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Craig Medred Columns

CRAIG MEDRED

Screw-ups make us smarter -- hopefully

So my memory was wrong, as old friend Chuck Kleeschulte, now an aide to the U.S. Senate Natural Resources Committee, reminded me over the phone from the nation's capital. He hadn't done the splits between the rail of the sailboat and the dock before splashing into the waters of Taku Harbor all those long years ago.

CRAIG MEDRED

The worst part of loving a dog is when the end is in sight

It has been 16 years since Bailey arrived in our house. It has been five or six, plus one knee surgery, since she last prowled the marshes she so loved.

CRAIG MEDRED

Putting moose calves down may be kindest option

Across the broad sweep of tens of millions of acres of wilderness to the north of this city, moose calves are dying by the thousands.

Orphaned moose calves wait at zoo while their fate is debated

CRAIG MEDRED

Boost urban salmon runs, attract bears -- it's natural

The municipality has decided to give the Rover's Run Trail back to the bears. They've closed the narrow, wooded path along Campbell Creek, arguing it's too dangerous for walking or biking. Why, then, just this trail?

CRAIG MEDRED

High-tech gear doesn't prevent mental lapses

The last time the world heard from Gerald Myers, he offered these words in the form of a text message: "OK, Moving up."

CRAIG MEDRED

Scooping human poop not an option

Do the homeless defecate in the woods? Admittedly, this is not a pleasant question to ponder. Most of the thousands of runners, strollers, bikers and dog walkers who daily pass the homeless camps hidden in the city's greenbelts and parks would probably prefer to avoid even contemplating the issue.

CRAIG MEDRED

Fisheries need to share burden

Why is it so many seem to have forgotten the deal made 24 years ago when commercial fishermen were allowed to resume the killing of Susitna River king salmon?

CRAIG MEDRED

Time to enjoy the changing seasons

Life began anew last week. You could feel it in the sun that baked the graywacke and shale of the surrounding Chugach and Kenai mountains.

CRAIG MEDRED

Palmer boys who harassed moose getting convicted online without a trial

Even those who've never surfed the Web can't have missed hearing about the extra security added at Colony Middle School in Palmer last week after a nameless, faceless, virtual mob launched a jihad on students there.

CRAIG MEDRED

To live with bears, we may need to kill some bears

If you are coming to Anchorage this summer, be afraid -- beary, beary afraid.

Avalanche tragedy can serve as lesson

Yancy Flair lived fast and happy until his death beneath an avalanche in Johnson Pass on the Kenai Peninsula March 28.

CRAIG MEDRED

Arctic-to-Indian trek is spring escape

On Sunday we completed what has become something of an annual spring pilgrimage from Arctic Valley through the Ship Creek drainage to Indian Pass and out the Indian Creek Trail to the edge of that Turnagain Arm community.

CRAIG MEDRED

Medred plan for predators doesn't cost Palin a dime

Gov. Palin, please stop wasting my money. One thousand, five-hundred dollars per carcass is too much to pay to kill wolves in order to try to boost the size of the Fortymile caribou herd.

CRAIG MEDRED

Helmet use will not save us from the bozos on skis

The only given in life is that we will die. There is no way around it, though the tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson seems to have fueled the do-gooder passions of those who somehow believe otherwise.

CRAIG MEDRED

PETA should be barking about Iraq's dead dogs

The dogs of Iraq are dying. As the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race moves toward its end in Nome with a well-meaning few fretting, as they always do, over whether dogs born to run really want to run 1,000 miles, the dogs of Iraq are dying by the thousands.

CRAIG MEDRED

Taming fear is the key in the wild

Along the high, exposed ridges of the Alaska mountains, fear lives, and in the roiling, brown rapids of the thundering glacial rivers, and out in a wilderness so vast and desolate it can feast on the mind of a citified modern man.

CRAIG MEDRED

Good sense saved boater's life

Despite what is being said in Florida these days, it is no miracle Nick Schuyler survived a boating accident that claimed the lives of three of his friends -- two of them NFL players.

