Adventure-Crew.com

From Reuters.com

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska | Fri Sep 9, 2011 6:20pm EDT

(Reuters) – Four decorated clay disks have been discovered at a prehistoric site in Alaska, apparently the first artifacts of their type discovered in the state, the University of Alaska Museum of the North said.

The disks were found during a summer expedition in Noatak National Preserve, at a site where archeologists have for decades been studying lakefront pit dwellings that date back 1,000 years, officials at the Fairbanks museum said.

The disks are etched, and two of them have holes in the center.

They were discovered when a team from the museum and the National Park Service traveled to the site in northwestern Alaska to make records of previously discovered prehistoric petroglyphs on boulders.

Such prehistoric rock art is extremely rare in interior and northern Alaska, though common in the southwestern part of the United States and other regions, museum and Park Service officials said.

The accidental discovery of the disks may lead to more such finds, said Scott Shirar, a research archeologist at the museum.

“One of the exciting things is that we’ve only opened up a really small amount of ground at the site. So the fact that we’ve … found four of these items, that indicates that there’s probably a lot more there and there’s something really significant happening at the site,” Shirar said in a video interview posted on the museum’s website.

The site is located about 100 miles northeast of the Inupiat Eskimo community of Kotzebue.

The age of the disks has yet to be determined, museum officials said. The artifacts are currently held at the museum for labeling and further study, museum spokeswoman Theresa Bakker said Friday.

The archeologists will return to the lakeside site next summer, Bakker said.

The Noatak National Preserve comprises 6.5 million acres of Arctic territory on the southern slope of the Brooks Range. The preserve is known for the 400-mile Noatak River, a designated wild and scenic river.

Despite its harsh climate, the area has been inhabited for 11,000 years, according to the National Park Service.

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: September 9, 2011
The New York Times

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. — Jerry Bingham, whose 31-year-old son was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed near here a decade ago, has participated in so many memorial services for his son Mark that he can barely remember them all.

Ten years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a special report on the decade’s costs and consequences, measured in thousands of lives, trillions of dollars and countless challenges to the human spirit.

Now, he is preparing for one more. Not the 10th anniversary public tributes this weekend that will include President Obama and former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, with thousands of onlookers.

But on Monday, when the crowds are gone, the families of the 40 passengers and crew members who were killed when the plane was hijacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001, will hold a private service to bury the unidentified remains of all of those who were on board.

Those remains have been kept in an above-ground crypt for the last 10 years by the Somerset County coroner, Wallace Miller, awaiting a final resting place. They will be laid to rest in three steel coffins at the patch of earth — sodden now from endless rains — where the plane rammed into the ground.

“This will be our last funeral,” Mr. Bingham said.

Not much, of course, was left after the crash except debris from the aircraft and some personal belongings. Mr. Miller said that only 8 percent of the human remains were ever recovered because the plane, roaring down at more than 570 miles per hour, exploded when it crashed. “Everything vaporized on impact,” he said.

At least some remains were recovered and matched for all 40 on board (in fact, for all 44, including the four terrorists). But the amounts were tiny — much less, even in total, than those that were unidentified.

The matching of remains for everyone killed here distinguishes this site from the scenes of the two other Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, where not all of the remains have been identified.

At the World Trade Center in New York, the remains of more than 1,100 of the nearly 2,700 victims have still not been identified. They are being stored now in climate-controlled conditions near the medical examiner’s office in Manhattan. There are plans to place them in an underground repository at a new museum at ground zero that is to open next year, but some families have opposed that idea and the dispute is continuing.

At the Pentagon, the remains of five, of 184, could not be identified and were buried in 2002 at Arlington National Cemetery.

With Monday’s service, the crash site here, which is off-limits to the public, will officially become a cemetery. This communal grave occupies one small corner of a 2,200-acre park nestled in the rolling hills of the Laurel Highlands that is now part of the National Park Service. The crash site, renamed the “field of honor,” lies at the edge of an open field near a stand of maples and hemlocks.

Patrick White, vice president of Families of Flight 93, who lost his cousin Louis Nacke II in the crash, said he viewed Monday’s burial as a reunion, of sorts, of “what until now has been a disconnection, a physical separation between the ‘them’ in the three caskets and the ‘those’ who are in the ground.”

“I view it as the first — and last — reuniting of people who have a shared destiny and a now common history,” Mr. White said.

Their destinies merged on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, as they left Newark intending to fly to San Francisco. The plane was hijacked at 9:28 a.m., and air traffic controllers in Cleveland picked up a Mayday call from the pilot. The passengers and crew were forced to the back of the plane, where they began using the Airfones on the seatbacks to report the attack. At that point, they learned that a broader terrorist attack against the United States was under way.

The terrorists had turned the plane toward Washington, and later evidence revealed that their target was probably the United States Capitol. The passengers and crew quickly devised a plan to storm the cockpit; the cockpit voice recorder picked up the screaming and mayhem of the insurrection.

