computer reliability. Small cases in which components fit tightly may seem cute or easy on desktop space, but they’re not very expandable and are difficult to cool. You’ll do much better with a midsized tower case that you can put under a desk. You’ll be able to expand it much more readily and are less likely to fry internal components. Chrome, flashy designs and multicolored lights may look cool, but add nothing to performance.

On the other hand, the flash built into a lot of cases usually doesn’t cost any more, so why not? Just be sure that you get a case that is rugged, with lots of room for extra drives and that’s easy to access from both sides. A decent case will cost in the range of $80 to $90 locally, which is pretty reasonable, considering shipping costs.

Cooling fans: You will need to add some extra case ventilation fans, preferably at least one large, quiet, 120-mm fan on the back side that exhausts hot air. These are cheap insurance against hardware failure and data loss. Exhaust fans work better than fans that try to force air into the case. A second fan on the top or side of the case is a good idea. I prefer fans that plug directly into the system board and are controlled by it. Avoiding heat buildup is critical to computing reliability.

Remember to periodically remove dust and pet fur from all cooling fans, air intakes and internal components. Doing so is crucial to avoiding heat-related failures — as I know from recent personal experience. A 120-mm fan will probably cost about $12 to $15 dollars and take about three minutes to install, if you know where to plug it into the system board.

Most central processing unit processors sold in the manufacturer’s original retail packaging include a cooling fan that’s matched to the CPU when used at its rated speed. AMD seems to be particularly good about including very robust CPU cooling fans with their retail-boxed processors. However, if you plan to overclock your computer, as computer gamers are wont to do, you may need to buy a third-party cooling system. These tend to be expensive and are unnecessary for routine business use.

Power supply: Although a power supply may seem pretty boring compared to the latest and greatest Intel or AMD processor, it’s one of the single most critical components in a computer, and one of the most likely to fail. Although many computer cases include basic power supplies, these are often barely adequate, on the order of 350 to 400 watts. To ensure better internal cooling and increased reliability, spend the extra money for a decent quality, 500- to 600-watt power supply for a basic business computer and something even bigger if you are a gamer using a powerful video card. A good-quality, 500- to 600-watt power supply will cost somewhere between $55 and $80, but is money well spent if you are putting together a powerful computer.

Central processing unit: The CPU is the heart of your computer and will be built either by Intel or by AMD. Both companies make processors that are comparably reliable and fast. AMD processors tend to be exceptionally reliable and somewhat less expensive for the same performance. Cutting to the chase, I recommend a dual-core AMD Athlon X2 6000 CPU costing about $139 locally. Get the version that uses the current AM2 socket. This is neither the latest nor the greatest, but performs nearly as well in the real world for a lot less money. Here’s why:

Unless experimentally “overclocked” by a knowledgeable technician, a CPU will operate at its rated speed, usually in the range of 2 to 3 gigahertz (2 billion to 3 billion cycles per second). Overclocking, by itself, only marginally increases performance because other components like DDR memory and hard disks become bottlenecks that seriously limit any performance increases. Overclocking often introduces serious system instability problems and usually requires faster memory and expensive third-party CPU cooling fans. Business users should avoid overclocking (for one thing, it voids your warranty) but overclocking can be an interesting challenge to the technically adept who have nothing better to do at the moment.

However, just as more megapixels don’t necessarily translate into a better digital photograph, a higher CPU speed doesn’t always translate into a faster computer. In fact, even though quad core CPUs running around 3 GHz are definitely more expensive, all other things being equal, the overall performance improvement is usually only a few percent, basically unnoticeable unless you spend your work day doing nothing but playing demanding games or running synthetic performance benchmark programs. (I’ve actually been there and done that in years past when writing my Lawyers Lab technology columns for Law Office Computing Magazine.)