CRAIG MEDRED

Not all top mushers have a shot at winning the race

In all likelihood, the winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race this year will be one of four men former champions. Why? Because they all know how to win. But maybe more importantly, because all the other top contenders know only how to lose.

CRAIG MEDRED

Clues hint at hypothermia in teenager's sudden death

From the Talkeetna Mountain slopes just above the Independence Mine State Historic Park, the lights that brighten the Hatcher Pass lodge at night looks so close you could almost reach out and touch them. It was within sight of these lights and the comfort they promise that 18-year-old snowboarder Royce Morgan from Wasilla died Wednesday.

CRAIG MEDRED

The loneliness of the long-distance winter race

The hardest race to run is the one waged in your mind, and it is for this reason the Iditarod Trail Invitational is the hardest race in the world.

CRAIG MEDRED

Sorry, but science doesn't take sides

With some regularity now, especially when it comes to environmental issues, we have politicians and interest groups engaged in heated arguments about who has God -- er, science -- on their side.

STORY

Wanted: Dog musher

Within a federal government that employs 19.7 million people, there is one dog mushing job. It's in Denali, and it's currently vacant.

STORY

Night biking

Most winter bikes know that during the Dark Season, survival is linked to the lights and reflective tape.

VIDEO

Meadow Creek leaves

Take a close-up look at fall leaves floating on Meadow Creek in Eagle River, Alaska.

PHOTOS

Powerline Pass moose

Moose gather each autumn in Chugach State Park for the fall rut.

READER PHOTOS

Bear sightings

Summertime is bear time, and the black and browns running around town make your sightings fascinating and important.

READER VIDEO

3-legged moose

Renae Thomas posted video of Anchorage's fabled three-legged moose, seemingly healthy and with calf in tow.

PHOTOS

Moose Nugget Regatta

Alaska's biggest rowing race attracted 92 rowers and 26 boats to Wasilla Lake Sept. 12.

VIDEO

Biking Powerline Pass

Get an up-close look at going over Powerline Pass with the view of a camera mounted on top of the handlebars.

PHOTOS

Kenai Dipnetting

The salmon were in full force at the Kenai River, bringing in a flood of Alaska dipnetters.

PHOTOS

Bird Creek fishing

Salmon fishing season opened at Bird Creek on Tuesday, July 14.

Extra light lessens danger, lifts moods

Want fries with that helicopter rescue?

Malamute promoters barking up wrong tree

Wind storm reminds us how good we have it

Troopers don't need this burden

In boom, bust cycle of hare, future is moot

Trails can be seductively dangerous

Tested outdoors gear is a dandy choice for gifts

Alaska's wilderness confounds self-importance

'Turkeygate' fiasco is prime example of weirdness

Preventive maintenance keeps the body going

'Bike-friendly' Anchorage is a dangerous illusion

Our primal bear fears started long ago

A few signs would go a long way to improve bike trails

Bear, glacier stories ignite Internet

On fall day hunter gets lucky at ducks' expense

Fisheries council robs Joe Sixpack in halibut vote

From Alaska, it's mighty hard to see Russia

Swing of fate leaves lucky moose alive and well

We never had a real summer; let's hope for a real winter

Exercise can benefit your body and your wallet

Lack of summer takes toll on waterfowl season

Outside reporter needs to do homework on bears

To co-exist, some bears must die

Blogger comes to Alaska where she breaks law

Life jacket, students saved woman in river

Hunting laws need to apply to all, even troopers

Sending the wrong message about recreation

Aggressive black bears deserve to be eliminated

It's summer, but you sure can't tell by the weather

When fear overpowers reason, then you're lost

Head down upper Yukon River to find nothingness

Alaskans deserve break on Russian River parking

Allocation of halibut calls for revolution

Save a squirrel, celebrate humanity

A few more boating rules wouldn't hurt anyone

It's a complicated, ugly case against guide David Haeg

It's not really 'outdoors' if you're driving

Do fish feel pain? We may never know (5/11/2003)

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