The terrorists tried to disrupt the rebellion by rolling the plane from left to right and pitching its nose up and down. The 9/11 Commission said the terrorists maintained control of the plane and decided to crash rather than risk having the crew and passengers take over. At 10:03 a.m., it crashed here, in the midst of fields that are now covered with goldenrod and Queen Anne’s lace. The white blades of windmills churn nearby.

“It’s such a beautiful setting for such a horrible, violent thing,” said Gordon Felt, president of the Families of Flight 93, whose brother, Edward, was a passenger that day. “This land is healing, but it is not healed. It will never be totally healed.”

The planning of any kind of memorial was stalled for years by a lengthy land-acquisition process, including a dispute with the owner of the 270-acre property where the plane actually crashed.

A public-private partnership has a multipart $62 million memorial here, but it is only partly built. Its marble “wall of names” will be dedicated Saturday, along with a visitors’ shelter. Once they raise a final $10 million, they intend to build an entry portal and a permanent visitors’ center. There are plans later for a 93-foot-high tower with 40 chimes for each of the dead. The visitors’ center for now is a small, rusted, corrugated shed left over from a mining operation here.

It was the approach of the 10th anniversary that helped focus the families on deciding to bury the unidentified remains at the crash site.

The service on Monday will be a full-fledged funeral, Mr. Miller, the coroner said, with at least one military pallbearer.

“There were four American military veterans on the plane, but in my mind there were 36 other veterans on that plane as well,” Mr. Miller said. “These people knew that they were pretty well doomed and for them to pull it together under unbelievable pressure to win the first battle of the war — incredible.”

The adult-size coffins are 6 feet 6 inches long. They will be lowered into three concrete vaults and covered with earth.

“When I walk away from there, the case will be closed on my end,” Mr. Miller said.

Mr. White said that a huge boulder that was dug up nearby would become the collective headstone. It will have a small plaque on the back, so only family members — at least for now — can see it.

As for Mr. Bingham, he said he derived comfort from the site, where he feels the presence of his son.

“You get a feeling of belonging,” he said. “There’s a serenity factor. You feel like you are talking to him. That’s the place for the burial.”

Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on September 7, 2011 – 10:49am From National Parks Traveler

Editor’s note: This version adds comment from The Access Fund.

Climbing in Denali National Park and Preserve, NPS Photo

It will cost more in 2012 to climb Mount McKinley and Mount Foraker in Denali National Park and Preserve, as park officials are moving to offset the cost of protecting and rescuing climbers.

The decision to boost the fee from $200 to $250 for climbers age 24 and younger, and to $350 for all others, comes after a long public engagement process and meetings with the country’s foremost climbing organizations. The exchanges weren’t always complimentary, as at times the climbing community questioned whether all park visitors should bear the costs of the program and insinuated that perhaps Denali’s mountaineering program was bloated.

However, in a prepared statement issued by the park this morning Phil Powers, executive director of the American Alpine Club, expressed satisfaction with the fees.

“This is an example of the kind of considered process that results in policy we can support. I want to applaud (Denali Superintendent) Paul Anderson and the National Park Service for opening up their process and listening to the concerns of the climbing community,” Mr. Powers said.

At The Access Fund, policy director Jason Keith also was satisfied with the outcome.

“It’s been a long road. We didn’t get everything we wanted, but we’re happy with how things worked out in the end,” Mr. Keith said in a phone call with the Traveler, noting in particular the $250 youth fee.

“The park worked hard to get there,” he said.

Denali’s mountaineering program has evolved substantially since 1992, when 13 climbers died on McKinley, which is considered to be one of the most dangerous mountains in the world to summit due to the weather spun off from the Gulf of Alaska. In the aftermath, officials adopted a three-part strategy to heighten the safety of climbers: (1) a mandatory 60-day pre-registration; (2) enhanced preventative search and rescue education (PSAR), and; (3) a special-use fee to partially recover the costs of the program.

That third leg, the special-use fee, in 1995 was set at $150 per climber for those heading up either 20,320-foot McKinley or 17,400-foot Foraker. Part of that revenue was used to establish the 7,200-foot Kahiltna Basecamp, the 14,200-foot Ranger Camp, and the 17,000-foot High Camp for climbing rangers so they could be properly acclimated to the elevation and ready to respond to rescues or other assistance.

The revenues also enabled the park to create a “preventative search and rescue” — PSAR — program to educate climbers to the risks and hazards they might encounter on the mountains. The results of that approach were recognized in 2008, when a “study published in 2008 by the Journal of High Altitude Medicine and Biology concluded that the Denali PSAR program had reduced the fatality rate by 53%.”

However, while the fee increased to $200 per climber in 2005, the park has been spending much more than the revenues generated by the climbers. This past March, park officials said those climbing fees covered just 17 percent of the costs of maintaining the mountaineering program, which for fiscal 2011 was estimated to run $1.1 million.

The park has received a total of $440,000 in base increases to fund the high altitude helicopter program and expects to collect $200,000 from the cost recovery mountaineering special use fee. This leaves $520,000 in direct operating costs that must be funded from either other park program funds, an increase in the user fee, or a combination of both.