Much more important is a processor’s efficient internal processing. AMD Athlon X2 and Phenom quad core CPUs and the newer Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors are both generally more reliable and more efficient than earlier Intel Pentiums and AMD single core Athlons of any speed. Essentially all current desktop CPUs have at least two, and often three or four, processing units located inside that single CPU chips, and even humble 32-bit Windows XP now recognizes quad core CPUs as four separate processing units.

All current desktop CPUs are inherently “64-bit” processors, which means they can be compared to a superhighway with many high-speed lanes and reduced traffic congestion in each direction. In theory, all of this should mean that a dual-core CPU arguably should be at least twice as fast, and a quad core CPU four times as fast, than earlier single-core processors. Sadly, that’s not true. You get less than you pay for and that has nothing to do with AMD or Intel and everything to do with Microsoft and application software vendors.

Windows and most current application software do not efficiently allocate processing tasks (threads) to several different processor cores, and thus do not take full advantage of the extra CPU cores. In fact, except for the newest versions of Photoshop and a few less-common application programs, most business programs, such as spreadsheets or word processors, can only use a single processing core. The remaining one to three CPU cores are basically wasted, using more electricity and producing a lot of heat but no illumination, although they do help a bit with background system chores like antivirus scans.

In addition, unless you’re using a 64-bit version of Windows XP or Windows Vista, you’ll only be processing at 32 bits, basically trying to navigate a freeway that’s become congested because half its lanes are blocked off. The 64 bit version of Windows XP is hard to find, although very reliable and quick, while the 64 bit version of Windows Vista is slowed due to fancy interface geegaws that demand a lot of processing power to look pretty, although they contribute little or nothing to efficient computing.

Next week, I’ll discuss what to look for when specifying the remaining major computer system components, including the system board, which now generally includes most of the controllers needed by a modern computer, such as audio, networking, USB, CD/DVD and hard disk controllers, video cards, DDR memory, hard disks, DVD/CD reader/writer, floppy disk drive, video monitor, keyboard, mouse and operating system.

Local attorney Joe Kashi received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from MIT and his law degree from Georgetown University. He has published many articles about computer technology, law practice and digital photography in national media since 1990. Many of his technology and photography articles can be accessed through his Web site, www.kashilaw.com, along with links to legal and community resources.

Cold affront — Breakup of ‘omega block’ will bring end to frigid temperatures

By Jenny Neyman
Redoubt Reporter

Forget communism, this is the real cold war.

The central Kenai Peninsula has been under siege by frigid conditions for two weeks now, with temperatures plunging below minus 30 in Soldotna and Kenai at night, and even lower than that in the cold sink that is Sterling.

The culprit? Russia.

Not that the country has any control over the situation, but if having a scapegoat makes frozen pipes or dead cars any easier to deal with, Alaska’s neighbor to the east is as good a target for frustration as any.

A weather pattern called an omega block (or bloc, perhaps?) is holding court over Russia. In an omega block, low-pressure systems sandwich in high pressure and don’t allow anything to move east or west, said John Stepetin, a specialist with the National Weather Service’s Anchorage forecast office.

These conditions could form any time of year, but in the winter it’s leaving Alaska shivering from cold air coming down from the north.

“When we get that omega block it could last two or three weeks sometimes,” Stepetin said. “We could have it in the summertime and it could be nice and warm and dry. It’s just you get two low pressures blocking high pressure that nothing’s moving.”

Lack of air movement is making the peninsula even chillier than other parts of the state, with Anchorage registering about 10 to 15 degrees warmer than the Kenai-Soldotna area lately. That’s because Anchorage is getting a breeze, and the central peninsula is not.

“The difference between you and us is that we get a little wind that mixes up the temperatures and warms it up a little, whereas you’re not getting any kind of breeze. There are warm temperatures aloft, but it’s not mixing things up at all,” Stepetin said.

Without wind to bring warmer air down to the ground, there’s nothing to do but shiver until the weather pattern breaks, which should be soon.

“That block is weakening, so we’ll start seeing low pressure moving in and start warming things up Wednesday and Thursday,” Stepetin said.

That forecast didn’t do much to keep Chelsie White warm on her chilly walk along the Sterling Highway in Soldotna on Monday from her job at Subway to Sal’s Diner in minus 23 degrees. White was headed to Sal’s to get a ride from her dad.

She and her boyfriend, Ben Winn, usually walk back and forth from their home near Fred Meyer to their jobs — hers at Subway and his at McDonald’s. But in the recent cold snap, and with White nine months pregnant, she’s been getting rides more often.

“I haven’t been walking much since it’s been this cold,” she said. “I usually get rides from my parents. They get mad when I walk.”

White had a car, but it met an untimely accidental demise.

“My dad kind of hit it with a boat and trailer, so, yeah, it don’t work no more,” she said.

Overall, White said she likes winter. She enjoys snowboarding, sledding and hunting, but she was six months pregnant when snow first hit this year, so she hasn’t been able to enjoy her normal snowy pursuits. Mostly, she’s just walked in the stuff.

“The first part of winter when it was mostly wet snow instead of dry and cold like this, that was a nightmare to walk in,” White said. “It’s not bad when the sidewalks are plowed, but you get that fresh bit of snow and you’re walking through it. That sucked.”

The banged-up car isn’t salvageable, and other means of transportation aren’t affordable, she said. It costs about $10 for a one-way cab ride from their home to work, and Central Area Rural Transit System rides are $50 for a punch card.
“It’s expensive, and when you’ve got diapers and formula you’ve got to buy, it’s too expensive. That $50 is two packs of diapers, and they go through them so fast,” she said.

“If they had a bus down here, I think it would make it easier on so many people. With cabs you can spend $200 a month on cab bills, and that can be just going back and forth to work.”

So that leaves walking, which usually isn’t too bad, White said.

“My boyfriend doesn’t mind it, but he’s kind of a polar bear. He’s used to it. He’s been up here his whole life. A good pair of gloves and a jacket and he’s fine. I draw the line at him opening the window at night, though,” she said.

If it weren’t so cold, White wouldn’t mind the walk either.

“I need to exercise a little bit. I feel too much like Moby Dick on sticks right now,” she said. “I’m so ready to not be pregnant. I’m ready to put my own socks on in the morning.”

White and Winn’s son, Logan William Winn, is due Jan. 15. As of Monday, White is on maternity leave from her job, so she’ll be able to wait out the rest of the cold snap in the warmth of home.

If it helps pass the time between now and when the thermometer does finally rise, Stepetin suggests looking at the bigger weather picture.

“You look at the Yukon Flats and they’re anywhere from 55 below to 65 below, so it might make you feel a little bit warmer,” he said.

Testing the waters — HEA’s proposed hydro projects have years of research to wade through

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories examining possible Homer Electric Association hydroelectric projects near Moose Pass. Next week’s story will focus on the “low-impact” aspect of HEA’s plans.

By Jenny Neyman
Redoubt Reporter

Average Homer Electric Association members, using about 600 kilowatt hours of power a month, could have bought themselves their own little generator with the amount their electric bill has gone up in the past year.

Rate increases in spring, fall and another 20 percent increase set to come in January means electricity on the Kenai Peninsula costs over 8 cents more per kWh than it did at the beginning of 2008, or roughly $50 more a month for an average household. As long as HEA gets the majority of its power from burning natural gas, that trend isn’t likely to change.

What may change is the distribution of HEA’s power supply. About 90 percent of HEA’s power comes through its contract with Chugach Electric Association, which gets most of its power from burning natural gas. As the price of natural gas goes up, so do HEA’s rates, often coinciding with hikes in Enstar’s rates for natural gas heating, as well.

In response, HEA is giving renewed thought to “green” technology.

“We definitely wanted to incorporate some renewables into our energy portfolio,” said Joe Gallagher, HEA spokesman. “The thought was that we were going to pursue the two that were the most developed and ready to go.”