Climber numbers over the past decade have remained essentially flat, as has NPS staffing, the park officials noted. Excluding costs of the high altitude helicopter portion of the program, operational expenses have gone up significantly, due mainly to inflation.

In an effort to find a more sustainable funding model, park management began informal discussions in 2006 with leadership from the American Alpine Club, the Access Fund, and the American Mountain Guides Association, as well as park concessioners and other stakeholders in the climbing community. In October 2010, the park formally initiated a proposal to increase the fee.

Almost 500 public comments were submitted, the majority of which indicated they would support some aspect of a climbing fee increase, as long as the increase was reasonable and equitable. Other comments submitted called for the elimination of the use fee altogether, while at the opposite end of the spectrum, several comments suggested full cost recovery including a fee increase up to $1,500 per climber.

The new climbing fees will take effect for the 2012 mountaineering season. In future years, fees will be adjusted periodically based on actual costs, not to exceed changes in the cumulative consumer price index, a park release said.

“Mountain climbing represents a longstanding tradition at Denali National Park dating back to the first ascent of Mt. McKinley in 1913,” said Superintendent Anderson. “Climbing fulfills one of our park’s fundamental purposes. As such, we are committed to sharing in the cost of the program and continuing to allocate appropriate levels of the park’s base funding to the climbing program.”

The superintendent added that the park’s mountaineering program will strive to institute many of the suggestions for operational efficiencies gathered during the public process.

For additional information on the mountaineering program or cost recovery special use fee visit the park website at www.nps.gov/dena/. Contact South District Ranger John Leonard for questions about the fee at (907) 733-9105 or john_leonard@nps.gov.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska is the largest park in the national park service. Also known for having the continent’s largest assemblage of glaciers and the greatest collection of peaks above 16,000 feet, the park offers extreme adventure for the stout of heart. Mount St. Elias is the second highest peak in the United States at 18,008 feet and presents ample mountaineering opportunities. The park’s remoteness has resulted in little human occupation in the past, preserving its primitiveness.

The park is located a days drive east from Anchorage and lies adjacent to Canada’s Kluane National Park. There are three ways to view and get into the interior of the park. The 61-mile McCarthy Road is a dirt and gravel road that can take up to 3 hours to traverse. The Nabesna Road is a 42-mile gravel road from Slana to Nabesna that traverses the headwaters country of the Copper and Tanana drainages. The third way to view the park is by airplane where you can fly past massive peaks, over jagged glaciers, and endless expanses of wild Alaska.

The park and preserve encompasses four mountain ranges, the Chugach, the Wrangell, the Saint Elias, and the end of the Alaska Range on the northern borders. This in turn holds some of North America’s most remote wilderness. The terrain runs the gamut of mountains, glaciers, coastal and intertidal communities, rivers and lakes. Mountain climbing and ice climbing are big options to consider.

This truly wild Alaska is waiting to be explored by kayak, rafting, hiking, backpacking, mountaineering and mountain biking. Mountain biking can be done on the McCarthy and Nabesna Roads, some dry creek beds and a number of trails in the Glennallen, Copper Center-Chitina area. Sea kayaking can be done in Icy Bay on the coast and along the 150 miles of rugged coastline. Keep in mind that the coastline is for experienced sea kayakers as the coastline is wild and exposed to the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska or Yakutat Bay. Most kayakers are flown into the area to start at Kageet Point on the eastern edge of Icy Bay or Pt. Riou, located on Chugach Alaska Native Corporation land southeast of Icy Bay. Rafting opportunities are available in the rivers.

Hiking and backpacking can be done almost anywhere in the park, but conditions can often be muddy. Better hiking is available on the trails and routes that lead into the Mentasta Mountains north of Nabesna Road or past mile 36. You can also charter a plane to drop you off in the more remote interior. The landscape offers tremendous scenery and wildlife viewing. During the summer there are a wide variety of beautiful butterflies to be seen.

There are ample opportunities for fishing in the park and preserve. With the numerous lakes and rivers it can be a fly fisherman’s dream. Grayling, whitefish, Dolly Varden, lake trout, rainbow/steelhead trout, cutthroat trout, sculpin, burbot, lamprey, smelts, and suckers are all found in the park. The Gulkana River is a good place to catch salmon.

Sport hunting is allowed only in the preserve and in accordance with Alaskan regulations. It probably offers one of the biggest varieties of animals to hunt in the state. There are opportunities to hunt bear, Dall sheep, mountain goat, muskoxen, moose, waterfowl, and caribou. Off-road vehicles (ORV) can be used on established routes.

Winter also offers its share of outdoor adventure. Ice climbing, cross country skiing, snow skiing, snowmobiling, and snow shoeing are all options to enjoy if you love the cold weather. Remember that it can get minus 50 degrees F. in the dead of winter.

So no matter what your outdoor pleasure is, if you enjoy solitude and ruggedness, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is the place for you. With the numerous shorebirds and two passerine migratory routes, the numerous wildlife, dragonflies and unique butterflies along with the rugged beauty of the terrain, you will experience something you won’t get any where else. This is definitely a park that should be on your must-see list.