That would be wind power and hydroelectric. HEA, in a partnership with a renewable energy company called enXco, is literally testing the wind and waters of renewable energy on the peninsula. The partnership has three towers up in the Caribou Hills and one near Nikolaevsk to study the feasibility of installing windmills, and is looking at four sites in the Crescent Lake area near Moose Pass as possibilities for hydro projects.

“The goal and the hope for our membership is it will help control rates because now our rates are at the mercy of the price of natural gas,” said HEA spokesperson Joe Gallagher. “The beauty thing about hydro is the fuel price doesn’t change.”

Water works?

As renewable power sources go, wind and hydro are the most feasible for HEA, because they’re the most established, Gallagher said. Harnessing geothermal and tidal power may be options in the future, but they present too many unknowns for HEA to pursue them now.

“We don’t have that capacity at this point, but others do and we definitely keep a close eye on the different developments that take place, and if in fact they prove to be feasible and something happens in one of those areas that makes sense for Home Electric, we are more than willing to take a look at it,” he said.

For the time being, water and wind have HEA’s attention.

“There are many renewable energy sources being looked at now, but Homer Electric, in the big picture, is a small co-op with limited resources,” Gallagher said. “And these hydro projects, they’re renewable but they’re not new. They’re proven technology. We’re not into the research and development phase. We know they work and we can get them online in the foreseeable future.”

Hydroelectric projects have been around for more than a century. The Kenai Peninsula already is home to two hydroelectric sites. Bradley Lake in Kachemak Bay produces about 10 percent of HEA’s power. And Chugach Electric Association runs the Cooper Creek hydroelectric plant near Cooper Landing.

HEA and enXco have teamed up to pursue the possibility of adding up to four more hydro projects on the peninsula. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved the necessary permits to study the feasibility of four projects in the Crescent Creek area. HEA also received $50,000 grants from the Alaska Energy Authority for each of the projects to help offset the cost of the preliminary permit work.

The technology exists, similar projects have proven effective elsewhere, and, once built, they would be relatively cheap to operate.

“The real benefit to Homer Electric is it would give us another source of energy other than natural gas, which we’re so heavily dependent on right now. We’ll still rely on natural gas for the majority of our power, but that dependency will be less and we’ll have a greater flexibility,” Gallagher said.

Water running downhill may be inevitable, but the hydro projects are not. They have to prove to be economically feasible and they have to get through the approval process, both at the regulatory level and in the court of public opinion.

The prospect of hydro around Crescent Lake has already garnered opposition from the Friends of Copper Landing organization, even at this preliminary stage where HEA and enXco are just starting to study which studies will need to be conducted.

At issue is hydro’s potential for environmental damage. As a “green” renewable energy source, its reputation can be blackened by environmental damage. In Cooper Landing, the Cooper Creek hydro dam is blamed for the decimation of fish stocks in the creek.
And in the Crescent Lake area, there be fish in them thar streams.

The players

Cook Inlet Regional Incorporated and enXco formed Wind Energy Alaska, which is working on wind projects in the state, including at Fire Island and on the Kenai, said Steve Gilbert, manager of Alaska projects for enXco. HEA formed a partnership with the company, Kenai Hydro LLC, to investigate hydro projects near Moose Pass.

The projects

With three-year FERC permits just recently approved, Kenai Hydro is only a few steps down the road that may lead to hydro projects. HEA and enXco representatives preface comments about design and other project specifics with the caveat that nothing has been decided yet. That being said, here are some of the ideas so far:

The sites being considered — Crescent Creek, Falls Creek, Ptarmigan Lake and Grant Lake — are in the Moose Pass area, part of the drainage system into the Trail Lakes along the Seward Highway.

The hydro designs being considered are low-impact, meaning they don’t involve dams or large structures, and would be designed to not harm the environment or fish habitat, Gilbert said. At least three of them would probably be run-of-river designs, where the stream’s natural water flow is used to generate power, rather than storing water to create a higher flow, Gilbert said.

The prevailing option so far is to install a siphon that diverts water a couple hundred feet down a pipe, called a penstock, into a small power plant. Water runs through turbines to generate electricity and is returned to the stream. Power is run through wires to the existing transmission line along the Seward Highway corridor nearby.

That sort of water conveyance system would involve an intake structure to hold the pipe mouth in place, a duct to divert water into the pipe and a trap to keep branches and other debris out of the pipe. The power plant would be relatively small, access corridors would be built to the plant and the intake site, and power lines would be strung from the plant to the existing transmission line.

Intakes and outlets of the system would be placed to avoid fish habitat, Gilbert said. “There is evidence of natural anadromous fish usage on all four sites, especially down where the creeks empty into Trail Lake, for instance,” Gilbert said.

Another option would be an in-stream system, where turbines are situated in the waterway, water is diverted through the turbine and released back out, with the power plant right there, necessitating only one access road. That may be possible in Falls Creek, for instance, which doesn’t seem to support anadromous — meaning migratory — fish at its headwaters, Gilbert said.

So far, Grant Lake doesn’t seem to support anadromous fish populations, Gilbert said, so they may consider water storage at that site. To do so, a larger structure — but not big enough to qualify as a dam by FERC standards — would be built at the siphon intake across the outlet of the lake, he said.

“Again, it would be the subject of study. If we need to maintain a certain amount of (water) flow past the intake structure down the creek, it ultimately would become a permit condition,” Gilbert said. “If not, the more water that can go to the penstock, the more fuel you can avoid burning, is the bottom line. Every kilowatt hour from wind or water saves a kilowatt hour of burning fuel.”

Along that line, water from nearby Falls Creek could be diverted to Grant Lake to add to the water storage capacity — and, thereby, the power generation capacity — at that site, Gilbert said.

Output

Each site might generate an estimated 4 to 6 megawatts, Gallagher said. By comparison, it takes about 1 MW to power a full-sized Wal-Mart store, he said. HEA’s peak load on a cold day is about 90 MW.

Bradley Lake, which involves a dam, generates 20 MW. Cooper Creek, which also involves a dam, has an output of just under 20 MW, Gilbert said.

Cool catch — Fishing’s still hot, even when winter’s not

“Is it a cross-country skiing trip or a fishing trip?” I ask myself.

Both, of course. And what better way to spend one of our now-lengthening winter afternoons, than partaking in the two activities I enjoy most this time of year?

I’ve discovered that fishing, despite the cold, is a year-round sport. With the upper reaches of the Kenai still flowing and an estimated 15 percent of the trout population overwintering in these waters, there is simply no reason to put away the fly rod. Of course, one must prepare for the hardships of cold, and possibly wet, conditions.

I’m the first to admit that it appears somewhat crazy to even consider fishing when the mercury plunges so low your glasses regularly fog, the guides on your rod ice up time and again and when the mere thought of tying on a new fly is painful.

But there are reasons that inspire such madness. Perhaps the sense of urgency, of adventure, that comes with life in extreme weather, even in a place you know well. Maybe it’s also fisherman’s intuition, whispering that, as the mercury begins to climb even a little bit after the overnight freeze, the trout will become active and begin feeding.

Also, the long ski to the now-braided waters below Skilak Lake reveal a changed world. Not only has the water dropped significantly, but with the motorboats of summer long gone, it’s now supremely quiet. So quiet you can hear the brush of an eagle’s wings as they sweep the horizon, darkly silhouetted against the muted light of midday.

And there is not another soul within view. Even the most heated war zones in the summer battle for sockeyes have been relinquished back to the spirit of the river. The only footprints encased in the frozen ground now are a few wayward paw prints from restless bears that, like us, don’t know any better and have left the comfort of their dens for a day on the river.

This late in the season, our best hope for action might be a flesh fly, mimicking the decaying flesh of last autumn’s salmon. And if we spot some of the late-run silvers that continue to trickle into the river well past the first of the year, we might fish behind them with an egg pattern or egg-sucking leech. With less water in the system every pocket becomes more pronounced, the river easier to read, every hole ours for the taking.

It’s often a test of will. Just when fingers are beginning to numb and feet stiffening, that’s when the fly quietly drifts over the edge of a riffle, skirts the abyss of slow water, and suddenly stops. All at once the dull, muted rhythms of winter are interrupted by something spectacular. Fireworks burst at the surface of the pool as scales merge into a mosaic of black dots and a swirl of pink. Cold hands and frozen feet are instantly forgotten amidst the sudden sweet panic of playing a large fish.

It’s at moments like this that each one of your senses, every aspect of your being, is tied for an instant to the river. And it’s this that keeps us coming back, when the river is too low to float and the launch sites piled high with snow, skiing to our favorite destinations, warmed by our memories as well as the hopes and spirit of the river and the fish yet to be caught.

Winter fishing basics

The best thing anyone can bring winter fishing is patience and a good attitude. By late fall and early winter, many resident rainbow trout have headed to the nearby lakes for winter, and those that remain tend to be slightly less active. Often a fly needs to be placed right in front of their noses in order to entice a strike.

The next most important ingredients for a good time are warm clothes, and plenty of them. Cold-weather survival experts agree that dressing in layers is essential, starting with polypropylene underwear, followed by polar fleece, a warm coat and a wind shell. For waders, many winter fishermen have turned to the heavy neoprene variety favored by duck hunters. My Cabela’s neoprene 1,600 boot-foot waders are probably the warmest piece of equipment I own. The downside is they are heavy, and can be like wearing a pair of leg weights if you are walking a long way. It’s also easy to work up a sweat, which in cold-weather conditions can be deadly.

You don’t need a large selection of flies this time of year. A few standbys will do. Start with “old” flesh flies, in brown, white and cream — flies that resemble the remains of last year’s salmon carcasses. Also carry a variety of egg patterns, egg-sucking leeches and perhaps a few muddler minnows and sculpins.

Most of all you just need the desire to get out there, wet a line and enjoy this unique time year.

Dave Atcheson teaches a fly-fishing class each spring, starting in March, at Kenai Peninsula College’s Kenai River Campus, and is the author of the guidebook “Fishing Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.”

Drawing on support — Soldotna artist hopes to start graphic design school for youth in Philippines

By Jenny Neyman
Redoubt Reporter

The barriers between Soldotna and the Philippines are many: language, culture and economics, not to mention an entire ocean.

Yet even on a rice farm in a rural area of the Philippines, among straw huts, livestock running free and pig intestines for meals, Les Nelson, of Soldotna, found something oddly familiar — the romantic musical stylings of Dan Hill.

Nelson was visiting friends’ relatives at the farm. His group brought a rental karaoke machine to celebrate an 18-year-old’s birthday. They set it up outside a hut and took turns singing, when a 6-year-old boy wanted a turn.

“He knew all the words to ‘Sometimes When We Touch,’” a love ballad by Hill, Nelson said. “He had that entire song memorized. That kid came out and started to sing and the screen froze, and he kept singing the entire song without the lyrics on the screen.”

Nelson isn’t a carpenter. He’s not a doctor. He certainly isn’t a rice farmer.
“I tried my hand at it for five minutes, mostly just as a novelty for them,” Nelson said. “It was very National Geographic. I get there and we were surrounded by straw huts and water buffalo and exuberant village children and elders who’d never met a foreigner before. Actually, none of them had even met a foreigner before.”

But he is an artist, which bridges cultural, language and a host of other barriers, even better than ’80s love ballads do. Nelson, 26, is hoping to use his art background to help make life more beautiful, at least in one little corner of the world.

Nelson, who grew up in Soldotna and graduated from Nikiski High School in 2001, is Web and graphic designer along with many other media — drawing, painting and amateur photography. He’s a devotee of Flickr, a photo-sharing Web site on the Internet, and set his computer to show a sampling of other posters’ images. About two years ago he saw a photo by Ralph Matres, from the Philippines. Matres documents life in the Philippines, including those in poverty — children living on the street, youth trapped in the sex industry and farmers in rural areas.

The photos captured Nelson, and he struck up a correspondence with Matres. Their friendship developed at a time when Nelson was at loose ends. He’d gone off to school “for a semester and a week,” he said. He went to study graphic design, and was so passionate about it he felt like he’d learn it on his own, even without school, he said.

When he was a teenager he’d started a Web design firm – creating logos and other image branding designs. After school he did a variety of things, mainly working on the Web design company in Oregon and back in Soldotna.

Through Matres, Nelson learned about some of the challenges people in the Philippines face, especially poverty, fed in part by a lack of educational opportunities and jobs. The region became part of Nelson’s “someday” planning. Someday, he wanted to move there. Someday, he would look into starting a graphic design school that would give young adults a chance at a better life.
One day, Nelson figured he’d put an actual date to “someday.”

“I decided, ‘Well, that’s one of my long-term goals. I might as well make it a short-term goal. If I keep thinking it would be cool to do this in the future, it’ll never get done, so I need to start working on that now,’” he said.

He traveled to Caloocan, Philippines, and the surrounding area for a little over a month in October and November, to finally meet the friends he’d made long distance, and to start laying the groundwork for a school.

It was an eye-opening experience. The food was “quite delicious, actually,” Nelson said. He ate anything put in front of him, from pig ears and intestine to fertilized and partially gestated duck eggs. The weather was hot; it’s 80 to 90 degrees year-round with only two seasons — rainy and not so rainy, he said. And the living conditions some people endured strengthened his resolve. He met one family of 13 living in a house about the dimensions of a king-sized bed. They had to sleep in shifts because they couldn’t all fit in there at once.

And there were bright points. Nelson said he had a great time with his friends and met a lot of talented young artists that would benefit from the tutoring center he wants to start.

“Everyone’s showing me their art and they’re really proud of it and it’s really great art,” he said.

The goal is to start with graphic design. Students 16 and up with artistic leanings can learn design, create logos which they can put on T-shirts and sell, and put together a portfolio which will hopefully get them hired by an advertising firm, or one of the other international business opportunities the Philippines offers.

“A lot of them have jobs that they are ashamed of. They can’t even tell their families or friends about it. I’d like to give them an opportunity, if they have talent, to be graphic designers, to have an opportunity they can tell everyone about and their family can be proud of,” Nelson said.

Nelson wants to start with graphic design because that’s what he’s skilled at and is able to teach, he said. He hopes to expand the school in the future by bringing in volunteers to teach creative writing and filmmaking.

The first step is building support and laying the logistical framework. During his trip, Nelson found a three-story building that would be perfect for the tutoring center and office space upstairs and a retail shop on the main floor to sell students’ work, including shirts and books with covers the students would design. The owner is the son of the town mayor, and is willing to cut a deal on the space — 50,000 Philippine pesos, equivalent to a little over $1,000 a month, Nelson said.

“Everyone was incredibly warm and welcoming and very supportive. I didn’t meet one person who seemed like they were going to stand in the way. Everyone really wants this to happen over there,” Nelson said.

Nelson plans to spend the winter in Soldotna, squaring away the organization’s nonprofit status — it took nearly a full ream of paper to print out all the paperwork, he said — and plan some fundraising opportunities.

He’s already started one, a travel magazine called Ferdinand, as in Magellan. The first issue was about the Philippines, with photography from Matres. Nelson is hoping purchases of the magazine will help support the school. It’s available online at http://ferdinandcc.org, and people can sign up for e-mail updates about the project.

He’s hoping to publish and sell a coffee-table book of Matres’ work, and is thinking about holding auctions locally. Once the school gets going, he wants to sell the books students will design on the Internet, as well.

He’s looking forward to returning to the Philippines to get the school started once he gets funding squared away.

“I knew this was what I wanted to do. When I got back to Alaska, I’m still kind of homesick for the Philippines. I got there and it became home for me,” he said.